Race Day!

As I have been wittering on about for a while, (and in my post about the impending 4-0) I have been training for the last 4 months towards running a 5k race.
5k is about 3 miles and is easy to walk, but hard to run. It was certainly a lot tougher than I thought. I worked up from running for one minute at a time, until I could run for 40 minutes.
I was so excited when race day came. The race was at Hazlehead Park in Aberdeen and it was a lovely fresh, sunny Autumn day.
After an excruciatingly embarassing 'warm-up' about 200 of us set off. Some zoomed away immediately, some jogged along and some just walked. Me and Alistair were about in the middle group (Alistair running slowly to stay with me.) After about 10mins, the dreaded energy drop set in, but soon lifted and we were beetling steadily along. We did two laps of the park and speeded up for a good pound towards the finish line. The feeling of elation and achievement as I passed under the inflatable arch (pictured) was colossal, I felt brilliant! We did the run in 35 minutes which was better than I hoped for. I could have gone faster but wanted to finish and not have to rest part way. My next project is a 10k next year...

Parklife

I've always lived near parks, and as a flat inhabitant, parks have been my gardens.
I also got married in my favourite park in Aberdeen; Duthie Park. This park is currently being restored back to its Victorian glory and I can see this viewing mound with flagpole from my house! I also like to go walking and running there.
My other favourite parks in Aberdeen are Albyn Place Gardens; an elegant urban garden with an amazing, enormous horse chestnut tree and Johnston Gardens; a Japanese inspired garden built in a rocky valley with ponds and bridges.
All are free and open to the public all the time. Visit your local park today!

Go-to Recipes

This evening I'm cooking pea and bacon risotto. Which I cook a lot. I was thinking about recipes that I cook all the time (so I don't even need a recipe). They're all easy comfort foods which are what I like to eat and cook. They're also all real carb beasts as one of my friends complained, on being served pasta with garlic bread. Hey, I like carbohydrates.

The Usual Suspects line up; Macaroni cheese, marinated chicken in pitta with hummous, chilli, butternut squash soup, beef bourgignon, risotto, quiche lorraine.

Do other people have things they always cook and any recommends for a carb loving woman in an inclement climate?

Whisky Tasting?

We went to Edinburgh to have a dinner and whisky tasting at The Whisky Society with my inlaws, brother in law and his girlfriend. I must admit, I was a bit nervous about this, thought it would be really po-faced and stuff.
Actually it was a great night out! The whisky society has a members only restaurant/bar which is in an old bonded warehouse in Leith and is very Victorian, lots of wood panelling. Food wasn't bog standard 'Scottish', I had beetroot risotto.
Anyway, to the whisky! We had three whiskies, (pictured on left) mild (Speyside?) woody/fruity (Highland?) and smoky (Islands). To my surprise I liked the smoky, peaty one best. Their whiskies aren't the usual branded ones and were pretty firey, coming in at about 50% alcohol. I'm proud to say I didn't splutter or cough once I had tried them undiluted though (unlike some of us...) There was a lovely barman who talked us through the tasting and about whisky in general. For instance, did you know most of the flavour comes from the type of wood in the barrel? I didn't. Think this could be a new vice, excited about trying more whisky soon!