Farming advice with Jerry

As Terry 'Terrier' Townsend and I await the start of his leg - 15 down into Brecon, Jerry gave us an overview of the benefits of sheep over cattle for the husbandry of your pasture land - nice.
Back at the race, early reports suggest the Clive Bromhall is in good shape just off the front two (youngsters) on leg 14 - Drovers.

Terry and Jerry at the Drovers Arms as Terry applies the vasaline - ooh no misses.

Crossgate

Made it to the start of leg 13 to see Sian off. I'm sure she'll have a good run - it's an unusual day for her to have a bad one.
Stayed to see Paul in - finishing strongly just outside the top ten - great result.
The race as a whole is not going so well but with some good runners to come later in the day things should start to pick up. Clive 'Superman' Bromhall has to be worth a shout on the prestigous Drovers Leg.

A new day......

A chance to reflect. I feel a bit better about my run now that I have got my brain working again. I was really on the edge there for a moment but I was only 4 mins down on my target so that's not too bad.
Anyway it was another early start - 5:00 as I had to head off and pick up Paul, our leg 12 man, who had driven to the start of leg 13. Everything went to plan Paul as team manager Clive 'Don't panic' Tucker stroll to the start with plenty of time for warm up and in Clive's case - chat! (pictured)

Hopefully by this time Jerry 'Van Man' Hogan is going well towards the head of the field on leg 11 out Newtown.

F*&#ed

That was tough - nuff said. I was slightly slower than I was aiming for, 1:34 but the heat and length of the day took its toll.
Chris 'Dangerous' Herbert survived the car drive of death - Tims 2CV.
Mark even had time for some bird watching (dirty old man) as we dropped off Dave 'Bad Boy' Bedwell.
Ant Wiltshire ran leg 9 but I don't know any of the details.
Overall we've had a great day with good team spirit and fantastic weather - too hot but mustn't complain.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

Just made the drop off of an important package at Barmouth for the start of leg 6 - Brett Saddler. The crew of the good ship support car one will soon be departing for mission Dinas Mawddwy shortly to drop off Dave Bedwell
Not sure of the race position at this stage but Dave 'The Boy' Taylor seemed to be going well on leg 4 - he was is the top dozen when we saw him.
Hopefully Tim 'Death Car' Horn will have a steady run out of Harlech on leg 5.

Run-Out at the Oakeley Arms

The team milling around at the start of leg 4 - waiting for Graham 'Mountain Goat' Crump to come flying through the finish of his leg from Cricceith.
Not sure how we're doing but Chris Herbert had a good run - coming home ahead of his self imposed target - on leg 1 before handing over the baton to the ever consistent Dave Mortimer on leg 2.

and we're off

After a 5am start and a pleasant 4 hour drive, taking in the breath taking vista of Snowdon, we arrived (just) for the pre-race briefing before heading over to the start.
Clive didn't panic too much on the way up but there's plenty of time for things to change.
Only six hours till I take to the field of battle - I will have been on my feet for 14 hours by then so I hope that doesn't take its toll.

The start at Caernafon Castle.

Almost there ......

Tent - check, spare tent - check (you never know), water - check, other stuff - check. Yep, I'm all set and ready to rumble - oops, alarm clock set for 4am - check.

I'm hoping to blog some live updates and pictures through the weekend as the race unfolds subject to a) having enough time when not needed to ferry runners to and from the start and end of their leg and b) phone reception - as it can be a bit dodgy in places. Fingers crossed.

By way of a test transmission I'm posting this from my phone, including a picture that I took when I was working off site a week or two ago.

...... Yep seems to work.

Thought for the day: We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.

Two days to go

I decided to rest up today ahead of what promises to be a pretty full on weekend at our outing to Wales for the Welsh Castles Relay 2007. I've just had a look back over the last week or so and realised that my plan of concentrating on training for the Berlin Marathon has been a little off skew. In a period of eight days I ran 4 races - so much for easing up on the racing while as I kick the training up a notch. And counting back a little further it's been six races/events in sixteen days - what the hell is wrong with me!!!

Anyway, I'm relaxed now, ahead of the weekend where the overriding factor will definitely have to be .................. put on plenty of sun block - even if it doesn't look sunny - you've only got one skin so don't waste it - probably not exactly true since skin cells keep on growing and shedding your entire life but once the cell's dna is damaged it's pretty much f#@*ed for life.

Thought for the day: Cheese - milk's leap toward immortality.

Easy down at the track

My left hamstring is still tight and to add to that my groin is playing up - too much information me thinks. Anyway, I managed a 300, 400, 500, 400, 300 pyramid session albeit a little bit on the slow side, 50s, 70s, 89s, 70s, 50s. I didn't really want to do anymore for fear of aggravating things so I finished with a few jogged laps.

Some goods news though, Harry was back in the clan tonight but for every action there has to be an equal and opposite re-action (Newton's third law) which meant we had to miss Nick so that the natural balance and harmony of the universe could be maintained (I'm told he was revising for an exam tomorrow - so good luck Nick). The ever present Sean made up the numbers with Rick both running and timing. After the pyramid the lads (and older lad) ploughed on with some 200's not sure how many - I just knew I couldn't manage them tonight.

Thought for the day: The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it!

What an excellent day

I had the most marvelous news this morning - I've won the lottery - only kidding, like I'd ever be that lucky - and anyway, I think you have to purchase one of the ticket things to be in with a shout.

Meanwhile, back in the real world - I've got a run on the weekend and it's a cracker, leg 10 - a half marathon mountain stage - back of the net - oh lucky day. I'm going to aim for 1 hour 30 which I reckon should be feasible - difficult to say how much time the hills will add to my half pb of 1:23 but it makes sense to be realistic. The one thing you can depend on though, is that I shall be giving it the works. I know it's going to be hard to get into the top third of the field on this leg because there will be a lot of good runners out there trying to help win their team the prestigious Kings, Queens (no, not Julian Clarey) and Monarchs of the mountain. The mountain stages always attract plenty of strong runners - but I'm not scared.

I didn't get out for a run today, just a burn on the bike and rowing machine at the gym instead. The legs are still a bit stiff and I don't want to let my team down on Saturday so I'm going to taper and everything. And on top of everything else I hit 51.5 on the bike fit-test bike - doesn't really mean much but it's the first time I've topped 50 for ages so it backs up my general feeling that I'm on the way back.

I shall, of course, be hitting the track tomorrow for a quick speed tune up before taking it easy on Thursday and Friday ahead of the big event.

Thought for the day: Yipee!

Little bit stiff ......

The legs! The legs are a little bit stiff - you smutty lot. Actually they're quite a bit achy - mostly in the quads so it was just a weights session for me today. They're easing tonight so I should be up to running tomorrow.

I have a dilemma though. It's the Welsh castles relay this coming weekend and as usual I'm driving the support vehicle as we only put in a vets team - and I'm just a wee youngster so I don't get to run. This year I'm hoping to try and blag a run for a team - any team - who is short of a runner - and I'd prefer one of the harder legs, a mountain one preferably and as long as you like - but beggars can't be choosers so I'll take anything. The dilemma I have is whether assume I won't get a run and do a normal weeks training starting with an easy one tomorrow, to help the legs recover, and then the track on Wednesday followed by hills on Thursday - in which case I won't be rested if I do manage to get a run or do I plough into hills tomorrow, knowing that the legs won't be a hundred percent, and then the track on Wednesday followed by the easy one on Thursday and assume I will manage to get a run? Is the cup half empty or half full? I can't quite make up my mind.

Decisions, decisions......

Thought for the day: If you're going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now.

Getting back to form

It was the morning after the day before and I didn't know what to expect from the LA 10k. It's a hilly one so in theory it should be good for me. However, my left hamstring was tight after yesterday and no amount of warm up or stretching gave any relief. I decided I should run it anyway - in for a penny and all that.

I set off a little too quick but managed to get up the hill in reasonable shape. The hamstring seemed to be holding its own so I tried to push on but there was nothing there. So instead I looked to consolidate. I held it together pretty well and got through to the finish in 40:20 and about 20th place. I was catching the guy in front but, alas, too slowly. I reckon if the race went on for another ten miles I might just have got him!

The course was a little changed from previous years but I think it's still comparable - it's a hard course and the main climb remains the same. I was just over a minute quicker this time round than last year so I have to be pleased with that. I estimate that this course is about two minutes slower, for a forty minute man, than a flat 10k, in which respect, my time compares to about 38:20 on the flat and means I'm getting back to my best.

Well done to Annabel Granger for her first place in the Women's race, followed home by Nicola Brookland.

And on other fronts, the preliminary result of yesterday's Division 5 Match - we won by just 2 points on 193 points from Kidderminster & Stourport on 191. You see, every point counts. For example my PB putt moved me from 5th to 3rd - 2 points. Simon Park's outing over the 400m - an event that is about 200m too long for him - gave us an invaluable 5 points - every little helps.

And what makes the weekend just about the tops - the A Team won the Division 1 Match as well but they ran away with the victory - well maybe not quite running away with it but it wasn't nearly as nail biting as our win - they won by 3 points!!! (234 against Corby's 231)

Thought for the day: Every little helps.

Fair to midland-leaguing

The gods smiled today - and we were blessed. The weather was great, almost too sunny for running the longer races - I had to apply the sunblock like never before.

We fielded another big team for the second Midland League Division match of the season. We hosted this one on our home track - in Yate? That's right a city the size of Bristol can't be arsed to cater for the needs of the athletic community - so much for bringing on the youth of today for 2012. I don't think that Bristol City Council realise that mugging and the '100m leggit from the police' are not actually Olympic events - they think were guaranteed gold's in those events so we don't need decent sport/athletic facilities. So off to Yate we went.

The team spirit was good yet again with everyone knuckling down and doing their bit. Glad to see Harry again - with his signed letter excusing him from Wednesday's track session. He had a good run out in the 800m, running a few seconds quicker than at the last match and picking up good points in the high jump to boot.

I had some good results as well. Didn't do as many events as last time - only four - but it was a case of quality over quantity this time.

I took 2nd place in the 400m Hurdles 'A' string with a new PB of 72.4s (2.5s off). Then I headed over to the Javelin to fit in two throws before heading out on the 3000m Steeple Chase - which I have to say I took pretty easy - but this time round I actually had the balls to hurdle the barriers - rock on! I managed 3rd place in the 'A' string with another PB in a time of 12:27 (33s off). Then it was quickly over to the Javelin to take my final three throws as I had qualified for the further stages (the top six after three throws get another three). I pulled out all the stops to set - you guessed it - another PB, this time adding almost three metres to my previous best, with a mammoth throw of 31.20 and 2nd place in the 'B' string - who's the daddy.

Then it was time to put my feet as my work there was done - but I got a late call up to the shot putt - never my greatest event. Anyhow, picture the scene, I was languishing down in fifth place in the 'B' string with a putt of around 5.5m, which was close to my previous best - having never broken six. I stepped up to the ockey and launched possibly one of the finest putts to ever grace the putting circle - time stood still as the sacred Orb of Iron lifted majestically though the air, almost defying gravity before finally coming to rest at a distance of 6.22m to claim 3rd spot and another PB - four out of four - well slap my thigh.

Not sure of the team result but I hope we did well. We certainly had some good results today, especially in the sprints and relays.

Off now to rest up ahead of tomorrow's Long Ashton 10k......

Thought for the day: People do not lack strength, they lack will.