Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category

Spectating

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

698We’re visiting the in-laws for the weekend and today Christine managed her second fix of orienteering for the week at a NGOC local event at Bixslade in the Forest of Dean. I took Emma out for a walk in the carrier with Christine’s Mum. Even though I occasionally had trouble staying vertical on the muddy footpaths I was grateful not to have to venture off the paths in to the thick undergrowth (where the controls were apparently well hidden in traditional NGOC style). We arrived back just in time to see the exciting conclusion of the race between Christine and her Dad. Christine finished first but not by a big enough margin. For the first time in I don’t know how long Christine and I went for dinner on our own – nowhere more exciting that Pizza Express in Monmouth but it was still a nice break.

Off at Ocknell

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

696The original plan had been to run at the Wednesday league’s night event at Ocknell but, having failed to work out how I could leave work at four, pick up the car (which Christine wanted for the daytime event), and get to the New Forest for five, I decided to take the morning off and join Christine and Emma at the event. This decision was undoubtedly influenced by the bright blue skies that I could see outside at breakfast time.

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Tuesday Thursday Run

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Yesterday night’s run was what is confusingly referred to as the Thursday night run after it’s original place in the weekly running calendar. It was a fairly fast-paced run with not a lot of stopping so I was glad to have a bit of spring in my step (probably due to having not done much for the past few days). Unfortunately my watch hadn’t picked up enough satellites when we started off so the run appears to start somewhere in Portswood. You can imagine for yourself how we might have made it to there.

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Heart still beating

Monday, November 17th, 2008

My Garmin has failed to read my heart rate for a few weeks now (probably longer as I actually rarely look at the trace once downloaded). Rather than replace the battery again, I thought I’d use the spare strap that Garmin sent me last time they replaced my watch. Although I knew the transmission between strap and watch was coded, what I hadn’t realised was that the pairing was a one off process and the watch thereafter remembered which strap it should be talking to. Fortunately it’s a simple matter (once you’ve consulted the manual) to select Settings > General > Accessories from the main menu and then, for the heart monitor, select Restart Scan. And voila, I once again have a heart beat. I’ve even added the heart rate back on to the main display of my watch so maybe I’ll actually start looking at it!

QE2 sightseeing run

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

In honour of the QE2 departing Southampton for the last time (it’s heading off to Dubai to become a floating hotel), we decided to do the Itchen Bridge run last night with the minor variation that we crossed to the south side of the bridge to join the hordes looking out over the water to where the brightly illuminated QE2 was berthed. If we’d been a bit more prepared we should have started running half an hour later as, when the fireworks started to mark the ship’s departure, we were already on our way back up the Avenue.
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Going: heavy to waterlogged

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

691It being a reasonable distance away, we’ve always avoided the Hants Cross-Country race at Goodwood however, having nothing better to do, we decided to head along on Saturday. We went to Chichester beforehand but, other than a quick sprint round the outside of the cathedral, we spent most of our time in Priory Park. Just off the main road, this is a nice place to get away from the crowds for a picnic lunch and it had a great playground for Emma. Chichester struck me as a pleasant enough Cathedral city and it looked like a good place for some good old-fashioned high street shopping.
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Back to the streets

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Tuesday night runs returning to the streets of Southampton this week and, in keeping with tradition, we started with a round trip taking in Lordshill Sainsburys. There wasn’t even much debate as to whether we should run it clockwise or or anti-clockwise (the latter won). We had a bumper turnout, breaking in to double figures for the first time in a long while. There was quite a spread in speeds – hopefully those at the front didn’t mind waiting once in a while and those at the back didn’t feel like they were being dragged along the whole time. Generally I’m happy to pootle along in the middle somewhere and take a break whenever I’m given the chance!
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Waterlogged Burley West

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

688Although Sunday proved to be largely rain free, the previous day’s downpours had left Burley West pretty sodden. I found the M21L course pretty untechnical even by New Forest standards. There seemed to be a preponderance of long legs where straight (sticking to dry land where possible) was best and then ending at control sites near very obvious features.
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