inspiration

I've been running for over 20 years. Blimey. I would have been running for longer, but I stopped in my early '20s just as I was getting into it. What keeps you going for that long? Health, fitness, competition, looking at the scenery, fresh air, company, laughs, seeing places you wouldn't see normally...lots of those things and more, probably different things at different times. I know, for instance, that i have spent an entire day of my life doing London Marathon(s), and outside of that race I can only remember a couple of short trips to London. I've been to the top of some of the highest UK mountains, and been privileged enough to run on some of the Uk's iconic athletics tracks. And I've had some running heroes too. Here are three.

1. Ron Hill. Everyone who has been running distances in the UK knows of Ron. His world records, his medals, his invention of modern running kit, and of course his running streak. My first experience of Ron was listening on the radio as a kid in 1972 as he finished 5th in the Olympic marathon in Munich and being very disappointed with him. It wasn't until many years later, reading his epic book 'The Long Hard Road' (or, as some put it 'The Long Hard Read') that I understood the full story. He is a legend and I met him once and was just about to have a chat when he was whisked away at the end of the Tour of Tameside to do a TV interview, but i have seen him several times since at many North-West races. And he's still going, into his 70's. Class act.

2. Steve Ovett. Ridiculously good at anything he deigned to enter, he won races from short sprints up to a half-marathon, often without seemingly breaking into a sweat. I loved his anti-establishment stance, the way he ran in a Soviet Vest, the ILU sign as he crossed the line in yet another victory, and the sheer raw power and grace of his running. If you were in front with 200m to go and he was on your tail, he would hunt you down like a deer and smash past you on his way to the line. His career faded in the '80s, blighted by illness and injury, and his attempt to become the first v40 to go under 4 minutes for the Mile was ended with a bizarre training accident. Of course he doesn't grab the modern headlines, unlike his former nemesis. But then, who needs to when you're as good as Steve Ovett, thanks Steve for being the difference between 146th and 147th place in many a race :))

3. Alf Tupper. He's not real, I hear you say. Yeah, but when you're a kid, he IS real. Alf is perhaps Ron and Steve combined, with a bit of 1950's/60's 'Angry Young Men' thrown in for good measure. He would think nothing of a 48-hour shift as a welder, sleeping in the bath before a fish supper, hitchhiking to the White City before running a new world record against some sneaky Cold War agents who had secretly tried to sabotage him somewhere along the way. Or maybe he was running cross country, stopped to save someone trapped in a demolished building, rejoined the course to be the last counter and save the day for his club. Or, famously, winning the 1970 Commonwealth games for Tristan da Cunha (sorry Ron, if you thought it was really you). His biggest battles were always reserved for the establishment, and he always finished a race with "I run 'im". I wanted to write a contemporary Alf story, and one day I will, it's all up in my head..

ironbridge

Over the years, I've grown to really like Ironbridge. There was a time when I though the place was some unnecessary model village, stamping the life and history out of our local towns in order to create some corporate-style museum, and there's still some of that as far as I'm concerned, but the town is so damned pretty, and on a Spring evening the air is thick, sweet with the perfume of blossom, and oxygen-rich, the river, though slightly flooded, looks and moves like builder's tea running along the Gorge. For a while, the Ercall Stompers have been meeting up at Coalbrookdale for a stonking little run then retiring to the Dale Inn to tell tall stories. Start up by Cherry Tree hill, run down into the Dale, along and across the iconic Bridge, pick up the Severn Valley Way to the War memorial footbridge by The Boat, cross and over, back towards Ironbridge but then up the steep, steep climb at the back of the Golden Ball to Jockey Bank. From there, more climbing along Belmont, through the 'back streets' of Ironbridge, picking up Lincoln Hill and turning off for the White Horse pub ( I navigate by pubs). From there it's an eyeball-out descent down Church Hill which brings you out on the Dale road just by the Coalbrookdale pub and home. It's a sliver under 6 miles but an excellent route, covering industry, rivers, railways, war history, churches and chapels, football (Billy Wright's house) pubs and much more besides. Fab run on Tuesday, chaps :)

bluebells and running

Bluebells feature in this weekends running post. I love bluebells, they seem like the quiet angelic blue carpet of the Spring flower world, they sneak up on you, they are no-where to be seen and bam! suddenly they are everywhere - but only in those quiet, out-of-the way places which they happily share with you and your thoughts. The bluebells in this picture are on the Wrekin hill (not my picture sadly, but I know exactly where it is and yes, this hasn't been photoshopped). I decided to begin training properly again, it's been long enough after the Exe to Axe and though the holiday was lovely, after a while you need the feeling of moving along the road and paths (and hills, yes, etc etc). Goodness knows what i'll do when it's time to pack it all in, but I suppose I'll know its the right time so that will be fine. So with a spring in my step I set out for a 10-ish tour of the local countryside in bright Spring sunshine. It was so warm, I soon stripped down to my vest top at the Bluebell crossroads (like what I did there?)and i found myself putting extra on to the end of the run to take it over 10 miles, I was enjoying it so much. I quite like the idea of making it up as i go along. 10 miles in the weekend bank, and I gave up some essential VLM viewing to go on the slopes of the Ercall and path round the Wrekin on Sunday with my good friends. Apart from jarring my knee again, it was a lovely run, great that the mud is back and that the bluebells are out in force (but not as magnificent as 2011). 17.5 this weekend, mojo intact, scouring the websites for races. Normal service resumed. Next race may be the Wrekin Streak though I will have to see how the knee is before committing to this brutal little thing. Happy times.

rain

'I can't stand the rain, against my window', so sang Ann Peebles (thanks Wiki :) )

What makes a man go out to a 5-mile road race in the pouring spring rain? It can't be the course. No, not even the thrill of running down (and then up) the driveway of a former stately home and one of the UK's most iconic sporting training camps (Lilleshall National Sports Centre). It can't be the challenge of a good time, three weeks after Exe to Axe and the holiday has taken it's heavy toll. I suppose it must be the guilt of pre-entering a race and wanting to get value for money !! Anyhow, it was very wet. I set a PB for stops to tie my shoelaces, I got my feet very wet, and there was a lot of huffing and puffing in the gloom. Oh, the gloom. It was dark before we started. On the whole though, i was happy to get the Lilleshall 5 miles done and I'm hoping for a big improvement in May over the wide-open savannahs of Dawley.

that dingling feeling in my toes

ever been to Loamhole Dingle? we ran round there today. It's like a lost world - a steep sided valley with a stream (Lydebrook/ Loamhole Brook) running through the bottom and eventually to the Severn. The nice people at Severn Gorge Countryside Trust have lined the valley with a boardwalk which goes up, up, up then down, down, down. One of my favourite places round here.

'till you die...

We came back from a nice week in Cyprus to find we were all extremely tired for days afterwards; I hadn't done any training due to not feeling well while I was out there so I couldn't blame that, although we were bitten to pieces by mozzies I don't think it's malaria, and I'm fairly convinced it's not alcoholic poisoning, so it leaves the ubiquitous 'a bug' which we could have picked up on the plane back. Who knows? Anyway, we got back early Thursday and by Saturday I was no better. But today, Sunday, I woke with more of a spring in my step, singing 'Play that funky music' round the house and warming up for a nice trot round the Wrekin etc. by watching the Paris marathon. My last words as i left home being 'his last words before he left for the Wrekin were 'till you die'..'
Anyway. It was clear, cold, but I trotted comfortably to the top where the view was as good as ever. Although there were lots of cars around it was only busy on the hill and by the time we had made it to Willowmoor, we were on our own again to enjoy the peace of the woods. Nice to be home and even better to be feeling good again :0)

April, come she will.

The Exe to Axe is a 20ish mile run from Exmouth to Seaton in Devon, is a navigation event with over 4000 ft of climb following the South West Coast Path and is, by general agreement, a bit tough. I made the trip down there last year with friend and venerable club man David 'Grizzly' Arnold. Regular readers of the blog will note that we do a few trips like this, so it was no surprise that 2012 was back on the agenda following a successful Grizzly outing earlier this year.
Anyway, enough of that. We went down on Saturday as neither of us fancied the 5am start this year. The only reasonably-priced place to stay though was in Exeter YHA. We kipped in a dorm which had an air of the film The Great Escape about it - on closer inspection the bunk beds would appear to have had some of the slats removed, presumably for the tunnel (which we never found..)

Still, a few beers seemed to make it all go quite swimmingly and take the pain away!!
Up early, and after a hearty YHA breakfast we went to the race.









We were doing it as a relay, neither of us fancied or had trained for the whole race. Dave tried to convince me that the 2nd leg (Sidmouth - Seaton) was about the same length and difficulty as the 1st leg (Exmouth - Sidmouth) but the organiser laid waste to that hopeful claim by telling the assembled company at the start that this wasn't so and that the 2nd half was quite a bit harder(insert smiley with sticky-out tongue) (ah yes, this one )



Due to Dave's recent battle with injury, his chances of beating last year's time of about 1.57 were very low but with an optimistic heart and under the bluest of skies and seas he set to his task, while I was left to dash to Budleigh Salterton (4 miles) where I was to provide drinks, camera and, if needed, a motivational speech. He got to Budleigh in good spirits, I began to get a little concerned he may have gone off TOO quickly and the wheels were going to come off. I zoomed off to Sidmouth and the start of my bit.
As my estimated start time loomed, I began to get a little worried for him but I needn't have - he came bounding along the prom almost a minute up on last year's time. We had a chance of beating the 2011 time after all!
I set off immediately uphill, then on to the cliffs where it just seemed like climb after climb, many on steep steps which was hard to get any running rhythm at all. There was a steep drop to the beach with a ridiculously but mercifully short stretch on the pebbles before a stiff climb back up. But hills aside, it was dry, the running was good and I was reeling the others in and feeling pretty good. At the drinks table at Branscombe I made the mistake of taking orange juice which aggrevated my asthma a bit but I pressed on, knowing that Seaton, and the finish was just round the next bay. By the village of Beer, all was going well and I stopped for a brief chat with a very excited Dave who was positively jumping at the prospect of beating 2011's time . Just the steep steps and climb out of Beer, and once at the top it was almost downhill all the way to the finish. I misjudged the last half mile along the prom a bit, I picked it up a bit without knowing where the finish was (novice mistake ) but anyway I got in in good order. I checked the watch and to my amazement I had knocked 14 minutes off my time for last year, we were 15 minutes quicker in total. Wow.
So, we were in celebratory mood all day. This was made even better, if that were possible, by our finishing 3rd relay team overall, a virtual podium finish made even sweeter by the fact that my running partner is (a very young) 65 years old. But as he's only 18 in his head, he's talking about going back next year to challenge again...
all my pictures are here on photobucket

March. It came, it went

The planned trip to cloud 9 fell race never came off. Injury and bad weather put an end to that. However, I did manage a trip to Devon (Seaton) for the Grizzly (cub run). I had to drop out of the main Grizzly as, well it was too long and hard for my level of training. However, the cub run was very pleasant indeed. Add to that some lovely sunny & warm weather and it was a pretty good day out. Here I am right at the finish, all big smiles and that. Lovely!