Humongous Efforts

I take my Dad to visit my Mum in hospital at least every other day which usually ends up with him insisting on a pint somewhere. I am seriously being led astray. We don’t revisit the Nags Head but he quite likes the Hole In The Wall in Mickleover although we also try the Masons. He’s also a big fan of the Exeter in Derby itself. The Masons is now under new Management and when we go there it is packed, which is good obviously but have they improved the beer range? No. Still as dull as ever. 

On Tuesday L does Wordle in 1. That’s just luck.

Tuesday is dog training, Thursday is tennis and Friday I am in work for, yes you guessed it, yet another leaving do. I am unreliably informed that it will just be pizza at lunch time, so at first I plan to cycle there but then it becomes clear it will involve some after work drinks in the Brunswick as well. So I ditch that idea but I do manage a lunchtime gym session after which a couple of slices of pizza is a decent way to refuel from my humongous efforts.

Meanwhile L is at home with the Lad, having to keep him indoors as our neighbour has their four legged lodger over again. It’s way too hot for them both to be hurling themselves at the fence that separates them. Which means he won’t be practicing his tunnels in readiness for Saturday's dog show.

Which may have paid dividends as he does one run that isn’t an Elimination and despite clocking up 20 faults gets a rosette for 5^th place. Don’t tell him but this is the benefits of a small and inexperienced field. Meanwhile, while we are out, L goes off fraternising with the enemy lodger.

The really bad news is that my Mum has now caught Covid and has had to go into an isolation ward. We can still visit her but now need to wear full PPE of masks, visor, apron and gloves. They had been talking of moving her out of hospital to a more appropriate place for her recovery but now they can’t move her for another ten days.

On Sunday it is the Derby Half Marathon and weather conditions are much better for this year’s race but then last year’s had been put back to November where I nearly died of hypothermia waiting to get my bag back from the baggage tent. This year they have also restored the Ramathon name after needlessly removing it when they took over the running of the race in 2018. Unfortunately they've also added the name Derbion to the front of it, Derbion being this week's name for Derby's main shopping centre.

I am of course nowhere near fit enough for this race but I struggle on regardless. L is again doing the 5 miler and my Dad has come to support. We have dropped him off in the Market Place with a chair and instructions of where best to watch us both start and finish.

When I start he is in position but by the time L starts ten minutes later he’s gone AWOL. L retrieves him later from a café from where he’d headed to for a Full English. Which I’m sure was much enjoyable than watching us run.

The route is the same as usual. Out along the main roads to Elvaston, then through the Castle grounds before heading back along the river and through Pride Park.

I was relatively pleased with November’s run where I went from 8:30ish miles to 9:30ish miles and finished in 1:57. Here I start in the 9s and degrade into the 10s, struggling home in 2:04. Not the best. 

(Sunday 19^th June)