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Big congratulations to Vikki who set a new PB and smashed 50 minutes for a 10K at the Garioch 10K on Sunday. The boys and I played in the park on what turned out to be a nice warm sunny day in Inverurie while she zoomed round the course. Looks like I'm really going to have to go some if I'm ever going to catch her.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, Everybody!

OK, it's a bit late but we've not been at home much. We spent most of the last couple of days over at Vikki's folks which was great fun - especially as they agreed to stay in on Hogmanay so Vikki and I went down to watch the fireballs. A number of our friends and family were swinging, so we made our way down to the harbour at the end to wish them well - there was much hugging, hand-shaking, kissing, and handing round of hip-flasks. A great way to start 2009. 

We took some photos, but as usual with the fireballs, they were mostly rubbish. Using the video mode seemed to work slightly better, but all the videos were almost ruined by some woman shouting near the camera (I wonder who that might have been). 

On New Years Day, we all (despite protests from the kids) went for a walk up to the war memorial and round past the harbour. We also set up Vikki's parents new WiiFit which was pretty good fun, especially as I was given a WiiFit age of 31 and branded a "muscle legend", to great hilarity from all present for some reason.

Today, Vikki and I were running in the Lumphanan Detox 10K which was really good - a friendly event, interesting course with hills, icy farm tracks, and great views of snow covered hills. Even better, both Vikki (52:08) and I (53:20) got PBs. 

For what it's worth, the best of the pics and videos are here:

2008-12-31 Hogmanay 2008

One of these days...

...I might just beat Vikki at the Balmoral 10K, but it didn't happen this time. Vikki has done really well since resuming her training after her 10 month break, and managed an excellent time of 57:05, only 6 seconds slower than last year. My training has been seriously hampered by gout and a sprained ankle, so I was quite pleased that I was even able to run on the day, let alone finish in 59:31, my best time on the Balmoral course, despite the ankle holding me back a bit on the downhill bits, feeling leaden legged by about 7km, and being sexually harassed by one of the other competitors (I managed to overtake Vikki without seeing her on the hill and she touched my behind when she went ahead again). Vikki and I accidentally got separated from the Daviator before the start. He did well in his first event and managed a decent time of 1:03:08. Earlier in the day, Lachlan and Calum took part in the 1.5K Primary School race, and finished in 9:59 and 10:20 respectively, a great effort from both of them. Here's a picture of all the runners with their medals:



All in all, we had an enjoyable weekend staying at the Hilton Craigendarroch in Ballater to celebrate Vikki's mum's birthday. Will post more photos and stories another time.

First Run of 2008

Wendy, Margaret, Christine, me, Dave, Ruth, and Carole after the race

Today, we were in the wee village of Lumphanan for the Detox 10K, the first 10K race in 2008 in Scotland. It was cold and damp, but there was a good atmosphere and we enjoyed our day out. There had been warnings about the hill at the start of the course, but it didn't seem that bad. What really got me was the muddy farm track at about 6k which seemed to drain what little energy I had left. I finished in 55:23 - pleased at a new PB, but disappointed that I haven't beaten Vikki's best ;) and with a fair bit of work still to do to get down to 50 minutes.