Teaching ramps up: climate module

In the second semester, my teaching tends to start quite subtly. The dissertation module starts straight away, with me being involved in all of it, and the first year tutorial module does its normal thing. The field trip module has three trips, but I don't normally do all three. And there is a module between the first year tutorial model and the dissertation module, but the module organiser kicks that off, and the tutorials start a little bit later.

Then I have my own module, but the teaching on it is actually started by Katrien and Jaco, and I'm only the third to take the stage. And then there is the climate module, but I am doing palaeoclimate, so it makes sense to first have the physicists teach the students about how climate works, and then I come in and place all of that on a long timescale. 

I am still teaching frantically on my own module, but this is the time that the climate module kicks off as well. And I must admit I have been struggling with it a bit for the last few years. It is taught to 3rd and 4th year students, and it is about climate. I think discussion is an important part of it. But for years I have been struggling to get the students to engage. If you have them in the room, you can ask them questions, but the risk is that the only thing they do is desperately trying to avoid eye contact. And if you ask them to contribute, by preparing something and reporting back, they generally don't. It's been a bit like pulling teeth!

I'm not giving up. This year might be the one in which I get some lively discussion going. If students of that level, doing marine science, and a particular degree that involves climate science, are not able to stand up and have their voice heard about climate, then who is? This is one of the great challenges of our time, and it needs a societal discussion. I do think it is my duty try to get the students into this. Our little classroom is a safe space where you can get a bit of practice without the risk of being torn down by the public. Or bots. Wish me luck!

NWRAC meeting

When you accept a position in a steering committee, it tends to come with some unexpected tasks. Being the newfangled secretary of the Eryri Harriers, I was busy sending emails to all sorts of people, taking minutes of the one in person meeting I had attended, and the one online one that I didn't mention on the blog. But then there was an invitation to a Welsh Athletics meeting. To be more precise; it was an online meeting of the north Wales Regional Athletics Council (NWRAC). It seemed I might not be fully needed there; the club should be represented, but Arwel often went. However; I was curious, and I also didn't mind having to skip a Thursday training. For some reason, I had come back from the track training that week absolutely exhausted, and I was still knackered the day after. And I also knew that the morning after the meeting (or alternatively, the hill training) I would have to go into the field with the students; that is quite knackering, and I would have to top that off with a lecture from 5 to 6 pm. That is not something you want to do if you are exhausted to start with. So this week I preferred a 7 to 8 online meeting to  running the rainy hills until 8pm! 

I recognised several of the faces on the screen. Two of them seem deeply involved in race organisation, and Welsh Athletics championships, so you see them a lot at starts and finishes and when WA hands out medals. They were doing both at the Twin Piers race. Kevin, one of the two track trainers, and also a prolific race organiser, was there, and our own Arwel. And then some people I didn’t recognise. 

The meeting’s highlight was a presentation by a lady of WA who spoke of all that’s going on in their corner. One thing she mentioned was the Track and Field rater.  everyone who uses an athletics track was invited to provide feedback on it. 

Aside from that, the meeting was mainly dealing with ongoing issues in the local athletics scene. Had all clubs paid their contributions to this, that, and the other? Were new competition rules fair? Had prize winners received their awards? Were all volunteer positions filled? 

It only overran for some 10 minutes. It was nice to get a look behind the scenes! I don’t know if I will be back next time; I’m sure Arwel can manage without me. But if he is not available, and I am, I should be there. And it is interesting to get to look under the bonnet! 

Cyrdle: goal achieved

I started Cyrdle a while ago. It was just a nice challenge and good for my Welsh. Initially it was quite a challenge, but practice makes perfect, so it got easier. and I found myself having a 98% success rate after some 200 attempts. 

Then Goodhart’s law kicked in. I wondered if I could get that number to 99%. I had had a good streak of correct answers! And if I had 98% at 200, I would manage it if I would not fail once in the next 200 attempts. And getting one was not much of a challenge, but doing it 200 times in a row still was. Was this still good for my Welsh? Or was I just chasing a metric? The latter, to be honest. But I figured it was an innocent case of chasing the measurements rather than the actual gain. 

It started fine. I often didn’t need all allowed attempts to get them! And I started to notice repetitions. So the average challenge faded a bit. But there still was the occasional adrenaline situation that I did only get the word in the last attempt. 

And then the 400th attempt came up. It wasn’t very difficult! And I got it in three goes. The answer was ‘arogl’; odour. And that had indeed brought my score to 99%! 

I will now stop. I have my metric, and I have experienced diminishing returns. But I’m glad I managed this! Nerd points duly scored…

Nick Beer 2026

I like the Nick Beer 10k! 80% of the route is going around the Orme, which is beautiful. And I got a category win last time. I won’t deny it; I like winning things. So when you could register for the 2026 edition I did.

In autumn, I ran the Conwy Half Marathon with Neil’s niece. She really wanted him to register for that race in the new year. He was hesitant. He had never run a race! And half marathons can be a bit daunting. So I suggested he try the Nick Beer. It's half the distance, and you cut out the dull bit through Deganwy. He agreed, and registered.

Now did the day approach we would for the first time run a race together! We would go together from his place. We could just walk from his house to the start; that was only 15 minutes. No parking stress!

We got our race numbers, went one last time to the loo, dropped our bags at the bag drop, and were ready to go. I lined up near the 45 minute pacer. I didn't know they would have pacers; this one was no one other than Tinka, very fast Dutch lady who had won it last year. Neil lined up a lot further towards the back. He aimed to do it within the hour.

I knew doing it in 45 minutes would give me a good chance of getting a category win. I didn't know if I could do it; after all, I was only six days after a blood donation. I also knew I wanted to beat Richie. I had done the previous time, but there was no reason why I should not try to do it again! After all; before that, he had beaten me twice in a row.

When I was lining up at the start I was beckoned by Harrier Tony, who wasn't running himself as he had a cold. He wanted to do a club picture. I couldn't really hear what he said because of the loudspeakers, but he gestured in some direction. I headed there and couldn't find him. I had gone to the wrong place! And even though in total there were some 20 Eryri Harriers running, he had to make do with one picture of two Harriers at the correct location, and then another picture with me and Dylan (who I had accidentally found) in the wrong location. Oh well! 

Attempt at club picture, with Dylan

I went back to the start and found myself between Richie, who said he was also aiming for 45 minutes, and Olivia, who had kept me off the podium at the Snowdonia Trail 10k in summer. That had been the race we had been kept waiting for hours; I spent most of that time talking with her, or dancing with (among others) her. I knew she would run away from us quite soon! But it was really lovely to see her.

When we started I saw not only Olivia, but also Richie run away from me. But I kept the possibility open that he had started too quickly. I might catch up with him later on!

It didn't take me long to also lose Tinka. Oh well! Going too fast in the beginning never benefited anyone. I trundled on. She didn't get too far away from me; at least not initially. And around the 3 km marker I overtook Richie. A good sign, but it ain't over until it's over. And I made my way to the highest point by the café. And there I expected to speed up.

The wind had other plans. The forecast has been southerly winds, rounding the tip of the Orme gets you in their zone of influence. And boy did the wind make itself known! I don't think anyone was speeding up. Everyone was battling against the wind. But after a while, the route goes down, and then the wind doesn't matter much anymore. I was unusually comfortable on the downhill. But even so, I did see Tinka increase the distance between us.

At the bottom of the hill I mainly just consolidate my position. I didn't see any women near me that looked 50+ so whatever position I was in with respect to the other people in my category, this was probably going to be it. And Richie wasn’t in sight. 

Some 1.5k to go

There was a young woman near me, and when we together came past the 9 km marker, where there was an actual chicken among the supporters, a spectator shouted at us that they thought we were 7th and 8th woman. Another spectator nearby thought we were 5th and 6th. We didn't know which one of them (or either) was right, but I at least had faith we were in the top 10. That was pretty good!

The young lady ran away from me and I didn't have a problem with that. I just tried to keep going at my place to finish. I could see I was finishing a few seconds after 46 minutes; fine with me! Slower than last year (45:22) but I was happy with it. I needed a breather now. And after the finish I saw Olivia and Tinka. Olivia had come second!

Finish! 

I tried to look on my phone where Neil was; we were sharing location. I didn't have signal! I went to the finish to see if I could spot him, and then I suddenly had signal. He was still some distance away, so I went to get my bag. I was keen to put on a warm jumper. Then I went back to the finish, where I didn't have signal again. I just kept my eye out! And then I saw him.

He looked a bit tired, but he smiled when I shouted my encouragements at him. And when he had come past I went looking for him behind the finish. Location sharing was useless there, but I found him. He was satisfied with his performance! Well within the hour. I was glad. I had been wondering if maybe I had inadvertently pressured him into registering for something he wasn't keen on. But I think he didn't regret it. 

We headed for the George hotel where prize ceremony would be held. And somewhere along the way I had enough signal to check if I was going to get one. I was! I had my category win. With a time of 46:06; almost 3 minutes faster than the next one up. And faster than the 40+ and 45+ winners. And I was 8th woman. This year had just been slower than last year, probably because of the wind. And the ceremony would start quite soon.

In there, Olivia found me, and we discussed how it has gone. And then the ceremony started. I took pictures of her, and Neil took pictures of me, and everyone was happy. The bloke who had won in the 60+ category was called Nick Beare! Everyone enjoyed that. And the bloke who had won in the 65+ category was none other than Eryri Harrier Dylan. We category winners got one of those runner packs with sports drink tablets and gels and a water bottle and suchlike. I had won one before. 

Top 3 ladies

The 50-55 category winners

When that was done we went back to Neil's place. We were both hungry by now! And I was glad we were both happy with our results. I'm not sure if he’ll ever race again but he might! The Conwy Half though? He sounded highly unsure of that. But who knows. And I was high on two category wins in the two (non-Borders League) races of the year so far. I hope to get more! 

More cat developments

Cats like sharpening their claws, and mine is no exception. She has a scratch post in the downstairs bedroom, which I have already had to refurbish several times. And in the living room, I just wrapped rope around the banister of the stairs: instant scratch post! She really likes both. And I had never refurbished the one in the living room (quite unlike the other one). But I decided it was time.

Before

It's actually made up of two bits of rope; the lower and initial one, which is sisal as I know it, and the upper one, which is a later addition, which I think is jute. I tried to have both the same, but the shop just didn't have sisal in stock. 

It is almost exclusively the lower rope she uses. So when that was pretty much worn through, I decided I might just as well move the other one down. So I did.

After

I hope she likes this rope as much as she did the other one. She has already used it! And it might be a bit more hard-wearing. If she doesn't like it, I might have to just find an alternative use for this rope, and get some sisal when I can get it. Time will tell! 

Race confusion

The Borders League fixture after Pensby would be in Wrexham, on March 1st. But then it wouldn’t. Wrexham council was going to be difficult and maybe the race would be cancelled. And then it was sure it would be cancelled. And then it was actually on; just not in Wrexham. It got moved to Birkenhead. 

In the meantime, I had noticed the Anglesey 10k/ half marathon were on that day too. That was tempting! I hadn’t run it in a while, but there was a new route. Maybe give it a go? 

And when I was already registered for both other races I suddenly saw the Sbrint ‘Stiniog race announced. On the same day! I had really enjoyed that race the year before. But this date was getting crowded now…

What am I going to do? Well, I think Sbrint ‘Stiniog is out. It's a great race, but I have my club allegiance to drag me to the Borders League, and the fact that I've paid full price to drag me to Anglesey. We'll see which of these two forces is stronger! One thing I know; if the Eryri Harriers would not be willing to car share too Birkenhead, I am not going. Then it will be Anglesey! I am not going to drive for three hours on my own for a 35 minutes race, and not make the tiniest difference to the club ranking anyway! The club ladies have never fielded enough athletes this entire season, so we absolutely have penalty points coming out of our ears. It is already not recoverable anymore. But if they would be willing to share transport then I'm not sure… time will tell! 

Cat quirks

Three years ago, I bought my cat a heated mat. My house isn't kept at a particularly high temperature, and cats like their comforts. So if she would just have her own mat, she could always be nice and snug and warm. And she liked it! The instructions say cats shouldn’t lie directly on top, so I keep a towel on top of it.

Of course there are times when she boycotts it. She is a cat, after all. But that never lasts long.

Then came the fateful day that the electrician drilled into the water pipe. When water started gushing out of the wall, he quickly looked around, saw the towel, and asked if we could use that. I figured we could. I have more towels. Surely it’s the heat that is crucial, not the towel. 

When the electrician was gone I put a different towel on her mat. But she didn't want it lie on it now. Oh dear! Cats can be so particular about things.

After I'd washed the original towel, I put it back. Maybe this would placate her? A towel that at least looked (actually was) the same as the original one, be it that undoubtedly, it now smelled differently? But she still wasn't having any of it.

The pipe incident was in December. It is now mid-February. And she has now finally accepted the towel! I am glad. Cats…