Spurred on by a conversation this afternoon, I’m going to try and tick another thing off my list by saying no to things this week.
This ‘thing’ was created because I would say ‘yes’ too much – to a fixing something, or to buying something or to organising some event. I’m just really bad for agreeing to do stuff.
So for this week, unless its to do with business, its going to be a ‘no’. Gulit-free no …
A few weeks ago I went to Culture Hackday Scotland 2011. I wrote about it on StartupCafe.
I made this:
http://www.interface3.com/EIF/
Its basically a mashup between Microsoft Pivot and the Edinburgh International Festival Programme.
Here is an account of why I did this:
For me, I really wanted to do something that could be used for this year’s festival. And since the only programme for 2011 available was Edinburgh International Festival, and it was complete (and in an excel spreadsheet), I decided to try and get it tidied up and visualise the whole programme in a much more interactive way in Microsoft Pivot.
Since I needed to use a windows machine and my little netbook wasn’t quite big enough for me, I moved my desktop machine to have a little retro 1990s-style portable office.
It took a little while because there just needed to be some thinking behind how best to present the data and which categories to pick. Once done, it wasn’t too bad. (And because the hack was relatively straightforward, I did actually get some decent sleep in).
The result is a silverlight app that allows you to sort via pictures. Best thing is, its ready to be deployed on the web, meaning that anyone who wants to visit the EIF this year, can look through shows on the web. I just need to find somewhere to host it.
We won the Islay Beach Rugby Tournament this past weekend.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I hope this one speaks volumes:
Tomorrow is the traditional Late Spring Bank Holiday Monday that the annual Cheese-Rolling Festival at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire takes place.
The sad thing is, due to health and safety reasons, it looks like the 2011 is going to be cancelled (similar to the 2010 event). The police are worried that people will break their legs because they’re running high speed down a hill. Which … when you think about it, is sensible. Especially considering the cuts that the NHS are facing at the moment. Continue reading
Last night, StartupCafe celebrated its second birthday.
Never one to shy away from partying, we threw an amazing birthday party. It was pretty epic. There are photos. And better photos.
I’ve talked about how delighted we have been to get such a reception from the community and how happy we have been to be part of something that helps people.
Most of all, StartupCafe has allowed me to become great friends with the nicest people in the world: Jess, Hilary, Thomas and Bela. They rock.
Last sunday morning, I, along with thousands of others, got up for 8am to run 13.1 miles in the Half Marathon bit of the Edinburgh Marathon Festival.
I have to say, compared to last year, this time round was a very different experience. Definitely less pain this time round.
Last Year: Chris Hoy Half Marathon 2010
Last year, I started training just before New Year and discovered how much I loved running in fresh-fallen snow (no, really, its awesome, if you haven’t done it before, make sure you get ready for it this winter). But by the time mid-April came, my knees were in a pretty bad shape. In my eagerness to ensure that I ran all the way, I had over-trained a little bit too much – regularly doing 30-40 miles a week. In the lead up to it, I relaxed a little in the hope that things will heal and get better. It did. Sort of.
In the race itself, my right knee seized up after mile 2. Not wanting to give up, I just hobbled and did my best to keep on running. It was a sorry sight. All I thought about for the next 4 miles after that point was 1) how much pain I was in and 2) how much I would pay for painkillers. (Pitching workshops that included phrases about paying for ‘painkillers’ took a whole new meaning.) After mile 6, the knee finally loosen up. Miles 10 – 13 were a real struggle: I remember having to pinch myself occassionally so that pain signals were diverted from my feet to my hands. Still, I finished in about 50 secs outside what I thought I would do.
This Year: Edinburgh Half Marathon 2011
This time round, I only trained 4 weeks prior to the race. Granted, the biggest advantage from last year is that I’ve dropped at least 10 pounds since then, so running on the knees was much less stressful.
In the weeks leading up to it, I followed a similar pattern of training from last year: short, medium, short, long runs. I tried to up my mileage to around 20-25 miles per week. Here is roughly what I did:
Week 1: 3, 5, 3, 7 miles
Week 2: 3, 6, 3, 9 miles
Week 3: 4, 8, 4, 11 miles
Week 5: 3, race
Despite the different race, the course itself was pretty much the same as last year. This time, there was no overtraining, and it was all good until about Mile 12, which was the real “plod, plod, plod” moment. I struggled until I could see the finishing line, and got an extra boost when I saw Sicknote who waved me on finish.
I managed to knock 5.5mins off the time last year.
The marathon …
This week has been a week off. The plan is to train in cycles – going from 13 miles to 20 miles, then a little time off, then go from 20 miles to 26 miles. Why do it in chunks? Well, I find that running long distances is partly about mental state and concentration (i.e. preparing yourself for it) and also about not over-training. In other words, I need to put in the long runs, but I don’t want to go overboard either.
Incidentally, I’ve been following the training plans from A Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer - which is highly recommended.
More than a decade ago, I innocently sent an email to the (then) Dept of Computer Science mailing list at Edinburgh University asking whether there was a Computing Society. The reply was “no, maybe you should start one”.
So I did.
Since then, we managed to assimilate the A.I. Soc, kidnapped their Cascade Scheme (and redeployed it, thanks to the drive from Paul Hamiliton) (and we also changed the stuffed toy from a Moose to a Monkey, to reflect the move to Appleton Tower), and started a series of Special Interest Groups which boasts Hoppers as part of it.
Nowadays, Compsoc is a much, much bigger organisation than I ever imagined. I can’t even come near to claiming any credit for this. Each year, each new committee breathes new life into the society and for the past 2-3 years, the folks involved have been amazing. Compsoc even runs its’ own version of Techmeetup – a monthly gathering of people from industry to engage with undergrad students here. I’m immensely proud of what they’ve achieved and hope that this continues long into the future.
Back at the start, Back with the Old Guard
It wasn’t easy though. For the first year, we even struggled to get the 20 signatures required to be recognised as an official society. Our main project was EARWIG – a MMORPG based around navigating your way from the JCMB entrance to finding Stephen Gilmore’s (our 1st year Director) office. The whole thing was supposed to be implemented in Java. Needless-to-say, EARWIG’s vision was never fully realised in code, but we did spend many hours and days debating its architecture and implementation.
As with any society, there was the ‘core’ lot of people that ran the show, most notably: Mark Miles, Paul Hamiliton, Michael Eng, Alex P. We were affectionally nicknamed as the “Old Guard”. As rarely as we get to see each other nowadays, when we do get together, it’s as if we’re back in 2000.
Luckily, a few weeks ago, Mark (now in Germany) and Michael (now in Japan) happen to be in town the same week as each other and we had an impromptu reunion. The CompSoc Time Capsule is now resurrected and placed under Paul’s command. So for a bit of nostalgia, here’s a few photos of us through the years …
Here we are back in 2000:
Then again in the 5 year anniversary (2005):
And the most recent one … (again at the Pear Tree):
After signing up to the Loch Ness Marathon and somewhat panicking after realising I should have looked at the height profile of the course before signing up, I started training last week.
Turns out that it wasn’t as bad as I thought.
Really. It wasn’t.
Not sure why, but despite struggling to run a mere 6.5k when I was in Austin, its not much of a problem at the moment. I’m counting myself very lucky.
So like a fool, I decided to sign up for the Edinburgh Half Marathon. My sister will be running too. As well as a fellow run2see team mate.
Look forward to seeing you there! 
After being swamped at work and various other side projects, I’ve unfortunately neglected my 30 before 30 list for a bit. No fear – I’m back on track by signing up for the Loch Ness marathon on 2nd Oct. It might be a month after my 30th, but figured its best late than never!
