East District XC League: Livingston 18th October 2008

In previous years there have been five of us competing here...although today Jack was the only runner from the Kerr household in the U11 race. He is mad keen on his bike, followed by swimming with running being his least favourite. He ran fairly well finishing 5th boy.

His wee pal Helen, who he knows from triathlon made her XC debut today and she enjoyed it.

Pentland Skyline: October 13th 2008

A highlight of the racing calendar but a tough run. The conditions were good although extremely boggy and muddy in parts. I had a good enough run although I made sure that I didn't kill myself and kept to an even pace. Repetitive climbs with only the occasional stretch where I could open out. I finished in 3:22, marginally up by a few minutes on last year. This has been one of the few Scottish hill runs that I have done this year and it was good to catch up with some familiar faces.

Berlin Marathon: September 28th 2008

I thought that I would add to Hugh's blog since it's about running in general. A few weeks ago Dawn and myself headed off to Berlin with some friends to be tourists and runners in the same weekend.
Conditions were great a balmy18 degrees and lovely autumn sunshine. The route was flat...really flat..in fact it felt strange because there were no undulations at all. I kept a steady pace throughout finishing in 3:45:41, only dropping 40secs in the second half. Don't you just love splits when they're good. So yes I was pleased but felt a wee bit too comfortable so hopefully there'll be more to come.

For anyone intending to go.....some advice. Do not start in your designated time zone start much further up. It was a free for all with runners of all abilities all over the place. During my run I was aware that I was constantly passing people throughout. So if you're going for a time and don't want to be jumping on and off of pavements to pass people take note. During the race the first drinks station was 5k so it was chaotic trying to get fluids without people pushing and shoving. This was the pattern throughout. So push back if required.
Berlin itself is a beautiful city to visit and I would love to go back to see it again. The old and the new side by side was stunning.

Mary ......aka MaZza B

( me in the pink above at the post race celebration)