London Marathon 2009

By Martin | October 6, 2008




IMG_2147

Originally uploaded by martinlittle

Amazingly, my online ballot application made it through the filter to get into the line-up. Now to decide whether I can face it or not…

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ACE and Rat Races

By Martin | July 25, 2008

In case you wonder what I’ve been up to over the last few weeks(!), there’s been a lot of outdoor activity.  A few weekends ago (just think back to the last REALLY wet weekend) was the ACE Race (report here) down in the Borders.  That was a lot of fun, although hard going, especially with the weather.

Last weekend was the Edinburgh Rat Race, my third time doing it.  I raced with Julien and Gunilla, whom I’d met at the ACE Race, and we made a good team.  After finishing 72nd after the Saturday night prologue, we had a very steady day on Sunday finishing 35th (out of 130 teams), and one of only 50 to clear the course.  Our overall position of 41st/130 was well earned after 10 elapsed hours of racing.  There’s a full report of that race, including a nice picture of the steel ladder I climbed to the roof of the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena, over here.

The steel ladder was tough going, and about 20 rungs from the top I had run out of energy, but there was a reserve somewhere.  As well as that, my highlights were kayaking in the Forth, especially the return leg with waves crashing over the bow … and then the knee-deep mud at the slipway, jumping into the murky water of the quary and rocking around the orienteeting sections much more easily than ever before.

Next up: the Wan Dae Pentlands race and then the ACE Race in the Lakes.

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Water Great Idea

By Martin | June 27, 2008

This Saturday morning is the Edinburgh Raft Race (not to be confused with the Edinburgh Rat Race, as I did).  It looks like a lot of fun, although I wish I’d seen it a few weeks ago and could have put together an entry…  There’s some pictures here to get you in the mood.

Enjoy your weekend!

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Orange Balloonacy

By Martin | June 24, 2008

Thanks to Jim, I’m now racing a virtual Raccoon-shaped orange balloon around the Internet.  The balloon name is RocketRaccoon, so push him on if you see him.

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Scottish Beer Festival — This Weekend

By Martin | June 20, 2008

I’m heading along to the Scottish Beer Festival at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on Friday night.  Give me a shout on Twitter/email/IM/phone if you fancy a tasty jar.

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RSPB Ospreys

By Martin | June 18, 2008

Thanks to a colleague at work, I’ve started following a nest of Ospreys at Loch Garten, up by Aviemore.  There’s a live video feed, and it’s amazing to see how fast they are growing.  When you see the video, remember that the nest is about the size of a double bed!

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Bike Week 2008

By Martin | June 17, 2008

It may have escaped your notice, as it had mine, that this week is Bike Week 2008.  Edinburgh is reasonably bike friendly, with a number of cycle and canal paths into the city (see here for lots of good routes), bike lanes on busy roads and improving provision for locking your bike up instead of having to use a lamp post, but I can’t say I’ve seen anything about Bike Week apart from the CyclingEdinburgh site.

Anyway, there’s a decent selection of events going on (check here for the complete listing).  If you’re in Edinburgh early tomorrow morning, Spokes have organised a free breakfast at the City Chambers on High Street.  Cycle on!

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Seven Hills of Edinburgh Race

By Martin | June 15, 2008

Tomorrow is the Seven Hills of Edinburgh Race which, as the name suggests, is all about running around the seven hills that surround the city (and between them).  There’s no fixed route although there is a fixed order.

I’m going for it again, after a hiatus last year, but it’s going to be quite a haul.  In 2006 I went around in 2h 32m, but I think tomorrow will be slower due to lack of fitness.

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Amusement and Wonderment: Part 2

By Martin | May 28, 2008

Following on from Monday’s post, I found this update on the GPS drawing: it’s a fake.  I did have my suspicions, seeing as GPS really doesn’t like being inside, but I wanted the art to be real…

Some other cool links I’ve seen in the last day or two:

first pictures and a review of the upcoming Sony Ericsson P5 (codenamed Paris).  This is most likely the replacement for my P990, although I’m liking the look of the Nokia N82 Black and even the Nokia N95 8GB. Wired on the beauty of bridges, including a stunning photo of the Forth Bridge (railway) taken by this guy this guy was planning to jump out of a balloon at 130,000 feet and parachute back to earth but his balloon left without him!  He’s going to try again later in summer.  Meanwhile, we have a British entrant for the same quest in the shape of Steve Truglia.  They’re both mad. [via Tom] a bus that converts into a train.  Meanwhile, Adelaide already has the O-Bahn, which is very similar. some of the history of Wired. two of my favourite feeds: rodcorp and cityofsound’s del.icio.us links (also check out the blog)

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Amusement and Wonderment Linkage

By Martin | May 26, 2008

A few links for your amusement and wonderment:

the biggest drawing in the world — totally awesome GPS drawing, from a trace of a briefcase going around the world a quest for every beard type watch the NASA Phoenix landing on Mars [via Mat] sign this petition to request Google Maps to add a ‘bike there’ option

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