Saturday, August 28, 2004

The Great Scottish Run 2004

Due to a lack of general training over the year, I decided it would probably be best to run the 10K rather than the half-marathon this time. Once the decision was made to race, I finally got the motivation I needed to take up running again in earnest. Over in Fife, I have been running the Inverkeithing to Dalgety Bay section of the Fife Coastal Path which follows the River Forth and provides excellent views of the Forth Rail Bridge.

Race day has now come and gone, and I achieved my personal best time of 48:10 (Full Results). However, I am much more impressed with Fiona who finished with a brilliant 01:02:41. She decided to take up running for the first time only a few months ago, and her extensive training has paid off. I confess that I didn't even see her cross the finish line because I didn't think she would have finished that quickly! We both are now feeling the post-race buzz and hope to run another race soon.

Monday, August 16, 2004

Clash of the Tartans

It has been said that the third time is the charm, but I think I took a shine to the kilt the first time I wore one. The whole outfit sounds like it ought to be ridiculous, but don’t mock it until you try it. It’s amazing how smart you can look in full Highland Dress.

I’ve now worn three different tartans, these being:

Gunn (Wilson)


Blackwatch


MacKenzie


This latest was worn for the wedding of Debbie and Chris, who tied the knot last weekend in a modern day interpretation of the Auld Alliance. Chris’s family and friends flew up from France, making for a wonderful mix of French and Scottish (complete with bilingual best man speech). A brilliant experience.

And speaking of weddings, a huge congratulations to Kevin and Kathleen who were married this past weekend. Here’s hoping everything went smoothly on the day, and that striking Parks Canada workers don’t affect the honeymoon camping plans out East!

Monday, August 09, 2004

Iceland Revisited

I've been sorting out some old pictures that we had put into digital format and figured I'd post some of them. So here are a few from the trip to Iceland last October:

Blue Lagoon, outside of Reykjavik. Surreal and soothing!


Gullfoss, a worthy rival to Niagara Falls.


Church in the Icelandic countryside. We never saw a single person for most of the day.


Geothermal energy in action near Lake Kleifarvatn.


Barren but eerily beautiful lava fields outside Reykjavik.

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Just An Hour Away

I found myself saying this phrase quite a bit over the last few days during Christy’s visit to Scotland. After all these months it still amazes me just how close everything really is.

We managed to cover quite a bit in only a few days – a historical and pub tour of Glasgow, Pollok Park (featuring those Heilan Coos), Edinburgh in pre-Fringe Festival buzz mode, a partial climb up Ben Arthur (also known as The Cobbler) and a pint in a small pub on the shores of Loch Lomond in the town of Arrochar. Christy also managed a day trip to Arran and another to Fort William and Mull, very impressively covering large parts of Scotland in a mere 5 days. We also managed to get through 9 episodes of The Office which possibly gets funnier the more I watch it. It was great to see Christy again, and I look forward to our Green Room/Dance Cave/Insomnia Friday night out in Toronto this December.

Up next on the visitor front will be Steve and Rachel, making their return trip this year. This time we’ll be heading out of the city for a trip through the Highlands which undoubtedly will involve consumption of a large quantity of cider.