DT - I believe a lot of Italian people immigrated to Scotland in the early 20th Century, which is why there is so much excellent gelato. I will concede that it is fecking freezing today though.
I think this is also why there are some excellent pizzerias in Scotland, my particular favourite is La Favorita. Their pizza with steak slices on top is amazing, the complimentary grappa, not so good.
I missed UC as well. However, I did have a great run earlier.
I had a delicious Italian meal whilst in Edinburgh for work once. Got a bit of a telling off from my boss about the expense claim though.
Just read back a bit and noticed the comments about the core exercises. That scorpion kick one is a bit tricky and does put a bit of stress on my hip, so I'll probably skip that one. It's much easier with the foot on the floor rather than a bench.
La favorita is best but is probably a 10-15 minute walk from Waverley towards Leith. They have a sister restaurant on George IV bridge which is also good.
OK will take a look. A table in Edinburgh on six nations day is hard enough to find without the complication of it being valentines weekend so keen to get something booked early.
DT - Mamma's in the Grassmarket area is excellent. Right underneath the castle - long-standing independent, and a favourite of my cousin who lives there now.
The Three Sisters - wow that's a blast from the past, I haven't been there since I was a student! Do you follow it up with a visit to Espionage or Siglo's?!
Sad news about Robin Williams...but bringing it back to running, I've just seen that he was quite a decent runner in his youth and had an 800m PB of 1:58, which is quite impressive.
Keep the Edinburgh recommendations coming, people. Some of us have just moved to Scotland and don't know anything, yet are suddenly expected to be the expert by sundry visiting friends and family.
I didnt know you studied in Edinburgh, Tommy. Must have been a great place to be. I normally stagger home after three sisters as I will have been tapping away at the booze since midday with a full day to follow.I did end up in Espionage on one occassion though....i think. Is that the place on the Royal Mile with staircases galore?
We normally do Rose street on the second night and then end up in some club on George Street thats quite posh and full of beautiful people. Last time we were there my mate and I spent the entire night considering whether there was anyone uglier or less cooler than us in there!
Edinburgh recommendations? Always have a coat handy.
Good luck tonight, Lit.
It's the Teversal race down here tomorrow. Couldn't do it last year, because of injury. Do I remember from reports that there's a bit of trail involved though? And if so, can I get away with lightweight roadsters or do I need something sturdier do you think?
DT - sorry my previous post implied that I studied in Edinburgh, which I didn't. However, two of my friends did and I used to visit them regularly when I was a student. One of them still lives there who I visit at least once a year and I work there fairly regularly, so know the city fairly well.
EDIT: Yes Espionage is just off the Royal Mile and is set over 4 or 5 floors so there is a lot of stairs to negotiate. It's also about 10000 degrees usually.
Lit - off the top of my head. Café Royal is quite impressive and near Waverley. The Outsider is a decent 'modern' restaurant. The Port of Siam does great Thai food. Ghilli Dhu's is a decent pub, as are a lot of the pubs in the west end. Lebowskis serve about 20 different types of white Russians and the Citrus Club is the indie disco.
Yes I'll be there, but I'm at a wedding the day before so won't be in shape to race it. Was thinking about running it in a similar fashion to how Skinny ran it last year, a progressive type run I think. Skinny - can you confirm?
I've been sent my race pack and I'm in Pen B which is close to the front which is good but this might make it tricky not to go off fast....
New random distance, Skinny. Should be a beatable 8 mile PB (just in case I ever race another one) though because the first two miles are up a massive hill and the rest is somewhat undulating.
I think I will do GNR next year. We could have a massive thread meet-up.
Holy crap! I knew the conditions were tough, but with the SSS rating they've applied to the weekend's races, my RB handicap has just been slashed from 5.4 to 4.3. Should be power to add as well with the 3000m from the Vets League still to come. Think I've just hurdled both Muddy and Mace's rankings, and now just trail Lit on the thread. (Not that I'm competitive or anything.)
Tommy - No, mate. British Masters - the National T&F Champs for Veterans and you run as an individual. The two events I ran were those that Dean ran last year, winning bronze in the 800m and becoming National Champion over 1500m. It's therefore a requirement to either wear your National vest (several World & European medallists were competing), your regional Vets association vest, or that of the club that holds your UKA registration.
Cheers Skinny, will look to do something similar, Which pen did you start from? I remember you had 'issues' and ended up starting further back than you should have.
Bob - yes of course, must have been thinking about your 3000m. Good work on your RB handicap. Like the photo!
Right my GNR report is split between pre race fiasco and race frustration.
Race starts at 10.40 and takes me 1.20 to get from Carlisle to Newcastle. So ate my monster bowl of porridge at 7.30 and set off at 7.40 arriving bang on schedule at 9am.
Walked across park to start arriving at 9.30am and looked for toilets for final pre race evacuation - joined a very long queue at 9.45am. I knew they closed the running 'pens' off at 10.30 so did wonder at this point how fast the queue would move. To cut a long story short I got more and more anxious until at 10.25 I heard the announcement that they were about to close the pens. So at number 6 in the queue for the 3 portaloos I gave up and headed to the pen wondering whether my bowels would accept my decision once the race started!
Got down the bank and there was a queue to get in so I decided they would obviously keep the pens open till we were all in. WRONG!!! Cue a bit of a panic (it reminded me of the Hillsborough disaster) as runners tried desperately to squeeze through railings to get in to the pen (we were trying to get in to C pen - once the gates close you have to go right to the back which is pen K with about 5000 runners in each pen = run ruined) - it is hard to see what I could have done differently to not end up in this position.
Anyway some people managed to get in before security charged in and tied the gap together and ushered us to the back - bearing in mind I needed to get back for my dad's 80th I got very annoyed with steward so he told me if I wanted to do the race I should shut up - I shut up.
Now knowing I had to go to the back of the race and wouldn't get to the start line for about 45 mins I decided to head back to the portaloos so I could at least race in comfort - good decision!! There is no way that would have waited till South Shields
As I started trudging to the back I noticed a crowd of runners collected beside the back of pen D - the barriers were open and as the D runners moved forward - we were able to push in - YAY I'm in the race and only got 20000 runners in front of me not 50000
10 minutes later I'm at the start line, a quick slap of Christine Ohuruoghu's hand and I'm off.
Comments
DPhil is what they call it at Oxford and Cambridge. But otherwise no.
Weighing up some options skinny?
Bugger, forgot about UniChall even though I now have a TV.
I think this is also why there are some excellent pizzerias in Scotland, my particular favourite is La Favorita. Their pizza with steak slices on top is amazing, the complimentary grappa, not so good.
I missed UC as well. However, I did have a great run earlier.
Just read back a bit and noticed the comments about the core exercises. That scorpion kick one is a bit tricky and does put a bit of stress on my hip, so I'll probably skip that one. It's much easier with the foot on the floor rather than a bench.
Any recommendations for excellent pizzerias in central Edinburgh?
DT - http://www.vittoriagroup.co.uk/#fav
La favorita is best but is probably a 10-15 minute walk from Waverley towards Leith. They have a sister restaurant on George IV bridge which is also good.
OK will take a look. A table in Edinburgh on six nations day is hard enough to find without the complication of it being valentines weekend so keen to get something booked early.
Curry tapas? http://www.motherindia.co.uk/index9772.html?action=cms.edin
You'll definitely need to book if you want to go here, last time I was here the Scotland rugby team and management were there.
DT - Mamma's in the Grassmarket area is excellent. Right underneath the castle - long-standing independent, and a favourite of my cousin who lives there now.
http://www.mammas.co.uk/home/
The Three Sisters - wow that's a blast from the past, I haven't been there since I was a student! Do you follow it up with a visit to Espionage or Siglo's?!
Sad news about Robin Williams...but bringing it back to running, I've just seen that he was quite a decent runner in his youth and had an 800m PB of 1:58, which is quite impressive.
Keep the Edinburgh recommendations coming, people. Some of us have just moved to Scotland and don't know anything, yet are suddenly expected to be the expert by sundry visiting friends and family.
I didnt know you studied in Edinburgh, Tommy. Must have been a great place to be. I normally stagger home after three sisters as I will have been tapping away at the booze since midday with a full day to follow.I did end up in Espionage on one occassion though....i think. Is that the place on the Royal Mile with staircases galore?
We normally do Rose street on the second night and then end up in some club on George Street thats quite posh and full of beautiful people. Last time we were there my mate and I spent the entire night considering whether there was anyone uglier or less cooler than us in there!
Edinburgh recommendations? Always have a coat handy.
Good luck tonight, Lit.
It's the Teversal race down here tomorrow. Couldn't do it last year, because of injury. Do I remember from reports that there's a bit of trail involved though? And if so, can I get away with lightweight roadsters or do I need something sturdier do you think?
Thanks Bob. Luckily it has stopped pissing down with rain and the wind seems to have died down slightly.
Teversal: yes, there is a bit of trail, but not much and you will still want road shoes.
DT - sorry my previous post implied that I studied in Edinburgh, which I didn't. However, two of my friends did and I used to visit them regularly when I was a student. One of them still lives there who I visit at least once a year and I work there fairly regularly, so know the city fairly well.
EDIT: Yes Espionage is just off the Royal Mile and is set over 4 or 5 floors so there is a lot of stairs to negotiate. It's also about 10000 degrees usually.
Lit - off the top of my head. Café Royal is quite impressive and near Waverley. The Outsider is a decent 'modern' restaurant. The Port of Siam does great Thai food. Ghilli Dhu's is a decent pub, as are a lot of the pubs in the west end. Lebowskis serve about 20 different types of white Russians and the Citrus Club is the indie disco.
Ceres 8? Will this be a new random distance or do you have an 8 mile PB to beat?
Cool - thanks, Lit.
Some pics have surfaced from the weekend - the determination not to finish last in Saturday's 1500m!
Yes I'll be there, but I'm at a wedding the day before so won't be in shape to race it. Was thinking about running it in a similar fashion to how Skinny ran it last year, a progressive type run I think. Skinny - can you confirm?
I've been sent my race pack and I'm in Pen B which is close to the front which is good but this might make it tricky not to go off fast....
Bob - I might be getting confused but weren't you running for Charnwood at the weekend?
New random distance, Skinny. Should be a beatable 8 mile PB (just in case I ever race another one) though because the first two miles are up a massive hill and the rest is somewhat undulating.
I think I will do GNR next year. We could have a massive thread meet-up.
Holy crap! I knew the conditions were tough, but with the SSS rating they've applied to the weekend's races, my RB handicap has just been slashed from 5.4 to 4.3. Should be power to add as well with the 3000m from the Vets League still to come. Think I've just hurdled both Muddy and Mace's rankings, and now just trail Lit on the thread. (Not that I'm competitive or anything.)
Tommy - No, mate. British Masters - the National T&F Champs for Veterans and you run as an individual. The two events I ran were those that Dean ran last year, winning bronze in the 800m and becoming National Champion over 1500m. It's therefore a requirement to either wear your National vest (several World & European medallists were competing), your regional Vets association vest, or that of the club that holds your UKA registration.
Tommy from race report last year.
So race target was first 7 miles Easy to Steady, 3 miles at MP, 3 miles at HMP.
I actually ran 1 mile Easy, 5 miles steady, 3 miles at MP, 3 miles at HMP, 1 mile at 10k and the last 0.25 miles at 5:36 pace (sprint finish pace???)
Cheers Skinny, will look to do something similar, Which pen did you start from? I remember you had 'issues' and ended up starting further back than you should have.
Bob - yes of course, must have been thinking about your 3000m. Good work on your RB handicap. Like the photo!
Good luck tonight, lit.
Yes, good photo Bob. Good thing you aren't still wearing that t-shirt.