Under starters orders

Photo: Where's Wally? I'm in there somewhere. White vest & green sash. (Pic owned by RacePics)

I woke up to a glorious sunny day with a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Perfect conditions for what was to be my first race since the Loch Ness Marathon back in October. A combination of injury, work and just trying not to get too consumed by a sport have kept me away from the race experience. Yesterday was the National Cross Country Championships over at Falkirk, where more or less every running club in Scotland meet up for a load of races. In the mens senior race I was up against 450+ others running around Callendar Park. I'd forgotten that nervous pre race feeling, the waiting around and the thrill of the chase once the gun is fired. It was a 12km course, with 3x 4km laps. It was an impressive sight to see so many runners heading up the first of several little hills. As you can imagine, the first lap was a little bit clogged up with runners, but I really was looking to get around this race without picking up an injury, so I held back a little until it thinned out. Lap 2 was a bit quicker and by lap 3 I was tired but able to maintain a similar pace, and enjoyed picking off 3 or 4 runners from a club whose fans were all around the course, annoyingly shouting out support for them. An almost sprint finish gave me 51.05 as my official time. I was happy with that, but slightly disappointed with my position of 259 out of 457, which was well out of the top 50%. Never mind, it gave me race experience and a bit of a boost for my training. I went out today and did 12 miles over some big hills at a nice steady pace. Another glorious day up in the hills, enjoying the snow and peace before heading off to church with its favourable 11.30am start. There's a couple of races coming up to enter, namely the Lasswade 10 and the Alloa Half, which should be good preparation for London.

London Marathon is on

The Achilles Tendonitis has been the cause for many 'should I or shouldn't I?' conversations with myself and others about running the London Marathon. As time ticks away I have fallen behind with my training plan, so the question I needed to answer for myself was can I still run any distance. Well I gave it a go yesterday and ran 14 miles of multi terrain, mainly flat. Only at around 11 miles did the heel start to give any real discomfort, but then I adapted my style to ease it. I did get a bit of swelling afterwards, and Andrew now calls me 'Granny Ankles'. I finally took the plunge and booked my train tickets to the big smoke on the basis that I am going to run. Why else would anyone want to go to London? So, it's time to knuckle down and step up the training as i don't want the humiliation of being beaten by some minor celebrity like Peter Andre or a Big Brother contestant.

Fish hunters

Photo: One of the locals at the fish place.

I ended up doing a bit of 'father son' bonding yesterday when Andrew and his mate asked if they could go fishing. Now my last attempt at fishing ended up with me tangled up in line and cursing the rod. In short I had no idea how to do what is probably a simple job. However, Andrew's mate does a lot of fishing and knows how to do it and has all the gear, so of course I agreed to the trip so i could learn from the boy. Off we set to the weird and not so wonderful world of still water bait fishing at one of the local fish places. Out in East Lothian's hill billy country, this place attracts a certain type of punter. Let's just say the gene pool was probably less than the size of the small pond we were at. In fact, i would not be surprised if some of them were related to the fish. Here were several grown men dressed in almost uniform like fishing attire. I am not an expert in fish psychology, but does wearing full body camouflage, sun glasses in the rain and silly hats really lure them onto the rod? At the pond, the sight of a dead trout floating around raised concerns in my mind about the quality of the water. There was little sign of any kind of life in there. After a tutorial from the junior fishing instructor, I had a go at it. There was no 'powerbait' (whatever that is) left, so it was 'worm bait' (which is garden worms in case you wondered) as the choice of ammunition. That's exciting bit over with, and then you wait...and wait...and wait. Fishers tell me they just switch off and think about 'nothing', but sadly my mind was thinking about fish, and I found myself imagining what was happening beneath the surface, creating little scenarios where the fish tries to outwit me. Occasionally one of the fish related people would grunt a noise, in the belief one of its relatives had taken the bait and was going to be reunited, but none of them were genuine. I could hardly believe my ears that those cliches of 'I had a 4 lb tout that got away' and 'I caught 5 this morning but i put them back in' were actually being spoken around the stagnant pond. Needless to say after 2 hours of this we were all cold and wet, and frankly quite bored having had no success. Hopefully when the weather improves i will try the sea. We're off to Italy in the summer and I'd secretly like to catch a fish in the Med, so some practice is needed.

St Margaret's Dirty Weekend 3

Photo: Evacuees after mike burnt the toast.

It's that time of year again when we have been away to Langdale in the Lakes with friends and family from our old church in Manchester, St Margaret's. I call them 'dirty weekends' as on the first one they ran out of water and all the loos were backed up and there was no water to shower in. The name has stuck. This trip was much more hygienic and quite a relaxed couple of days. The youth hostel is so big that we rarely saw the kids all weekend, except for a walk into Grasmere with all the other kids. It was an opportunity to stock up on Kendal Mint Cake as an energy supply for the marathon and womble around the shops. At night it was all about chatting to people we've not seen for a while, and to aid this, St Margaret's craft genius Sheila Brown had laid on some craft activities, and their very own quizter Mark Stansfield put on some great quizzes. I had a turn at pom pom making! Yes it is one of those things that I have seen people do and always wondered how it is done, so now I have a pair of fluffy balls that I am trying to find a use for! (suggestion welcomed) It is a new life skill that will sit there alongside others such as my 'O' Level in pottery.

We had great weather. bright sunny days, snow capped mountains and an opportunity to see the Lake District at its best. I couldn't resist a run, partly to see how my dodgy heel was getting on. Not too bad was the answer, although I could have done without the hills back up to the hostel. When i got back the fire alarm went off so there was an evacuation (for those who could be bothered). It turned out to be nothing worst than Mike burning the toast. Still, it got everyone out of bed early.