Another Come Back Delayed

I had planned to make my running come back at this morning’s Wollaton Park Easter 10k but my health and my achilles are probably not up to it. L decides she’s not up to it either, so we stay in bed. It's a shame to skip it as someone seems to have thrown out all our Easter 10k mugs and we could really do with some replacements... maybe next year.

Later we head over to Manchester to visit the new mega slimline Daughter. I pick a pub out of the beer guide which turns out to be nothing special and the food service turns out to be very slow. Their speciality are Calzone pizzas with odd fillings, which we all have but I'm not sure we’ll be back. 

(Monday 6^th April)

Skiving

Today I’m in the glamorous surroundings of a field in Solihull and its raining. In fact it drizzles for most of the day and for the rest of the time we get proper, full on, rain. Consequently it’s a very muddy field. I could have returned to help the club out in Shrewsbury today but it’s about half the distance to here. It’s amazing how many others from the club have pulled the same trick, basically skiving.

Our first run is Doggo in the Vets. He goes clear and gets a rosette for third. MD meanwhile demolishes the first jump of his first course but then does a perfect run for the rest of it. His time would have put him third and considering he hit that jump rather hard, disrupting his stride, he may well have made up the second or so he was behind and won it. Ho hum.

After that poles go down everywhere, MD doesn’t run well in the wet. Just like one of my old cars. So no clears. We stay for our last run, even though with it being for Grades 1-5, we stand little chance of success. By this point most sensible folk have gone home, having had enough of the mud. As we watch the competition I realise that we haven’t seen anybody go clear on it yet, with the difficult first section catching everybody out. So I try a different tactic that works a dream on the difficult start. Then it all goes pear-shaped as I traumatise MD by trying to change sides in front of him. We head home in disgrace.

L’s had a better day than us, 58.03 for her 10k on what is a far from fast course around the undulating grounds of Wayne Manor (formerly known as Wollaton Hall). The girl done well and is edging ever closer to the magic 500 miles.

She heads over to her parents’ from where I collect her later, after a stop off at my parents’ so that the dogs can spread their mud over their kitchen. My folks don't seem to mind and the boys even pick up some roast beef for their tea. I get a biscuit.

(Monday 9th April)

You Can Never Have Too Many Mugs

It's the ‘kind of’ traditional Easter 10K on Wollaton Park today. Well I’ve done it twice before and couldn’t really think of a reason not to this year. Any kids who do the fun run get an Easter egg, sadly the 10k-ers don’t. Just the usual mug... for the mugs. Well, I need a new mug... you can never have too many mugs. Maybe.

L decides we’ll supply our own Easter eggs this year and gets two Cadbury's crème eggs (but not massive ones - see yesterday) to award ourselves afterwards.

It’s a bit on the warm side and there’s no water stop, which I think is a bit mean. So I’m blaming the heat for again being around twenty seconds slower than the previous year.



I walk back up the course to support L. Well I walk to the top of the biggest hill, always a good vantage point to see everyone suffer. The council clearly share my delight in revelling in the runners difficulties because, rather than wait, oooh another ten minutes or so, they decide to drive one of their lorries up the hardest part of the course and just as the main body of runners are coming in. Then just for good measure they stop at their destination before trying to reverse over a few of them. Nice one. Idiots.

Unlike I, who runs his slowest Easter 10k, L runs her quickest.

As it’s a nice day and it’s nearly my birthday, my parents have turned up to support and afterwards we adjourn to the Willoughby/Wollaton pub. Where it’s nice enough to sit outside, sip Hobgoblin and have an early birthday lunch. I fetch the dogs to join us and even Son and Daughter indulge us with their presence. The lure of roast lamb with all the trimmings can have this effect.

After not having had an Easter egg for years, I now have two. My folks get me one for my birthday. All that whinging has finally paid off.

I get back home to catch most of a very good game as Derby play at Norwich. 2-2 seems a fair result until they grab the winner in the 6th minute of second half injury time. Grrrr.

(Monday 25th April)