This year has been outstanding for gigs, specially the last six months (the first six were oddly quiet, I’ll be damn sure 2010 won’t be like that). A good mix of new bands (Jetpacks), old favourites (Biffy) and then there is Frightened Rabbit.

I first came across Frightened Rabbit before last years Biffy Gig, grabbed their Midnight Organ Fight album and slowly fell in love. Easily the most played album in my collection of the last year, I’ve had it on non stop in my car, stunning lyrics and real emotion, needless to say I was keen to catch them live.

Getting tickets has proven to be a nightmare, from a sold out captains rest evening gig, the matinee, their gig at Edinburgh’s Queens hall, and even a surprise appearance at Oxjam – it was looking not meant to be.

As word of mouth spread, the band are understandably popular, with a ABC gig announced I pounced and grabbed a bunch of tickets before it quickly sold out, 1250 capacity of a band most folk will ask “who” – rather impressive.

Heading along to the ABC on a winters night, we caught the end of the support band. The rabbits came on and played most of The Midnight Organ fight, along with some new tunes for the forthcoming Winter of Mixed Drinks album, and a little festive number thrown in for good measure.

I was delighted to see the string quartet backing them up, I adore any gig with stings, just adds so much. But… the sound, I’ve been to some good sounding gigs in the ABC, really not sure what happened on Tuesday but it just didn’t sound great – we probably should have moved around – but we didn’t and I was left feeling disappointed.

I’m now really, really keen to see them play a smaller venue, maybe an acoustic set – but thinking the chances of that are slim to none, I live in hope…

Back to the Academy for another gig, this time the return of Skunk Anansie, who split up in 2001 after a 7 year run. I knew most of their songs from my high school/college days, liked their ‘96 album Stoosh but never tried any of the others.

After the split, Skin from the band released a few solo album, I have and like “Fleshwoulds” the first of them, but neither album really took off.

Cue 2009, a reunion, Greatest Hits and UK tour. A bunch of us went along, I was more just up for another gig than super keen, so a surprise was in store.

Skipping the support band, we popped down to the front of the Academy and watched as Skin came in covered in some weird pompom ball, the band kicked off, playing though all their biggest hits including Brazen (Weep), Charity, Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good) and the fantastic Weak. It was noted that they did not play “All I Want”, we expected that on the second encore, but it never showed.

Hats off to Skin, who looked like she was loving playing to the full house, she jumped in to the crowd on more than one occasion, was carried on her back right across the lower foyer and then stood on the balcony and sung her heart out.

Seriously stunning performance, loved every minute of it.

A wet, dark, cold winter night, time for dinner, beers and then a trip down to the Barras to catch Biffy Clyro’s fantastic return.

Last seen here in 2007, they moved up (I use that term loosly) to the SECC last December for a rather mixed gig, terrible sound that plagues that venue. Gladly this year they return, two nights in a proper venue.

With a fifth album Only Revolutions, out next week, Biffy are on the road to promote and do what they do best. About half of the new album has already been played, couple of singles released (That Golden Rule, The Captain), we were keen to pick it up before hand, but it seems to have evaded the usual leaks, shame.

They played a session for Radio 1 a few weeks back at Madia Vale, accompanied by full strings, the violins on 9/15th are simply stunning, I had high hopes for the Barras, but alas no strings came along.

Support came from Manchester Orchestra, we caught the second half of their short set, seems okay, I’ve heard their album and liked what I heard, didn’t come across as well live.

Biffy started with a mix of Revolutions and Puzzle, playing a blinding set, with some right corkers in there, 57, Justboy and The Captain. Sound was fantastic, sweat was present in buckets, we got a right good view right where the normal crowd mix the crazy folk, it was seriously loud.

There’s plenty of corkers up over the next few weeks, the bar has been set very high.

And there it is, marathon complete, actually complete weeks ago but I’ve held off completing this post till I have had time to reflect.

Back at the start of the year, and as my 29th birthday approached, I was doing the “30 list”, seeing what I’d like to achieve before then, one that stuckout was a Marathon. I’ve been doing more and more running over the years, and seem to be quite good at it, so was interested in pushing the boat out, seeing what my limit was.

Looking at the running guides, it was clear I didn’t have many options before May 2010, and therefore took a deep breath and entered the Loch Ness Marathon, I would have been up there for the lovely 10k anyhow, how hard could it be?

Training started early summer and slowly progressed, I was quite comfy doing 15 miles, very happy I could do that midweek after work – but trying to find the time to get to the recommended 20 mile marker wasn’t easy, you really have to take a day out of your weekend, stay off the alcohol the night before and be ready.

A few weeks ago I broke the 20 mile marker and was happy that at the end I felt there was something left for the extra 6 required.

I was wrong.

The weekend started on Saturday, we all headed up to the highlands, stayed over in Inverness and avoiding the booze on Sat night.

An early start for me and the other marathon runners, around to the Queens Park stadium for 8am. As this run was A-B, we needed to get the buses provided along the country roads and dropped between Fort Augustus and Foyers, right smack bang in the middle of no where.

Pre 8am, clear skies, Queens Park stadium. Rows of buses filled with runners. Filled being the keyword in that sentience. We joined a queue of hundreds, waiting in the 5 degree temperature, it was dry, which was a bonus but very cold for shorts & t-shirts. We were informed that two buses broke down and they were looking for alternatives, poor show stagecoach. As the time marched on, we were shoved on to whatever was available and had to stand as the coach rallied though the countryside at breakneck speeds towards the start-line.

Time for a quick cup of tea, another visit to the loo (I went six times before starting, six! Where was it coming from??) and then everyone was in place, the pipers walked in, got the crowd going and we were off, 50mins late but ready to go.

I covered the first half without much of an issue, kept a decent pace and enjoyed the scenery. With my training I’ve found my wall to be 16 miles, which makes sense as I trained to that level often. Once I got to 16 I started to struggle, hitting the water and Lucozade stands as often as possible, I ran on and on. The bladder came back to annoy me, first stop was a false start, the second was at mile 19.

After 19 I was really starting to feel the pain, legs starting to feel week, miles seeming longer, I went for the energy gel, which tasted like a really bad, hot, cough medicine, washed down with water it picked me up slightly for mile 20.

Miles 20-26 were kind of a blur, my legs had went stiff, my feet were killing me and the whole race was becoming a nightmare. The feeling in my arms and fingers was going, a horrible tingling sensation running down them, I could have easily stopped and thrown the towel in.

But I refused, I’d came this far and knew I could make the end, no matter the time, just wanting the end. Finally reaching the city, over the river and round to the stadium I plodded around the corner and saw the clock showing my time (well just over), I finished in 3:45:55.

I’m very happy with that, the Nike+ kit says I was doing 7:11 a mile, faster than I normally train, I didn’t seem to slow down as much as I thought and really couldn’t have put anything else in to it.

The aftermath, on the train home we were all very tired. Sitting was fine but getting up from the table, I felt it hard to stretch my legs out. Home for a bath and then straight to bed, I forgot about my legs till I got up and out of bed, nearly fell straight in to the wall – no flexibility there at all. The theme for the first two days was avoid stairs, or take them slow as hell. Once the knees eased off, my ankles and shins did a bit of complaining, but with time the pain faded. Feet were surprisingly fine, I think my combo of good trainers and running socks kept them safe.

And that brings me to the question, would I do it again? This is why I’ve waited to do this post, straight after and in the following days, I said never. Now I’m not so sure, I don’t see me doing that event again, I’d rather stick with 10k and half marathon events, as I can push myself for times and enjoy the event, the marathon proved to be the gigantic challenge, worth doing but I’ll leave them on the “maybe” card.

Tonight I’m doing last minute preparation for Sundays Marathon, I’ve made up a playlist on my iPod to get me around the route. I never used to run with music, but started to and now really enjoy it, especially when the right song comes on, lifts your spirit and pushes you though.

So, without further ado, here is my playlist:

I suspect I’ll hear it all at least twice….

Musical influences, I find new bands from various places, friends recommendations, the wonderful Last.fm website, which does a fine job of matching my listening habits with similar bands. Support bands at gigs is something I used to avoid, but once I started making an effort to go early, have caught some crackers, in times better than the main act.

Another source I like is soundtracks, I’m forever looking up sites like TV.com and IMDb for soundtrack listing, the last example of that would be The Temper Trap’s superb Sweet Disposition from the 500 Days of Summer OST.

Tuesday night’s gig was Theory of a Deadman, a band I came across whilst playing the superb Fahrenheit a few years back on the old Xbox. As part of the game you could retire back to the main characters apartment, looking for clues, and turn on his CD player. The game used real bands, and this band’s song “Santa Monica” featured. I quickly grabbed their album and liked what I heard, they had their fair share of play over the years.

The band haven’t been over this side of the pond before, but finally appeared on King Tuts line-up before being moved to The Garage, I’ve not been there since seeing Maroon 5 (before their album was played to death on the radio) and still hadn’t decided if I liked it as a venue or not.

Arriving, we were searched in true night club fashion, getting to the bar we were advised that we needed an arm band to be served, none of us look under 18, nor did the crowd, wasting everyone’s time if you ask me. Arm bands and pints ready, we caught the end of the support band The Crave who seemed not bad, probably should have got there earlier, but dinner went on a bit late, no matter.

Theory came on well before nine, being fresher’s week the Garage’s night club will be opened for young drunk students later on, so the early start was expected. They played a mix of their new album Scars & Souvenirs, before going back to the stuff that I prefer.

Sound wasn’t great, the left bank of speakers are blocked by a raised walkway, vocals didn’t come though all that clear but the band played a decent set. Not overly impressed with the Garage though.

Last weekend was a chance to get away, head over to Paris for a weekend break and run combo. The run in question was Paris to Versailles, a 10 mile run leaving from the tower along the river.

Arriving on Saturday, we checked in to the lovely B&B and headed down to collect our running pack. Looking at the height chart, it was noticeable that between 6k and 8k a huge climb awaited. As we stood and pondered over the chart, a friendly American girl advised that the climb wasn’t as hard as it looks and was more “gradual”, but to be careful at 13k where a shorter but steeper hill awaits.

Sunday morning, we got off at the Eiffel Tower and prepared for the 10am start, getting to the bottom of the tower, we were right at the back of a 17,000 runner queue. 45 minutes later, we were finally passing though the cattle gates which were used to thin out the runners before going over the start line, bit of a pain but the sheer sight of standing at the Eiffel Tower in Paris with all these people made it oh so bearable.

The run was amazing, along the road beside the river, I started at a good pace and headed though tunnels quickly getting outside the city, then 8k hit and the hill started, it was fast approaching midday, the sun was splitting the sky, not a cloud in sight and the temperature was approaching 25 degrees. The gradual hill was an endurance test, with every corner more of it appeared, it just kept going, and going, and going. Runners stopping left right and centre, I damn right refused, got my head down and piled on for around 15 minutes of pain.

Once that killer hill was over, the run flattened out, the French are fantastic with their drink stops, large bottles of water, glucose drinks and fruit, piling on though the woods, little towns the Versailles sign was a welcome sight. Heading around to the corner, pounding up to the palace it was a phenomenal end to the run, I finished in 1:17:36 which I was well happy with.

The rest of the weekend was spent wandering the lovely streets of Paris, it’s been 18 months since I was last there, having done the rather dull tourist attractions before, we had the days left open for pottering drinking and eating.

And now that leaves me with the rest of the week to carb load before next weekends grand finale.

Monday night, Glasgow Pavilion, Dave Gorman on stage, a relatively unheard of comic. Known mainly for his books Are You Dave Gorman and Googlewhack Adventure, a funny and very likeable chap – I was keen to head along and catch him after reading and watching some of his previous work

Are You Dave Gorman was Dave’s first adventure, taking him travelling the globe to find people sharing his namesake, 54 to be exact, all within a 300-500mpdg (miles per Dave Gorman) radius. The Wikipedia entry explains it better. Not one I’ve read, but I think I’ll do my best to pick it up at some point.

Googlewhack was again another globe travelling adventure with the intent of finding the authors of various Googlewhack’s:
“A Google search query consisting of two words that return a single result”.

If you have ever tried it, it’s bloomin hard going, I don’t know enough long and twisted words to string together.

Last summer I started reading his latest book, America Unchained – where Dave tries to go coast to coast across the states using nothing but independent businesses. I’ve still to finish reading it, mainly due to my very short attention span… ahem.

Anyhow, Dave’s latest venture is “Sit Down, Pedal, Petal, Stop and Stand Up” where he is cycling from Lands End, to John O’Groats, stopping each night to perform a stand up show. Some feat.

I was right in line for tickets and so glad we went. I don’t want to spoil any of the show and it’s a bit late to catch any of the current tour, as he’s now off to Dunfermline heading north for another eight days. Just to say it was a superb evening, thoroughly entertaining, not always side splitting funny, but very interesting and very well done.

Last Sunday was the Cumbernauld 10k, I’ve not got around to blogging it as I don’t know my exact time and haven’t seen the Noddynews to findout. But time for a quick rundown.

Having been in serious training mode for months, the last few weeks have been harsh, the Glasgow Half went well but just finding the time to do more and more distance, whilst staying away from fun stuff like alcohol, isn’t easy.

Last Saturday I broke, out for a nice dinner and I had a beer, then another, and a few more. Wasn’t a messy night but the 7am Sunday alarm wasn’t a welcome sound. Up and ready, I filled myself with crumpets, a banana and loads and loads of water before scooting out the door.

Arriving at Cumbernod, the sun was shining bright, which is nice for the spectators but horrible for running. This would prove to be a hard 10k, leaving Broadwood stadium, we kept up a fair pace and heading around past the Irn Bru factory, the road seemed endless. Heading in to the Blackwood housing estate, the 7k mark approached, where I would normally think about pushing on, opening my stride and working up to a fast end, I had nothing in my tank, not a sod.

The 8k marker appeared whilst running around the loch, sweat pouring down my face, 9k was on the radar. Then the final sprint, or it has been in almost every other event, but alas this year there was nothing left but to just get the thing finished.

In 2008 I did the event in my best 10k time, 42:32. I knew that wasn’t going to be beat this year but crossing the line, the clock was just turning on to 43 minutes, which I was well happy with.

Onwards to more training before the next event.

Just got this email and so had to share it:

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You are having a fucking laugh? Out of the four months I did on the road, this was the only place I walked out of, I spent one night in this shit hole, see the post Hong Kong, Hostel from hell (including typo’s that I never noticed, but wont bother fixing now) before getting the hell out.

Not even if it was free…