Ventured out on Boxing Day for a walk in the snow at Mortonhall and some sledging. Going to see Avatar in the evening.

Snow !

Max and Colin headed to the hills for a very brief walk on Sunday morning. The wind was quite strong making it feel exceptionally cold. Got to the top of the ski slope before heading down.

Girls 9 Dads 7

The P7 girls had their annual match against the parents and went to a stunning 9 - 7 victory on a snowy Meadows.

Craigmillar O

Lots of shopping over the weekend and an orienteering event on Sunday morning. Excellent long mixed forest/urban course at Craigmillar. Hannah went out on a yellow event for the first time in quite a while and seemed to enjoy it.

Glasgow 3 Parks Championships

Max and Colin set off early in the morning for the three parks champs. 10 am start at Springburn park. Then on the Kelvingrove and finally to Cathkin Braes. Max did extremely well with good fast runs on every course. He came 2nd of the 5 male juniors. Colin got injured on the last course and had to withdraw. Wasn't doing great.

Walk in the Pentlands

Went for a short walk in the Pentlands. A heavy fog had descended on Edinburgh but all was clear on the Pentlands with views to the clouds below.

Scottish Score Champs

Colin went out to Pitmedden forest to help with the event and run in 60 min score event. Weather was quite nice in a very pleasant location. Pleased with placing of 17th.

Scotland 9 Australia 8

First trip to Murrayfield for Max and Hannah. We were joined by Aymane as Cherry couldn't make it. Treated to a fantastic match. They put on a good show at Murrayfield and the lights and band and fireworks make quite a spectacle. The match was tense throughout with a fantastic climax. Scotland took a strong 9-3 lead with around 10 mins to go and then had to soak up the pressure. Australia scored after 80 minutes and then missed the kick. Kids loved it!

Loch Leven Walk

Went out with Les on Sunday morning for a long walk round the Loch Leven Heritage Trail. Nice weather and a very scenic walk that took about 3 1/2 hours to get round 13 km. Started at Kinross and ended at the Vane Farm RSPB reserve. Colin ran off to get the car as the path only did a 2/3 circuit of the loch.

SOSOL 1 - Barr Wood

Another glorious day with clear blue skys and chilling air. Max and Colin headed off to Barr Wood near Stirling for the first SOSOL of the new season. Colin did a fairly poor job of navigation and got round in a disappointing time. Max struggled and gave up after the third control on a difficult course.

Tinto Hill Race

A massive crowd out for the race this year. Started near the back of the field and made steady progress up the hill. Fantastic views on the way down with the sun shining on the field and hills below. Made up a few places on the descent which is a lovely fast 15 minute downhill dash. Time probably just outside time from 2 years ago.

Explorers Garden & Enchanted Forest

On Saturday we had a short stroll past the Dam and on to the Explorers Garden above the Festival Theatre. Nice in the autumn colours. Worth a visit in the summer as well.

Then went to the Festival Theatre and saw a demonstration of Scottish Weapons and Dress. Max got to the from and led the charge !

Watched a couple of hours of open Mic performances while Cherry completed her knitting !

In the evening we had a nice meal at the Old Armoury and then went to the Enchanted Forest. A walk round an illuminated lake with many small historical or mythical sets.

Dougie MacLead & Eddi Reader

We all headed North on Friday afternoon for a concert at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Dougie MacLean did a very good 45 minute set on his own. Then Eddi Reader and band played for about an hour. Both excellent and everyone really enjoyed.

ESOA Champs

Max and Colin headed out to cold, wet and windy West Lomond hills in Fife for the East of Scotland champs. Colin was off form and very slow. Max did well coming 4th in a good run on the Light Green course.

Crieff Day 5

High Ropes in the morning. Scary Stuff. Max did incredibly well completing all the tasks - even complete the leap from telegraph pole to trapeze ! Hannah did very well as well although the telegraph pole was a bit too scarey.

Nice dinner at the brasserie.

Crieff Day 4

Disc golf in the morning then Cherry & Max had a go at Archery in the afternoon. Tennis later in the afternoon and some great doubles.

Crieff Day 3

Another sporty day with a short badminton tournament and a game of squash. A swim in the pool and haircuts for Cherry, Hannah & Max.

Crieff Day 2

Busy day. Started with a walk up the Knock. Then Max, Hannah and Colin played 5's in the sports hall recording a great victory. In the afternoon we did outdoor laserquest which was brilliant. Nice dinner at the Brasserie.

Holiday at Crieff Hydro Hotel

Travelled up to Crieff Hydro for a 5 night stay. Stayed in one of the chalets just above the hotel. On Monday we went to the Family Fun and played lots of short tennis and badminton. Colin was persuaded to put on a Sumo suit and get slaughtered by a 6 ft rugby player.

Survival of the Fittest

Colin ran a 10 k obstacle course through the centre of Edinburgh on Sunday morning. Great fun with obstacles ranging from an army assault course, water slides, wrecked cars and skips.

Some photos here

http://www.sleepmonsters.com/photosystem/menshealth/index.php?search_value=773&event_id=7508&page_action=Search

Came in place 372 of 1303 in a time of 1 hr 3 mins.

Fight with the Night - Craigmillar

Ridiculously difficult night orienteering at Craigmillar Castle. Loads of horrible nettles as well. Yuk.

Manor Water

Colin was on his own for a trip down to the sheepdog trials and hill race in the Manor Water valley near Peebles. This is a very nice race with a long steady ascent over 5 miles with it runnable all the way to the ascent of The Scrape the final summit. Really wanted a PB so pushed hard all the way up maintaining a steady pace and resisting any temptation to walk. Reached the summit in 58 minutes and then enjoyed the long fast run home. Suffered a bit from lack of water and felt I might have gone a few minutes faster if I'd brought a drink.

Very pleased to finish in 1 hr 35 min 30 seconds over a 1 minute better than previous fastest in 2006.

Hopefully some photos to follow.

Holiday Monday - Dirleton Castle & Inveresk Lodge Gardens

Cherry, Colin and Hannah went out sightseeing in East Lothian on our bank holiday monday. Skys were a bit grey but it didn't rain. Both gardens still looking well and Dirleton Castle very interesting.

Went out to the beach at Longniddry Bents on Sunday.

Wan Day

Colin had a long day out in the Pentlands on a 8 hr bike/run/canoe orienteering event. Biking went reasonably well, canoeing was very difficult and by the time I got to the running I was pretty exhausted. Good event which I would hope to do again and maybe look to be a bit more competitive.

Caerketton Downhill

Wonderful sunny evening with lovely views from the top of Caerketton hill. Hannah and Colin running in the madcap downhill race. Hannah was off first in a small field of just herself and Jacob. A closerun race with a dead-heat at the finish. A great time of just 4 min 3 secs.

Colin was 16th of 29 in a personal best time.

Hannah got some nice goodies for her troubles.

Golf - Princes Course

Hannah went out golfing with Colin on the Princes course on a fine Sunday afternoon. Round the 9 holes in 95 shots.

Salomon Turbo X

Colin headed off to Mugdock Park near Glasgow for a tough run through the mud in the Turbo X race. Lots of deep deep ditches and mud to run through. 98th of 502 runners.

ESOC Score - Holyrood Park

Max and Colin headed out to Holyrood Park for their first orienteering in quite a while. Both ran very well and were both first of those who had finished when they downloaded.

Lomonds of Fife

Ran in the tough Lomonds of Fife hill race on Sunday. A challenging race with a sharp climb up West Lomond Hill, back down again, through forest trails and up to East Lomond along nicer paths. Tough section through heavy moorland grass and then final second ascent of West Lomond. Finale is the near verticle slide off the hill. Time as OK. Needed to push a bit harder.

Caerketton Hill Race

Colin ran in the Wednesday night slog up the ski slope at Hillend and back down again in 19 mins 32 seconds. A very tough short sharp race. Better than last year but about 20 secs off personal best

Stuchd an Lochain

Max and Colin got up early on Sunday morning to tackle a munro. Got to the hill after a long and winding drive at about 11 am. The start was very steep and through wet and muddy ground. Not terribly nice but we made very fast progress. The ridge and summit were much nicer. The final descent was very tough on the steep and rocky ground.

Corstorphine Walled Garden

Went with Les to Corstorphine Walled Garden where they were celebrating 10 years and an award. The Garden was looking very good. Climbed to the top of the hill and the tower.

London Holiday

We enjoyed a very pleasant two weeks in London, Richmond and Windsor.

Sri Chinmoy 2 Mile

Ran in the Wednesday night Sri Chinmoy race. Max was out to give me some encouragement and spurred me on to a personal best over 2 miles taking 19 seconds off my previous record at 13 mins 40 sec.

Carnethy Midweek Race

Cracking wee race in the Pentlands taking a steep climb to the summit of Carnethy Hill and then a great gentle downhill letting you really speed along. Ran very well and beat a few who normally come ahead of me. Finished in exactly the same time as last year.

Meall Nan Tarmachan

Max and Colin drove up to Killen on Saturday to bag a munro. Good weather on a nice easy hill. Up and down in around 3 hrs of walking.

Meadows 5k

Slow run in the 5k race round the meadows. 22 mins 37

Arrochar Alps Race

Colin drove out west on saturday morning for the arrochar alps race - one of the longest and toughest in the hill running season, taking in the summits of 4 munroes. It was very very tough. The first hill was a long hard climb and then a very steep and treacherous descent. I reached the first cut-off just 1o minutes before the cut-off time. The next hill was long and hard and shrouded in mist making navigation very difficult. Time seemed to drag as I plodded up. Finally made the summit after 3 hrs 37 minutes by which time the winner had already been up all 4 peaks and finished. Quite amazing. Anyway - I had already missed the second cut-off time so I headed back down the hill for a long run back to the start and finish.

John Muir Country Park

Hannah and the JGPS girls had a spectacular win 11 - 2 win against Tollcross on Saturday morning. Colin headed off to John Muir Country Park for the Cati O in the afternoon. Good run round the dunes and forest getting the 3rd fastest time.

Max and Hannah went skiing at Hillend on Sunday morning.

Traprain Law Hill Race

Colin, Hannah and Cherry headed off to East Linton for the village gala and the hill race. Hannah enjoyed the bumper helpings of cake. Colin ran well on a nice course which included a river crossing. Came in at 132% of the winning time which is as fast as I can get!

SOL3 - Teviothead

Colin had a nice outing to Teviothead in the Borders for a Scottish League outing in the hills. Went for the longest course and did well on the open hillside with easier navigation and faster running than the forests.

Edinburgh Marathon

Colin was out in the Edinburgh Marathon in sweltering temperatures. Very busy round the early part of the course and needed a toilet stop in the first mile after not having time before the start. Didn't see any distance markers around the course so hard to pace myself. Feeling pretty slow in any event. Got to half way in around 2 hrs which was about 15 minutes behind schedule. Real struggle in the second half and did a lot of walking. Finally finished in around 4 hrs 35.

Not sure why it was so slow. Could have been the heat. Maybe the hard run 2 weeks ago or yesterdays jog round the O course?

Butterdean Wood

Max and Colin headed off in the sunshine to orienteer at Butterdean Wood in East Lothian. We both did a fairly challenging Orange course and Colin tried not to tire himself pre-marathon. Colin pipped Max by a minute for a Ledlie 1st & 2nd.

Cherry and Hannah meanwhile went to the Scottish Garden show at Ingliston.

Max is tired because he did Parkour on Thursday and Tae Kwon Do on Friday. Max lay in bed until ten. Max was going to go to the playground but he is too tired. Max is going to have a refreshing drink to wake him up. Everyone else is going to have sticky cakes but Max is a good boy. Mum is nice and she is going to buy the refreshing drink and the sticky cakes at a shop a few minutes away.
Max needs to get some pads for Tae Kwon Do so that he is allowed to block people's punches and punch them and it won't hurt them. Max doesn't know how to put videos on and he might make a mess of the blog but he is going to try and put a video of a parkour person doing parkour. He wil also try to put a link to a parkour website.



Max wonders if these people get tired in the mornings too. Max isn't as crazy as these people.

Breakin Convention

Went to the Festival Theatre to see the break dancing show. We all enjoyed the acrobatics and the lively atmosphere.

Xscape

Went for a day out at the Xscape centre at Braehead. Had a round of indoor crazy golf in the morning and then Max and Hannah had a go on real (almost) indoor snow. Also had a cold sledging session.

Loch Leven Half Marathon

Very good run round Loch Leven getting round in 1 hr 43 min 19 sec which is a big improvement on my previous best in this race. Pushed hard all the way round.

Meadows 2 Mile Race

Time of 14:08. OK.

Skiing

Max and Hannah went out skiing at Hillend. Both doing great following their Easter lessons. Colin went for a hard run in the hills.

Penicuik 10k

Colin had a good run in terrible conditions. Very hilly course with 126m of climb over the first half of the course. Temperature was just 4 degree in Penicuik and must have been below freezing on the higher ground. Finished in 47 min 54 secs just making it into first half of the field.

Bangor Weekend

Pleasant weekend in Bangor visiting Maxwell & Rosemary.

Went out to the crazy golf at Dundonald.

Highland Fling

Colin ran in his second Highland Fling Race the 53 mile trek along the West Highland Way from Milngavie to Tyndrum. The start time this year was an hour later at 7 am so only had to set the alarm of 5.40 ! The weather was good in the morning and got off to a nice measured start from the centre of Milngavie. Around 300 runners this year up from the 120 last. Reached Drymen after around 2 hrs and then climbed Conic Hill in good weather. Balmaha to Rowardennan was again a long tough section but certainly easier when you knew to be much longer than you felt it should be. Through to Bein Glas farm was also very long and tough but stopped for a very welcome coffee at the cafe. Pictured above at 40 miles just before Bein Glas.

From this point on I knew I would make it so spirits were lifted and a bit more energy.

Finally made it into a big cheering crowd at Tyndrum just before 8 pm in a time of 12 hrs 48 minutes which was almost 1 hr 30 minutes better than last year.

Glen Shiel Trip

Colin headed off on his own for a few days in the hills. On Wednesday enjoyed some fantastic weather and did a long traverse of the South Glen Shiel ridge and completing 7 munros. About 9 hours out for the fll circuit.

On Thursday the fog and low cloud came in resulting in low temperatures and low visibility. Stuck with just one hill rather than the planned three (Carn Ghlusaid). 3 hr walk.

On Friday on route home headed off to the Drumochter Hills and ran round 2 munros in 3 hrs 20 mins. Weather was mixed with part of the journey in very poor visibility.

Dundee and Angus

Max was away for a long weekend with Joe at his caravan on the Lunan Sands near Arbroath. The rest of us headed off on Saturday morning for a few days away and to collect him on Sunday evening.

Went to the Scottish Deer Centre on saturday morning which we all enjoyed. Colin then ran in the nearby Normans Law race in the afternoon. Lovely course on a sunny afternoon. Tea and cakes afterwards was good as well. Colin pictured before and after.

Quick visit to Camperdown Park before settling down in the Dundee West Premier Inn to watch the Doctor Who Easter Special.

Hannah woke on Sunday suffering from a bad throat so we canned our plans for the day and headed slower to the seaside to collect Max.

Doctor Who

Took the train through to Glasgow for the Doctor Who Exhibition.

Orienteering Weekend

Headed off to Stirling University on Saturday for the British Sprint Championships. Nice courses round the uni grounds although the weather was a bit nippy. Did OK with one big error on the second course.

On Sunday we all headed off to Auchingarrich Wildlife Park for SOL1. Max and Colin took part while the girls enjoyed the animals. Max came 6th on the orange. Colin had a long slow run round the brown on a very challenging course.

On the way back we stopped at the beautiful village of Culross for a look at the palace and gardens and a walk round the rest of the village.

Berlin

Colin went off to Berlin for the Watson Wyatt European Chief Actuaries Conference. Not a lot of free time but enough for a quick run round some of the main sights in the centre. Very nice city.

Bought new kitchen furniture from Ikea on Sunday.

Chapelgill

Colin ran in the Chapelgill Hill Race on Saturday. A real out of the way race deep down a valley in the Borders. The race was a very hard and steep up and down the hill. Placing and time weren't too great.