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.

Tinto Hill Race

It had been a long time since my last hill race in the summer of 2017 and Tinto was a tough winter race to make a comeback on. The race had a 2 pm start and the weather was cold but not freezing and damp but not yet raining. Lots of pre-race nerves and frequent trips to the freshly felled pile of logs for a pee. Confidence was low and that feeling of what am I doing here on such a dreich afternoon was strong. But soon we were off and the heart rate pounding as the long ascent commenced. Gentle at first then getting steeper and rougher. Lots of muddy puddles. A few moments of respite on the way up when the slope briefly eases and then the question is can you summon the will power to force a running pace again. Strength, lung capacity and above all will power are needed on the way up. On the way down strength, core stability, courage and perhaps a bit of madness are the secrets of success. I'm running in Hoka Speedgoats with thick solid soles with lots of bounce but not quite the studs of the traditional fell shoe - they work a dream on this terrain letting me flow down the hill at speed aiming the feet at solid rocky ground of which there is plenty. Yes - I'm loving this - this is my sport. Total concentration and maximum effort as I push through a rapid 2 miles of downhill and race through to the finish in a time similar to what I was achieving 8 years ago but not quite the best results of a decade ago.

SOSOL - Dechmont Law

A glorious day out in Livingstone. Helped with the event parking before a good run round the Green course. Pretty straightforward navigation wise. 6th of around 60 runners.

Mid Week Pentlands Cycle and Run

With some nice weather I enjoyed a cycle out to the Pentlands followed by a run in the hills of about 7 miles taking in the summits of Caerketton, Allermuir and Capelaw. Felt on pretty good form.