Smelly man

Day 334 Thursday 29th November 5.1 miles : miles to date 2210.5 Apologies are due to a number of people who have put up with my pong today. Its confession time again. I have taken smellyness to a new level. After yesterdays x-c lunch time run, I was side tracked by an early dinner and forgot to shower when I arrived home. This morning, well to be honest I was late for work and didn't bother. By the time I whipped all my clothes off and changed in my car in a busy street in Harpenden at lunchtime, I was a bit fruity. I then had a meandering urban run around the designer streets of the commuter town, before slipping back into my whistle again in my car, in the car park this time of a hotel. Time was again of the essence and whilst I was only out there for a short time, I took in a number of hills and for the last few miles practised my sub three hour marathon pace. Despite the cold, I generated a bit of sweat which mixed in nicely with my general smell of damp. This afternoon's non stop 5 hour 20 minute partners meeting, immediately followed by tonight's three hour card game, has ensured even the dog won't sit on my lap. Boy I'm in trouble when Fi reads this one. Its gone midnight and I can't shower now. Hope she hasn't changed the sheets????

Disaster time

Day 333 Wednesday 28th November 7.7 miles : miles to date 2205.4 Well folks, it’s been a fantastic experience but disaster struck today. Never the less I would still like to thank you for your support. I wouldn’t have got this far without all my friends, both real and in FB land. Did I ever think I would make it to 333 days of straight running? No is the honest answer to that. It finally happened. The day I have been dreading and worrying about since I started this madcap foolish adventure almost 11 months ago. I am 45 and I should have known that I wouldn’t make it all the way without today’s shattering events. Its no good, I have to be honest. I had to run in gloves and not only that, they were luminous yellow, clashed with my luminous orange long sleeve, which in turn clashed with my red body warmer. Can all fellow followers of fashion ever forgive me? I hope I haven’t let Mr. Guccche and Mr. DeOre down? What, you thought I had stopped? It’s going to take breakage’s to do that but let’s not tempt fate. I headed back to Cow Roast and resolved to dive onto the trails I missed yesterday and boy, oh boy am I glad I did. I was soon winding my way up through the tree’s towards the high ground of the Ashridge Estate, following the ultra-teers mantra of walking the steep top section. I came to one crossway with five separate trails going in every direction. I was sorely tempted to pick another random one and see where I ended up, but time was of the essence and I had to make a turn for home. I was a little lost and asked a walking couple which way to go. It wasn’t quite the same as the time I asked a couple on the outskirts of Hitchin which way was Luton (the way we had come and ten miles away) and which way was Bedford (the way we then headed and twenty miles away). The look on their face was priceless. I headed in the vaguely right direction and then thought heck, I can be 20 minutes late, before heading down another new muddy, wet and twisting trail through the wood. I eventually ran into a clearing and within twenty feet of four large wild deer roaming the area. They were magnificent creatures, so close to the town, a lot larger than the Roebucks that are quite common and with a lot darker fur. We all just paused and looked at each other. I tried to whip the camera out but my movement scared them and they moved away slightly. I just stood stared and thought this is exactly why I love trail running and why I will be back on that trail as soon as I can. The only downside was I had taken so long, I had to peg the last mile quite fast on the road. This was a really enjoyable run, on new ground, in an area I still don’t know and with the possibility of miles more trails. Lunchtime’s will never be the same again. Or the smell in the office. By the way, are flares back in yet? I have a lovely mouldy pair that are looking to make a comeback. I’ll phone Kalvin Clean and ask him.

Sports Personality of the year???

Day 332 Tuesday 27th November 6.3 miles : miles to date 2197.7 Having heard that this years BBC Sports personality of the year shortlist had been expanded from 10 to 12 due to all the runners, I listened eagerly to the radio for my name to be announced. I must have just missed out, as Mo Farah sneaked in ahead of me. Apparently running every day for a year is not in the Olympics. I am thinking of sending a petition to Baron Pierre de Coubertin. I mean think of the benefits;- 1. Variety of race/run distances 2. Ample spectator viewing areas 3. No car parking hassles 4. Learning all about the relationship between leaves and No. 2's 5. Various run start times 6. Easy access to the runners 7. Daily, updating reports 8. Spectator participation If you are with me, please write to the Baron, Paris or somewhere else, France. I took out my frustration on a meandering lunch time run mainly along a very muddy and wet canal towpath, which took me through a wonderfully named hamlet called ''Cow Roast''. The name makes me chuckle every time I run through it. I dived off the path a few times and checked out a number of trails, although each time I turned back through either excessive mud patches or wide/deep puddles. I did have to put the whistle back on without a shower for unsuspecting clients this afternoon and a marketing thingy after work, so for once I was sensible. Hopefully the fake LaCoste aftershave, baby wipes and slightly smelly towel covered up the pong.

Day 331 Monday 26th November 4.2 miles : miles to date 2191.4 The full on weekend left me suffering from the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and the DOWS (dehydrated Owen wine sickness) today. It comes to something when I'm sore and still have a bad head two days later, due no doubt to my Vet status which incidentally helped us bag third vet teams men's prize at the weekends race. Not quite the kiddy heights of Chester but a podium finish none the less which is the third one this year (also bagged third place in Bedford Clanger marathon), but enough about me. Opps, sorry as this is mostly about me, its time to talk about me. Again. Don't worry, another 35 days and the pain will be over. After very heavy rain all day and most of the country flooded or about to be under water, I headed for the Forest centre for a lap outside and a paddle inside. As I sat in my car, a streak of lighting known as Paul Farmer flew past at pace. I miss timed my car exiting strategy to get out just as he was coming back. Paul is a very nice chap, but he runs like the wind and I didn't want to slow him down. Never the less, he graciously did and we ran together for a mile and a half or so, dodging car's, puddles, frogs and small dinghies. He turned as I went into the centre, where upon all my hard work in puddle hopping went out the window as almost the entire path was covered in water. Ah well, you can only get wet once and the running gods had been very kind to me anyway, as it stopped raining for possibly the first time today when I set off. The rain stayed away and only my tootsie's got wet, with both the DOMS and DOWS gone by the end. Result.

The Reindeer run

Day 330 Sunday 25th November 4.1 miles : miles to date 2187.2 After yesterdays race, today's planned 10k race with Fi around Woburn House grounds in aid of the RNLI was always going to be a laid back affair. To say I didn't really take it seriously would be an understatement. The following list show's how to prepare for a race, which I wish I had in mind yesterday;- 1. Don't run hard in a race a day before: 2. Don't drink copious amounts of beer the night before: 3. Do set the alarm: 4. Don't oversleep, miss the 10k and enter the 5K which is later instead: 5. Do hydrate after drinking too many beers: 6. Don't start a second lap, run half a mile and think your head's hurting and turn around: 7. Do wear reindeer antlers, flashing red nose and t-shirt: 8. Don't be almost the only one in head to toe specialist x-c running gear not wearing your charity t-shirt, go to the front or take it seriously (not me but some other numpty): 9. Do check that the race doesn't clash with the clubs x-c race, then miss the x-c and feel bad all day about not going: 10. Do let the world and his wife pass you if you are feeling hung over, dehydrated, tired and well past your best sell by date: Compared to yesterdays almost exclusive running club race, this was a much more low key fun event in glorious House grounds. I only wish I was less er, under the weather. I still managed to wolf down my first mince pie. Must be Christmas soon?

Wolverton 5 mile race

Day 329 Saturday 24th November 6.1 miles : miles to date 2183.1 Stacey had two outings today, one early doors at Bedford park run with Fi and one with me at Wolverton 5 mile race this afternoon. I did feel like I was letting Gavin Garmin down a little, but I have to admit it is a great bit of kit. I helped to marshal the park run and it was great to see Steve James out with Paula , after being injured for most of the last two years. It won't be long before he's back barking orders at us in training and sharing his views in his own forthright way. Fi has had a niggle in her foot all week, which has effected her running so it was good to see her put in a very good run only seconds behind her PB. Having checked my records, it was a surprise to see that I had never raced at that distance, so come what may I was always going to get a PB. Never the less, I still wanted to go for a half decent time to add a clean sweep of PB's this year all of which bar one are at age related Gold standard. Having spent my entire running career struggling most of the time to reach Bronze, I admit to being a little greedy today and trying to get another Gold. The official results are not yet out, but by my reckoning I am very close but might have just missed out. Ohh, exciting. The early omens were not good. The weather had been getting steadily worse all day and by race start it was raining and cold. The start was very bunched and despite running at around a six minute mile pace it remained tight for over half a mile. That was due to the unusual distance and there not being that many races around, which attracted a very high number of club runners making up 90% of the field judging by the vests on display. I haven't really trained intensively for a while and I just wasn't sure what I was going to do. I tried to keep a steady pace and it was something of a surprise to go through the 10k mark quicker than my current best 10k race time. I did slow over the next mile and thought I had dropped drastically to a 6.30 plus pace, although after the race Stacey informed me that my slowest mile was 6.13 and my quickest mile was 5.59 which was the last one. I finished somewhere around 30:35, with the extra 1.1 mile being made up of the warm up and warm down. The mad as ever Martin Beare put in a sub thirty run despite last weekends sub 3 hour marathon, with the AFF also being very well represented by the Silver Surfer, Shaun Kirtley and Rebecca Fleckney with her second race of the day. Come to think of it, the winner of the potty cup is a tight call between the Beare and the Fleckers. The next race is a 10k er, tomorrow after a night's partying tonight with exuberant South Africans who will no doubt be celebrating their win over England.

The new arrival

Day 328 Friday 23rd November 4.2 miles : miles to date 2177 Well seeing as everyone is getting involved with the gossip and people want to know so much, it's probably time for me to confirm that yes Fi was expecting and our little bundle of joy arrived today. She managed to cover it up well and it was just as much as a shock for me let alone anyone else. I still can't quite get my head around how quickly it's happened. Only two days ago she announced that we would be expecting a new arrival, whom we have christened Stacy to go with her sibling Gavin. I can now confirm that we took delivery of a brand new, gleaming Garmin Forerunner 310XT. Without wishing to seem as though I am showing off, we are now a two Garmin family. My old mate Gavin Garmin 205 is on his last legs and now that there are two veteran athletes to cater for, we were worried that my poor old virtual training partner may be on the way to the electronic after life, Heaven 17. I took Gavin for a gentle trot around the streets outside Marston Forest Centre and just tried to make sure that he felt appreciated. It wasn't a fast run and in fact it was almost identical to every Friday night run around the centre whilst on my way home from work. The only difference was at the end, when a chap in a head torch, running gear and ruck sack ran past me as I was getting into the car. I resisted the urge to follow as he dived into the darkness of the centre, but I was intrigued. I'm still wondering where he was off.

Pop muzzac

Day 327 Thursday 22nd November 7.9 miles : miles to date 2172.8 If its a Thursday, its a standard figure of eight loop around the streets with the club. My roller coaster running week continued and I arrived feeling quite tired and with sore pins. I was late and the middle crew had gone, with the whippets also pulling out as I drove in. I can't stay with them when we start at the same time, so I resigned myself to a semi quick trot, hoping to catch the Silver Surfer and the rest on route. The wind was blowing hard and after the first three mile loop with no sign of anyone, I slowed and took it easy for the remainder, bearing in mind two pending shorter races this weekend. I couldn't catch a cold tonight and didn't see anyone until the finish. I half expected not to and went out with the long player, which I switched on for the second half. I now can't get out of my head, the classic King Kurt track Zulu Beat with its immortal chorus " jump to the Zuuullluuu beat ohh wallahwallah, ohh wallahwallah, ooh wallahwallah .'' Now listen up my running friends, if you don't pay attention to your training you to could end up like me, a former runner now addicted to searching for pop videos from the 1980's on You Tube. Leave the i-pod long play thingy machine behind or at least check your playlists. What ever you do, make sure Adam and the Ants never comes on. Blast, got to dash, I feel a chorus of "...unplug the jukebox and do us all a favour that music's lost its taste so try another flavour -antmusiiccc, ant mussiiccc " coming on. Heck, all's lost. I may not be able to run on Friday at this rate.

The Ingredient run

Day 326 Wednesday 21st November 4.9 miles : miles to date 2164.9 Due to limited time and a need to order pizza, I set off at pace tonight from my lads school car park at rush hour. As soon as the garmin connected and the Foo boys kicked in for a second night in a row, I was out of the blocks like Meatloaf himself. I powered down the road, dodging cars and just ran very fast through the middle of the town centre. The more the cars pulled up, the quicker I ran. I was racing the rat race crew, knowing that I'll be in the metal death box again on the morrow. There was almost an element of anger knowing that tonight, I was fleet of foot rampaging through the streets and in an all to brief a moment, I will be back in the whistle and sitting in one of those metal coffins. Another contrasting run to the dark and x-country of last night, but real life dictated the run. The streets and lights meant that despite the cars and peeps around, I was able to hammer it for a while, until my legs rebelled. Oi, they called, you have done two fifteen plus x-c runs in the last three days and you have two races at the weekend, with a major party straddling the two, they shouted. I listened and slowed soon after, taking the rest of the run easy. On arrival home, said pizza was ordered and the best mid week invention ever was deployed. A very cold beer in a very warm shower. If you have never tried it, go for it. The ingredients of the invention are these:- 1. Exercise outside in the cold or mud 2. Mix in a shiver or mud; go inside 3. Remove said beverage from fridge 4. Ensure said fridge has a back up 5. Retreat to shower, power up and de-robe 6. Enter, feel the heat and lather 7. If you are a chap, locate the old boy who has invariably pulled up a round neck jumper and hibernated 8. Crack said tinnie and bask in the hot water/air 9. Marvel at the contrast between warm water on the outside and amber nectar on the inside 10. Chill, enjoy and plan your next run Glorious. PS As an added bonus, drink more beer and eat pizza on a midweek school night

The darkness prevails...

Day 325 Tuesday 20th November 15.9 miles : miles to date 2160.2 Less than 24 hours after last nights trudge, I found myself at training ninety minutes early. What's a lad going to do to get his running mojo back? Do a 10 mile cross country run in the dark, mud and rain listening to the Foo Fighters at full volume with my head torch of course. I ran into Ampthill Park and joined leg four of the Greensands race, heading back to Millbrook testing ground and the handover from leg three. I have run these trails many, many times and yet tonight they felt totally different. The leaves covered the ground and it was difficult to run in the dark with so many tree roots, so I slowed and just enjoyed my surroundings, dancing around the trails like a little Welsh Fred Astaire. Despite being so close to a town, I had the feeling at times that I was in the middle of no where, which allowed me to escape with my Foo buddies. The trail took me through a number of woods, which cloaked me even further in darkness. The lack of natural light and the shadows thrown up by the torch made it a little spooky at times and when a rabbit ran across my path three feet in front of me, I did jump a bit. At one point the trail emerged to cross a very busy A road with commuters going home. I did pause for a moment in the rain, on the side of the road watching the cars whizz by feet away, wondering who thought they had the better mode of transport. I decided it was me, felt quite chuffed I was out there and dived back into the darkness on the other side. The second part of the run then began as I was helping to coach the club on a number of hill reps. I did my duty and cut back on the effort, concentrating instead on encouragement. The fact that I was starting to tire helped with that decision. No apathy tonight. Yippeeee.

Apathy...

Day 324 Monday 19th November 4.7 miles : miles to date 2144.3 After mudfest, tonight's run was always going to be a bit of a dull affair. An intended lunch time canal run was swapped due to work reasons, for a rather miserable run from my old pal Maulden Woods and the ever dodgy Doggers delight car park. It has been a fair while since I parked up there in the dark, albeit my only concern was the lack of the dirty mac brigade which left my car a tad lonely in the dark. I set off in just a thin top and after a few minutes noticed it was a lot colder than I thought. I fought the wind, cars whizzing by me within feet on the A6 and the onset of - and really sorry for this - apathy. I just didn't have the drive, energy or mental fortitude to enjoy tonight's trot and it was all I could do not to turn back sooner than I did. It all went Pete Tong. I slowed to a crawl, the i-pod ran out, the wind chill increased, the commuting cars all did their best to clip me and I didn't even get flashed at. My intended six or so miler, was cut short. There are days when you can, days when you can't and days when you just want to sit in front of West Side Story with a pizza and a nice Cote Du Rhoné. You can guess where I wanted to be tonight.

Mudfest

Day 323 Sunday 18th November 15.3 miles : miles to date 2139.6

Praise be to the mudfests in England's green and pleasant land, brothers and sisters of the running persuasion, praise be. As the mighty Odissey once sang, I am going back to my roots. The PB hunting is almost done for the year - apart from a wee 5 miler next Saturday - and today was a stick the daps on and meander where ever the mood took me run.
I covered a few road miles before heading over to the Oakley 20 mile race course, where I ran past an attractive woman runner at the front a school (sucked my belly in and ran a little faster whilst trying to smile obviously), when a few roofers wolf whistled. I was tempted to stop and say thanks but kept going.
Then the fun really began. I turned off the route and joined the John Bunyan trail near to the river, which was instantly wet, muddy and very boggy. After my ankle submerged the first time, my foot was caked in the glorious stuff

 and and I then just headed for every mud pool I could see. It was really quite refreshing just to take the straight route through the mud. It was a glorious, bright and only slightly frosty morning and the trails, leaves, cows, and river all had smiles on their faces.
At one point I had to cross a small bridge and every inch of ground leading to it was a quagmire. I just ran straight into it, where upon my trailing legs dap instantly came off. My momentum tok me forward and my shoeless foot sank into the next step to just below my knee. Stuck at an odd angle, I brought my other leg forward when it lost it's shoe and went in equally as far. By this stage, both shoeless feet were just sinking and I went down to my knee caps. I struggled to try to recover the daps and just for a moment stood there contemplating sitting down and getting the whole spa treatment for free. Realising that Fi would never let me in the house, I eventually climbed out and laughed all the way home. Running through the centre of the village caused a few stares and pointing, which made me just chuckle to myself even more.
The only down side was I had to rinse myself off in the garden with icy hose water before I could even get in the house, but even that made me chuckle after my legs became numb to the cold.
The trails are back in the blood. Yipppeeeeee.

Apology time

Day 322 Saturday  17th November 4.8 miles : miles to date 2124.3

After last night's meal, I was suffering from post currymatic bowel disorder early doors, so any thought of a SMC or even park run went out the window. An expected lay in bed was fine, until I realised that the most dedicated athlete in the family had got up and gone off to a race. And it wasn't me.

 I owe an apology. Since the need for speed thing has appeared, it seems I have become even more boring. If Star Wars was Running War's, Yoda would be Satnav himself, Richard Jones. And Yoda Jones spoke and the fact is, he was right. I started this challenge for one reason and one reason only. I love running. I don't need times, PB's, targets, distances or in truth anyone to pat me on the back. If it was just me and a pair of daps, tick tock tick-addy boo. I don't need to time every run and I need to 

 With that in mind, tonight's rather odd run just hit the mark. I parked right by Xscape in central Milton Keynes at 6.15pm, just as the entire world went out to the various bar's, eateries, shops, and snowdome inside. I then looped around the streets, dodging shoppers and cars in a busy urban run, before diving off down into the quiteness of Campbell Park. Within minutes the roads were swapped for a canal before a very dark, lonely and truly wonderful run on my own for a few brief moments heading back to hugely busy car park. In the park, I climbed a dark hill, to find an illuminated pyramid edifice on the high point, which I have never noticed before whilst in the car shooting past. 

 Tis time me thinks, that I need to go back to what I am most famous. Doing No 2's in the woods. Hopefully my apology is accepted? 

Day 321 Friday 16th November 5.1 miles : miles to date 2119.5 An early work finish allowed me to run slowly around the Marston Forest Centre figure of eight loop in the dark. There was mist around and combined with the darkness, my vision was a little impaired under the lights of the head torch. I was tired anyway from last nights run, so it was a straight forward i-pod long play thingy machine and a wee bit of Dad's rock. God save the Queen by the Sex Pistols still sounds good even after all these years, although it didn't make me run faster tonight. Right, tonight's post is being curtailed by an independent third party. I'm off for a Ruby Murry with Fi and the crew, I'm late and the Chef wont wait. I should mention that as a modern man, we are sharing the driving. I'm driving there and Fi's driving back. Kingfisher anyone?

Another PB!

Day 320 Thursday 15th November 7.9 miles : miles to date 2114.4 Yet another Thursday night session with the club, on an undulating urban figure of eight loop with a few testing climbs chucked in for good measure. Over the years, I would guess that my average time has been around 64 -66 minutes. I have tried to reduce that and dipped below the hour for the first time ever last year. Since this new found need for speed started earlier this year I have found myself a bit in no mans land. I am in-between the whippets and the next group down, which meant I was firmly put in my place by the real speed merchants tonight. I set off with the whippets near the back and not so slowly graduated backwards. By the time we climbed the second hill, I was already 20 feet behind and the gap grew. By three miles the leaders were out of sight and I could just about see the Flying Scotsman having for him a slow run in front. He turned 40 yesterday and has slowed down overnight. Or the beer more likely effected him. I was at this point puffing hard and I just tried to keep the gap from growing essentially for the rest of the remaining five miles. I couldn't catch him and concentrated on trying to get a decent time. The front runners came in at around the 48 minute mark, which is a pace I was never going to live with (yet). Despite being firmly last in that crew, I was none the less quite chuffed to dip in just under 53 minutes for the first time ever for that route. The Silver Surfer had a great run coming in comfortably first in the next group at a little over 58 minutes. And there you go, right in the middle. The challenge for me next year, is to avoid my normal 14 pound weight gain at Chrimbo (no exaggeration) and get closer to the 50 minute mark. Its making me tired just thinking about it.

The stripper

Day 319 Wednesday 14th November 7.2 miles : miles to date 2106.5 Now I've changed from the whistle and flute into my gear in all sorts of funny places this year. I have developed a routine that allows me to strip off almost anywhere. For the first time I had the luxury of the car back seat. Now why didn't I think of that, er, say 297 runs ago? The well oiled routine was put into motion in the middle of a jam packed car park at my daughters school where a parents/teachers evening was taking place. Fi and Meg were in the front praying that a teacher, pupil, parent or police officer didn't walk past. Heck, me and Satnav totally stripped off once on the back seat of a very busy top deck of a bus in Brighton after one particular late night race, so a car is well safe. I set off intending not to run too fast and stick to a 7.30 mile pace, given last nights session and Thursdays pending lung buster. Rather spectacularly I hit seven miles on the garmin at precisely 52:30, but I know the miles weren't even. The route home was undulating and the hills did slow me down going up and speed me up going down. I also picked it up on the unlit country road coming into the village, which was a little hairy in the dark and a bit of fog and then slowed down on the uneven pavements. In the end it was a reasonably comfortable run and I even turned down a glass of vino having done it. Has anyone seen my halo

Lucky Dip

Day 318 Tuesday 13th November 6.9 miles : miles to date 2099.3 I was a tad anxious heading over to tonight's club speed session. I have kicked back over the last few weeks, apart from running every day and fifty odd miles a week of course. I have put in a few good paced runs, but only maybe one or two a week. It is time to climb back aboard the PB train properly and not just try to coast through the next seven weeks. That meant it was going to be a hang on to the coat tails of the real whippets for as long as I could run. The session was a lucky dip one. We were given a card with twelve numbers on, with each having a time next to it ranging from 30 seconds to 4 minutes. Someone randomly picked a number and we then ran the time, with half time recovery before we ran the next lucky dip. Combine that session with a hilly, quite small loop and it was a toughie. I spent the entire night at the back although came off it at the end feeling quite energised. I had no problem at all being at the rear of almost every effort, as the crew were motoring and the fact is that without them, I just would not have run quite so hard. To top a good session, I also received a cheque for the princely sum of £37.50, which was my share of the prize for winning the team event at Chester marathon last month. Given I'm unlikely to win anything running related again, I'm half tempted to frame it. Mind you, Christmas is around the corner and I could use it to but Fi's prezzies and use the other £23 for a night out?

Panic stations?

Day 317 Monday 12th November 6.2 miles : miles to date 2092.4 Happy Feet. I haven't bought new trainers or had my tootsie's nibbled by fish. I went out for tonight's run with a small, local running group, chilled out and put some junk miles in the bank. Much more of a social run and chat, which is exactly what was needed tonight. I'm starting to panic now. There is exactly seven weeks to go from here, before the end of the year. The panic is not that I won't finish, but rather I will. There is still a bit of work to do before then. I'm 72.9 miles behind the 2500 target, having picked up a couple last week. I can try to add the shortfall to the average weekly mileage, which means just over 58 per week or save up most of it and leave it for the likely Hadrian's Wall challenge after Christmas. I think I had best double check my numbers and make sure Satnav can get a pass out. The thought of three days x-c running in stunning countryside is very exciting. No one will miss us for three days over Chrimbo I expect?

MUD!!!!!!

Day 316 Sunday 11th November 8.4 miles : miles to date 2086.2 The club were out in force at this mornings x-c and looking at some of the pictures on FB, it looks like it was an absolute mud bath. Gutted I didn't make it, but with all this running I have to make sure at weekends I fit in around the not so little peeps. Whilst I missed the run, if I had been there I would have more importantly not been at my lads first round cup rugby game. As it turns out, he and the team played a blinder and mullered last years cup winners playing the best rugby I have seen them play in the last few years. I love my running, but there are other things are much more important. We eventually arrived home and I did all the housework before the current arrived home from Welshieland. Fi was due to do a long one, so I waited to see if she wanted to go out. After driving for three hours she sensibly said no, so I donned the long play i-pod thingy machine, put on the head torch and just went out for an easy and very slow recovery run in the dark and cold. Average time was 8.06 per mile it was that slow! Most of the run was on roads with no street lights, so I would have struggled to run fast even if I wanted to. I was just happy to chill out with some Dad's rock and rock I did. In the last mile I picked it up a tad to 8 minute mile average. I mean who couldn't when Iron Maiden and Run to the Hills comes on?

Mud, mud, more mud and food

Day 315 Saturday 10th November 11.7 miles : miles to date 2077.8 Hi Honey I'm home. Daddy's back to play and play we did. The SMC welcomed me with open arms back into a depleted crew this very morn, due to Sundays x-c race at Tring. Or Wing or Bling (sorry not funny in-house joke). All thoughts of pace, mile splits and position were firmly shelved in favour of mud, water and banter. It was like time had stood still. We headed off to find mud and did everything we could to avoid tarmac, running my old mucker the Greensand's Ridge. David Cook came prepared for winter and was only missing a scarf. I can't wait to see what he turns up in when it's minus twelve. One of the longer term walking wounded in the form of Jerry Day was out for only the second time in what must be six months, so we gave it ten minutes before starting to take the mickey, concentrating on Cookies thermal gloves instead. The promised rain stayed away and when we were running the temperature was fine. The trail took us eventually into Chicksands Woods and my other old mucker Richard Jones once again came to the fore. He casually mentioned he wouldn't mind after Christmas running from the coast on one side of England to the coast on the other running along Hadrian's Wall, as you do. I'm not entirely sure he has mentioned it to the current Mrs. Jones, so don't tell her. She may be the ex Mrs. Jones when he does. A little later, Satnav once again showed his truth worth, heading through an army firing range and trying to take a trail in the exact opposite direction of where we were going, heading in fact back to where we had been. Think I'll be in charge of the maps. It was like nothing had changed. Come to think of it, it hasn't. A very enjoyable run with my pals, was finished off with a very tasty carnivore baguette and hot chocolate on the green with most of the crew. Running for PB's and times are one thing, but ultimately it's these types of runs that I get out of bed for. At 6.18am as it happens.

Day 314 Friday 9th November 4.8 miles : miles to date 2066.1 Ah Friday night, 7.30pm, cold and dark outside, the current Mrs. Owen away on a girlie weekend 170 miles away in my homeland, both kiddlepeeps out doing stuff, peace and quiet. Lovely. Now what's a lad going to do in those circumstances? Put on a bit of sport on the death box and crank open a Dr. Bud? No of course not. I stuck on a pair of only used 5 times shorts (I'm on my own you know), jumped in the car and headed over to run along an unlit path alongside a river, through a golf course and back, on my tod. This really was one of those runs where only Daisy would ever know if I went out and the bloke walking his dog who must have clenched a bit when I came at him out of nowhere in the dark. I did take it very easy, partly due to the last few runs and kept it below five miles as I've got to get up in ten hours to go, er, running. Someone will tell me if they think I'm getting obsessive about this won't they?

Puffin hard

Day 313 Thursday 8th November 7.9 miles : miles to date 2061.3 Tonight was the first tempo run with the club for around six weeks, through racing and holidays. I arrived knowing that I'm a little out of shape and with yesterdays hilly run still in the legs. I decided to go with the whippets on our normal 8ish undulating road run and just see how far I got. The whippet crew were just that. Four of the fastest chaps in the club. And me. I knew from the off it was going to be a hang on for as long as I could type run which was about three miles, when the gap between me and the Flying Scotsman had opened to about thirty feet. Disaster then hit. Well, ok, not quite disaster, but my shoe laces did come undone. By the time I stopped to rectify, the gap was even bigger and the speed those boys were going it was a case of auf Wiedersehen Pet. One of the lads had pulled up to sort something out and he caught me as I was swearing at my shoes. Good and bad news. The good news was I had someone who would push me along. The bad news is he's aiming for an elite marathon start of sub 2.45. We did work together for the next five miles, up and down, dodging cars and all sorts of obstacles. The benefit of running with someone a lot faster than you is inevitably, they will make you run faster. I clocked an eventual finish time around 11 minutes or quicker than the average time I took to cover the loop this time last year. For me at least it was a good tempo run. There were times when I was puffing and conversation was hard, which is the mark of a good quicker but not flat out session. I think I might be running an easy recovery run on Friday though.

The hills have eyes

Day 312 Wednesday 7th November 9.2 miles : miles to date 2053.4 Well that was an odd one. A lunchtime run from Berko in my Ron Hill's meant a choice between mud glorious mud, or playing chicken with oncoming cars on the road to Tring. I plumped for the road on the basis that I still had an afternoon's work and no shower facilities meant I couldn't scrub the dirt off. Baby wipes and out of date fake LaCoste aftershave only goes so far to tamper the smell. The road choice was surprisingly undulating and I set out just trying to run evenly. As I neared Tring, I decided to keep going and loop around the outskirts towards the canal. I ducked out of coming back that way and eventually found a hill, that got steeper as you went up. By the time I got to what I thought was the top, I was puffing hard. As I rode the crescent, it hit me it wasn't and I had another forty feet to go. Legs and lungs were burning, but as any X-C runner will tell you, hit the top and keep on striding. The downhill will make you run faster naturally and despite that, you will also recover. I slowed myself down when I hit 6.20 pace on the way down, despite the hill moments before. I then switched onto cruise control and kept it steady all the way, clocking an average 7.02 per mile. It was odd in that I just didn't think I was running smoothly, evenly, fast or with any great style. Given the number of inclines, all in all, an unexpected decent time with limited dirt on the legs (cheers Ron) and just a mild smell of mildew under the pin stripe.

Day 311 Tuesday 6th November 8.6 miles : miles to date 2044.2 My intended run at the club's speed session was torpedoed by traffic, so I headed over to Ampthill just to put in some junk miles with no specific training aim other than to add to the tally. Just over a half mile in I bumped into Jody Buczynski early into an 18 miler, so I tagged along with him just shooting the breeze. Its amazing really how two runners together can just whittle away the time talking about exactly the same things time after time. Races, plans, nutrition, pacing, distances, how well someone else is doing, mile splits etc. If we went out again tomorrow we would quite happily talk about the same things and no doubt dissect them in even more detail. We didn't talk about world peace, investment prospects in emerging Asian markets or finding a cure for leukemia. We just talked running and anything related. I often come home from a run and Fi say's to me, what's the news or gossip? The answer is invariably none, as runners seem to just talk about, er, running stuff. Anyway, it was great just to meander around with Jody who missed Chester through injury and is running Luton marathon in ten days instead. For only the second time in seven years, I've not entered it and will be taking my lad to rugby instead. It seems to me, that to run a super fast marathon in the spring, I need to concentrate on my fitness now with some speed work and running an in between Luton marathon is pointless. Boring but true. This need for speed is going to cost me at least a year in my long term plans to join the 100 marathon club. Ho hum.

Fireworks night

Day 310 Monday 5th November 8 miles : miles to date 2035.6 Well that was a lot harder than it should have been. The intention was a straight forward run at what I hoped might be a comfortable pace of around 7.15 per mile. I decided to lap the country park in the cold and dark with my head torch. Almost straight away, I felt a little out of sorts and struggled with my running gait partly through difficulties with my depth perception in the dim light. The cold made my breathing a little harder and even Axel screaming out on the long play i-pod thingy machine didn't help. There were a few surprises on route to keep me occupied. A muntjac appeared within feet of me on the path. My torch made its eyes glow and we were both a little startled. Rabbits everywhere, a couple strolling in the night air and some odd chap wandering around on his own. I saw the last bloke three times as I lapped, but didn't stop to ask him what he was doing. Towards the end, the Guy Fawkes celebrations kicked off in the village with a huge firework display. I assume it was that, rather than the village being impressed by my run. I eventually ground out the eight at an average pace of 7.19 per mile. I'm not at all happy with the grinding bit and it appears to be time that the pre training for the race training Voldemort plan mark (ii) needs to begin. I''m a convert to race pace training and I want to go into the next plan fit enough to go to the next level. To infinity...and beyond. Now who said that?

Day 309 Sunday 4th November 10 miles : miles to date 2027.6 Having frozen the essentials watching my lad play rugby early doors, I just wasn't looking forward to running any distance today. The lure of the warm, cosy, living room was a powerful force and I temporarily dozed off with Daisy on top of me, only to be awoken by Fi in her kit saying lets go. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to go, let alone how far. As I had been so cold in the rain earlier, my new running jacket got its first full proper outing. The rain has been hammering down, so we decided to stay on the roads and head over to part of Bedford Harriers forthcoming half marathon course. The rain had eased albeit the wind had not and this made even the slight inclines difficult. I still cant quite get over RW's description of it as a flat course. Its just not and even though we only covered around 4 miles of the course, it was undulating and hilly. We headed out five miles and rather than loop, just turned and came back the same way. I don't have a problem with doing that, as I always think the same route looks different going the other way. Even so, I was tired, cold and wet and any thought I might have had about running further just evaporated when we came close to the front door. Having arrived back, I was promptly kicked out again to walk Daisy. Slowly and with a lot more layers of clothes on

2012 in 2012

Day 308 Saturday 3rd November - Run One - 4.3 miles : miles to date 2014.6 Run Two - 3 miles : miles to date 2017.6 Run one was a very early morning start in the frost and dark, to help Annie Page deliver a master class in x-c coaching. We arrived early to set out the hilly and taxing route we had chosen through the glorious confines of Stockgrove country park. One of my fav races runs through the park every year and is a little known jewel in the areas crown with almost 34 miles of almost entirely trail running. Today's route was further over and positioned strategically for a bacon buttie and coffee after it was done. As I was coaching, I didn't really put much effort in during the session as I think it's more important to encourage the runners than try to get any fitness benefit yourself. I darted between the trails taking shortcuts, as did Annie, to cheer them on. I still managed to clock up a few miles setting out the course and darting about, so I indulged in a jolly decent cuppa and sarnie whilst chewing the fat with the crew afterwards in the cold air and bright sun. Great start to the morning. Run two was an unplanned one. I was in the car, toasting the crown jewels on the heated seats when I realised I could make it back to a local Parkrun where Fi was in charge of timing, to join her for an easy stretch of the legs. She asked me to bring a coffee over and said I had no money, but I'd had a lovely one and sarnie so I was all right. That went down well. A comfortable stroll around the park followed, after a minor panic when my antique Garmin watch was accidentally left on top of the car. Its so old, I'm surprised that no one left us a fiver to buy a new one. Fi is now keeping her fingers crossed that she got the timings right. Parkruns are entirely free weekly 5k events, put on by volunteers for no monetary reward up and down the UK. They rely heavily on the goodwill of volunteers week in, week out. Today's event almost didn't happen due to the low number of volunteers, despite the high number of runners. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't yet volunteered which I will put right in the next few weeks

Day 307 Friday 2nd November 7.3 miles : miles to date 2010.3 Dooohhh. I've done it again. If I had looked at the total, I would have done another 1.7 miles to finish on 2012 in 2012. I ran part of the Bedford half marathon course today, which is described in Runners World as flat. As I was puffing quite hard up a rather steep incline, I was minded to drop a line to the Editor to point out the inaccurate route description, before running down the other side and puffing back up another incline thirty feet later. I don't suspect I will be troubling my PB in next months race unless a new plan is adopted and fast. I think the batteries are now well stocked, albeit not super charged. I am starting to think that I'm on the final lap of this challenge and need to realise that I have still got two months to go and 489.7 miles to cover. Damn, just worked out that's 8.16 miles per day. Mmm, that seems a long way all of a sudden.

Day 306 Thursday 1st November 3 miles : miles to date 2003 After a late night/early morning HallOwen curry with the Born Again's, it was a lazy day avoiding the subject of running. I rarely channel hop and watch daytime TV. The absolute dross that was on, eventually forced me out the door on a straight forward village loop. The highlight of the run was the first wearing of my new running jacket, which fits like a glove. Fi threw my last one out due to the over powering stench and fungus growing in the armpits. Its taken me an age to find the right one as I'm an odd shape. Think Ernie Wise with shorter legs. Once I got out, it was fine albeit slow and uneventful. The jacket stood up well to the four spots of rain and the, er, quite warm temperature.