On Friday we went to Gullane. We were late getting out the house and lacking oomph so despite having coffeed up on some no.4. strength beans before leaving, we got more coffee and a scone at the Village Coffee House when we arrived. Peter has a new wetsuit he wants to test out (which seems to be as thick and strong as tissue paper), so we had taken the wetsuits. As soon as we sampled the cutting winds outside the van, however, we cancelled that idea in our heads. The run, once we got going, was exhilarating though.
I hadn't given much thought to whether I should do the Carnethy Hill Race or not - but the last thing I wanted to do was set myself back, so I decided then I was definitely going to skip it. Almost as soon as I'd made this decision, my legs seemed to feel back to normal, as if I'd secretly been malingering in order to get out of doing the Carnethy. Whatever. The sun was very low, the wind was strong, we were quite high from too much coffee, and we had fun blazing along the beach. We've been trying to master a double jump shadow for some time now but I have real trouble getting off the ground.
I went for another wade in the sea at the end of the run. Peter was so cold he had to gallop up and down the beach so there are no pictures.
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So Saturday was the Carnethy Hill Race and Peter was away to do it. I had no idea what to do run-wise so I went out around Granton. I was almost relieved that I still had to stop and stretch a couple of times - that I had not entirely made up my leg troubles. While I was in Granton I was tempted out onto the pier there. You have to watch your feet as there are some big cracks between rocks and the penalty for getting it wrong could be taking a header into the Forth. There was a very fresh wind out on the water though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Today, again, was an effort to get out the house. We'd kind of thought about going back to Gullane but it seemed like too much hassle, so this time we headed to the Botanics with tempting nuts and meal-worms to charm the birds and squirrels out of the trees. However, we actually had our best nature experience before we got there. We went via Inverleith Park and unwittingly started a three-way war - mallards vs. gulls vs. tufted ducks. There were some crows shouting out from the side-lines but they never got their beaks dirty. The gulls won effortlessly using greater air skillz and better team-work.
Even though we'd packed our duvet jackets the Botanics were just too cold. (Not allowed to run). And I find the Sunday people irritating. Churlish, I know. Churlish as hell. And I don't even have a hangover, and almost never do. People just go about talking and blocking the path. RRRRRAH! Peter had just tempted a very cute squirrel down from the woody heights when we were mobbed by some French enfants, and I had to pretend I didn't want to lob them into the undergrowth. But I did. (Want to, not lob, just for the record.)
So the Botanics are always good, but on a Sunday in early February is not them at their best.
It was good to get home and eat soup and toast.
I better tidy my room and do the dishes.....
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