Good For Peace Of Mind

Monday sees me at the dentist for my annual check-up. I’m never sure if I should be pleased or not pleased that year after year the process is a mere two minute poke around my mouth before they tell me that all is fine and then relieve me of £25 (or whatever it is now) at the door. Good for peace of mind I suppose.

Then it’s a dog club committee meeting which is just as perfunctory but clocks in at around two hours rather than two minutes.

On Tuesday I am actually early enough to the bus stop to catch the earlier bus, the one that would have got me to work on time, but it’s full. So I don’t get chance to get on it and I have to wait for my usual bus, the one that means I’m late. This is why I don’t bother rushing.

Team GB Live put some more tickets for Tokyo 2020 on sale and I snap up a few more than means we now have something for every day we are there. We now have an eclectic mix of Archery, Weightlifting, Rugby, Rowing, Hockey, Athletics, Golf, Canoe Sprint and Beach Volleyball. I don’t believe they actually have a beach and the Beach Volleyball is being held in a park right by the edge of Tokyo Bay. So they have the sea but they’ll be building a temporary beach, just like Nottingham do.

Most of the events are only for a few hours, so we’ll have plenty of time to do other things as well although we are not usually very good at being tourists.

In the evening I run a swift five miles from work then get on the i4 in Borrowash while L does a session at her run club. Then on Wednesday she runs 14k with Daughter. Scarily that’s a third of race distance, marathon race distance that is.

Wednesday is also when she gets her first ‘Happy Christmas’ greeting from someone, which is shockingly early.

I did contemplate biking to work that day because a sunny day was forecast, though a cold one. However when I slip and slide on ice and wet leaves while walking the dogs, falling over at one point, I decide to stick with the bus. My colleague at work does bike in and shows me his bruises where he came off, so I was probably wise not to cycle. He also came off his bike in flood water on Friday.

In the evening it’s dog training where the Lad is well rampant.

Then disaster strikes. No sooner had L commented on the number of races we have booked for next year and started worrying that one of us would get injured when one of us did. So as I’m running the nine or so miles from work to Risley on Thursday evening she is having to cancel her attendance at a new Pilates class in Wollaton. Oh dear.

(Thursday 14^th November)

Project Tokyo

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After successfully attending the London Olympics in 2012 we were inspired to visit Sochi for the 2014 Winter ones. After which we prevaricated badly over Rio and PyeongChang and ended up not going to either. So we decided that Tokyo 2020 was a must but then I missed the initial ticket ballot. 

Luckily the remaining tickets went on sale this week on a ‘first come first served’ basis and I quickly dived in to snag tickets for the Women’s Cycling Road Race as well as some for Taekwondo and Archery. Project Tokyo is go.

Then after catching my breath I went back to get some more for Weightlifting and Rugby Sevens. That was when I realised that the Cycling and possibly the Taekwondo clashes with next year’s dog show. It might not be popular if one of the chief organisers fails to turn up for that. So I probably have tickets to sell, which shouldn't be a problem.

I manage two days dog training this week, Monday and Wednesday, going to my Club’s session both days, rather than Monday's at Codnor, to sort out the errant payers in the Beginners Classes. I cycle twice, Wednesday and Thursday, but there is no tennis. There are no courts available as there is a Junior Tournament on.

On Saturday we are again at Alvaston parkrun, my new favourite. I feel that if I’m going break my PB with the Lad it’s going to be there.

In the evening, L has another run as her new running club has asked for volunteers to participate in a dress rehearsal of the 5 Mile race they hope to put on from next year. The race starts near Smalley and covers a lot of the area around Shipley Park. It’s largely off road, so I opt to hold her coat and the dogs while she does it along with Daughter.

On Sunday I am at a Crufts Team Qualifier which is my first visit to the new venue at Royle Farm near Drakelow. The event is run by Rugby Dog Training Club and yes, it is still nowhere near Rugby. I don’t have a dog in the event, or even in any class at the show, MD is no longer up to the jump height and the Lad simply isn’t ‘up to it’ no matter what he thinks. Our two teams give their all but we won’t be going to Crufts next year. 

It is all over very quickly and I am home for lunch.

(Sunday 14^th July)

British Triathlon Mixed Relay Cup

While L and Daughter parkrun, I am stuck at home calling out the recovery people to the car who we now get through our packaged current account with the Nationwide. This meant we have dumped the RAC who have rescued us many times in the past. To their credit, they have kept us on for just £5 a year but that doesn’t include Homestart.

Our new service is supposed to be provided by Britannia but its not them that come out, it’s Burrows Recovery. The chap is clearly irked at having to work on a Saturday and quickly says he knows what the problem is but he can't fix it. However h says he knows a man who can... and gives me a mate’s phone number. Sounds a bit dodgy to me, passing on trade like that.

When I finally get hold of this mate, he says he can’t fix it either but he knows a man who can... this is getting a bit like Chinese Whispers.

This chap says that, yes, he can probably fix it and how does Monday sound. Mondays sounds like two days away to me, so I ring round loads of other people but I don’t get a better offer.

So we have no transport for this afternoon’s British Triathlon Mixed Relay Cup on the Victoria Embankment, so we walk there instead which takes about an hour.

This is a new, inaugural, event because the Mixed Relay is due to be introduced to the Olympics for Tokyo 2020. There are seventeen teams of four taking part, each comprising two men and two women. Thirteen of these were British based teams centred around their training bases e.g. Leeds, Loughborough, Bath, London, Cardiff, Stirling etc. These included a who’s who of British Triathlon, at least of all those who weren’t injury, but also enabled the Australian Aaron Royle to compete for Leeds where he trains. This also means Nottingham’s own Sophie Coldwell was running for Loughborough not Nottingham.

Jonny Brownlee was the biggest name due to be there but he was a late withdrawal. He had a bit of a sniffle apparently, the lightweight.

We had grandstand seats which were very good for transition and the bike leg but not so good for the swim or the run, probably the best bits especially the jumping in the Trent at the start of each leg. 

The race itself consists of each team member completing a 300m swim, a 7.5km bike up and down the Embankment and a 1.5km run over Trent Bridge and the Wilford Suspension bridge before tagging the next team member who lobbed themselves in the Trent to repeat the process. Four times.

We also had a good view of the big screen which would have been useful if it had been used to show more of the race and used less as prop to get the crowd dancing.

Anyhow Leeds won, Loughborough came second and Canada, one of the four international teams, third. 

It all went down very well with spectators lining the route and it showed off Nottingham very well on TV.

It will back next year but part of a UK City series, so it might not attract so many big names.

Earlier in the day there was a mini Triathlon for the mere mortals, sadly they swam in Portland pool rather than the Trent but I can fully understood why they did that!

Afterwards L talks me into crafty drink at Dispensary and then we get the bus back from town.


(Saturday 2^nd September)