Not Quite As Warm As It Looks

I was only twenty minutes late for work this morning, which wasn’t too bad for the bus. The M1 queue was tailing all the way back to QMC and probably beyond.

I attempt a run. Well, more of a 3k hobble. It wasn’t great and I conclude that the knee is not ready for anything like a 10k yet. I was also wheezing like a cart horse. Which I will put down to the not quite as warm as it looks weather rather than chronic unfitness.

Afterwards the knee doesn’t feel too bad... perhaps it has helped. All will become clear when I hobble into town later as I’m meeting a mate for a few beers. We stay in the Brunswick before moving to the Antibos nearby.

I eat way too much and lie dying on the bed later where L thinks, well, that I’m dying.

(Tuesday 25^th November)

Play Off Final

With the train looking very expensive my Dad and I drive down to Wembley, park at Watford for £2 all day, then get the Piccadilly line into London. Although the M1 is a nightmare and one big queue from Leicester down to the M25. It is also a sea of black and white scarves and flags, hanging out of everyone’s cars. A slightly sodden black and white as it rains all the way down.

We meet L’s sister at Harrow on the Hill and we grab a pint in the local Wetherspoons, where we are massively outnumbered by QPR fans. All very good natured QPR fans though.

We jump back on the tube to Wembley and wander down Wembley Way stopping at one of the local dining establishments on the way (burger van). Then after a bit of a queue at the turnstile, we’re in.

Son texts me, to say he’s here as well. Blimey, he kept that quiet.

The match itself is a very cagey affair at first but gradually Derby take control and by the time the second half starts there’s only one side who’s going to win it. Derby spend the entire half camped in front of QPR’s goal and also right in front of us. Then just as Jonny Russell is about to put us ahead his legs are whipped from under him and QPR are down to 10 men. It is outside the area, so no penalty and still it stays scoreless.

We hit the post and Rob Green in the QPR goal makes several fantastic (out of character) saves. The winning goal is clearly on its way but with time running out it looked like we were going to need extra time to get it. The stats say it all - 58% possession, 14 corners to 1, 16 shots to 11, 5 on target to 1.

Ah, and that one QPR shot on target didn’t come until the 90^th minute but sadly, it went in. Cue disbelief, injustice and total pandemonium down the wrong end of the stadium. The QPR fans simply couldn’t believe their good fortune.

Oh well, we’ll just have to do things the proper way and go up as champions next season.

This has, easily, been the best season in eons. From the moment McClaren took over, bizarrely half way through the Ipswich game with the team 4-1 down at half time, everything has turned to gold. On that day, somehow he rallied the troops, tweaked the team and delivered a 4-4 draw. Since then we have moved from 14^th in the league to 3^rd and have outscored everyone else along the way. Next season could be even better.

L has been in Sheffield all day and we rendezvous back at home, where we tuck into a consolation curry.

(Saturday 24^th May)

North Of The Humber

It’s zero degrees as we drive up the M1, M18, M62 and journey north of the Humber for the nowhere-near-Ferriby ten mile race. The start is in the village of Skidby and the car park half a mile away in the next village of Cottingham. This year we find somewhere to park in Skidby itself, which is much easier and we stumble across a mini race HQ at Skidby Windmill. Toilets, food, hot drinks etc. Everything you need really.

The race is set off punctually at 11am, it’s still chilly and I’ve forgotten my gloves but daren't nip back to the car to get them, in case the race goes without me, which I think it would have done. From memory I know the course is more or less uphill to halfway and then flat or downhill to the finish, apart from the final half a mile which involves another climb. Perhaps it would be nice to run it the other way around sometime...

I amble my way around to that halfway point in 37:42, 40 seconds slower than last year and pointing towards a race time of 1:15 at least. Awful. Even with the downs to come, that’s a lot to pull back to get under 1:13 which was my unstated aim. It would require a storming second half, better than 7 minute miles and I’ve been doing 7:30, 7:40 so far. Then I do a 7:00 and then a 6:50. Hmmm, possible.

My second half IS storming and I scrape home in 1:12:56, I fair sprinted up that last hill. Perhaps the training is starting to pay off. Last year’s t-shirt of the year is followed by another good one, although not quite as striking. It’s also long sleeved, which is needed this time of the year but will sadly be redundant by Easter.

While I hack 5 seconds off my time from last year, L hacks 5 minutes off hers. She does like to upstage me. That’s nearly 374 of her 500 miles down now. I wonder what my tally is, I ought to work it out and also the tally of miles to and from the races, that would be scary.

Then we do the same as last year and seek out some friends near Market Rasen, it’s been a year... and they again kindly do us a Sunday lunch.

(Sunday 29th January)