Whilst BBQing yesterday we were asked by a non running friend if running was fun. Sometimes fun is the wrong word, there are times when it is just about perfect though.
Making a change
Who'd have thought that a Vauxhall Astra might provide the inspiration I needed to make another change to my lifestyle. I'm spending a fair amount of time on the road at the moment & over the course of a 6 hour combined journey I found myself losing focus. As the M25 crawled delightfully on my way home I stopped off at my usual halfway point, the megalith Sainsbury's / M&S in London Colney. Normally when I head in, I pick up some chocolate & a sugary drink in an effort to wake myself up a bit, then get back on the road. Ok so on this occasion I still picked up a Toffee Kitkat (who wouldn't?), but I also picked up something that would change the course for the rest of the week.
I was due to work early for the rest of the week & leaving at twenty past six normally means that breakfast will be either a banana (unlikely), oatmeal & raisin cookies (more likely) or pain au chocolat (very likely) for the rest of the week, or a combination of the three. As my journey to Berlin continues & life itself is taking me in a completely new direction, I've started to look at myself a bit more objectively & think more about what I do & perhaps sometimes why. One conclusion I'm starting to make is that I have an unhealthy relationship with food. I don't eat big at meals, but I snack or at least I call it snacking, perhaps at times it is more of a binge. I'm also aware that I might be being overly harsh on myself, I do plenty of exercise these days so the occasional reward isn't to be condemned. I suspect the shitty past eight months have been a contributing factor, stress, anxiety & depression can manifest in different ways, some starve, some consume. I feel I've left the darkness behind me, got my head around everything now & feel in the best condition mentally I've been for a good time.
With this in mind, it was time to acknowledge that my snacking is more by way of habit currently & that I just needed to break the cycle. So rewinding back, my horde from Sainsbury's included a melon, some grapes & a pineapple. Once the M25 had released me from hire car mediocrity I was soon home & rather than let these items gather dust & rot away I chopped them all up & packed them into boxes. The idea being that I'd take some into work every morning, alongside a yoghurt (and not a Cadbury's Buttons one), removing the temptation & expense of a pain au chocolate.
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| Normally I only opt for chocolate covered fruit |
Sure it is a minor change, but as someone that usually views fruit as the work of voodoo, one that is far healthier long term & might have a benefit in the short term as well. I'm also trying to remove that mid afternoon chocolate bar from habit, another baby step. As Monday moved into Tuesday I was sceptical that either would finish the week.....
To the forest
Core team member Paul had missed our summer route launch as a shortage of volunteers at our neighbouring in Harlow meant that he parachuted in to take on Timekeeping duties. I'm hoping he doesn't think the cost of the helicopter hire will be covered by our donation pot! We arranged to meet on Tuesday evening so that we could cover a lap of the summer route to run through the marshalling positions & cover off any other questions he had.
My walk home from the station an hour beforehand had involved hale stones, wind, flash flooding & by the time I was home I had to peel clothes off. The next hour involved rain checking constantly, even on the journey home there was another deluge. Thankfully for the run itself the sun came out nicely & the rain stayed away as we took on the Forest at an easy pace. It was good to catch up with Paul & discuss marathon plans. He was keen to know what my plan entailed & the thinking behind it, whilst I was equally keen to get his thoughts on his London experience & what lessons he'd learnt.
Soon we'd chatted our way round the route & onward back to the car park. I was genuinely pleased to be feeling no after effects from the long run on Sunday.
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| Have I ever mentioned how awesome the forest is? |
On Wednesday evening I found myself parking in a place that I never knew existed, ready to take on something completely new to me. Josie from Unique Running Results had chatted to me briefly during a visit to parkrun about a new group she was trying to establish in Little Canfield. The aim was not a beginner's running group, more of a tune up for those already running.
Wednesday evenings work nicely for me & the opportunity for some structured coaching appealed so after missing the first two weeks due to work commitments I found the community centre on a shiny new housing estate ready to try some tempo running. I've been a fan of speed work for a couple of years, so to have a coach alongside to add some structure to it was something I was looking forward to.
There were just two of us in the class & we headed down to the Flitch Way. I was introduced to some new dynamic warm ups & stretches. We soon started with some 300m tempo runs, broken up by an easy 300m & some rest. For once my efforts did not resemble an increasingly diminishing return, in fact my last tempo was the fastest. It certainly got my heart rate going up into the 170's!
After a warm down I was back in the car & heading home. I'd felt the benefit of pushing myself straight away & looked forward to making another return to the group in the future.
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| A good start to tempos |
A Long Saturday Begins
I'm realising that once you're an Event Director, if you find yourself at your home event, no matter the situation you're never really off duty. Out setup was a bit frantic, it looks as though we need a bit more time to put the summer route together. I had a few announcements before the run briefing & true to form I managed to remember most of them, only to recall once the runners had started there was something else to mention!
The run started in an interesting manner as everyone filtered through the setup for the finish! The joke became that I'd bought a new notebook to the event for ED notes & that I'd have filled it by the end. The event got even more fun as our scanners both decided to fail at various points & I stepped in from another role to take over scanning. Thankfully we have some awesome volunteers & one of our regulars assisted once she'd finished running to ease the strain on Paul as the Run Director for the day.
As the clock moved closer to 10 I started to realise that we were getting close to an attendance record. When runners 186 & 187 entered the final field without the tail runner we knew that today was going to be something special. With the final figure taking us to 190, a new record over our inaugural by 2.
To be up & over our inaugural total in just week 10 is extraordinary. The efforts to down play our first event certainly contributed, but the continued success & intrigue in parkrun shows just how appealing a run around the forest is.
We'd expected results to be migraine inducing. To our surprise & relief we had the tidiest set of results seen in some time. We knew runner #5 was missing & after publishing the results we've been trying to reach out on social media channels to reunite this runner with his time.
The Dark Ox 10k
I got home just after midday, just over three hours until I would be picked up for a trip down into Dorset. I had time to get all of the kit I needed set out for the weekend, making for the obligatory photo.
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| For once, having lots of kit made the weekend easy |
So when fellow Um Bongoist Emily suggested White Star Running's inaugural Dark Ox on the Saturday night I tried to decline. I didn't want to hotel it as I needed to be in London so I was good thanks. But wait, we're heading there & back in a day, driving straight back once finished. No really, I'm good, the WSR races are mental, surely I should conserve energy. You can have a lift so that you don't need to put the Alfa through another Dorset trip. No I really am good, I mean this mile thing, I could break Steve Cram's record couldn't I?
Yeah, but have you seen the medal?
And with that I signed up. I'm like a running Golum, show me the shiny & I'll subject myself to silliness.
We arrived with plenty of time & that gave us the opportunity to chat with some of the WSR team, claim another Um Bongo member (another parkrun ED in the making, showing that we really are all a bit daft) & also chatted to the team behind the Nuclear Races, who for fun visit WSR to run all the events in a weekend.
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| There was no Congo flag, so Team Um Bongo adopted South Korea, and a new idea was formed.... |
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| Emily decided against the gurning contest |
The three of us had originally intended to run together, but Paul soon got separated from us & it made more sense for him to head on at his own pace. The early introduction to the trails appeared to have claimed several runners & we'd been slowed to a stop for a couple of narrow passages in the opening kilometres. Soon we were on wider trails & this allowed the field to spread out & runners to get into a rhythm.
There were a few puddles & as they were early on I decided on avoiding them. For this I was teased in jest by some ladies in front of us, to which I pointed out that they'd also taken evasive action. I'm not sure my line of I'll run through the next puddle if you do really counts as a chat up line! No one said singledom after 15 years would be easy!
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| Nope, no idea either.... |
With use of the other path I was able to turn myself around & wait for Emily to make a far more sensible descend, after which we took on the accompanying hill. Yep that's right. Descend straight into a climb, par for the course with White Star Running!!! This hill didn't see too bad, though by the top of it we agreed that we might have been better served by easing off on this one. Thankfully the prospect of further hills was easily predictable so we'd have a chance to test out that theory.
To be honest I'm probably all over the place in terms of what happened & at what point during the run. The whole experience was new, night trail running, reliant on my head torch for the first time was a fun one, though I doubt I could have chosen a tougher course to complete my night running initiation on!
The idea to use the buff to keep warm seemed like a good idea before the start. Within the first couple of clicks I was handing my water bottle to Emily so that I could move it up and use as a bandana, it was causing me to overheat whilst around my neck.
After a view of the golf course we were back into the woods & accompanied by the smell of wild garlic, something Emily had read or heard about beforehand. After a climb that required a walk rather than a run based on diminishing returns we were down to single file & getting accustomed to shouting ROOT to warn other runners behind of hazards. The root suggestion came from a runner behind us, both Emily & I were being a bit to vague or descriptive to be of much help to our fellow runners.
As 8km approached we were treated to what felt like a massive hill, a 50 metre climb that we chose to walk, there was nothing to gain here. This accounted for our slowest kilometre, 8:02 & my suggestion of finishing in just over the hour was very much looking like wishful thinking. The tactic was now very much in the format of the Larmer Tree Half, walk the uphill, run the rest, just with the added factor of darkness thrown into the mix. Another climb, just after 9km to overcome & then we ran the gentle incline back to the start / finish line. We knew it was approaching as you could hear people.
Soon we emerged into the field & like the perfect running partner I'm not I got finish line fever & strode out, apologising to Emily once more for my ungentlemanly conduct!!!!!
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| Post run, with the bandana in tow I was like a trail running Hulk Hogan |
We picked up our luminous race t-shirt & glow in the dark medal & made our way back to the car. It was time to clean up a bit before the three hour journey back home. We'd stop for food somewhere en route & in order to appear slightly normal I suspected the bright blue moustache might have to go. Of course if I had planned ahead I might have a towel available to me. Instead I had to innovate & for once I was happy for sweating profusely during the run & christened my new Um Bongo t-shirt by wiping the face paint from my face!
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| Awesome Run Bling |
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| Dirty Food. Mmmmmmmmm dirty food. |
I cannot recommend WSR events enough. In a world of homogeneous races that could take place anywhere, the guys at WSR stand out. They go the extra mile to put as much enjoyment & humour into some truly brutal courses as they can, rewarding you with awesome post race goodies & exceptional medals. I'm expecting the Dorset Invader to be the toughest weekend of the marathon plan, it could also be the most fun.
Westminster Mile
Thankfully my body clock's penchant for half five wake ups did not interfere with the need for a few more hours ahead of race 2 of TBW. I didn't make it all the way until 9am, but did get myself around six hours & enough time to scan through the test match highlights before driving down to Stortford to pick up a train into London.
Green Park is easy to get to when everything runs to plan & that is precisely what happened on Sunday, leaving me with at least an hour to kill before the parkrun wave started. I think this was the first race I'd be attending without anyone alongside so I wandered the park & dozed in the sun listening to podcasts to pass the time. On a lap of the park I spotted fellow parkrun tourist Steve Stockwell (copy7t on Twitter). He's now part of the core team at Dartford & on a slight hiatus from touring whilst the event establishes itself. We swapped parkrun stories & I thanked him for the advanced warning that Dartford was cancelled at the start of the month, leading to my Lullingstone visit.
After a toilet visit I found it was time to drop my bag off & make my way to the start. I still had plenty of time to go & spotted parkrun's Mr 500 Darren Wood, taking an opportunity to shake his hand. A remarkable achievement that he modestly puts down to being in the right place at the right time. A pat on the back from parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt as he passed me & after a slight wait for the Sweatshop wave to clear ahead of us I took an opportunity to take in the surroundings.
I spotted another parkrun tourist Mike Bristow (urglecom on Twitter) & checked in with him following his Run Director debut the day previously. He's seen me tweet about the fun we'd had the day previously, being on the other side of the fence certainly increases the sympathy you have for other events when you hear of their issues.
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| parkrun wave starting to fill up |
There is a kind of unadulterated joy about running such a short distance. I knew that I could run as close to my limit as possible, just let the legs go & to hell with the consequences. What was the point in holding back, the opportunity to run a timed mile is a rare one.
After the first corner a steel band was on hand, cranking out Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance with Somebody, an interesting adaptation! I found myself in a decent rhythm, not that my Strava output suggests this. The first km was completed in 4:33 & with the finish just a corner away I carried on pushing, dropping the pace down to 4:12/km as I crossed the line in 7:13.
I chatted briefly in the finish area with Paul Sinton-Hewitt, extending the invite to Hatfield Forest & thanking him for parkrun & the enjoyment it brings, quite how this came across with the post mile recovery I'll have no idea, but as parkrun has been around for over a decade I'm sure he's used to dealing with barely coherent runners!
I spotted Mike once more & chatted on the way back through goody bag & luggage pick up. He did the honours with the obligatory Buckingham Palace photo & we agreed that visiting each other's events would be forthcoming. After chatting to a Fulham Palace based tourist I got myself changed into slightly more normal attire & headed out of Green Park.
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| Apparently the Queen was watching all races intently |
I had a mere 4 hours to get home & turned around back out to the Forest so wanted to find food as quickly as possibly before heading out of London. I'd made my mind up to visit either Jamie Oliver's Hot Dog stand or wrap heaven at Jumbo Eats, both near Piccadilly Circus. As I wandered in that direction I had a light bulb moment, just before the hot dog place was the Japan Centre. That was the decision made then & I picked up a salmon sashimi & rice bowl for consumption on the train home & treated myself to a big platter of random sushi for the evening.
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| Might have overdosed on sushi. Still no idea what some of them were |
Oh hello again Forest
After a quick spin of Stortford to pick up BBQ essentials (had kind of forgotten charcoal up to that point) I found myself with a bit of time at home to start tidying up ahead of guests arriving on the Monday. My pile of filing had gotten so large that one of the cats had chosen to sit on it. With the cricket on the TV I felt this was a perfect opportunity to watch a bit of the action & make a start on sorting paperwork. Topper felt he could assist as well, laying across me or on various piles, I suspect that as a cat he's not completely aware that his assistance might be viewed as a hindrance!
It was soon time to head across to Hatfield Forest & give the proposed special event alternative route a spin. I was met by fellow RD Paul, Simon & Amy who are also heavily involved with the volunteering side of HFPR.
After our walk the week previously I'd made a couple of adjustments virtually to the route in order to get the distance spot on without the need for every decreasing circles in the finish field. Now the route follows a familiar start that is used for all of our courses, keeping a nice bit of consistency.
Some nice easy running was all I could muster & I felt like I was holding everyone back, but they were kind enough to stick to my very gentle trot.
The route was well received by all & finishes in a nice style around the big tree in Shell House car park. I think our runners will like it a lot & if it provides us with another option then in the long term the extra work will be worth it.
I asked the guys for their thoughts on my Saucony Kinvara's as we debriefed in the car park after the run. My fear is that despite only 350km in them, their lightness combined with my heaviness has brought them to the end of their useful life. They were fine on the mile earlier in the day, but the long run of a fortnight previous had been a painful experience. My suspicions were confirmed, neither Paul or Simon would run in the shoe in the state it is now, so it looks like my super fast & light shoes are heading for retirement. Turns out I'd picked up the Mizuno's just in time & I'll now think about my trainer strategy before introducing another pair as Berlin grows ever closer.
Once home, I found that I was well & truly knackered. I struggled my way through the funky sushi platter, a combination of eyes being bigger than stomach & tiredness. I realised I could achieve nothing with the evening, ran & bath & took an early night. I could tidy up in the morning, rest was a priority.
Hatfield Broad Oak 10k
I was up at around quarter past six & the decision made the evening before to take an early night was immediately vindicated as I had some energy! A quick double take of the mirror & I realised that I had quite an awesome bed hair mohawk. I'm not quite ready to unleash that kind of look on the public but it did give me a giggle.
The early start also gave me a good two & half hours to tidy the house & get the pulled pork for the BBQ into the slow cooker. I achieved most of what I needed to before leaving the house & also ensured I'd packed my flip flops for the post race so that my feet could get some air.
One thing I didn't check was the weather forecast beforehand, presuming it would be warm & cloudy like the past couple of days. As I loaded up the Alfa I was oblivious to the slightly sinister clouds & more concerned with getting the right tunes on! Music has been a constant throughout life (listening, I have bugger all talent) & after the performances so far over the weekend I was in a really positive mood so wanted something to reflect this. I flicked through the selection of CDs in the Alfa (2003 tech at it's finest) & found the perfect bit of pre race funk....
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| Playing today on Radio Alfa.... |
I followed them into Broad Oak & we chatted briefly, Katrina was coerced into taking the big parkrun photo in exchange for an ice cream. In my brief tenure as an ED I'm learning that bribery can work wonders!
Emily & Paul had spotted me & we wandered around the village to acquaint ourselves with the new start / finish locations before heading onto the village green. Suddenly I noticed the difference between this & previous years. I now recognised far more people from the parkrun & made an effort to say hello & wish folks well in the upcoming race. We visited the t-shirt table to ask for a sneak peak of the this years colour, a slightly blue grey, very similar to my Stockholm Half shirt from 2012. The quality of the print appeared to have been improved & the event emblem was now the sole feature of the front, with sponsors on the back. We enquired about the medals & were told that they were just for the kids race, this was confusing as we were sure they'd been some special 30th anniversary bling advertised. After a brief joke about leaving it was time to focus on getting race ready. Toilet, car to drop stuff, warm up, toilet, line up for the start. The provision and / or positioning of the toilets could do with a a bit more thought. I think the number of portaloos was similar to previous years, but they were previously supplemented by the village hall. There were queues, but then that is also a good way to kill 10 minutes before the race begins.
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| Team Um Bongo pre race |
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| Reservoir Dogs style.... |
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| Suspect my race pace might have been improved by performance enhancing hair.... |
I started pretty much bang on target pace with a 5:28 kilometre, following with a 5:34 on the drag of a climb out of the village. This used to be the 6.5 to 8km climb & was always the lowest point in the race for me previously. Here the pace was still good & having a start of a race atmosphere certainly appeared to help me. I was making progress through the field & knew that I had some shade (not really a factor today) & downhill to follow. In the early stages of the race my competitor chip felt like it was rubbing & having seen the damage done to a fellow runner a month previously I was determined not to look down just in case I was slowly shredding my own ankle.
I caught up with HFPR super marshal Andrea & paced with her for a little while. She was handicapped with the lurgy & implored me to carry on & not let her slow me down. With the course flattening out & my rhythm feeling pretty good I took her advice, said goodbye & got my head down.
A third km of 5:12 & a 5:22 to follow surpassed my expectations. It was ok though, to get to half way I had to climb what used to be the finish & then head up into the village itself. Descending past where the finish used to be my right shoulder was becoming next to useless. It felt a bit dodgy during a pre race warm up, here it was being of no help. I dropped it to my side to see if not using at all would alleviate the issue.
That was pointless though as you need to use your damn arms! Despite the discomfort, Vicky from Harlow parkrun was at the top of the hill to support us & I made a point to head across & high five (left arm), my attempts to mask the pain with a smile appear to have failed spectacularly given the resulting photo! My high five claimed another victim, I really should have forewarned Vicky that you have to really commit when offering me a high five, my enthusiasm for a mid run high five is similar to that of Todd from Scrubs.
I knew that as the pain wasn't in my legs & directly stopping me running that I just had to carry on regardless & the crowd support was actually lifting my performance with a 5th kilometre of 5:06. I threw some water over myself at the aid station, hoping the cool water might have some benefit to the shoulder & begun the gentle climb out of the village as the bigger loop begun. Halfway through in 26:47, under target for a 55 minute run.
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| Approaching 5km (we started downhill), was not in a happy place |
Jim had come into view, giving me some focus. I find I run better when I identify other runners & attempt to match or surpass them & this was no different. The fatigue of the weekend's efforts was starting to manifest in my legs & the water bottle was limited to one arm now, but cardio seemed fine & the mind was fully engaged. I'd hazard a guess that this was the best I'd felt whilst running this year. I had no time pressure, easy 6 minute clicks would get me home within target time & my ailments were manageable.
I slowly started to reel Jim in, with a 5:24 followed by a 5:13 8th kilometre. At around 8 I drew level, just as he was looking to tail off to the side & walk for a moment. I caught him at just the right time & urged him to stick with me, encouraging him that he was on for a great time & we could run this in together. I knew that the course was going to favour us shortly & Jim found his groove again. We chatted for a bit to pass the time before the final push, the conversation providing a distraction from a marshal imploring us there was just a km left (try 1.5) & that I was slowly taking us through the gears.
As we finally did pass that last kilometre marker the descend got even more favourable & I decided it was time to give it everything. It was time for one final push & my pace dropped down below the 5 minute mark for the first time in the race. Weirdly I found myself tearing up a little on the downhill, I'd like to think this was just a cross wind & my sheer speed rattling my eyes around a bit too much. In truth I think there was a bit of elation at how well the run had gone & a realisation that it would have been Dad's 61st birthday.
I'd started running on May 25th 2010, bizarrely not realising it was his birthday until after the first run, it was all a happy coincidence. Back in the here & now I found myself storming to the finish line. I was smiling as I approaching, at least I thought I was until Vicky saw me & shouted at me to try smiling, I suspect I was pulling my usual race photo face! I tried even harder to smile & got ready for a finishing pose, only to realise there wasn't a photographer! Jim followed momentarily afterwards, using the large hole I was punching in the air to good effect!
I was slightly flummoxed by the time on my Garmin, only to then have it confirmed by the official results. 52:37!!!! This mean a return in 25:50 & a massive negative split!
Post race there was a bit of a queue to get through t-shirts, water & oranges, I cooled down a bit too much in a sweaty vest, not overly ideal. Despite the huge amount of space now available, this wasn't quite as slick as it could have been. This was the first year of the new finish area though & teething troubles are natural. It made a huge amount of sense to move & once the t-shirt was collected there was plenty of space to mill about & catch up with other runners.
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| Post run smiles |
I was euphoric with my time & was eager to hear how everyone else had got on. Paul had gone on to catch up with Alec & give him the boost he needed to get a sub 50. Emily wasn't far behind me with a mid 53, shelving all of her ailments once more to deliver a very solid time. Everyone seemed to be happy with their results & the consensus was that the course definitely wasn't a whole five minutes slower.
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| A justified reward |
With the photo done it was time to head home & get the BBQ stuff ready.
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| Hatfield Forest parkrunners post race photo |
Post Run BBQ
For the past 5 years my HBO visit has been combined with a bank holiday BBQ to follow in the afternoon. Just because I was flying solo this year didn't mean that the BBQ would be scuppered. Emily & Paul were heading back to assist, Suz & Matt also showed up in advance to help with any preparation. Vicky also turned her one functioning hand post high five to put a salad together. With some funky music in the background it was like a BBQ sweatshop! In truth, without their support I'd have probably still been preparing stuff into the evening, I was perhaps a bit too ambitious!!
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| Post BBQ refreshments |
As was apparent during the HBO, the sun had decided not to shine upon us on this bank holiday so Paul & Matt stayed outside on BBQ duty whilst everyone else enjoyed some relative warmth inside.
To enjoy some great food alongside friends, old & new really put a cherry on top of what had been an awesome weekend. In the background the England team even won a game of cricket, you couldn't make this stuff up!
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| No need to cook for a week, or two, or three.... |
The Conclusion Part One
A weekend that surpassed all of my expectations. The Dark Ox was even tougher than I thought & the sense of achievement in finishing irrespective of the time is something I'd have struggled to contend with even a year ago.
My performance over the mile was far better than I could have imagined. Running free can be hugely empowering. I had no idea how fast I could be, now I'm intrigued to see how much faster I could be!
As for the HBO, it remains my favourite event in the running year. This year added a whole new dimension in terms of engagement & I think it positively reflected in my performance. Not sure my mega quiff was quite so performance enhancing, it was certainly a bit more aerodynamic!
Mentally I feel I'm in a good place at the moment. Good might even be an understatement, I have a confidence with my running & around running that I've not experienced before. I might have had quicker races but I'm not sure that I've had a better race than Monday's 10k. My positivity got me through the physical pains along the way, teaching me that winning the mental battle will get me across the line in Berlin. It's as if after five years the penny has finally dropped & in answer to the question posed earlier, running is indeed fun.
The Conclusion Part Two
I couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable weekend. To do something you enjoy & share it with friends is something special. The past year hasn't been the kindest, but I'm rebuilding & I've discovered that by approaching things with a more positive outlook you in turn open up more opportunities.
Don't worry, I'm not going to become all preachy, my inner cynic still exists! Sometimes life takes a different course & now that my head has got round that I'm embracing the change.
Before, during & after the race on Monday I realised just how awesome being a parkrun Event Director is. In ten short weeks we've seen a community start to build, you start to notice regulars, regulars start to notice other regulars & suddenly you realise just how great that is.
Len & Gerry had touched upon the positives from the role. On Monday I got to see the happiness others had from their results, having an interest in how they performed & feeling pride in their achievements. As we got ready for the photo it astounded me that in such a short space of time we already had the community that every parkrun aspires to achieve. Over the course of Monday, even as we moved away from the event & the photo made it onto Facebook & folks start tagging themselves you realise that not only do you think there might be a community, but others want to be part of that community. When I was spluttering incoherently to Paul Sinton-Hewitt the day prior, this is what I was trying to thank him for, but then again, he probably knew that. As my chat with Len shows, being an ED is awesome, you could be one too.
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| Len & I get very deep with some of our chats |
Oh alright then, you can have a prize
