Outlaw WAGS

Back on the bike today. That goes ok and I also consider a lunchtime run but decide to defer it until tomorrow... Just trying to manage my injuries and be sensible as regards the running, the problem is now that I’ve got a run this Sunday to train for.

It’s the Cheadle Spring 5 this weekend, the Dambuster Duathlon next weekend and then 14 weeks away... the Outlaw Half.

L puts in a request for the Outlaw Half, a new dress.  Apparently all the supporters' WAGS had lovely dresses on when we went to watch. Hmmm. We’ll have to find one that she can carry me across the finish line wearing, so it’ll have to be quite skimpy so that she can move quickly in it. So perhaps not a bad idea after all.

A day after the rest of us, MD is finally back in training as we go dogging.

(Tuesday 25^th February)

I’m In...

I’m in...

L asks if I'm pleased?

I'm not sure.Ask me again in June, this is of course the Outlaw Half on 1^st June next year, or maybe ask me again in March when I’m trying to cram in the training whilst all the roads are covered in snow and ice.

She also asks if she can be my understudy in case I snap my calf again and then my entry won't go to waste. I’m happy to share my training schedule with my understudy; we could train side by side. For some reason she finds that though quite amusing.

The next time I look at the website, to check if the humongous amount I’d paid was actually for the half and that I’d not entered the full by mistake, I see that the event is already full and was so by 10am this morning. Blimey.

I run tonight but keep it a bit shorter and get on the bus at Risley, so that’s about 7.5 miles. L walks the deadly duo down to meet me off the bus.

(Wednesday 28^th August)

Good To Be Back

I arrive back at work to be greeted by the expected mass of emails. However once I’d removed about 500 junk ones, the email pile wasn’t too deep unless that I removed some vital ones with the junk by mistake...

Of the remainder, most are ones that have been shovelled on to me by other people in the company. I shovel most of them back from whence they came as delicately as I can.

Commonwealth Games tickets have gone on sale while we were away, so today I put in for a few sessions of athletics. I think with these you don’t want to put in for too many sessions because unlike the Olympics there’s a chance you might actually get them and end up with a very large bill.

Another thing I’ve missed while we’ve been away is registration for the Outlaw Half Ironman, my supposed project for next year. An email went out last week about pre-registering and although I received it on my phone because it was in disguise as one of their usual circulars I didn’t open it.

This was a big mistake because entries opened this morning but only to people who had pre-registered. Entries for everyone else open at 9am tomorrow, if they’re any left. Perhaps they’re trying to tell me something... not that I’ve actually been rejected yet.

In the evening I go with my father to watch Derby play Brentford in the second round of the League Cup. Derby win 5-0 and were very impressive, even though Brentford rested their entire first team and turned up with a reserve side. Still, you can only beat what’s in front of you.

(Tuesday 27^th August)

Project 70.3 Recce

Today 'Project 70.3' continues and I get up at ridiculous o'clock to watch the Nottingham Outlaw Half Ironman. The dogs are happy to accompany me but L is immovable in bed.

It’s an interesting recce as we join in with the big crowds who are watching. Poor old Doggo pretty much quivers with excitement from the moment we arrive, clearly expecting me to put him in the car boot and join in. Next year mate.

When L regains consciousness she texts to ask if I’m enthused by the swim. Of course not but I have certainly learnt many swim to bike transition tips. For a start it appears you can’t put lycra on when wet, so many of the athletes swam with it on under their wetsuits. Which will make it damp and therefore not warm, which surely would be the point of putting on arm warmers. Interesting. I definitely think I would need arm warmers for a bike section that start at 7.30am in the morning.

I did feel a bit sorry for the leader after the swim, who had a bike problem and needed a new wheel. This must have cost him 20 minutes but the he arrives back in 4^th place after the 56 mile bike. Wow.

4:23 for the first one across the line isn’t too sluggish but he doesn’t win because someone from the second wave is quicker. I think they need to sort the starting order out a bit better for next year.

In the evening we head over to visit Son, now that we are allowed to, post-exams. Daughter is there waiting for us, having been dropped off by her father on route home from France.

It’s an entertaining evening. Son and his girlfriend are quite a double act and entertain us in the White Horse pub again, then on the journey home Daughter takes over with her one woman show. Turning her supposed holiday nightmare into a highly amusing stand up piece.

She says that her holiday has ruined her sleep pattern but she’s not normally this animated. What she means is that the holiday has corrected her sleep pattern and she’s now in the same time zone as the rest of us, temporarily at least.

(Sunday 2^nd June)