That Was A Different Life

Having not injured myself in Friday’s 10k, I opt to have another go in tonight’s Notts 5 which starts and finishes on the Embankment.

I still opt to cycle to and from work though, which gets the legs going.

L nips home at lunchtime to meet a man who is coming to start taking apart the house prior to the new insulation and rendering being fitted next week. He doesn’t finish the job and someone else has to come back tomorrow.

We head down to the Notts 5 where L won’t be wearing the new running shoes I got her for her birthday. They are too squeaky but having spoken to the brilliant Wiggle they have confirmed that they have a manufacturing defect and a replacement pair are already on their way to us. Wow.

I run a decent 36.10 five miler. Which is faster than both 2013 and 2014 but some way short of 2011. Like two and a half minutes short. Then there was 2007 but that was a different life.

This year’s time was helped by racing against a girlie who clearly had no intention of letting me beat her and obviously I had no intention of not beating her. We ran the second of the two laps side by side and both sprinted for the line before collapsing in separate heaps after a brief friendly handshake of course. I won by the way, just. When I come round, I am yet again handed a bottle of beer, I could get to like this new trend.

I crawl to the car, get the boys and then we all cheer L across the line before going for a recovery drink in the Navigation.

(Wednesday 22^nd July)

Light Relief

It’s my final day at work for two weeks and I’m in car as I’m expecting a delivery. Well, I’m hoping. One of the sponsors for my club's dog show is leaving it a bit late to send their stuff out but two huge boxes of dog treats duly arrive. I’ve no idea how I’m going to get those along with all the other show stuff including four hundred trophies to Catton Hall for the show.

Before I worry about that a bit of light relief in the shape of the Notts 5 Mile race on the Embankment. My injured knee flares up during my warm-up but that seems to get the pain out of the way for the race which goes ok, at least on that front. My pace however does feel rather slow and laborious but looking at my times after the event, I was up on last year’s time all the way to mile 4. Then I slowed over the last mile and hobbled home about 40 seconds down on last year.Not bad I suppose, on no training.

Afterwards we have a few pints in the Navigation.

(Wednesday 23^rd July)

We’re Full

Bizarrely two days before the start of our dog show I am being inundated with requests from trade stands. Why leave it so late! You’ve only had a year and we’re full. Do you hear full!

Sadly I’ve had to turn down a 1940's vintage tea room which sounded great. Homemade cream teas and cakes served on vintage china. Actually it doesn’t sound very dog friendly and the competition would upset the Doughnut van. Dog people need their doughnuts.

Tonight L has entered us both in the Notts 5 race on the Embankment. Only now she’s pulled out due to injury and will be supporting instead. I feel a bit set up but she says it will do me good. I’m not so sure it will.

I think she ought to sit in the boot with the dogs so that she can’t see what’s going on otherwise her bottom lip will be quivering in a right old sulk.

Things don't start well even before the start, when I put my foot down a hole warming up and sprain my ankle. I have to sit down until the world stops spinning. Thankfully the start has been delayed by ten minutes due to traffic on the course which gives me some recovery time.

The run, as expected, was bloody hard work; they always are these shorter ones. The shorter they are the longer they seem to take. Not that the ankle helps. My legs tell me I was out there longer than on last week’s half marathon but my watch says otherwise. 36:35 Once upon a time I could do these in 32...

L helps me revive myself in the Navigation pub. 

(Wednesday 24^th July)

Tearful Goodbyes

D-Day arrives but first the Notts 5. I can see the anguish on L’s face as she wrestles with the fact that her injury has flared up again and she’s going to have to give this one a miss.

In a rare show of family unity and on her last day in Nottingham for a while, Daughter comes along to support. Which is really nice, I’m not actually sure she’s been to support me before.

The Notts 5 is usually run on a midweek evening in July but this year it was cancelled because the usual course could not be used due to the flood defence works on the Embankment. Yet to keep the race alive they belatedly and hurriedly arranged this Sunday morning version on a new course which starts just shy of the Embankment at The Ferry Inn in Wilford.

The route heads over Wilford Toll Bridge then turns right along the Embankment before crossing the suspension bridge and heading back along the other side of the river path past The Emmanuel School back to the start. Well that’s the route you should do, if you’re the chap ahead of me you carry straight on under the suspension bridge heading for Trent Bridge. Somebody clearly hasn’t listened to the briefing. Although to the fair (well fairer) there should have been a marshal there. All the marshals seemed to be in the wrong places.

I shout him back. I didn’t have to do that but I’m a nice person generally. It still enables me to overtake him, which is more a curse than a blessing as I now have him wheezing along just behind me which is immensely irritating. Eventually he wheezes past me and wheezes a breathless ‘thank you’ in my ear. You’re welcome.

So that’s lap one. Then we do it all again, only this time we do head up onto Trent Bridge rather than crossing over at suspension bridge. I’ve no idea whether Mr Wheezer gets it right this time or not because I’m back ahead of him by now and pulling away from his wheezing but I assume he simply followed me.

This all means that lap two is slightly longer than the first but course wise that is basically that. Hardly an exciting route, mainly flat and straight bar a couple of sharp turns on and off the bridges but not too horrible either. Unless you have a blister on the bottom of your foot of course, which I have. Something I acquired yesterday but it’s amazing how easily you forget about these things once the red mist of competition comes down or you have someone wheezing loudly behind you.

Talking of which, as we approach the finish he is catching me again but I hold on.

I had my mind set on a sub-33 which meant 6:30 miles but my legs were set on a different agenda. Perhaps one influenced by a couple of drinks last night and a Chinese. So although the first two miles are on target, the last three aren’t, but 33:53 isn’t bad.

Only 59 runners is a fairly poor turnout for the race, although it was short notice and there are a lot of races on this weekend. The t-shirt was disappointing too, the same as when I last did this race four years ago.

Then it’s time to load up the car with all of Daughter's worldly possessions (although leaving far too much junk behind for my liking) and Daughter, to head north, as she flees the nest. It’s nice sunshine in Nottingham as we leave but it starts raining as we cross the Yorkshire border. It’s grim up north as they say.

When we find her accommodation, Daughter doesn’t seem overly impressed. I think she was expecting something nicer. A bit like the Ritz and in a posh area. We think it’s actually very nice, very studenty, in a very studenty area. Very appropriate.

I setup her computer, well our computer, as hers expired last week or rather I would if I had the power cable and didn’t have a PS2 mouse and no PS2 sockets. Hmmm. Problem. We off head into Sheffield city centre and find a Tandy to buy replacements. An annoying extra expense but still cheaper and quicker than fetching the bits from Nottingham.

Then just as I’m trying to sort the internet out we get evicted, thrown out, Daughter is off down the off licence with her new flatmates. The very same flatmates she swore she’d have nothing in common with. Alcohol, as ever, is a great common ground. So little chance for a tearful goodbye then or to cartwheel down the street.

(Sunday 18th September)

The Final Meal

D-Day minus 1. Tomorrow Daughter starts Uni so we cleared the decks event wise this weekend until we knew what was happening. Then amazingly, once we knew the details of when she was required up in Sheffield, we managed to find not one but two local events we could slot in.

Tomorrow we reckon we can fit in the hastily rescheduled Notts 5, which is taking place on the Embankment now that the flood defence work is nearing completion. Today it’s the Tails n Trails 5k at Catton Park, which, as you can probably tell from the name, requires a dog. So I’m doing it with MD. There’s a 10k as well but that’s on the Sunday and it’s a bit far to go bearing in mind the maelstrom of last minute packing we’re expecting. Today's race doesn’t start until noon, so we even get a lie-in first.

L decides to enter the 5k with Doggo – the old team. We think ‘Granddad’ can manage an amble round 5k, question is, can L cope with the mental stress, 5k’s a lot of sniffing.

The publicity hasn’t been the best and there are only six entrants, consisting of three men and three women. L starts texting everybody before she starts telling them of her podium finish.

There’s also a dog agility show going on as well, one that I wasn’t aware of but I vow to support them and put MD round the practice ring before we leave. Topping all that entertainment wise, is a fun dog show. You know the kind, with categories such as ugliest dog, waggiest tail etc etc. We reckon MD has the noisiest dog category sewn up. On second thoughts we might skip that.

L takes it really seriously and borrows a proper running harness off a chap who looks like he knows what he’s doing. When we start he goes off like a rocket and I didn’t see him again. So he wins, while MD and I pursue him in second place. We probably pursue him faster than necessary and I rush MD through the many drinks stops - bowls for dogs, nothing for humans, in an attempt to defend our position. A cup of tea at half-way would have been nice; something to do while MD has one of his mega long drinking sessions. We lose by three minutes but come second by a further six minutes, so as I said, the haste was perhaps unnecessary.

Our time isn't great but the course turns out to be on the long side, 3.6 miles rather than the 3.1 miles a 5k is supposed to consist of.

Once finished we go out to the edge of the course to cheer L and Doggo along, which doesn’t quite work out. Doggo grinds to a halt when he sees us cheering him along with still around half a kilometre to run. L accuses me of sabotaging their run. So I lash MD to a nearby tree, climb over the fence and go join them for the last stretch. This gets Doggo moving again. It upsets MD though, the howling was pitiful.

We get medals, rosettes, dog biscuits etc. In fact we got a goody bag before we started and another one afterwards. It doesn’t get better than that!

Derby were playing away at Nottingham Forest today in a lunch time kick off. I had considered going but after losing our last two games couldn’t face the humiliation. This is a decision that is looking exceedingly wise when within the first few minutes of the game Derby’s goalkeeper is sent off and from the resulting penalty Forest take the lead. There’s no way we’ll come back from that... but, oddly, amazingly, we do. Derby equalise and then score a winner. Victory is achieved despite having ten men for almost the whole game. Humiliation is suddenly on the other foot. Another one of those ‘I was there’ moments, only I wasn’t.

Daughter has requested a final meal, just like a condemned prisoner has on their last day on death row before they’re finally summoned for execution. I’m surprised she can fit us in with all these goodbyes but we are glad to oblige. We’re not over enthusiastic about her choice, our local Chinese Mr Man's. It has a great reputation but we’ve never rated it. Well, at least it’s in walking distance.

One of the problems is they always seemed to rush you and it’s always uncomfortably packed. By arriving a bit later I hope we’re cracked this but we still have to fight off three requests to order drinks and then three requests to order our food before we’ve had time to properly peruse either menu.

Thereafter things get much better. It goes quieter, I think they realise it’s now too late to reuse our table and they leave us alone to enjoy ourselves. Food wise, we avoid the set menus, which is our usual choice and go a la carte. Much better, a very good meal. L even says it’s possibly the best Chinese we’ve had, although, I have to say I was trying to choose un-Chinese type meals. I have Pepper Steak and Daughter has Mongolian Lamb!

(Saturday 17th September)