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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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?
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.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
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.
