November 2011

[ladyrunner]

Don´t drink too much, amigos!

Too late!

Yes .... definately too late by the sounds of it. Enjoy the run tomorrow training partner.

Julie

[Sweder]

BRUTAL

All RCers counted out and counted back but my WORD there's a tale to be told. Sadly there are other matters that must be attended to.

Laters.

[marathondan]

We look forward to it! Your time looks not too shabby. Congratulations!

[Antonio247]

¡Enhorabuena! Congratulations, S.! It must have been really hard to go up that hill in that weather.

Saludos desde Almería

[glaconman]

Stories about brutal races are just how we like it Sweder. Great effort.

[Sweder]

After P2P and a brace of recovery runs with MLCman on Hobart's astonishingly beautiful Seven Mile Beach I returned to my native Lewes hills. Yesterday's morning session was wonderful. My, how easy the slick green slopes seemed after that gruelling mountain! I fair flew up to BlackCap, dogs in tow, feet light and legs remarkably fresh.

I'm traveling again next week (Dubai for the World Diabetes Congress) so my plans to start on the long road to Almeria and Brighton are on hold 'till mid December. Tomorrow would be Moyleman's birthday. I'll be joining Ladyrunner and Moylebird for their 100th ParkRuns (Hove Park, Saturday 9am), a lovely piece of synchronicity to be toasted with coffee and cake. Chances to run in Dubai will be limited to ugly sweat-ups on the hotel treadmill.

After that I plan to hack out some form of training schedule to include flat road running, perhaps even seafront plodding. Brighton has a lot of long, flat sections and I need to be well prepared for the mental challenge. Offroad hill work is great for legs and lungs but is by its nature entertaining and distracting, all those ankle-breaking rabbit scrapes and cheeky cambers to negoitiate. I need to train my brain to deal with twenty to thirty minutes of heads down, no nonsense mindless boogie. I'll add on some fartlek, speed work (at ParkRun), occasional midweek sessions chasing the horribly fit Ladyrunner through the hills and the odd barefoot outing (to work on posture and gait). Hopefully a nice varied diet to deliver all round race fitness and a bit of weight loss.

Speaking of diets I've decided not to jump on the waggon, at least not yet. I'm happy to moderate my beer intake but with the festive season looming a total ban would be dumb. January offers a better opportunity for sobriety. Track du jour: Killing Yourself To Live, Black Sabbath. Great for hill running.

[Sweder]

As November bids a cheery, slightly chilly farewell I have to wonder where the time goes. No sooner has Mount Wellington receded in the rear view mirror than Almeria looms large on the horizon. I'm away to Dubai for work this week. When I get back I start my six week schedule ending in Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos.

Saturday saw a return to Parkrun to mark both Ladyrunner and Moylebird's 100th event (my 40th, which says all there is to say about my tardy attendance record) and Moyleman's birthday. We celebrated after the run with coffee and cake at the café where we were joined by Alan 'Le Soft', Suzie and little George and a number of old training buddies; Stevio, Fiona, Mikey B and, albeit on the next table and oblivious to the significance of the occasion, Liz Yelling. I bagged a years' best 23:18, still over a minute slower than my PB but a fair effort on still-tired legs. Le Soft snapped some shots as we pootled round, one of which, of me in my sweat-soaked, tight-fitting P2P technical shirt, had me swearing an oath to go on a crash diet. That evening we re-grouped in a Patcham tavern to be enterained by Meat Diva, a tongue-firmly-in-cheek Meatloaf tribute act. The name says it all; they were hilarious, not to mention talented vocalists. Chris would have heartily approved.

I'd planned to wobble up to Blackcap yesterday but my hamstrings felt so horrible that I walked it instead. This morning LR popped over with her houndlette for a gentle plod. My hammies still felt on the verge of rebellion so I took it easy, clocking 35 minutes for just over 3.5 miles. There's more of the same planned for tomorrow before celebrating the passing of my half century strapped into one of Richard Branson's airbourne leviathans. C'est la vie.

A word on the passing of Gary Speed. I have no idea what demons possess a successful sportsman with a beautiful family to take his own life. It is certainly a tragedy, not least so for the wife and young children he left behind. That he chose to hang himself in the family home is, however, unforgivably selfish. Finding his body will haunt whoever did so for the rest of their life, as will a terrible feeling of failure and unrelenting loss. Rest in peace Gary. May the gods take better care of those you left behind.

[Sweder]

Popped out for a birthday plod with Waldorf & Statler. Some half-hearted cow chasing aside it was uneventful, if extremely blustery, a similar time and distance to yesterday. That's it for me (hotel tready hell aside) until 11th December. Be careful out there.

[marathondan]

Popped out for a birthday plod with Waldorf & Statler.

Did I miss these two in the cast list of this particular soap opera, or are you teasing us?

Incidentally, I too will be in Dubai next week, although only for 36 hours, so I think even a cursory hello would be impractical. I doubt our itineraries will ever coincide again, but do mention when you're out there again next.

[Sweder]

Incidentally, I too will be in Dubai next week, although only for 36 hours, so I think even a cursory hello would be impractical.

Well that depends on where you are in the city. I'll be mostly at the Dubai World Trade centre, staring at the Ibis. There's a grisly Irish pub across the road ...

W&S are in fact Ripley & Murphy. I frequently change their names in posts & tweets; Pinky & Perky, the Muppets, Nip & Tuck, Ant & Dec ... just a(nother) quirk I'm afraid.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I'll be mostly at the Dubai World Trade centre, staring at the Ibis.

Really? I thought you'd be working.

[Sweder]

What else can you do when confronted by a bird with such a preposterous proboscis?

OK, it was meant to say 'staying'.
I blame the Guinness.

[marathondan]

I'll actually be down the road in Sharjah (which is dry ) - just passing through to / from the airport in the dead of night.