Mogwai

Max and Colin went to see Mogwai at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. RM Hubbert warmed up with a nice set and cheery chat. He was joined on stage for the last song by Aidan Moffat.

Mogwai then played a mix of old and new at high volume. Great venue and good concert.

EUOC Big Weekend

3 Orienteering events over the weekend. Friday night was night orienteering round the King Buildings university campus. Pretty decent effort with generally good navigation.

Saturday was the city race in pouring rain. Took about an hour round the MV course finishing 30 of 41.

On Sunday with the forecast for 4 degrees temperature, strong winds and heavy rain I headed out in my waterproofs and with lots of food in my bag. Conditions started bad but improved later on. Finished in a dreadful time of around 1 hr 55 minutes and feeling very tired.

That's 9 races completed in January !

War Horse

Went to the Festival Theatre to see War Horse as Cherry's birthday treat. Very good indeed - especially the horses ! The pleasure was slightly reduced by some chattering neighbours in the seats behind us.

Feel the Burns

A trip down to Selkirk for a fabulous race in the Scottish Borders hills. 21 km with 800 m of ascent the course took in several summits with a highest point of 524 m. Some nice long trails near the peaks and some lovely long downhill stretches.

I was feeling pretty tired at the 2 hour point but seemed to cope better than those around me with the final steep ascent to Foulshiels Hill. Managed a wee sprint at the end to pick up two places and complete in a reasonable 2 hrs 30 mins and 160% of the winning time.

Orienteering at Greenhead Moss

A new area near Wishaw. Very boggy and fairly rough area. Did the long brown course and was out running for 1 hr 47 minutes. Very near the slowest runner but good fun once I got into it. 1 big mistake with all the other controls fairly accurate.

Dropped Max back to Uni afterwards.

Great Winter Run

5k Race round Holyrood Park on a cold Saturday morning. Nice, well organised race. Came in 275th of around 1900 runners.

Night O at Mary Erskine

A quick 30 minute run round the short course. Not too much time in the forest so didn't get too lost !

Greenmantle Dash 2014

Another active start to the year with a trip down to Broughton for a short sharp dash up Trahenna. The weather was nice at the start but by the time of the ascent the freezing rain was coming down making it very cold. Lots of mud and water on this one. My worst ever time at this race :(

Portobello Promathon 2014

I started the new year with the annual 4 mile race along the Portobello promenade. This was the first year at a new earlier time of 10.30. The weather was kind for the big crowd. My time was fairly slow at 30 mins and 5 secs.

South Queensferry

Maxwell was across for a long weekend. Pictured out at South Queensferry on a cold but sunny morning following by lunch at the Hawes Inn.

Festive Frolic - Vogrie

The 4 of us plus Maxwell went out to Vogrie for the annual festive orienteering event. The puzzle element was relatively straightforward this year. Max had a good run whilst Colin and Hannah had a leisurely walk with an occasional jog. Nice meal at the Sun Inn afterwards.

Beecraigs Trail Race

Great weather for this annual boxing day event. I went for the two lap 14 km option around the lovely woodland course which takes in a loop of a lake and a small hill. Felt fine for lap 1 saving myself for a strong second loop which never happened as I was feeling tired and ending up plodding round the second loop at a very slow pace. Lovely event though.

Queens Drive Race

A warm but windy Sunday morning for my fourth outing in this race. A couple of weeks for fairly active training helped to pushed fitness levels up and was able to push hard round the course. Beat quite a few familiar faces by a decent margin so felt like a pretty good effort.

Glasgow 3 Parks

Max and Colin entered the 3 Parks race for the first time in a number of years. The weather was nice this time - clear skies and relatively warm for the time of year. Courses at Garscube, Kelvingrove and Drumpellier Country Park.

Fairly decent performances but as always the competition is tough.

SOSOL at Duns

First orienteering in ages. Travelled down to Duns on a beautiful clear but cold day. Feet were a mess after yesterday so aim was just to walk round and navigate well which I did. Place looked a nice area for a visit and walk.

Braid Hills Cross Country

Ran at the Braid Hills Cross Country on a nice saturday afternoon. Most runners were young university students so I was right at the back of the field. Felt pretty tough. Reasonably pleased with performance even if a couple of minutes slower than last year. Blisters on heels unfortunately from the downhills.

ATP Tennis and Once, the Musical

The whole family travelled down to London for a busy weekend in the Capital. On saturday afternoon we went to the O2 to see Federer beat Del Potro in a very close game. Very different atmosphere to Wimbledon with lots of noisy videos in the breaks.

In the evening we saw Once at the Phoenix Theatre. Very good.

Dumyat Dash

Conditions were very harsh for this race from Menstrie up to the summit of Dumyat by a fairly circuitous route. There was heavy rain, strong winds and low temperatures throughout with body getting very cold. Popped on waterproof jacket near the summit which helped a lot otherwise might have been in trouble. Started slow and gained pace and confidence as the race progressed. A couple of minutes slower than last year but not a great surprise given the conditions.

Really enjoyed it in spite of the bad conditions.

Herb Walk

Finished the Amber weekend with a Herb walk in Dunkeld getting a short guided talk on medical and culinary uses of local plants and trees.

Ben Vrackie and Enchanted Forest

Climbed Ben Vrackie on Saturday morning. Good weather for the ascent. We extended the walk with some orienteering over rough ground and then a long hike back as the weather worsened.

In the evening we played pool and then went to the Enchanted Forest.

Dougie MacLean and Karine Polwart

Max and Colin travelled up to Pitlochry on Friday evening for the Perthshire Amber festival and show with Dougie and Karine at the Edradour Distillery. A great show with both performers doing great sets in a really nice little venue.

Gran Canaria

A very pleasant week for Hannah, Cherry and Colin in Gran Canaria. The weather was great - a little too hot to do much more than lounge by the pool for most of the day. Stayed at the Lopesan Villa Del Conde which was very nice but we preferred the hotel from previous years - the Lopesan Costa Meloneras.