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First Oak Hill Park Run of 2015

After being dragged out of bed on Christmas morning to do the Christmas Day Park Run, today was my first official run of 2015. Park Run done!#parkrun A photo posted by David Quinlan (@quinlannm) on Dec 25, 2014 at 1:36am PST It was quite icy out and we had to go cross country for some short sections but there was a great turn out, 114 participants in all.  This was my 4th official park run and today, I set a…

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Cheeky Pork and Aurelio beer

Feeling creative today, I have decided to publish my first recipe on-line.  I am a very keen home cook and am quite keen on beer!  I have cooked beef  with Guinness many times to the satisfaction of many dinner guest! Today, I decided to cook a cheeky pork dish, with Aurelio beer from Two Fingers Brewing.  You can of course use any beer in this recipe, or any cut of pork I guess, once they are smallish chunky pieces!  but…

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Royal Parks Half Marathon 2014 Done!

After 28 training runs (according to MapMyRun) I completed the Royal Parks Half marathon on Sunday 12th October.  My official finishing time was 1 hour 48 minutes and 38 seconds, which is now my new personal best (also, set PB for 10k over the first 10k).  I would like to thank all those who sponsored me for this event.  I raised a total (to date) of £266.75 for Men United, Prostate Cancer UK. The Men United team  raised an incredible £46,500…

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Paralysis by Analysis – Too Much Information

After posting picture of “self-help” 🙂 books on Facebook, I’ve reviewed books I’ve read while commuting so far this year…. what does my reading list say about me? Hmmm  is this more self-harm!  too much information??  Am I on the road to Paralysis by Analysis?? The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon : Brad Stone The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers : Ben Horowitz Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators,…

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Isle of Man Cycle Challenge 2014

I lived on the Isle of Man for over 7 years and one of the highlights of the musical calendar with Manx Concert Brass was the Manx Last Night of the Proms.  Mrs Q was this years featured soloist (read all about it here..) so we travelled over and spent a few days with the folks!  My father in law has become somewhat of a keen cyclist, and was signed up to participate in the CC Isle of Man Cycle…

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BUPA London 10k 2014

I participated in the BUPA London 10k this year on May 25th where I even managed to beat my previous time with significantly fewer training runs.  Added bonus this time was no IT band pain after the run, the inserts into my running shoes certainly help with my flat feet! My 10k time was 51:37 which I am quite pleased with. I finished strongly with a sprint even 🙂 Next up…. Royal Parks half marathon in October… Will have to…

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Music as a Sport

There are winners, there are losers, but when music is reduced to a sport, we all lose… … unless you win, of course… when, of course, it is all right. Areas, 2nd to Last, Senior Trophy, Last… enough…. Paul Archibald sums it up rather eloquently in his blog post. No more brass band contests for me for a while, concentrating on music making, concert repertoire and accepting the fact that in amateur music making, mistakes happen in live performance.  So…

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March, marches and contests

Coming from Ireland, March mainly means one thing, St Patrick’s Day on 17th.  As a school kid, it means the manufacture of your very own “St Patrick’s Day Badge” (a green white and gold rosette), participating in the Parade with your school or other sports group.  As a member of a brass band, it meant that long march in the town’s parade, usually right behind a slow moving articulated truck spewing out diesel fumes! Since moving from Ireland to the…

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Hectic to say the least

After all the concerts, contests, shows towards the end of 2013 Mrs Q and I finally got away for a fantastic holiday in Dubrovnik to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary.  What a marvellous place, steeped in history, with stunning architecture, an amateur photographers dream, as you can see from my Flickr photos. Full Flickr Feed here.  We stayed in fantastic hotel that had it’s own private beach with lift through the cliff to access.  Highlight of the trip was the…

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three down, one to go…

Haydn Concerto with SELO – done… Overall, I think the performance went very well.  The Orchestra accompanied brilliantly, and it was a very (surprisingly) relaxing affair.  It was a fantastic experience to play a concerto with full orchestra, and especially to quite a large and very appreciative audience. National Finals with Regent Brass – done… Even got some good comments from the Judges…. Overall we finished, er.. in last place, but hey.. not to worry, there is always next year…

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