Gym
After not managing to stretch or roll following the very long run on Sunday I resolved to get myself out the front door & to the gym early on Monday morning to at least cycle & get some life into the legs. For reasons that continue to defy logic I drove to Dunmow, fearing the change of visiting Stansted!
Half an hour on the bike at an easy pace over random gradings followed by a few leg presses was all I fancied doing. I had no desire to push myself, using the session solely for recovery purposes, turning the legs over rather than working them. For some reason on my drive west later in the day I felt a Burger King was a good idea. Instantly regrettable, absolutely junk. If I'm going to have a burger I should at least make it a good one!
No Hills
As I was based in Cheltenham for a couple of days for work I'd packed some kit with me, the intention being to get in a hill session on Tuesday morning. My hotel appeared to be halfway up a long hill into town & appeared to offer a great opportunity (if hill climbs can be called that). I clambered out of bed & realised that this would not be happening. The calves & achilles were both a bit tender, with running group planned for Wednesday evening I'd be better served by some rest.
Instead I headed into the town & found a great breakfast spot, Boston Tea Party, indulging in the Marathon milkshake with some Chorizo Hash. Alongside the sports pages, sunshine & a nice breeze I couldn't think of a better start to the day.
On my way out of town I noticed a Caribbean restaurant & hoped that work would wrap up at a decent time to allow for a visit on my way back to the hotel. Finishing earlier would also remove the need to just eat with teaspoons, a skill I had to acquire with my takeaway curry the night before!!!!
Fortunately the work went well, we worked at a very steady pace but cashed in with a decent finish. The jerk chicken was excellent, although heat wise it became the gift that kept on giving! I was half tempted to order a pint of milk on room service!
Tempo session in the heat
Wednesday was disgusting. I was required in London so dumped the hire car & attempted to commute by rail into town from Cheltenham. A mere 4.5 hours after leaving my hotel I'd achieved this, also treating my colleagues to my artistic interpretation of office casual man in a wet t-shirt competition!
By the time I got home I was thoroughly bored of the hottest day in a generation. After the evening commute home & walk up the hill in Stansted I was once again soaked through & fed up. I was due to join up with my running group for some tempo work at half seven & with under an hour at home I hoped to at least stop sweating for a moment before heading out the door. I struck gold with a Vimto freeze pop from the freezer. I was tempted to see how many others were left in the freezer & attach them to myself!
If I needed convincing that this was a foolish thing to do, sweating my way through our warm up stretches appeared to be the confirmation I needed! My attendance at the coaching sessions is sporadic, midweek is usually when I'm living the Travelodge lifestyle somewhere on the M3. Every time I do get there it feels like a worthwhile experience though. Josie puts us through some drills & then we look into repetitions of various distances & effort. I was determined to get some speedwork in, even if the Flitch offered shade but no real respite from the heat, albeit we were in the shade.
Wednesday's challenge involved 5 x 200m, each with some rest in between rather than an easy paced recovery. There were three of us, including Glen who has been ever present at parkrun since I shamelessly plugged it at my first session. Now he's the one who evangelises parkrun to anyone that joins us, runners that pass, random strangers! With there being three we took it in turns to run the 200m, tagging in the person waiting so that they could start & you could recover.
I was covering the 200m in around 40 seconds, although the last stint was suggested at 33 seconds by the Garmin, a time I'm struggling to qualify. The other runners were affording me about 2 minutes of rest maximum between these tempos. I felt decent, making more use of my arms without losing rhythm & running tall. Josie was happy with my form, picking up on my improved arm work & commenting that I was staying more vertical.
After putting everything into the last 200m, Josie enquired if I wanted to carry on as beforehand I was keen. However once we'd been given the target of completing 5 I'd focused all of my energy on just that. I politely declined & jogged back before we started a mile of warm down.
I find these sessions very rewarding, there is a social aspect in running with other people & being invested in their progress. It is also the first time since becoming a runner in 2010 that I've had any focus on technique & any changes are focused on improving what I already do rather than stripping everything back to basics. Next time I'm there (missing next week due to the Yateley 10k) I might take a camera & gorilla pod with me, I've never seen a video of me running, finish line videos don't really show the whole story & I'm intrigued.
Like the Wind: Trails in Motion
I've been a fan of Like the Wind since the launched last year. I was growing bored of the tired, constantly recycled rhetoric that was served up by normal running magazines. Every quarter they'd be a 10k plan, the same stretches, a kit review, 50 pages of adverts & it was very rare that the magazine would last once the holiday it was bought for was over. Every time I bought one I knew going in what it would deliver, it was simply a distraction to get me through a journey.
LTW offered something different. Stories written by runners, beautiful illustrations, interviews, poems, normal photos, not the same old generic posed running models that no one really is & no one should aspire to. I've every copy of LTW at home, if anything I'm guilty of not reading them enough. It's too easy to get distracted by technology & not switch off & simply read an article or two. Perhaps I'm just savouring them, dipping in and out to truly appreciate the articles. I mentioned in a recent blog post how one article had moved me to tears, issue #5 had a great piece by Kevin Betts on why he ran. Nothing in Runner's World or Men's Running or AN Other Running Magazine had ever stirred my emotions. Yet LTW makes you think. Read, think & appreciate.
Since launching they've also had a few extra curricular events dotted around London. Some of these I was unable to make, some I avoided, reluctant to be a socially awkward loner staring awkwardly into my drink. I've learnt a lot over the past year & though the fear of being socially awkward hasn't quite left me, the confidence gained through parkrun has at least pushed it away from the surface.
When the Trails in Motion event was announced I was happy to see that the date worked for me & booked a ticket. Paul & Emily would also be coming along so if need be we could all be socially awkward together! A brief & expensive visit to the London Marathon shop for some trail shorts, followed by a feeding at Nandos later & we had arrived at the venue.
There was time for a drink beforehand as the LTW team were setting up. The agenda for the evening was fairly simple: short films, an interval, then a longer film. I was sceptical how well I'd cope with this given the heat & my ability to snooze during films! I won't go through every film, some were good, some I found to be very arty product placement. Most had a message I could understand though, others inspired. Why We Run featuring Bernd Heinrich had me ordering his book the day after to get to know more about his back to nature philosophy. Before the interval we were introduced to James Poole, straight off the plane after the Western States 100. The silver belt buckle appealed to our sense of run bling, though I'm not sure I could manage the effort to attain it!
After the interval we were treated to our feature film, Finding Traction, the story behind Nikki Kimball's pursuit of the Men's record on Vermont's Long Trail. Kudos to Kimball, she didn't appear to take any editorial control of the film, which showcased every emotion, often in quick succession. Over the course of nearly an hour we were taken on Kimball's journey both through the event & her running career itself. Kimball tries to be a role model girls & raise funds for a local running collective in Vermont. Instead she's a role model for anyone that finds her story, showing what is possible. Her efforts to use depression as a force for good was something that struck a chord with me, appreciating it might never escape you.
After the films we had an opportunity to chat with other attendees, I said hello (albeit briefly) to Andy from Windsor who's also heading to Berlin. We also spent a few minutes talking firstly to Simon from LTW & were then joined by Julie. It was interesting to hear how much of their time & life they'd put into the magazine, the first edition was literally funds originally set aside for a new kitchen! Their passion for running & LTW shone through & after a throw away comment when interviewing James earlier Simon had planted a seed for an article I've offered to write for them, The Culture of parkrun. I confessed that my usual bullshit heavy writing style might need to be refined for actual publication, though Simon was happy to suggest even more BS, as long as it's not libellous! So that's the next challenge, actually write something of merit on parkrun, it's culture & the part it has played in my life.
Inspired by the evening, an idea was formed amongst the three of us. Endure 24 is already pencilled in for 2016, but it is an event that we don't get to run together. The only time we're together as a team is when we eat, or drink. So what if there was a running event that combined all three? The Medoc Marathon is precisely that & immediately a number of the guys were interested. So we might as well accept that's going to happen.....
If I needed convincing that this was a foolish thing to do, sweating my way through our warm up stretches appeared to be the confirmation I needed! My attendance at the coaching sessions is sporadic, midweek is usually when I'm living the Travelodge lifestyle somewhere on the M3. Every time I do get there it feels like a worthwhile experience though. Josie puts us through some drills & then we look into repetitions of various distances & effort. I was determined to get some speedwork in, even if the Flitch offered shade but no real respite from the heat, albeit we were in the shade.
Wednesday's challenge involved 5 x 200m, each with some rest in between rather than an easy paced recovery. There were three of us, including Glen who has been ever present at parkrun since I shamelessly plugged it at my first session. Now he's the one who evangelises parkrun to anyone that joins us, runners that pass, random strangers! With there being three we took it in turns to run the 200m, tagging in the person waiting so that they could start & you could recover.
I was covering the 200m in around 40 seconds, although the last stint was suggested at 33 seconds by the Garmin, a time I'm struggling to qualify. The other runners were affording me about 2 minutes of rest maximum between these tempos. I felt decent, making more use of my arms without losing rhythm & running tall. Josie was happy with my form, picking up on my improved arm work & commenting that I was staying more vertical.
After putting everything into the last 200m, Josie enquired if I wanted to carry on as beforehand I was keen. However once we'd been given the target of completing 5 I'd focused all of my energy on just that. I politely declined & jogged back before we started a mile of warm down.
I find these sessions very rewarding, there is a social aspect in running with other people & being invested in their progress. It is also the first time since becoming a runner in 2010 that I've had any focus on technique & any changes are focused on improving what I already do rather than stripping everything back to basics. Next time I'm there (missing next week due to the Yateley 10k) I might take a camera & gorilla pod with me, I've never seen a video of me running, finish line videos don't really show the whole story & I'm intrigued.
Like the Wind: Trails in Motion
I've been a fan of Like the Wind since the launched last year. I was growing bored of the tired, constantly recycled rhetoric that was served up by normal running magazines. Every quarter they'd be a 10k plan, the same stretches, a kit review, 50 pages of adverts & it was very rare that the magazine would last once the holiday it was bought for was over. Every time I bought one I knew going in what it would deliver, it was simply a distraction to get me through a journey.
LTW offered something different. Stories written by runners, beautiful illustrations, interviews, poems, normal photos, not the same old generic posed running models that no one really is & no one should aspire to. I've every copy of LTW at home, if anything I'm guilty of not reading them enough. It's too easy to get distracted by technology & not switch off & simply read an article or two. Perhaps I'm just savouring them, dipping in and out to truly appreciate the articles. I mentioned in a recent blog post how one article had moved me to tears, issue #5 had a great piece by Kevin Betts on why he ran. Nothing in Runner's World or Men's Running or AN Other Running Magazine had ever stirred my emotions. Yet LTW makes you think. Read, think & appreciate.
Since launching they've also had a few extra curricular events dotted around London. Some of these I was unable to make, some I avoided, reluctant to be a socially awkward loner staring awkwardly into my drink. I've learnt a lot over the past year & though the fear of being socially awkward hasn't quite left me, the confidence gained through parkrun has at least pushed it away from the surface.
When the Trails in Motion event was announced I was happy to see that the date worked for me & booked a ticket. Paul & Emily would also be coming along so if need be we could all be socially awkward together! A brief & expensive visit to the London Marathon shop for some trail shorts, followed by a feeding at Nandos later & we had arrived at the venue.
There was time for a drink beforehand as the LTW team were setting up. The agenda for the evening was fairly simple: short films, an interval, then a longer film. I was sceptical how well I'd cope with this given the heat & my ability to snooze during films! I won't go through every film, some were good, some I found to be very arty product placement. Most had a message I could understand though, others inspired. Why We Run featuring Bernd Heinrich had me ordering his book the day after to get to know more about his back to nature philosophy. Before the interval we were introduced to James Poole, straight off the plane after the Western States 100. The silver belt buckle appealed to our sense of run bling, though I'm not sure I could manage the effort to attain it!
After the interval we were treated to our feature film, Finding Traction, the story behind Nikki Kimball's pursuit of the Men's record on Vermont's Long Trail. Kudos to Kimball, she didn't appear to take any editorial control of the film, which showcased every emotion, often in quick succession. Over the course of nearly an hour we were taken on Kimball's journey both through the event & her running career itself. Kimball tries to be a role model girls & raise funds for a local running collective in Vermont. Instead she's a role model for anyone that finds her story, showing what is possible. Her efforts to use depression as a force for good was something that struck a chord with me, appreciating it might never escape you.
After the films we had an opportunity to chat with other attendees, I said hello (albeit briefly) to Andy from Windsor who's also heading to Berlin. We also spent a few minutes talking firstly to Simon from LTW & were then joined by Julie. It was interesting to hear how much of their time & life they'd put into the magazine, the first edition was literally funds originally set aside for a new kitchen! Their passion for running & LTW shone through & after a throw away comment when interviewing James earlier Simon had planted a seed for an article I've offered to write for them, The Culture of parkrun. I confessed that my usual bullshit heavy writing style might need to be refined for actual publication, though Simon was happy to suggest even more BS, as long as it's not libellous! So that's the next challenge, actually write something of merit on parkrun, it's culture & the part it has played in my life.
 |
| An exceedingly bad photo of the LTW event |
parkrun - Hulking Up
I’d tried to keep my fancy dress outfit under wraps,
providing only the subtlest of hints through the week on our social media
channels & in the run report. When we were in the planning stages of
parkrun I’d looked for potential dates for fancy dress. For a while we’d toyed
with the idea of a Rik Mayall appreciation day in June to mark a year from his
passing. Potentially this was a bit too niche, so we parked the idea, instead
naming our stopwatches Richie & Eddie.
One date in the calendar stood out, July 4th,
American Independence Day. We could let our imaginations run wild & with
the day being just over 3 months since the start of the event there was a fair
chance that a community would already be starting to establish itself &
that folks would buy into the idea.
Aware that not everyone would fully participate, we
suggested dressing in red, white or blue as other options. The National Trust
café had bought into the idea, laying on a couple of American specials for the
day, both Mac & Cheese & Chcocolate Brownies were on offer.
I’d used a bit of subterfuge to lead people off the scent of
what I was going to be wearing, turning up to the forest in what some folks
presumed was fancy dress. That might be a sad inditement of my own sense of
fashion as I consider the Zubaz pants (trosuers to you English folk) to be
normal clothes. Sure they might not normally leave the house, but they are
awesome lounging gear as the folk in BA’s T5 lounge will find out when Burak
& I are rocking them ahead of our BC flight to Tokyo in December.
Setup was going well, the plan for me to ride around on one
of the NT’s bikes & assist with the northern section of our route worked
nicely, though I’d picked their least capable bike once more. I’d even been
enjoying the riding around enough to start looking at a bike for myself. The
new role in MK offers a cycle to work scheme & if I end up living
reasonably close then it is certainly an option in a very bike friendly city.
One benefit of being on the bike is that it is easy to get
up to the front gate from one of our setup areas & welcome our car parking
volunteers. We had an additional setup volunteer arrive & as she drove the
mile route on the estate route to the parkrun HQ I decided to take a short cut
via the boardwalk & meet her there.
We’d had some rain overnight, the boardwalk itself is wooden
& we spend our winter briefings warning runners to be careful. My ride out
earlier in the morning had been incident free, on the ride back I’d been
struggling with getting any of the gears to work, changing all the way back
down to 1st in order to get them to engage. I’d noticed my back
wheel slide out a bit & told myself to slow down & concentrate, which I
duty did.
Barely 20 seconds later I was on the floor. Not only was I
on the floor, the bike appeared to be also on the floor & on top of my
legs. Despite slowing down I’d been caught by the lack of grip on the damp
boardwalk at one of the subtle turns. The bike had decided it wasn’t a fan of
staying upright, sliding out & sending me to the floor on my side. A bit
dazed & confused, I sat up, noticing a few things straight away. Firstly,
there was a bike on top of me. Secondly, my left shoulder was painful &
something was potentially wrong as my arm was at its least painful just hanging
there. My right arm was covered in the mud & dirt that adorns the boardwalk
surface. I gave my left shoulder a feel, nothing appeared to have popped out
& I had some movement. I tried calling Karl the on duty Run Director as I
probably needed a hand to get the bike back. Of course the lack of signal in
the forest caused an issue here.
 |
| Ouch |
One option was to wait for our runners to appear, but that
could be 15 or so minutes. So after a minute to compose myself I managed to get
vertical again & for a moment attempted to ride the bike back to base. The
handlebars were misaligned so that thankfully wasn’t going to happen. Instead I
had about 400m to walk the bike back, park it at our HQ & disappear for a
moment to swear!
I had about half an hour spare to assess whether I could or
should run. Luckily there were plenty of folks around who could help with
setting up the start & finish area for us so once I’d given them guidance I
wandered off, still assessing my shoulder for movement, confident by this stage
that it was just pain rather than anything more urgent. We made for an
interesting core team that day, me now slightly dazed following a crash, Karl
setting a new RD record by being out on the town until half two & Paul back
after a few weeks away so was feeling his way back in. Between us we could just
about manage, maybe we just needed some more energy.
With that in mind I decided that running or not, the least I
could do was get changed into my fancy dress. I don’t know where the idea came
from to dress up as Hulk Hogan. I’d had the Mega Powers t-shirt since before my
Wrestlemania trip in 2013, in fact I have the contrast of it as well so one
idea originally was for Burak to marshal & me the Macho Man to my Hulkster.
So I had one bit of the costume, now it was time to assemble the rest. My
yellow Sub Sports leggings were an option, but I didn’t fancy wearing thermals
in July so picked up some football socks instead. Knee pads, red shorts &
sweatbands were also acquired, as was the bandana & moustache (which didn’t
make it to the forest). The final item was a pair of cheap yellow shades. I
washed off the mud & got changed, tried to get some more feeling into my
shoulders, they’d be some posing to do!
 |
| Hadn't thought this one through..... |
I was thinking that being Hulk Hogan might be a bit niche,
turns out less so following his time as a reality TV star in the past few
years. The outfit was well received, even minus the moustache, although both
Alec & I were usurped by Elvis striding into view as the briefing began.
Around a dozen had gone for fancy dress, a decent majority of the rest of the
field were at least wearing red, white, blue or a combination of the three. We
declared Elvis the men’s winner, Wonder Woman the women’s & eased Karl
through his run briefing!
Alec & I had a plan. Run easy, take photos with
marshals, run like buffoons in general! We achieved this, though I was aware
from early on that I’d done something to my ankle during the bike crash. There
was a nagging pain & at a kilometre I was close to calling it a day or
waiting for the tail to catch me. Instead I got into my gimmick &
remembered all of those that had taken their vitamins or said their prayers to
support the Hulkster, it might be slow but I was getting this 5k done!
 |
| Forest Shenanigans |
The ever challenging forest meant that the ankle never fully
settled, but Alec & I larked our way around, posing with every marshal
& enjoying the experience. I nudged him on the line with a cheeky speed up,
but only so that I could pose my way through the funnel!
I’m glad we tried the fancy dress theme, sure not a huge
number embraced it but with every time we try one of these things it will build
to the next occasion, with more people buying in to the idea. As Event Director
I’ve realised that the best way for people to join in is for them to see me
& the team enjoy it. I was happy to act the buffoon & dress up as Hulk
Hogan, if I’m willing to do the silly stuff then the fear factor is reduced for
everyone else.
 |
| Mac & Cheese for the injured & the hungover ones. |
After results processing in the pub (such a hardship) I made
it home & got some ice onto my shoulders & ankle. I was pleasantly
surprised & relieved that the damage didn’t appear too great. My ankle had
sustained bruising, most likely hitting part of the bike on my way down. The
right shoulder was grazed & actually a bit more painful than I’d first
thought. With a couple of hours to chill out I was able to get myself cleaned
up & was starting to feel a bit less tender by the time I headed into Stortford
for a much need trip to the barbers.
 |
| Shoulder was good enough to bring out the poses! |
Stortford 10
This was a race that has eluded me for years. Usually it has
either clashed with a birthday or with a cricket game. This year, with my team
struggling for numbers & an earlier start time of 10am I opted to enter.
Through the close relationship Bishop’s Stortford Running Club have with our
parkrun event I have slowly become a member by osmosis. I’m not a fully paid up
member of the club, nor do I don the green & gold (currently) but now with
my ED hat on it is hard not to be recognised at local events. Perhaps the high
percentage of BSRC within both my RD team & the extended core team of
Volunteer Coordinators are slowly making my joining of the club a formality!
Being recognised is no bad thing though, since starting the parkrun I’ve
grown into the role, finding myself becoming more comfortable, confident &
almost friendlier (ok, less cynical maybe). It was great to pass the 45 minutes
before the start chatting to various people from the parkrun, certainly beating
my old racing strategy of keeping myself to myself. The rain had arrived &
appeared to be settling for the day, despite forecasts to the contrary later in
the morning. |
| Pre Run fuel |
The race began with some persistent rain, though BSRC chairman Phil had assured us sunshine would greet us upon our return. I had a reasonable plan, aim for a 1:30:00, although a constant pace of 5:35/km would be interest as my long runs to this point have been far slower. I'd taken a brief (very) look at the kind of pace needed to jeopardise my 10 mile PB, but felt that at 5:16 throughout it was unlikely I'd push a 1:25, especially on a course I'd been advised was not suited to a PB attempt.
Alec and I lined up alongside each other, he had run a 1:23 at Stebbing back in November so I wasn't expecting to see much of him until the finish line. Strangely I started better as we lapped Stortford Rugby Club to break up the field before heading out onto farm roads and trails. Soon Alec was past and I didn't think anything more of it. My first couple of clicks were really promising, both at that crazy pace for a 1:25 that I wasn't really interested in.
 |
| Just two representing Team Um Bongo for this one |
After a good start I had one of those moments I knew would come during a marathon cycle but needed to get through. As we entered the third kilometre we met a farm track that was really tacky following the rainfall. I'd followed the guidance to wear road shoes & realistically the rain came down after I'd left home so there wasn't much I could do about it. To compound the mud issue I was very quickly alerted to two very unhappy Achilles and calves. I was barely into the race and felt horrendous, surely it would be sensible to step to one side, turn back and write off the race. I wanted to quit, my pace was getting slower at an alarming rate and I had no interest. It was raining, I felt injured & grumpy.
A brief conversation focused me a bit more as one of the BSRC ladies commented that she loved the Um Bongo vest. My retort that I wasn't loving run quite so much was instantly rebuffed, I was reminded that many were still on the sofa. Sure they didn't feel injured though did they? The words rang true though & I'm experienced enough to know that my Achilles will normally calm themselves in time. All I needed was a break from this energy sapping mud that was no doubt a contributing factor to my pain and general malaise.
Thankfully some tarmac soon appeared and I used the gravel that ran down the sides and middle to loosen off all of the mud. With some firm footing I was able to expel the demons of the mud and made my way through the next couple of kilometres with relative ease, albeit my interest level and motivation remained on the low side. This felt like a race without purpose and I'm at my best when motivated, this was a journey into running apathy.
Thankfully just after 5km the young lady from BSRC had caught up with me and as I wasn't in a muddy depression I said hello and realised I recognised her from parkrun. I asked her what time she was aiming for as we had been closely matched at parkrun, she responded that it could be anything between 1:30-40, which was where I was heading. A chap ahead mentioned he'd be happy with a sub 1:40, I told him he'd be ecstatic as he was easily on for a mid 1:30!
We got chatting, for once I remembered to introduce myself & we settled into a decent pace. The time started to fly by & with good conversation I was distracted from my apathy & various niggles. The run actually became enjoyable, as most runs with company are. We were both at different points of our training, but with a marathon in my future & one in Denise's recent past we had plenty to talk about. Just after 5 miles an Um Bongo vest ran through us, Alec had stopped for a break & was now trying to make up time. He chose not to run with us, but didn't make it any more than 20 metres away from us, even when we walked the steep hill through the woods at 6 miles.
Our rhythm continued to be good & soon we were through 7 miles & just a parkrun away from completing. It's a cheap psychological trick, but breaking the race down into manageable chunks is a good way to concentrate & lift the spirits. We passed Team Scofield & Amy one last time on their water station, the enthusiasm giving a nice boost. At the 8th mile Denise said she wanted to walk & for me to run on. With Alec still just ahead I thanked Denise for the company & carried on.
Alec was my first target. His pace had me perplexed as he's been faster than me over 5k & 10k for at least a year. Since running past us at 5 miles he'd not pulled away as I'd expected him to. I reeled him in with relative ease over a couple of hundred metres & as just two kilometres separated us from the finish line I mentioned that a sub 1:30 was still possible, 11 minutes to complete 2km was more than feasible.
I decided to go through the gears, this is far earlier in a finish than I normally would but I wanted to see if Alec would join me, the challenge potentially shaking him from his apparent funk. As my pace got faster it was clear that I was going alone on this one so I got my head down & decided to try & finish strong. A penultimate kilometre in 5:03 was pleasing & I carried this form to the end of the race. As we entered the rugby club I was pleasantly surprised with my pace & Simon from the parkrun core team was on hand to give me a cheer, though he probably now regrets offering me a high 5. A word of warning to all, I'm an exuberant high fiver! Offer your hand at your own risk!
With the final corner approaching there was a chap all in blue just ahead of me, I kicked & managed to catch him. What I hadn't expected was him to reply & dig in himself! I had no choice but to try & get even more of a sprint out & got the placing, releasing a visceral groan once past the finish. A brief hand shake to say thanks for the sprint & I got myself some water & a t-shirt.
 |
| A strong finish! |
Alec was soon through, about 30 seconds behind me as he'd maintained his race pace but missing out on a sub 1:30 with a 1:30:01. I waited by the line to cheer in Denise as she finished with a 1:31. We caught up after the run & thanked each other for being run buddies. My own time was something I was very happy with, 1:29:26 officially, the last kilometre measured at 4:53. After saying a few more goodbyes & checking in with others in my core team I was heading back to the car, I had a cricket game to get to.
 |
| Smiles as Alec works out the race shirt! |
Cricket
We had 9 players. Traditionally cricket is an eleven a side game, though this year more so than any other people we've found ourselves numerically challenged. When the opposition mentioned they were also short, the desire to get a game in after 7 weeks of not playing was sufficient that we agreed the fixture.
We were bowled out for 27, taking 25 overs to score them. The opposition then knocked the runs off in three overs. With some off the field issues as well it was the most embarrassing game I've played in.
We had 9 players. Traditionally cricket is an eleven a side game, though this year more so than any other people we've found ourselves numerically challenged. When the opposition mentioned they were also short, the desire to get a game in after 7 weeks of not playing was sufficient that we agreed the fixture.
 |
| A quack for me |
Eat
I'd already lined up a G&T in advance of Sunday's exploits. After a chastening day (well 2 hours) at the cricket this got upgraded to a large one! Accompanied by some strawberries & clotted cream they were at least a way to draw a line under an unhappy afternoon.
I'd already lined up a G&T in advance of Sunday's exploits. After a chastening day (well 2 hours) at the cricket this got upgraded to a large one! Accompanied by some strawberries & clotted cream they were at least a way to draw a line under an unhappy afternoon.
 |
| A nice end to the week |
A good week for running. Very satisfied with the Stortford 10 mile result, pacing an a minute a mile faster than my intended marathon pace. After a check up at the physio I'm pleased to be told that no damage was sustained in the bike incident, just bruising.
No comments:
Post a Comment