KB 5 Mile Road Race

Woke on Saturday morning to snow in the garden and expected the race might be cancelled as there would be snow on the pavements. They must have decided they didn't want to cancel a second year in succession and the race went ahead with relatively small numbers of runners. I was running well and pleasantly surprised to do the first mile in 7 min 30 without particularly pushing. The course was quite slushy on the pavements so a bit of caution was required although I never felt any foot slippage on the way round. In spite of the cold and damp really enjoyed the race and running well the whole way round. Finished under 40 mins and my 6th best time in 7 outings in the race which was great given the conditions.

Long London Weekend

With meetings on Thursday, Friday and Monday morning Cherry decided to come to London so Colin didn't have to suffer the Friday evening / Monday morning London / Edinburgh journeys.

We arrived on Thursday following a reasonably pleasant train journey made slightly more exciting by our train being cancelled and needing to rush for the departure 30 minutes earlier. Colin went to a meeting with the PRA went to the British Library for some family history research.

In the evening we went to the Shard for a very nice dinner and night time views of the city.

Colin had more meetings on Friday and Cherry went to the National Archive near Kew. In the evening we went to see All About Eve starring Gillian Anderson and Lily James at the Noel Coward Theatre. Very good show but slightly irritated by the slightly restricted view.

On Saturday we started the morning with a walk around the newly redeveloped areas of Kings Cross and then went to the local Better swimming pool with Cherry trying to fix a sore back. In the afternoon we went to the Tate Modern Gallery on the Southbank and went to the Pierre Bonnard exhibition. We then wandered across town to the Prince of Wales Theatre to see The Book of Mormon.

Sunday started with gym/swim before we took the tube to East Acton and went to the house where Cherry's mum grew up and went to Primary School. We then went to Hollard Park and stopped in the Japanese Garden and had a quick look round the Design Museum.

We were pretty tired by Sunday evening so had a quiet night in with Cherry heading back to Edinburgh on the 8 am train on Monday morning and Colin continued with his three days of meetings.

Tweed Valley Twister - Mountain Bike Orienteering

At this time of year there starts to be a wide choice of sporting events to take part in. It was a fairly difficult choice but the MTBO event proved to be an excellent one. Three hours of riding and navigation in the Tweed Valley with clear blue skies and at times quite warm sunshine.

The plan was to stick to the easy controls and avoid the big climb over the gypsy glen route. The first few controls went to plan along the old railway line between Innerleithen and Peebles although with some pretty poor errors along the way. Just outside Peebles the choice was some very challenging navigation in Glentress or a simple but brutal climb with 120 points on offer. I went for the simple climb and in the end was pleased with the choice as it didn't feel as bad as I expected - in fact I really enjoyed it.

The last bit was a bit untidy picking up a few controls on an out and back route rather than a nice circuit but got back home in good time for no penalties.

Great event.

Shepherd House Inveresk

Visit to a lovely spring garden in Inveresk with snowdrops, crocus, hellebore and a few surprise early flowering plants.

Bike Ride along Fife Coast

With some fabulous weather Colin headed out to Rosyth for the start of a bike ride along the Fife Coastal path. Been this route a few times and very pleasant it is taking in a lot of industrial heritage and some pretty villages. Coffee and Scone stone at Bessie's tea room at Culross.

The return route inland via old railway path was fast but a bit dull until Dunfermline where there was a pleasant route through park and rural paths. Around 40 miles cycled.

Verve Poetry Festival

Colin and Cherry flew down to Birmingham with FlyBe on Saturday morning to catch up with Hannah performing at the Verve poetry festival.

We had a quick gym visit on the first day and Colin went again on the second. Stayed at the Premier Inn beside New Street Station. It was just about OK although the surrounding streets were pretty unpleasant. 

On Saturday evening we saw Hannah do a very short performance as part of the 2019 UniSlam winning team as well as a range of other poets with a connection with UniSlam.

On Sunday Cherry met up with her cousin (in-law) for Lunch whilst Colin was gyming and shopping.

Late afternoon Hannah as part of Second City Poets performed their piece called Playground. It was really excellent.

In the evening there was a final performance of Funkenteleky which is an improvised fusion of jazz music and poetry. Had really enjoyed it at a previous event but it seemed to lack variety this time and also just went on too long.

We headed home at Monday lunchtime. The flight back was pretty unpleasant with Birmingham airport and Flybe doing their best to make the journey uncomfortable.

Marshalling at the Carnethy 5

First day back from holiday and Colin spend the afternoon counting the runners in at the finish of the Carnethy 5 hill race. It has been a while since I've run this race - it has never been a favourite with all the hassle of bus travel involved. Good to do my bit to support this big event.

Gran Canaria Holiday

Cherry and Colin enjoyed a week away in Gran Canaria at out favourite location the Lopesan Costa Meloneras. It is a lovely location for a relaxed time. A pleasant but unfussy hotel with a lovely set of pools and gardens with a variety of leisure activities on offer. Nice restaurants just beside the hotel a very short distance away.

For this trip Colin did some series cycling hiring a high quality road bike for 5 days and heading each morning for the mountains. The days were 2 hrs, 3 hours, 3 hours, 1 hour and 8 hours. The last big day was a ride to the summit of Gran Canaria at a height of 1951 m. The ride was 100 km long and involved 2600 m of ascent.

Cherry got in a good swim each day in the big lagoon circuit pool.

On the final day we hired a car for a drive in the mountains.

A very pleasant week although Cherry suffered from a sore back by the end as she doesn't like being away from her own memory foam mattress.

Orienteering Holyrood Park

I was back running the Brown course after a year doing the much shorter Green in 2018. It was a very cold windy morning and the navigation and terrain were both challenging. Perhaps more by luck than skill there were no major navigation disasters. Pace wasn't great as I was doing my best to no get lost. Got round in 1 hr 46 mins for a lowly position in a big crowd of competitors.

The Glasgow Girls & Touching The Void

We had 2 nights out to the theatre this weekend. On Friday to the Kings for The Glasgow Girls and saturday to the Lyceum for Touching the Void. Both very good.

Foxtrail 16 K Run

Up early to travel to Dunbar for a run through the forest and beaches of John Muir Country Park. Lovely route on a cold morning. Completed in around 1 hrs 30 minute taking a few moments en route for photos. Good running form and comfortable with the distance.

Cammo Orienteering

Ran the Green course at the Come And Try It orienteering at Cammo. A nice park at the West side of town and surprisingly complex and confusing. I managed to mess up big time on the second control. Other than this a very nice event.

10 Mile Run to Leith

On Wednesday I did my longest run in quite some time. A 10 mile almost completely flat jog along the Union Canal to Longstone and then the Water of Leith to Ocean Terminal in Leith. The run was pleasant and successful with no injury problems during or after the run. Great to be back and able to do a longer outing such as this with my new regime of 2 runs only per week and strength and flexibility sessions as compulsory during the week.

Portobello Park Run

I've done surprisingly few parkruns over the years. Officially this is just my second run although I seem to remember having done at least one more than that. I managed to arrive half and hour too early not realising Scotland starts 30 minutes after the English races. Pleased with my time of 23 mins 47 seconds. I should do more of these are they are close to home and nice simple no-fuss events.

Greenmantle Dash 2019

The 2nd January sees one of my favourite little hill races of the year - the Greenmantle Dash. A short race of about 25 minutes for me but lots of variety along the way with walls to jump, river to cross and short sharp hill to climb. The temperatures were very low, - 3.5 degrees, but the skies were clear making the conditions very pleasant. Very pleased with my run today when I kept company with people normally way ahead of me in the field. Came quite close to my personal best for the event.

Festive Frolics

On Christmas Eve Colin, Cherry and Hannah went out to see Kinky Boots at the Playhouse. Very good. Christmas Day at home with less staying over - Max in Canada.

On Boxing Day Colin, Cherry and Les headed to Beecraigs. Colin did the 1 lap version of the Boxing Day Handicap race in warm weather for the time of year. Pretty decent run with the course well marked this time.

On Friday Colin & Cherry took the train to Dundee to visit new V&A Dundee. We went round the Ocean Liners exhibit and the permanent collection. It was extremely busy and not particularly good.

On Saturday Colin took part in the ELO Festive Frolic which was at Levenhall, Musselburgh. Still nice weather and a nice easy location for orienteering. The planning for the score course didn't go well though and arrived back about 6 minutes late for lots of penalty points.

The Run in to Christmas

On Monday night went out for the evening with Frank, Warren and Ian in Edinburgh City Centre. Started with a walk to Salisbury Crags with Ian before meeting Warren at around 4 pm at Brewhemia when the drinking started. Walked through the Princes Street Christmas market with half pint in hand and got to the Angels Share at 5.30 pm to meet Frank. We had dinner a Thai dinner at Chaophraya before continuing the pub crawl which fizzled out just after 11 pm. Nice to see the boys again especially Frank who we don't see much of (living in Singapore).

After a busy day on Board meetings by phone we headed to have a Christmas dinner at Jamie's Italian with Max before he headed off to Canada for his Christmas in Calgary.

On Thursday Colin has a wander around an exhibition at the National Library. Small but quite interesting.

On Friday night we had a family out visit to the Filmhouse to see The Muppets Christmas Carol and a quick Nandos afterwards.

On Saturday Colin ran in the Kirk Craigs Hill Race in Tillicoultry. Tough but fun.

Cold

My final business trip to London of the year at the start of the week and a Christmas dinner in lovely surroundings but with slightly disappointing food.

I felt my throat slightly raw the next morning and unfortunately had picked up a cold after a day spent in Board rooms with so many other people. Still suffering on Monday morning 5 days later. Have managed a few easy walks and lots of Board paper reading over the past few days. Stopped off for dinner at David Bann with Cherry on one of the strolls.

Hopefully better soon.

Hermitage Trail Race 10 K

Early start on Sunday morning for a new 10 k race around the trails of the Hermitage and Blackford Hill. A very familiar area but a good one with a nice route picking up the best of the trails. It was slightly congested at the start and I was happy to start at a fairly modest pace over the first kilometer. Time wasn't great but it was a hilly course with lots of mud and twists and turns so it is hard to judge the effort. Time was almost exactly 1 hour. Felt pretty strong at the end which is always nice.

Richard, Thomas, Nicola & Zoe Visiting

The Weston's arrived on Friday afternoon and Max & Hannah returned later in the evening. We had dinner in together on Friday and enjoyed playing Pictionary.

On Saturday the youngsters went into town and up Calton Hill whilst Richard and Cherry had a walk about town. Colin unfortunately had work to do. In the evening we went to the Old Bell Inn for dinner. We didn't get the Christmas Dinner we hoped for but it was a reasonable pub meal.

On Sunday Cherry and Richard went to the Castle. The youngsters went to Fountainpark for bowling and pool. Later we all went for a Room Escape adventure at Summerhall.

Newhailles Trail Race

A short trip on Sunday morning to Newhailles House on the outskirts of Edinburgh for the inaugural trail race in and beyond the grounds of this National Trust property. A very well organised event and a pleasant course with a nice mixture of path, trail and field to get round. No particular aims for the event and deliberately avoided looking at the watch as I went round. Felt pretty good with no issues in knees or heels. Hoka Speedgoats were a good choice of footwear. Faded a little over the last 1/2 km but managed a decent push over the last 100m to avoid being passed. Definitely worth doing again.

SOSOL Dalkeith Park

Some glorious weather on Sunday for a trip to Dalkeith Country Park for a SOSOL event. Huge numbers of cars turned out and the park looking quite different with a lot of investment having been done in the restaurant and new adventure playpark. The Orienteering was the quickest and easiest green course I've ever done getting round in just over 30 minutes and coming in second place. Enjoyed a short walk afterwards with Cherry.