Not since the great storm of 1953 ...

have I been buffeted and rocked by winds of such magnitude and ferocity. The two(ish) laps of the Hangover 10k at Kewstoke were, to say the very least, extremely testing. I had this great idea last Friday that I'd start the year with a pb and chose the Hangover 10k as the race to do it. What a brilliant idea - NOT. On the morning of the race I realised it wasn't gonna happen. I came home just outside 39 minutes, about 1:26 off my pb and every step on that last lap was hard. The wind was horrendous. I recon that somewhere between 4 and 5k of the race was run into the wind. The section down the see front was bad - really bad, directly into the wind. The wind just did not let up and it must have been a good mile. What made it even worse was the fact that after the first lap you knew what was coming at the end of the race - I've seen grown men cry at less (all right, all right - I've cried at less). Anyway, I'm glad I did it. If nothing else it was good training. Then I went down the gym afterwards for a crafty half hour on the exercise bike - what? I pass the gym on the way home from Weston, it'd be rude not to. Introduced myself to the delights of level 14 interval.

The usual suspects were all on parade (just goes to show I'm not the only sad git who drags themselves out of bed on New Years Day). There was the Mighty Phil Parry, fresh from his run at Exeter yesterday, leading the way home, finishing just outside 33 minutes. Then came Dangerous Dan Moore finding it tough in the wind. When I met him at the finish all his hair had been blown off! (Nice to meet Mrs Dan by the way). Next up was Ben Robinson, coming back from injury, and finishing somewhere around 36 minutes. He was a bit disappointed with his time but I think he'll be pleasantly surprised the next time he races in calmer conditions. Following on his heels (well almost) was his dad, Matt 'get your slippers' Robinson. He showed me a clean pair of them today, beating me by about a minute (the swine). Sian was there and Graham Grew too (think that's his Surname - I'm terrible names).

Finally, let me wish all of my faithful bloggerets (all three of you) a happy and fortuitous New Year in 2007. Long may you run like the wind (no reference to Crumpies brussels sprout soup intended).