What Goes Down...

A bit of a hangover this morning, after some far from ideal race preparation. I blame the free champagne. I’m also not sure the full cooked breakfast will help but it’s paid for, so has to be consumed.

All week I’ve been assuming the Liversedge Half Marathon near Huddersfield will be off but it isn’t. We awake to a view of hills, hills and more hills. As we drive to the race HQ at the Roberttown Community Centre in the Spen Valley, it doesn’t get any flatter. Where we collect our numbers along with around 500 or so others.

The course was worryingly downhill for the first mile. What goes down must come back up and it did. Enjoyable though. I like a bit of a challenge. After a bit of a long steady climb there’s another down at around five miles, which is a more violent plummet.

We cross a ford a mile or later at Brighouse, they do let us use a bridge, and then there’s the steepest climb of the day up Thornhills Beck Lane but thankfully it’s quite short. The route also has a few flat sections which gives you a bit of a break from the upping and downing, especially the downing which I find hard on my legs.

It’s all relatively scenic and offers good views of the M62. If you look into the distance you can even see Hartshead Moor Motorway Services. There are drinks at around four miles, eight miles and then a bit too quickly at 10 miles but as we were passing the first drinks station again, only in the other direction, it was perhaps understandable.

Then we’re on to Windy Bank Lane, which isn’t (windy) in either direction, this is our second visit to this stretch of road. Then we’re almost done.

Not a great time, it was hardly likely to be, but not bad either.

L kindly drives me home, where nicely knackered from the weekend we forgo our usual Sunday film and stay in. It would have been an act of cruelty to have scraped the dogs off the bed. Not that they’ve done a great deal to warrant so much sleep.

(Sunday 12th February)

A Disappointing Effort

It’s a disappointing effort by the weather and the forecasted heavy snow doesn't arrive. Even to call it a dusting would be a disservice to dustings. It all makes last night's meeting cancellation look as daft as calling off a local derby football match.

Apparently all last night’s predicted snow landed in Lincolnshire. Which means that the coldest place on earth, Sleaford, has it all and we’re there next weekend.

I run from work. I’m not planning on running all the way home, what with the Liversedge half marathon on Sunday, but that doesn't mean anything. So I get the bus to Stapleford to save me from myself and run home from there. Once home, I push L out of the door to do hers.

Of course with all this ice around, Sunday’s race may not be on. The race website is sounding a bit more positive about the race’s prospects, than they have been all week, but not much. Though they are from Yorkshire, where they don’t do positive so I expect it’ll probably be on.

On to episode five of the Millennium Trilogy, e.g. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest.

(Friday 10th February)

What's this? Fruit?

I eat a piece of fruit today, in fact several. Well, the first fruit that hasn't been part of a Christmas pudding or a mince pie for about two weeks. Back to normality on one way at last.

I manage the stairs at work ok; my so legs can’t be too bad after yesterday’s race.

We seem to have brought the Lakeland weather home with us. L gets to work soaked and complaining that Ilkeston Road resembled Langdale’s Mickleden Beck but not of course anywhere near as pretty.

Having lost her jacket and trashed her mobile, L at least reports that her watch that stopped ages ago has now started working again. Small mercies.

We start planning our next series of races. The Liversedge Half Marathon has an entry limit of 500, yet their entries page is showing 540 people entered. I enter us both quickly online and hope they let us in. No such luck with Wilmslow, that is full but we are in Liverpool, L entered us in that before Christmas. Good old Sleaford isn’t full yet but if we delay entering hopefully it might be...

(Tuesday 3rd January)