Leiden 5K - Video

To be honest, they're not very impressive, but here are the links to the videos of Emmy and me as we crossed the finish line last Sunday.

Leiden 5K - 34:54

I've been obsessively watching the weather forecasts leading up to the Leiden Marathon today. After a couple days of downpours, I woke up to more of the same this morning... not too promising. Nervous Facebook checking confirmed that fellow runners Emmy (Leiden half marathon, and the person who got me running again - thanks Emmy!) and Josie (10K in Nijmegen), also had nothing but running and weather on their minds!

I headed off for Leiden early, so that I could collect my start number and watch Emmy at the finish of the 21.1km. She was looking in impressively good shape, as Jamie's photo (taken a little earlier) shows, and finished with a time of 2:04:47. Despite the crowds we managed to meet up at the end and killed some time before my race started an hour or so later.

So, then it was my turn. My expectations weren't too high - I haven't run seriously in over a year (since I ran the 10K last Spring) and I haven't managed enough training since I decided to sign up for the 5K. Still, I was determined to give it a good attempt, and hoped I wasn't going to come in last.

Standing on the start line was exciting, but nerve wracking. Never mind that you have nothing to lost, and nothing really to prove, standing on that start line gives you butterflies. After 5 or 10 minutes jiggling impatiently before the start, the runners joined in the final 10 seconds countdown, and we were off!

The course took us through the centre of Leiden and through some residential areas. It was fairly easy running, aside from one cobbled area and the four or five bridges we had to cross. The lowest point in the race for me was a fall, somewhere around the 1.5km point - I turned my ankle and fell flat on my face (or more accurately, my left knee). The resultant stinging took my mind off muscle ache, but also broke my pace. Still, I was up on my feet pretty quickly, and didn't pause to catch breath before starting running again. Although it took me a little time to find my balance back, the fall left me doubly determined to complete the course.

At the 4.5km mark, the encouragement of spectators along the way spurred me on, and I managed a final sprint to the finishing line, getting in just under 34 minutes (33:54). My final position was 778 out of 922 - less than half as fast as the fastest runner, but about twice as fast as the slowest! For interest, I've produced a rough graph showing the distribution of the times.

As I hoped, the experience has fuelled my enthusiasm for running again, despite the impressive colour of my knee. I've signed up for the Rotterdam Ladies Run in June (5K again, don't think I'm ready to tackle the 10K just yet), and now, of course, I have the incentive of beating my time from this race.

Choral Evensong - 16th May 2009

Our new choir robes have arrived! They're a stunning (you might even say, blinding) shade of red, and look pretty impressive. Along with the order was my own personal robe (purple) and surplice, meaning that I no longer have to beg, borrow or steal one when I sing with the ECS.

• Introit: Sicut cervus Palestrina
• Office Hymn: there was one, I don't recall what it was
  
• Preces & Responses: Sumsion
• Psalm: 29 (Attwood)
• Canticles: Stanford in C
  
• Anthem: Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem Stanford

Vegetables

Before I went to Canada, I planted the first set of vegetable seeds: rucola, beetroots, fennel, runner beans, potatoes (in a pot) and onions. The potatoes, onions and beans are already making good progress:

Northern Flicker

These photos don't have much to recommend them technically speaking, but I found them a nice series nonetheless. They were taken at 400mm handheld, and have been significantly cropped. A lucky sighting whilst we ate our lunch at a rest area off the Trans Canada Highway.

VNF West - May 2009 - Heempark Arboretum

We began today's photo club meeting with a practical session in the Heempark Arboretum, an area of the Delftse Hout next to the Papaver, where the photo club meets. As it was a windy evening, photographing the plants didn't turn out to be too successful, so I concentrated on orienting myself in the park for a future visit, and trying to find some bird life. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a pheasant, who didn't seem too disturbed by all the photographers wandering around. With the low light, I decided to the put the 5D to the test, and shot at 2000 ISO, giving a shutter speed of around 1/200 s at f5.6.

The second half of the meeting was "eigen werk", where members have the opportunity to share their photos. My favourites were a collection of bird photographs, including a couple shots of a purple heron, a bird which I have not yet seen, but would very much like to.

Lazy Days on Vancouver Island