Another To Add To The Collection

This morning I am running in the Wollaton Park 10k. I have done this several times before but not for a year or two and I don’t really like running around my local park much but this is a valuable training opportunity.

The race seems to get more popular each year and has pulled quite a crowd. The course is two laps of a 5k route which is mainly off road. Conditions are quite firm but still I wear trail shoes, my own this time not L’s.

As I recall this race has always been rather annoyingly marked in miles and not kilometres but this year they don’t even bother with that and only put out the ‘one mile’ marker. Still I have a reasonable run albeit in a really average time. Three years ago I was four minutes quicker...

I am handed my mug at the finish line to add to our collection at home. Oh for them to spend the extra 20p and slip a creme egg in to it. They don’t but L does. Bless her. The dogs and L have done another excellent supporting job.

Then I rush off to the match, where Derby play Barnsley. There’s not much to play for, Derby are confirmed in the play offs but second place is a distant dream that will only become a reality if Burnley don’t win any of their last three games. They win today, so well done to them on a well deserved promotion. Derby win too, although a 2-1 win reflects the fact that they played on cruise control but nearly crashed and burned when they should have coasted home.

My folks follow me home and come to ours for tea. L has cooked a meal and her famous Bakewell Pudding for dessert. Yum.

(Monday 21^st April)

Most Of Mine Seem Very Alcoholic

It’s wet and windy again today. I had wanted to bike again but wimped out. So I’ll just have to hope that I’ve done enough training for Monday’s half marathon, I’ve certainly done sufficient carbo loading and there’s more to come, but at least we’re running out of crème eggs here at work.

We have another family meal tonight, this time with L’s parents and some late Christmas presents. We cook the other leg from our lamb and serve a Chinese platter as a starter, a post-Christmas BOGOF from the supermarket. Then we light the anti-dog-smell candles and await our guests.

After dinner we exchange presents, Christmas really does go on and on these days... but more presents... yay! Most of mine seem very alcoholic, for some reason.

(Thursday 29th December)

You Can Never Have Too Many Mugs

It's the ‘kind of’ traditional Easter 10K on Wollaton Park today. Well I’ve done it twice before and couldn’t really think of a reason not to this year. Any kids who do the fun run get an Easter egg, sadly the 10k-ers don’t. Just the usual mug... for the mugs. Well, I need a new mug... you can never have too many mugs. Maybe.

L decides we’ll supply our own Easter eggs this year and gets two Cadbury's crème eggs (but not massive ones - see yesterday) to award ourselves afterwards.

It’s a bit on the warm side and there’s no water stop, which I think is a bit mean. So I’m blaming the heat for again being around twenty seconds slower than the previous year.



I walk back up the course to support L. Well I walk to the top of the biggest hill, always a good vantage point to see everyone suffer. The council clearly share my delight in revelling in the runners difficulties because, rather than wait, oooh another ten minutes or so, they decide to drive one of their lorries up the hardest part of the course and just as the main body of runners are coming in. Then just for good measure they stop at their destination before trying to reverse over a few of them. Nice one. Idiots.

Unlike I, who runs his slowest Easter 10k, L runs her quickest.

As it’s a nice day and it’s nearly my birthday, my parents have turned up to support and afterwards we adjourn to the Willoughby/Wollaton pub. Where it’s nice enough to sit outside, sip Hobgoblin and have an early birthday lunch. I fetch the dogs to join us and even Son and Daughter indulge us with their presence. The lure of roast lamb with all the trimmings can have this effect.

After not having had an Easter egg for years, I now have two. My folks get me one for my birthday. All that whinging has finally paid off.

I get back home to catch most of a very good game as Derby play at Norwich. 2-2 seems a fair result until they grab the winner in the 6th minute of second half injury time. Grrrr.

(Monday 25th April)