This was my first "official" week training for my first marathon, Edinburgh at the end of May. I hope not to go on too much of this, it's easy to become a bore when you spend so much time+effort on something, but I'll keep you updated. I've also been all motivated, and doing lots of other stuff too, so I've had a few runs at night with a head torch. An interesting experience... The start of this week was suddenly wintry, clear and crisp cold air, so I had a couple of excellent experiences there.

Yesterday I went off to climb a hill, for the first time this year (and in about three months too). When I changed trains at Perth, I met a couple of guys who were doing the same thing I was—cycling from Blair Atholl to walk up Beinn Dearg. We got talking, and subsequently spent the day together. Strangely, they were PhD students from Glasgow, one even knowing a couple of people from my department.

The weather turned out better than expected, and it was sunny for the cycle in. After fairly hard going up the start of the track, we soon reached snow, which proves difficult but fun to (attempt to) cycle in. After ditching bikes, a short walk leads to the bothy, and up the hill. Beinn Dearg is a flat rounded hill like most of those nearby, so as we neared the top the wind was consistently bracing.

The cycle back down was fast and fun, as you might expect. I do need to adjust my brakes...