Wednesday, 30 December 2009

Cold as Ice !!


It was a chilly Tuesday in deepest Derbyshire & I headed into the Leahurst marathon feeling like death warmed up - not that it was warm !! after the year I'd had the wheels were falling off, but I somehow had to put 'em back on one more time ? In hindsight I should have taken a break after my tough early December double but just kept on running.

I got a lift off my running buddy Dave Thompson & met a further friendly face in another Dave who I had run the Greensands Ridge ultra with in June.So off went the "3 Dave's & a little lady" (Lisa Barry) It was a race of two halves in many ways an even split between trail (fields,hills,a golf course a country park) & road (side roads,main roads, trading estates & the Long Eaton high street) plus I was even able to lauch the new series of "dancing on Ice" on some parts of the course !! Mentally there were 2 halves too by 12 miles I was starting to feel it & really had to start digging deep mentally, the extra mile on top of the 26.2 didn't really help, but eventually marathon 74 was in the record book in 4 hours 39 minutes.

Following the event Rory Coleman's wife very kindy fed us baked potatoes & bolognese. I have to say the hospitality at the Coleman's was the Mustard :)

Another running year over & what a fantastic year it was with my highest marathon tally to date - 28 in total (but I did cheat a little in May !! LOL !!)

In case you were wondering about the title a bit of Foreigner for you old timers like myself,I got my Amsterdam marathon results magazine today & I'm listed in the Masters results,horrified & yet I'm the same age as the world record holder !!! (If i'm in the Masters do i get the same as Tiger Woods ? I meant the green jacket not a golf club round the head from the Missus !!

Keep on running & ice skating !!! LOL !!

Foxy

Monday, 7 December 2009

Where the streets have no names......





Maybe that's because there were no streets, but there were cliffs,hillsides,beaches, trails,paths,fields, woods......

What a weekend !!

The weather made both runs incredibly tough.On Saturday I headed off to the Gower in Wales & it sure is a remote part of the world. The conditions & terrain were appalling & due to a coastal path getting washed away the run was extended to 27.5 miles, I ran with Tom, a cracking Irish lad & have to say without him I'd still be stuck on one of those cliff tops it would have been miserable to run it alone.We laughed in the face of adversity & as the saying goes "when going through Hell.....just keep going !"

With 3/4 of a mile to go on a treacherous hillside I fell twice, toboganning 30 yards on my back the second time, before spinning & somehow flipping myself back to my feet just before the jagged rocks !! (literally following in my mate Allan's "footsteps" - clumsy old fool - lol !!)

There was a point were I was wondering if we'd make the news with a headline "idiot runners airlifted to safety" !!

Sunday's Doyen of the Downs 30 miler started in the rain & was a very muddy affair but fuelled by Arundel's Finest Indian curry house I battled on through the fatigue & over the styles to my fastest ever 30 miler (due to flooding the course re routed us making it "just" the 29 miles).

There were many other alternative titles considered for my weekend blog including

99 Red Balloons by Nena as my good friend Allan rumbles ran his 99th Marathon at the Doyen & it also marked my 99th consecutive day of running. Many congratulations to the mad Welshman :)

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap, by AC/DC but with entrance fees of £50 & £37 it weren't cheap !!

The seasonal choice was "lonely this christmas" by MUD (obviously !!)

I finished yesterday with the usual finish "opening" Arundel's new airport :) LOL !!!

Keep on running

Foxy x