Well, it’s been a while but it’s been worth the wait. Sharon Moore and I are organising a BCS Women dinner/event on 27th June, starting at 6pm at the IBM offices in Edinburgh.
Save the date!
Author Archives:
Congrats to Phil+Hilary, Ianthe+Mark
The last 6 months has seen two of my best friends get engaged – Phil and Hilary and Ianthe and Mark.
Ianthe and Mark’s wedding won’t be until Summer 2013 (it seems so long away!) and it since it’s going to my first wedding as a bridesmaid! Congratulations to them both!
Rockin’ the US of A
A few weeks ago, I was in the U.S. for a mammoth 2.5 week trip encompassing 4 different conferences:
- Cross Creative San Francisco Trip
- Digital Media and Learning (DML)
- Games Developers Conference (GDC)
- South by South West (SxSW)
It was probably one of most memorable trips of my entire life.
There are some great photos by Carole Dunlop from TRC on the XCreative trip.
I also came back with a ton of ideas for Interface3. All this got pulled into a strategic plan that we’re adding to, modifying and executing. Watch out for news!
#24 Saying no for the week … [#30before30]
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 …
Visually search through EIF Programme [#CultureHack]
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.
If someone asked for a picture of happiness …
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:
#17 Go Cheese Chasing [30before30]
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
Infographic on Women in Business
StartupCafe turning 2!
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.
Half Marathon Completed! [30before30]
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.
