The plan was that I’d miss out on this week’s Tuesday night run in the forest so that I could have a good crack at the last RR10, due to be held in my own back yard in the IBM grounds at Hursley. It’s true that I had a little more bounce in my legs that on some previous occassions but still not enough pace to keep going flat out for the three lap course. I even lost a place on the sprint finish, falling back in to 22nd place. It was enough though to ensure that I scraped in to the top 20 for this year’s series. My only encouragement is the significant number of veterans ahead of me – there’s still time yet!
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Home run
Thursday, August 20th, 2009Wilson Christening
Monday, August 17th, 2009We headed up to Lancashire this weekend just gone for the christening of Christine’s cousin Cath’s son: Daniel Wilson. We stopped off in the Midlands on the way up (must remember that the “South” in “Warwick South Services” refers to the direction of the carriageway, not the location!) and completed the journey on Saturday morning. I had unfortunately been looking at the weather forecast for the south of England and hence wasn’t quite prepared for the downpour we experienced whilst out for a short walk with Steve’s family. We stayed the Saturday night at Cath’s parents before finding our way to the venue for the Christening: St James the Less in Rawtenstall. The priest delighted in telling us how short the ceremony was and then proceeded to regail us with a detailed history of the church to compensate. Daniel didn’t seem too put out about being dressed in a white frock and only resorted to tears when inverted over the font. It was good to seem so many of his family and just a shame that we had to disappear off early to start the long trek back down south.
Caught in the act
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009It was a lovely sunny evening out at Wilverley yesterday and this week I managed to arrive before everyone had set off. We completed a nice loop with much of the time spent in the shade of the trees. We weren’t the only ones out in the sunshine though: just before returning the car park we stumbled across a couple who were – how shall I put it? – enjoying each other’s company without the need for much in the way of clothing. Tip: if you don’t want the moment to be disturbed by a group of passing runners, I’d suggest avoiding the vicinity of a New Forest car park on a Tuesday night!
PS Nice new feature of the XML Google Maps Plugin: if you click on the red icon with the magnifying glass on the left edge of the map then it will open a copy of the map that fills the browser frame.
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Running a round
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009We all headed over to a sunny Flemming Park this evening for a new RR10 venue. The municipal golf course was decommisioned earlier in the year and the fairways were to provide the setting for the race. I felt pretty sluggish the whole way round and seemed to be forever being overtaken as we did two very convoluted laps to squeeze in 4.2 miles (the race didn’t venture north of the motorway). I finished 21st which isn’t too bad but I suspect that reflects the fact that it is now the school holidays rather than my running. It was obviously faster than my two supporters were expecting as they didn’t make it back from the sandpit in time to see me finish! The area would make a good location for a permanent orienteering course as has been suggested.
West Key
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009I had a phone call from Christine this morning saying that she’d driven in to Southampton with Emma and when she got back from the parking meter she no longer had the car key. I cycled home, picked up the spare key, cycled to the station and took the train in to Southampton. Needless to say, just as I arrived Christine had been contacted by security in the retail park to say that a key had been handed in at the information desk in West Quay itself. Emma seemed to enjoy all of this fun and games but then she came out of it all with a new pair of shoes (now size 7) and a Fifi and the Flowertots potty (which seemed to do the trick when we got home!).
Running late
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009Yesterday evening I left work late, forgot that one our local roads is temporarily closed, drove past the junction I wanted on the dual carriageway whilst thinking about work, got stuck in traffic, and discovered that the usual entrance to the car park was closed. It’s therefore perhaps not surprising that I arrived at Wilverley more than 10 minutes late to find no-one in the car park. Thankfully though, you can see a long way across the plain and I just caught site of a group of runners heading north-west along the edge of the inclosure. You can see from the start of the GPX track below how long it took me to catch them and hence pause long enough for my watch to find a satellite or two.
Island hunting
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009It was our last run from Godshill yesterday and for once it wasn’t raining. This week we had two people with maps (it seems to have become fashionable in recent weeks) and, perhaps not surprisingly, we finished the run in (at least) two separate groups. Sam’s party took the long track route back to the car whilst Neil and Peter led a select group of us in search of a small pond with an island in the middle of it! No idea why we had to find it and it would have been easier if we’d had Sam’s orienteering map rather than Neil’s OS map but we found it eventually. On the way back to the car I failed to believe my watch and instead followed Peter hence the figure of eight shape to the GPS track below. Neil, I’m fairly sure, took a straighter route!
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