Hobson’s Choice

The park is locked and not for the first time this week. MD is terribly disappointed because he doesn’t get his ball chuck with L. Doggo and I, following up behind, still get our old man’s amble but it’s not the same not ending up with a sniff on the park. Once it starts to get a bit colder and darker the city council forget about us dog walkers.

I’m in the car today. Reason one is that I head to the Derby Runner at lunchtime to try to get either a replacement battery pack for the broken head torch or a brand new head torch. They don’t have any battery packs and the choice of just one pretty basic head torch. So, it’s Hobson’s choice. Either take the horse in the stall nearest the door or none at all. I ride off into the sunset with my new steed.

Reason two is the race itself which is the Night Trail at East Leake. This starts at 7pm, so it’s a case of a quick change at home and then back out again to the start at Rushcliffe Golf Club. Finding the golf club in the dark countryside proves to be the hardest part of the evening.

The run itself, for saying I’m not an off-road person, goes really well. The five mile route takes in a mix of bridal pathways, loose surface footpaths and sections over grassy fields. Naturally I lose my footing several times but unlike last time I ran at night on the Thunder Run I remain vertical.

It is well marked and well marshalled although most of the glow sticks along the route seem to lack the vital ingredients of glow. I also remember seeing signs for the water station at around half way but didn’t actually see the station itself. On reflection perhaps the three people stood by a parked car was it but it wasn’t obvious and my then it was too late to go back. 

At the finish we get a very nice medal, if you like that sort of thing and amazing I come in 13th out of 90. Wow.

There were rumours of a bar but the golf club has been booked for a private function and I don't think muddy runners are not invited so we head home.

When we get home it is to find that Daughter has arrived for the weekend and for her job interview tomorrow. It’s good to see her and she has already tried out the new shower. That’ll be £1 please.

 (Friday 11^th November)

Decent Crumpet

We partake in our usual amble along the Langdale Valley which I think will be more than enough for the old man, Doggo. I forget about the two huge stiles we’re going to have to lift both the dogs over. 

After a three mile amble to Elterwater we consider refreshments at the Britannia, which as usual is a no go. Absolutely rammed full of tourists. There is a new café opposite it though based in the old post office, which not only has plenty of space, it accepts muddy dogs and serves a mean crumpet.

Refreshed we amble onwards to the Wainwrights in Chapel Stile for a slightly below bar Snecklifter. So we head back towards base camp and head into the Sticklebarn, not really hoping for much because the place hasn’t been any good for a few years now. Tonight though, it has not one but two good beers. Coniston Old Man which is good and Scary Man from Long Man which is even better. Bit of a ‘man’ theme going on here. Although had I known that Long Man was all the way from Sussex I might have been less keen. For the first time in years we stay all evening and eat there. Food was decent too.

It’s raining again as we head back to camp, so it’s not looking too good for tomorrows ten miler.

(Saturday 1^st November)

Hypochondria

I would suspect that today's snow, some overnight and more this morning, may put tonight's outdoor dog training in doubt. According to the ever reliable BBC, Nottingham had the biggest fall at 3cm. Although, bizarrely our car park at work here in Derby was snow free this morning and I suspected the rest might have disappeared by lunchtime but by then it was snowing again.

The snow, combined with his arthritis, makes Doggo hard work on a walk. He always limps in snow, as he thinks ice on his paws means he’s maimed for life. So you don’t know what’s a real limp and what hypochondria.

I slither to the supermarket at lunchtime, which was well worth the effort. Really quiet in there.

There’s no news on dog class yet, perhaps they’re hoping it’ll clear up later. At least if it’s off, it’ll save our arthritic old man from having to sit in the cold boot. Of course he’s very welcome to stay at home in the warm but he won’t want to.

Then I get a message. Training is surprisingly off.

(Monday 14th January)

It’s All Relative These Days

I cycle again. All part of the fitness plan and it stays dry again.

L wants to know if I've phoned a physio yet? No not yet, the knee is fine so far, sort of. Ask me again after squash or after I've unwittingly knelt on it tonight. I really must stop doing that.

Lunch time is spent in the pub, which is very pleasant and will fortify me for the rest of today’s fitness plan.

Unfortunately, I run into a bit of trouble on the way home. An old man passes me, well when I say old, I mean he was older than me. It’s all relative these days. I set off in something approaching a hot pursuit but can’t catch him. I do get close but he nips through the lights just before they change and I get stranded the other side of the junction.

I watch him up the road overtaking another cyclist with long flowing blonde hair. I think I know who that is. I often see a couple of chaps with such flowing locks on my commute, clearly it's one of them. Neither are to be tangled with, so he’s brave passing them.

When I get moving though, I start to catch this other cyclist and realise it’s not a chap at all but a girl. Naturally I have to go past her, which isn’t easy as it once was. Sadly most girls on bike are now fitter and younger than me by some distance. It’s all relative these days. This one is easily overcome though but she’s a grumpy one and doesn’t even acknowledge my greeting as I go past.

Then it’s squash and four very long, close games. I’m crawling by the end, two days on the bike does not a good pair of legs make. I have never been so delighted to see the next couple of players turn up for their game and I thank them profusely.

(Thursday 3rd January)

Overdoing It With The Old Man

This morning on the park, Doggo pulls up short as he chases his ball and then just lies down, as if he’s ‘chilling’. Both MD and I know he’s hiding a limp. The fact it takes us an age to persuade him to get moving again proves it. Not sure how he’s going to hide that from L. She’ll accuse me of overdoing it with the old man again.

Derby win, which was a surprise enough. To win 5-1 is something else entirely. Perhaps this season won’t be quite so bad after all.

Tonight a film and an alcohol free one at that, as I have semi-serious run tomorrow.

We haven't seen an IRA thriller in a while, at one point you couldn't move for them. ‘Shadow Dancer’ is set in Belfast in 1993, to the backdrop of the ongoing peace process which resulted in the IRA ceasefire the following year. First though, we rewind to 1973, when Collette McVey was but a little girl. When she offloads an errand to the shops on her little brother, he comes back dead, hit by a stray bullet in the street.

Fast forward twenty years and Collette (Andrea Riseborough) is in London about to plant a bomb on the underground. Only, the authorities are on to her and she gets captured. They have enough information to put her away, where she will lose her son or, they tell her, she could become an informant and work for MI5.

She agrees, way too easily, which is one of a few things that are wrong with an otherwise impressive film. A lot of things seem a little too easy, not only is Colette easily turned into an informant but back in Belfast, although they are instantly suspicious of her return, particularly as CCTV coverage of her had featured on the TV News but nobody makes too much of it. They certainly don’t think to follow her to her regular meetings with Mac (Clive Owen) her MI5 handler. Perhaps because most of these meetings seem to happen in the pouring rain.

There is good tension in the film though. Gerry, the local IRA commander, is the one man who is suspicious. He knows there’s an informant in their midst and will happily use a little water torture on Colette’s brother to find out if it’s her. Possibly Gerry’s character and his role could have been developed further but the film doesn’t really dip into the politics of the situation and the full horrors of terrorism are largely absent from the screen.

The film prefers instead to pinpoint the distrust and paranoia on both sides. Whereas Colette has to betray her own side and family, Mac has his own problems, Gillian Anderson. Anderson appears briefly as a senior MI5 Officer putting obstacles in Mac’s path as she keeps him in the dark as regards the bigger picture in infiltrating this particular IRA cell. He starts to feel responsible for Colette when it becomes apparent she is just a decoy to take the heat off their main informant.

It's a good film, intelligent, suspenseful and well-acted. Riseborough is excellent and even Owen is sort of ok. It's just lacking in a bit of extra oomph.

(Saturday 1st September)

Up For It

It’s dull, windy and miserable here in Bakewell but still oddly picturesque with the hills behind us.

The old man seems really up for it today as if he knows the dreaded ‘r’ word is imminent. Retirement. He was so quick on his first course that he had a pole down, which is practically unheard of. It’s a shame but good to see him going for it. He’s clear on his second course but unfortunately he’s expelled most of his ‘up for it’ on the first run and we’re outside the places. He's done now, over to MD.

There are loads of moans from competitors about the difficulty of the G3 course that is MD’s first run of the day. We though like a challenge, although perhaps I was not cautious enough on this course and MD has five faults when he comes off his dog walk sideways, seemingly looking for a short cut. The course yields only three clear rounds from 79 entrants. We are 9th with 5 faults which gets us a rosette and a cash prize of £5. Blimey. £5 for 9th, what would a win have been worth?

Glossing quickly over run two, we queue up for run three and are near the front when they call a lunch break and we are told to go away and come back later. That’s appalling ring management, if I may say so, speaking as someone who has run many a ring.

When we return after lunch it is now throwing it down and Doggo looks a little smug that he got all his runs in before it rained. Still, my little trooper does a clear round in the rain and had it not been for a bit of a 'moment' before the weaves which cost us a few seconds and a few places we might have even won it. We are 9th again. Another rosette but no cash this time. Run four... we’ll skip over that one too.

L is running in Keyworth, the Crossdale 10k, and up against the U23 GB canoe team. Not sure if they’re any good at running though. She is three minutes down on last year. ‘Shoot me now’, she proclaims, as she heads off to make a donation at the charity cake stall. Does she mean for the run or the cake?

Her time isn’t too bad considering she did have two working legs last year and she was supposed to be taking it easy. Then she’s off to Broadway for an afternoon of dark brooding passion and romance or rather Jayne Eyre, which I have declined, still not having recovered from the TV adaptation a couple of years ago.

Back home and an empty nest of course. So we can have our own dark brooding passion and romance if we want, or a bottle of wine, or I can cook a slap up two course meal for the two of us without worrying about feeding the five thousand. Perhaps a combination of all three after of course the cycling...

A stunning performance from everyone in the Great Britain team for keeping the race together and teeing it up for Mark Cavendish to do his stuff. Cav sprinting home to bring home the world title for the first time since 1965.

(Sunday 25th September)

Looking For Positives

A dog show in Osmaston today, which is near Ashbourne in Derbyshire. A nice location and probably the best, flattest surface we ever get to compete on.

The old man kicks things off with a nice steady clear round and goes into 5th place. With rosettes down to 8th we might even get one. We don’t, he gets pushed down to 12th but not bad for starters.

Now to unleash the pocket rocket onto an unsuspecting public. On a tricky first course (for grades 3-5) he has a pole down and misses his weave entry but it’s a promising start. I really fancy our chances on course two, a lower level grade 1-3 course with only 14 obstacles. I didn’t think only 14 obstacles was legal and nor did many other people, so the judge gets his rule book out to show us that anything for 10 to 20 is allowed. Game on. It’s very straight and should be very quick but MD does quick quite well. I tell him I expect a rosette, if not a trophy, so to keep his paws up and not to knock any poles. Yeah yeah he mutters, whatever. He’s such a teenager.

I concentrate on getting the trickier mid section right, only we don’t get there. MD tries to miss out jump number four. Why? We are so not speaking. Still he kept all the poles up. I'm looking for positives here.

Perhaps our luck will be in on run three. We are quick, fourth fastest. It’s just a shame about that pole he clipped. Back to the drawing board. Again.

Doggo saves the day with another solid run and 11th place. Unfortunately, again just not quite good enough for a rosette.

(Saturday 11th June)