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.

Bristol Weekend

Cherry was off to Bristol for a girls weekend leaving Colin and the children at home. Went orienteering on saturday and sunday. Holyrood park on Saturday and Binning Wood near East Linton on Sunday.

Happy Birthday

Colin hit 43 yrs old. Out racing in the morning on the KB 5 mile race. Not a great performance.

We all went to Riverdance at the Playhouse in the afternoon which was excellent. Followed this with pizza at pizza express.

ESOC Sprint-O

Colin and Max were out at Hopetoun House for the annual ESOC sprint-O event. Colin ran reasonable well over the two courses coming 28th of the 60 runners. Max had a good run on the first course and decided to practice his parkour rather than do the second.

Cambrills and Barcelona

Pleasant week at Cambrills on the coast south of Barcelona and then a few days in Barcelona. Trouble with suitcases which had an interesting trip from Edinburgh to London, Barcelona, Gerona, Cambrills before finally catching up with us in Barcelona the day before we left. Apart from that a nice week away.

Carnethy 5

The hills were covered in snow for this years Carnethy 5 - one of the biggest races in the Scottish Hill Racing calendar. Temperates were fairly pleasant at a few degrees above freezing with lots of boggy marsh at the foot of the hills and frozen ground and snow at the top. Climbing was difficult in the slippy conditions. Descending was like going down a ski slope with one section being a 10 m bum slide.

Overall a good run. Felt quite fit and certainly not too tired at the end. Time was poor but this was the same for everyone given the conditions.