My training diary

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no. 76:- What is special about this picture for Godiva Harriers? When did I win it? Which woman has won it? When? And what is so special about her?

So Blog,

      What has your training been this last three days??? As varied as mine?

day	Pulse (s/f)	wt	surface	dist	time	Session (where ran and named training partner)
Fri	52/53	8st 25lb	road	4m	Very fast time	‘Down by the river side’ with E.Presley. Is this a record?
Sat	68/60	9st 11lb	county	6m	Fartlek ………aim	To ‘Keep on running’ with Spencer D.. Definitely a record
Sun	86/151	137lb	path	1m		Ran Fun Run with granddaughter, stumbled, hurt back ….is this a slipped disc?

Saturday was County Cross Country Championship Day at Solihull, in Brueton Country Park. I watched my elder daughter run in the senior ladies race. The course was excellent in all respects; varied paths, hills, flat running, wooded sections, bit of mud, excellent for watching the races’ progress. The Championships Races were promoted by the Knowle And Dorridge Running Club which has only been affiliated for two years, so its 11 out of 10 for them, Blog. Very good. But watch the next couple of weeks, when we will be back to the stupid ankle breaking courses for the leagues races etc.. The usual argument being for keeping to such courses being that they have  been used for yonks, so why change them? You change it to stop athletes getting injured??? Watch this space Blog, I will report back!!!

Sunday was the Centurions Runners Club monthly 5 mile race and 2km Fun Run. Same daughter raced in the ‘5’ and did well to come 4^th lady … further down the field, her mother who happens to be my wife of very many years (40+++) was third ‘over 60’ ladies masters, so both came away with a prize. At the presentation afterwards, as granny went up to get her prize, my eight year old granddaughter, in all innocence asked if the prizes were for the Old Pensioners Race!! Blog, I kid you not. I trogged round the Fun Run with my granddaughter. We started slowly and gradually moved through the field. She was delighted to have run 50 seconds faster than last time. She sprinted in front of me at the finish, which, I thought, showed a degree of discourtesy which I did not expect from a close family member. After all, I sacrificed my performance to pace her round, I nurtured when she was having a rough time, I encouraged her when she was becoming despondent, I coached her in the best way to round corners, I distilled fifty years of hard won experience into those 2 kilometres. I even gave up the accolades which a victory would have bestowed upon me. One never knows where a victory in such an event might lead … what athletic doors might have been thrown open to me? However I told her, I will not make a big issue out of it, what is done is done; the tide cannot be turned back, the result cannot be changed. I said to her that the least she could have done was to have given me a finger of the Kit Kat she was given at the finish line. But No! She paid me no heed and scoffed both fingers. Just like that! I just couldn’t believe it Blog? What is the world coming to? And what makes matters even worse if that were possible … My wife is now faster than me and not only that …. My elder daughter is now faster than me and not only that …. My younger daughter is now faster than me and not only that …. My son-in–law is now faster than me and not only that …. but by the thickness of a running vest, my granddaughter is now faster than me. I shall train most diligently for the next three weeks and exact my revenge in the next Fun Run. If she thinks she has the upper hand, I will show her …  this fall through the family rankings makes the death of my pet tortoise last year seem not too upsetting after all. At least he has blown his chances of whipping me.

I think my granddaughter’s lack of consideration for me by not offering a share of her chocolate Kit Kat stems from family inbreeding. I told you Blog about the problem’s with my wife’s washing machine a couple of months ago; one of the small programme buttons on the control panel had come off the printed circuit board and a replacement would cost me about £80. I told you, if you remember, that I was unsuccessful in finding someone to solder five tiny spots to fix the button back onto the board and in the end, I had resorted to using insulation tape to secure the switch back into place. I must admit I did rather a splendid job with the insulation tape; it has been extremely successful with a capital ‘S’. Admittedly, my wife has to use the end of a kiddies paint brush to poke the switch to engage the programme, and she has had to use a head torch to see the switch button before she can poke the switch with the kiddies paint brush to engage the programme. Small price and inconvenience to pay in order to save me £80 from my pension, I would have thought. But no. NO. She now says that the colour of the handle of the kiddies paint brush which she uses to poke the switch to engage the programme of the washing machine is the wrong colour!! Wrong colour? What’s that all about I asked myself? She says the handle of the kiddies paint brush which she uses to poke the switch to engage the programme of the washing machine is blue and it clashes with the autumn colours of the décor of the house extension in which the washing machine is kept! Can you believe that Blog, or can you believe that Blog? She wishes me to buy another paint brush with a sympathetic matching colour. Well I thought to myself, that she does work very hard around the house and deserved the occasional treat. I don’t want her to think that I take her for granted, so I took it upon myself to invest in a new paint brush despite the blue handled one being perfectly serviceable for a few years yet. I did a search of the Tesco and Argos catalogues, Toys-R-Us, and E-Bay and it was the latter where I eventually found a bargain from a little shop in Newhaven, Devon. Only 65p with 80p postage, which I thought quite reasonable. I shall of course advertise the blue handle brush on E-Bay because it will be surplus to requirements once the new brush arrives. And, it makes sense that by selling it on E-Bay I can recoup some of my expenditure on the new kiddies brush and my dear wife will not feel so bad about me splashing out some quid from my pension. I do hate her worrying.

                                              Colin