Jlog on.

Needless to say, I didn’t finish the poem till well after midnight, and got to bed at some time around 2. So it was up at 8 to go for the run! The Run! Arthur’s Seat! I’ve wondered for some time what sort of nutters run around Arthur’s Seat. I love Holyrood Park, of course, it’s beautiful, and you get all sorts of good views. But I don’t go up nearly as often as I feel I ought. It’s one of those things that it’s nice to know is there. I have to say it made Summer most concerned that I’d chosen to go running on our holiday. Her fears were two-fold. Primarily, she was worried that I would injure myself (perhaps an ankle) and not make it to our show at Midday, or flyering our show before hand. However, her underlying fear is that she has promised to run the Half Marathon with me, but most recently ran 4 miles. She’d briefly also said she would train with me in Edinburgh, but had second thoughts after packing. She had no regrets about not coming with me when morning came around though. She’s rapidly coming to the conclusion that although we will both run the race, we might be running at different times… 

I had used Runkeeper to establish that the run from Dalry Road and around Holyrood Park was 9.5 miles, which was good, as my spreadsheet said 10, and I figured that was a good approximation. I set out, and trotted up a blissfully empty Princes Street, thinking first that all the tourists would still be in bed, but briefly wondering where the real residents were, and diverted down into the gardens.  I ran past Carlton Hill, and down under a dodgy tunnel under the rail tracks, and emerged out into Holyrood Park, somewhere behind the Palace. I did as wide a circumference, anticlockwise, as I could, and eventually came to the road ascending the hill around the back of Salisbury Crags. 

There were a lot of joggers, all of whom were going the other way. I realised that a good reason to never run the Edinburgh marathon would be that a lot of the entrants would train in and around Edinburgh. I felt a new respect for Donna’s daughter Helen who ran it last year. I hadn’t been planning on running to the actual top of Arthur’s Seat, I only wanted to run around it. And in doing that, you really go up quite a bit of hill. But you know how it is, it was there, and it’s such a long time since I’ve gone up it, so I thought I’d get in a bit of hill training at the same time. This was blatantly stupid. It was extremely hard going – this is clearly a “hill”. The embankment in Peterborough is not a hill. It’s pushing it to call it a slope, even though the hill training almost killed me. Running up Arthur’s Seat made me get that pain in the back of my throat and lungs. I got to almost the top, but there were people there, and it was quite rocky, and I’d probably have to walk it. 

I decided it hadn’t been my aim to get to the top, and I got quite a good view from the height I attained at the almost top, so I decided to run back down again. Ha ha! Running down something that steep is even more stupid (which isn’t to say that the hardcore Edinburgh runners found it remotely difficult). I debated rolling down it, a la Susie and Evelyn, but it was quite a way, and I didn’t like to think what it would do to the Garmin. Well, I got down somehow, and carried on. The walkers that I’d successfully overtaken had got one over on me, and I had to pass them again. Still, I felt smug about it. 

When I’d nearly got down, I saw Salisbury Crags looking beckoningly at me. I thought it would be excellent to jog along the bottom of the crags, and then back up the road the other side of them, but this was not to be – there had been some rock fall, and the path was closed. I did jog up to the closure and back again for some extra bonus marks, and also because I didn’t think my mileage looked very convincing. I ran back passed my first year flat on Sciennes, and through the Meadows. I went up Bruntsfield Links and debated whether or not to do a tour of my other Edinburgh Flats, but decided against it. I was mindful that I didn’t really know the route back, and not causing Summer unnecessary worry before our show was a good plan. I headed “downhill” and ended up by a canal that I never even knew was in Edinburgh, the whole time I lived there. I ran along it, and much to my surprise, it suddenly ended. No wonder I didn’t know there was one! I still would like to know how far it goes in the other direction, although I guess that’s what Google Earth is for.As I suddenly recognized where I was, I realised I was far too close to home to get in 10 miles, but it was nearly 10 am, and I needed to be back. I decided that Sally’s initial target had been 10 miles, but actually she’d relinquished that, and so the target (Arthur’s Seat) had already been realised. I jogged home, having accomplished 8.7 miles (and a hill).

I had time to shower, and then get onto the bike and power off up Grassmarket, and Candlemaker’s Row, past Greyfriar’s fraudulent Bobby, along Chambers Street and arrive at The Royal Oak by 11. We were missing two of our flyerers, but I set out with my instructions, and went around George Square, where the number of other flyerers easily exceeded the number of normal pedestrians. I went back to George Bridge and Chambers Street where there seemed to be more punters, and gave away a few extra flyers, including chasing after one of those bicycle taxis, where I successfully deposited a flyer in an outstretched hand. She didn't come to the show.

I have to say, modestly, that our show was brilliant. I can truthfully say that I enjoyed all of the performers, and think we did ourselves proud. There were some brilliant performances, including not one, but two poems about Peterborough! One of them started, I'll tell you once, and I'll tell you thorough - you don't want to go to Peterborough." The other was entitled "We've made it now (so screw you, Peterborough)" and was accompanied by the ukelele! But really, we had a whole stack of amazing poems and drama sketches, covering all range of different subjects. Tuna fish will never be the same again. At some point they will be available on Youtube, but they aren't yet, so I can't link them. My interweb fell over when I tried to put one of the poems on, turns out the clip was 60MB.


And later that day, we went to see Delete the Banjax, which is a hilarious sketch show, the kind of thing that Channel 4 used to put on when they were avant garde. And we rounded the night off with Richard Herring, who tried to persuade us that true love doesn't exist, and made us cry a little bit, partly with laughter, although in truth he's a very thought-provoking man, and it was both humorous and moving. I recommend them both. All. I recommend Pint of Poetry (and a dash of drama) very highly. Unfortunately you fringe-goers have missed it, and will have to come to Charters, second Wednesday of every month, and catch us there instead. You lucky, lucky people.


Oh, I thought I might treat you to the Jlogging poem. I'm not going to make a habit of this though.

Jlogging

I really hate running, I find it very dull.

Lots of folk in the office run together at lunch break

And I’ve always rather mocked them, which is very pitiful

As they set off for a five mile run around the rowing lake.

But I made a decision a little while ago

I said I’d help raise money for my friend’s charity

Her mum got lung cancer at Christmas, and so

I agreed. But I really really hate to run, you see.

I’ve got this thing about sponsoring folk

For stuff that they’ve probably always wanted to do

It’s taking the piss, I just think it’s a joke

“Can you sponsor me, I’m walking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu?”

But I still want to raise money for my mate

Not an abseiling off a building or a bungee jump for fun

Not something I’d enjoy but something that I’d hate

The difficulty here - I hate it! – I really hate to run.

So the mad folk at work are helping me train

With swimming and pace training and jogging

And I still hate to run, and it usually rains

So I keep up my interest by blogging.

I infinitely prefer the blogging to the jogging

It makes me watch for a funny slant among the different folk

And I love it, but I still really hate jogging.

But I like my blog, “Emma’s Running Joke”