Almost a PB

Day 91 Saturday 31st March 3 miles: miles to date 585.1 Whilst navigating for Mrs.O tonight as we hurtled back from Newcastle trying to break the land speed record, a text arrived at 7pm asking me if I wanted a number for a 20 mile race tomorrow. My party ravaged, dehydrated and weak body said no, but my texting fingers said yes. On arrival home at 8pm, I went straight into training, drinking a glass of water and hunting for headache tablets, followed by the inevitable three mile run before diving into a chippie for a pre-race pie and chips. Perhaps not the best training programme but to be fair, I wasn't planning on doing much at all on Sunday save recovering and a bit of old man's gardening. The race is only four miles from my place and I'm even half thinking of running there and back, although I'm not sure that's a good idea after this week's debauchery. Fi just missed out on the record, albeit logging a time that I would happily take as a marathon PB. I can't share the actual time for fear of getting her collar felt by the boys in blue. Let's just say, she will be driving back next time. Mind you, after having my heart rate determined today by a Doctor at 48, I think if he checked it again it might be a bit higher tonight.

Wobble?

Day 90 Friday 30th March 6.3 miles: miles to date 582.1 Oh dear, today was yet another hard run day. I am a tad worried that these posts portray me as glass half empty type of chap when I'm the exact reverse. All I can do, is say it as it is and today's run was just not good. I cant quite make my mind up as to whether it is down to last Saturdays 30 mile training run, the vast quantities of food I have downed since in the last four days, my tourist type stuff, my wobbly belly or, most likely, the after effects of too much vino. The simple fact is that I can normally run big distances for fun, get up and do it again the next day. If I get to a point where it's the short or long route, every time it will be the long route and then some. So today, when I got to a paltry six miles, instead of taking the longer route home and adding on another few miles at least, I just didn't. Ever so slightly concerned that after 90 days of running on the trot, I might even being going through a "what's the point" moment, which I don't think I am. It's more likely due to the fact I am an all or nothing type chappie. I'm either running massive distances every week or I'm partying like it's 1999, in the words of the popster, Prince or Squiggle or whatever his name is these days. I just can't do half and half. Which brings me full circle to the glass half empty analogy. At the moment my glass is never empty, due mainly to the pa in law. Cheers Jim.

Part of today's rather dull route. Possible added to the lack lustre run?

On the way up Arthur's seat, Edinburgh

Day 89 Thursday 29th March 3 miles : Miles to date 575.8

Having had three wonderful days in Edinburgh, my original plan of running up Arthur's seat had to be shelved. There is so much to see and do, the family had to come first again and we did the tourist thing again. That included a guided tour of the almost underground streets of the town hidden beneath eight story high tenement's, another wander up the royal mile and a coffee in the rather unusual Scottish Parliament building. My lad and I climbed 1/3rd of Arthur's seat which gave us magnificent views of the town. All of this added to the difficulties with tonight's run. There were several reasons why it was a blooming hard one, including the following;-  

1. Three days of very full Scottish breakfasts;

2. Two days of very full Scottish dinners (well, one Scottish Chinese);

3. A full day of walking everywhere, including part of Arthur's seat;

4. Blisters and very smelly feet;

5. 3 hour drive to Georgieland arriving at 8.12pm;

6. Father in law waiting with G&T in hand and piping hot chillie on the stove:

7. Wife laughing and saying, its your fault you idiot as she pushed me out the door;

8. The family wanting to eat straight away;

It would be fair to see, that I wasn't that keen to go, but as always it wasn't a question of should I or not. It was just a question of how quickly I could get it done, despite being so tired, very chubby and in need of a hot bath. The bags were thrown in the house, the garmin charged and I shot out the door just wanting to do it. I found myself running quite quick early, on an undulating and uninspiring public highway, dodging discarded chip packets and dog presents. I knocked out just over three miles at an average pace of 7 min 15 second pace, but I wasn't comfortable and puffed too hard most of the way. The simple fact is that a hedonistic lifestyle just does not go hand in hand with a full on training plan. Still, as I'm not aiming for the Olympics, a few days partying might in fact re-charge the running batteries and provide renewed vigour for the various tasks ahead. Great, just made myself feel better for running so badly earlier and topping up the vino just now. 

The wee Scottish run

Day 88 Wednesday 28th March 4 miles : Miles to date 572.8

After a great day out seeing the sites of Edinburgh and trying to walk off this mornings all you can eat breakfast, the hoped for run up Arthur's seat had to be called off. We spent the entire day being tourists and by the time we caught the bus home, it was a quick forty naps for the tiddly peeps and an even quicker four miles for me, as my father in law's need for a chinese meal will not wait. Mind you, it gets to something that come six o'clock I'm in a hotel and instead of a preprandial I am huffing off down a busy main road in the middle of rush hour getting my wee three miler in. The route I took was one of the direct roads out of the city centre towards the motorway. It is clearly one of the main artery's pumping the flow of bodies and motorised vehicles into and out of the heart of the city. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, I came across a number of runners on the way home, trying to beat the traffic much as I often do when I go to work. We might be 500 miles apart, but runners are runners all over the place and most gave me a nod although a few did have their eyes glued to the floor. 
As always, as soon as I was on the road, it was a case of hello old friend, I'm back. Having said that, I have now showered, shaved and sent Fi off to the bar (she volunteered actually) for a soon to be delivered to the door pint of Scotland's finest. So, the road my old friend, its been great but for now, the next time we shall join together shall be on the morrow. Or perhaps later as I stagger across you dodging the mad Scottish drivers.

The Angel of the North

Day 86 Monday 26th March 4.8 miles : Miles to date 565.5 What a glorious day it is up here in the North East. I have come away for a flying visit to see the outlaws, on route to bonnie Scotland for a few days in Edinburgh, hopefully running up Arthur's seat. The sun is shining on what feels like the hottest day of the year so far. After last nights sumptuous repast and vino galore, it was always going to be a steady run over to the Angel of the North, few tourist photo's and back for an early afternoon bbq with my mate Dr. Bud and his pals, Stella and Miller. Having partaken again of the amber nectar, I am now learning how to be a Geordie. The basic steps are as follows;- 1. Love football and mention Peter Beardsley, Gazza and the other bloke who scored a lot of goals, in every sentence; 2. Learn the lingo ie "hoi ye, ower there, hoy that hamer ower heer" translates as, "I say old chap, would you mind passing that instrument of labour over here, jolly good"; 3. When it gets really, really cold, go out in a t-shirt instead of just a vest; 4. Buy all your clothes in black and white stripes; 5. When every one else comes home to go to bed, go out for the night and make your way to the nearest night club: 6. Provide a warm welcome to friend and foe and treat everyone like they are your best mate; 7. Drink vast quantities of, er, anything alcoholic; 8. Petition the government for independence; 9. Pretend Sunderland doesn't exist; 10. Tell everyone that the Angel of the North is the greatest sculpture in the world. Well, it seems I am halfway there. As for today's run, a lovely trot in glorious sunshine over to the base of the Angel and then back up to the outlaws, who live on top of a rotten great hill which I ran up all the way. I even went past one bloke who had stopped halfway, pushing his bike and gasping for breath. Mind you, that's cyclist's for you. Not fit like us running folk..he he he he he

Th Geordie run

Day 85 Sunday 25th March 3.2 miles : Miles to date 560.7

It is with some trepidation that I ventured forth into Geordieland today, on the way to my Scottish cousin's. After yesterday 30 mile run, I thought I might not feel like running. I did wake feeling a tad tired but soon realised it wasn't in fact a work day and I was just tired from running. Now that made me feel ten times better than the thought of going to to work and I rose out of bed with  new determination. Then I realised the clocks went forward last night and I should have had another hour in bed. Ta to the wife of mine who nudged me awake. Anyway, off I went with Jimbo to the county rugby cup final in my normal running club stomping ground of Amphtill.

 We live a few miles away and despite the affiliation with Ampthill, I was with the Bedford under 13' boys all the way. The start was delayed by an hour which gave me the chance to do a quick run, which actually came as a surprise after yesterdays 30 mile training run. All I wanted to do was run the minimum distance, as I knew we were going to drive for 4 hours after and as soon as we arrived it was gin and tonic time.  Well, at the risk of seeming as though I am gloating, which I honestly never do, I had a great early run, the boys won with play that made them look Welsh (huge priase from a taff) and we arrived in Geordieland in time for a parrrrtttiieeee!!

The 30 mile training run

The day started with an absolute pea souper as the alarm went off at 5.30am for a planned thirty mile training run. I was very tired last night and managed to get to bed early, which was just as well to give me such much needed beauty sleep. And yes, I know I need lots more. Be that as it may, a very slow drive to the meeting point in Hexton with full fog lamps on meant I was 10 minutes late. The wise choice of lack of speed proved to be a good one, as I went past a lorry that had driven straight over a roundabout and into a verge. The boys in blue were on the scene so I carried on. Rather strangely, as I pulled into the meeting point the fog cleared for the first time. Richard was standing there in short sleeve t-shirt, so I abandoned my plan to run in a jacket and just went with a long sleeve. He told me five minutes into the run that it wasn't by choice, as he had forgotten his top. As we left the village, the fog returned and the hands got colder. We decided to climb straight to the top of Barton Hill and as we did, we rose above the fog and found the sun. We looped around the top of the hill and came back down again via Barton Church, finding the fog and a drop in temperature. 

Mmm., peer pressure! And I'm 44!

After around 5 1/2 miles, we returned to the cars to find the second wave who had decided to have a lay in and turn up at 7.30am, which is the normal start time. We were in fact a lot lighter in number today, due to various races being run by the crew today and on Sunday.

James, Richard and I intended to run the full 30, Mark was going to be around the 20 odd mark, Katie started off with the same sort of distance in mind and the rest were keeping it to around 12 miles due to pending races. I had suggested that we run part of the John Bunyan trail from Hexton through to Shefford and then possibly part of the next section. At the end of May, the three of us and two other lads from the club are going to attempt to run the entire 78 odd miles and today was mostly about checking a section that we didn't really know. If my timings are right, we will go through this section at around 1am -3am and rather than risk a wrong turn in the dark, with no race marshals or course directions to follow, we thought we would check it out. We also hope to have lots of other pals from the club joining us along the route, but ultimately we are in charge of the route planning. As it turned out, the route was quite straight forward.

As we entered Shefford, the SMC split and we headed over to the high street. John Bunyan was a famous preacher who walked all over Bedfordshire donkeys years ago. It was not that surprising therefore that the route took us part loads of churches including the main one in Shefford high street. These are very handy on long runs as most will have an outside tap, albeit Shefford didn't and we had to wait for satnav to try to find one. I did take the chance to down a peanut butter sarnie and a few jelly babies for dessert. 

Having left Shefford, we went cross country to the Greyhound pub at Haines, finding on the way the one of only two signs for the JB trail all morning. We knew there was a tap there, which is good news for the JB proper as it will certainly be dark o'clock at that point.

I took the chance to drop the backpack for a brief rest as it had finally warmed up. Katie was running very well and was knocking the miles off quite comfortably. She has come a very long way since starting with the SMC in early January, when she struggled to get to nine miles and looked as though she could have stopped at six. She has put in the miles and has blossomed in terms of her stamina and endurance in the last few months. 

Leaving Haines, we stepped off the JB trail as that was going to Bedford and we had to start making our way back. The first part of the run had a bit too much road running for me and it was good to get back on mostly trails heading into Clophill, where we would eventually drop Mark off.

Dropping down for Haines, we joined a well known section and enjoyed the increasingly warm weather.

At Clophill, we stopped again for the second part of my peanut butter sarnie and a drink. Satnav found what must have been the 8th church on route and popped in for a bit of water. I think he must have had a bit of the holy water as he came out raring to go, despite having covered 22 odd miles by that point.

Taking the hill into Upper Gravenhurst meant a walk, a further drink and check of the map. We were slowing down a little, except Katie who seemed to pick it up each time we were on the flat. I didn't manage to take many photos after this point, as we were down to just four of us and we ploughed on. In addition, in order to take the photos, I normally have to sprint on ahead, whip out the camera, take the snap, zip it up and then catch up. At 26 cross country miles, it became too hard to do and instead I concentrated on just getting home. On the way, we returned to the cars for a second time in order to drop Katie off. She did around a 21 and 1/2 miles and despite doing so well, I didn't think it was fair to take her to 25 mile odd miles which is what we would have had to do if we had carried on with her to 30. Having dropped her, we then had to loop another 3 1/2 odd miles. I don't like looping at the best of times and certainly not at the car. Still, no choice as come what may it was 30 miles. 

And, we got there. Great training run and a massive congrats to James who ran the furthest he has ever run.. by about 300 metres as his watch said 30.3 miles. Right, I'll take that!

You call that a meal?

Day 82 of the 366 days running challenge. 6.2 miles. Miles to date 524

For some reason, I just got excited typing in Day 82! I think it might be due to the realisation that three figures are not that far away. Weird I know. Anyway, tonight's planned longer run went by the by, as I finished work early and was able to get home in daylight for a run with Mrs. Haway Fi O (she's a Geordie). The simple fact is that without the support and understanding of the other arf, I wouldn't be able to run or try to run every day for a year. So, the odd early finish and change in plan to allow us to run together is a must from time to time.
We headed off on a similar route to one I did last week, trying to eventually find a large metal bull in the middle of a copse. It was quite funny to hear Haway Fi O murmur ohh, each time we ran into a new field although we couldn't find the bull. It did start to get dark and I had come out without my head torch, so we cut the route a little shorter than planned and came home for some nosh. I was in charge of din dins, which consisted of a tin of baked beans, with lots of bbq flavour el paso powder, crushed tortilla crisps and cheese, on top of toast. Mmmmm, now that's what I call, er, student food. Fi declined and made herself something else. No idea why, it was lovely. No honest, it was.

Ah, that's better, slowwww....

Day 81 of the 366 days running challenge. 7 miles. Miles to date 517.8 Normal service was resumed tonight after last evenings aberration on the speed front. I knew that I was unlikely to be able to do my normal mid week mid distance run and I was going to have to settle for an easier recovery run. The simple fact is that you can't mix speed work and ultra training easily, unless you are Jez Bragg. And I'm not the said ultra distance mystro. That having been said, I had what I thought was a slow run and it worked out at just over 8 minutes a mile, so I'm not complaining. Hopefully a 12 or 13 on Thursday, an easy run on Friday and something in the order of 30 miles Saturday if my mate Satnav has his way. Now help me out on this one. I made the mistake of looking today at BMI charts. I've just run 81 days in a row, I'm getting faster and longer, have lost 16 pounds since Chrimbo, 4 inches off my belly and down to a 34 inch waist at 12 1/2 stone and, wait for it, I'm still over weight according to the BMI charts!!! How does that work???

A&FF awards night in photo's 2012

Chairman Bell holding court

Shaun Kirtley in his best bib and tucker

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha 

Gerof my toes..

Jan taking the applause

Go Sedgers, go Sedgers...

Is that a boy band member?

the motley crew

I have a feeling we will see Jo again....

The chairman handing an award to Mrs. Chairman

Another one Jo?

Mrs. Phillpot showing Mr. Phillpot how it's done

No 1

Hurrah Mrs. Jones

Boy band member number two

Boy band... manager

A dapper looking Satnav Jones

Is that 3?

Well done Paula

I've seen you before somewhere?

The chairman with the award he awarded to himself....no he didn't, just a joke, honest 

The new whippet on the block

No 2

Girl band? 

Well done George

And Becs

No. 3

Always great to see a marathon winner, well done

Er, can someone please call the police...

No you cant have another one, now please sit down

James - soon to be an ultra boy - Handley

Looks like a deserved clean sweep to me

Have the baliff's arrived? Someone not paid the bills? Well done Shaun

A speech from Ricky that went down well - it was short

Are they getting closer?

Securicor needed for all that metal

The Quadzilla Queen

Well done Lorraine

Looks like the girls are getting together for a sing song?

Well done

He can hardly stand up with all that weight

Ah, twins

Yeah that's better he's gone..

A pleased looking Claire Fisher

Please Mr. Chairman can I have just one more, before Satnav asks

Time to party

The Jones collection

What me again?

The Hare himself

No, you cant have another one as well

A no club runner sneaking in under the radar. You will have to join now Mark

Ricky and Martin swapping race stories