Four days

Its been four days since my ultra and The first time I have rode my push bike to work for over two weeks. Was very stiff Mon / Tuesday and was hating the bending down to get the tools out of my box. It seemed like every time I got up from getting one item out I decided I needed another ( was walking like I was in plaster casts) .

Of course it rained this morning and although I had my bike lights on the North Midland Construction pick -up truck that tried to kill me by not stopping at the island seemed to be UN-aware he had done anything wrong seeing as he couldn't see out of his misted up windows . Thank you it makes me know why I love being on two wheels, either motor or push bike.

That's better rant over. Calm now

On the plus side legs are now a bit freer and hoping to run tomorrow . Also just seen the pictures from the weekend run on Rory Colemans site and they are really good .

A knotty day

Despite the fact that the alloment has been neglected with all our running, its looking suprisingly healthy. The major problem in not visiting it enough is that courgettes that are too small to pick one day, very quickly become the size of large marrows.

I'm currently working on an allium scarf made out of french knots, hopefully I'll post it later

funny runny day

Cols' ultra was a good run. He ran 50K (31 miles) along part of the Robin Hood Way from Blidworth to Nottingham Castle. Its a boggy and undulating route, and isn't particularly well signposted, hence he and a lot of the other runners ended up getting lost, which resulted in even more mileage and time on legs. (One runner managed to approach all 5 checkpoints from different angles and went through the finish funnel the wrong way!). Despite having problems with his knees all the way round and having to run/walk most of the route, Col managed to bag 5th place.

My 14 mile plod from Attenborough to Trent Bridge is a bit tame in comparison, but entertaining in its own right - I managed to run past a hedgerow stuffed with the biggest mushrooms I had ever seen, ran past a woman on her mobile phone who seemed really pleased to see me and was commentating to her friend on my progress while waving and encouraging me (I don't know who she was, but she was very friendly), and saw a pack of 7 beagles being taken for a walk.

busy days are on there way

We're busy sorting out everything we need for a couple of runs that we're organising for our local running club (Ilkeston Running Club) - I've been making lots of cakes for the feed station - that should slow people down nicely, while Col has been printing off the race directions and organising a points system - with points deducted for complaints about the weather and the hilliness of the hills, and points added for good water station etiquette e.g. safe disposal of paper cups.
Col is also sorting out his gear (safety pins, food, nurofen etc) for his 50K race on Sunday - it follows the Robin Hoods Way from Blidworth to Nottingham Castle, and is quite hilly, and in places very muddy after rain - ooops its raining lots outside at the moment, and the weather forecast is predicting more!
We're planning on nipping down to the allotment in an attempt to stop the courgettes from getting too big - we've still got loads, we've given loads away but there are still more on the way - more recipes if you're interested are poached egg ratatouille (actually really nice, although slightly strange in appearance) and courgette stir fry (yeah, yeah, we know we're scraping the barrel now!)
I'm still waiting for Mad dog to get back to me - I'm sure he's given me the wrong running schedule for next week, there's no way i should be running 48 miles in a week without the peak of my schedule in sight....

A fine day

Its been a fine day today. I was expecting the worst in the weather and my head, but my head was fine even though I'd had a couple of pints the night before. We were at my Aunt and Uncles 50th wedding anniversary . It was great to catch up with a lot of the realatives I do not see very often and some who I'd not seen for over 20 years. What was surprising though was that a member of out running club was their and he's been a friend of my Aunt and Uncle for years, and I had no idea. Small world . Also in this small world, I managed to meet the midwife to deliver me some 37 years ago, I certainly don't remember her, but she does remember me - perhaps its my beard that gave it away? The only thing i've previously heard about my birth is that I was nearly born at the top of my street because I was too impatient to wait to get to the maternity hospital.

Today Jacs been for a 15 mile run ,which she seem's to have enjoyed because I wasn't there (hmm) Although the present Mrs Ward also managed to get lost and trip her self up on said run, ....not so good.

I 've been down the allotment the last two mornings digging out the potatoes and clearing the ever growing weeds,its looking neater down there again . oh and before I forget; more courgettes there seems to be no end to them. Last of the peas are doing well and the chard is looking healthy and the onions are ready and i'm trying to dry them out.

courgettes again today

Jacs not going to be a happy bunny. Yes you've guessed it 6 more courgettes although i am picking them earlier so not so big and we then just might get through them.

Not sure if I want to tell her that the cauliflower is nearly ready and that the sweet corns are doing rather well. Still digging out the potatoes and due to lift the onions so all in all I should be putting on a few pounds soon.

A Heavy Day

Yikes - didn't realise i hadnt emptied my rucksack until i completed my 13 mile run - In addition to my 1litre of water - I was also carrying around my diary and various bits of shopping - no wonder it felt like hard work.
We've still got loads of courgettes, even after trying to be more inventive and coming up with things like courgette burgers and ratouille pie, I dont seem to be making any progress in reducing the courgette stockpile.

snakey day

Well I wasn't quite the racing snake that I'd like to have been at Newark half marathon, (my runs home from work and other long runs in the week are just tiring me out too much to do anything but plod), but Col did find a grass snake on the allotment this afternoon - I'm not sure who was most suprised; col or the snake. Finding it then led to a conversation about whether a grass snake would eat our next door allotment neighbours' chickens - wiklepedia says that grass snakes "almost exclusively feed on amphibians" - but i'm not sure that "almost exclusively" rules out chickens to be honest. I'm also quite scared of snakes, and have a deep fear that they can flip open letter boxes with their tails and then crawl through and into houses.
We got into a bit of a tussle about what to do with all of the caterpillars in the allotment too - Col wants to kill them all, as quite obviously they're destroying all of the crops, but I was brought up on Eric Carles "the very hungry caterpillar", and cant bring myself to kill any - I did contemplate moving them to someone elses allotment, but I guess that won't bring much good kalma.