Paris marathon 2010

What a weekend!! Graham and I set off for Paris on the afternoon flight from Manchester arriving at 16:20 at Charles de Gaulle airport where we were met by Sue from the runners world forum. She had already bought our tickets for the metro and SNCF and knew how to get to the Expo.

We soon got our numbers and went for a quick look around. I bought some commemorative socks and Sue bought a hat, but there wasn't really much time for anything else as we had arranged to meet some of the others for dinner.

After checking in at the hotel Astrid on the Rue de Carnot, we went to meet up with the others at the Vesuvius restaurant on the Champs Ellysses. The others had already eaten and we just ordered chicken and chips which were scrummy. We left at about 10:30pm and went straight back to the hotel.

Saturday was spent just walking around trying to find our bearings. We found a lovely market with more fish and fruit on each stall than I have ever seen. There were fresh scallops being opened by one man and on the same stall fresh langoustines which, I have to say, I have never seen before. We got a lovely meal at a bar freshly made macaroni cheese with minced beef in it. Nothing like the heinz tinned version.

Saturday night I'd arranged to meet up with the rest of the forum at pasta papa and although I was still full from the afternoon meal, I ordered penne pasta with pesto. The plate was ginormous and I only managed to eat half of it. The company was great. I sat with Ian and his parents and Graham went to the bar next door because he really didn't want any more to eat and preferred to go for a drink.

The prices were very expensive due mainly to the value of the pound against the euro.

So, Sunday morning at 8am we all met up for the team photo before moving off to the pens. I refrained from drinking too much because the queues for the loos were too long and I knew I would need to go if I drank too much.

8:45am came and the race set off to the music "Tonight's gonna be a good night" by the Black Eyed Peas. It took a good 12 or so minutes before our pen reached the start and it was like picking your way through a rubbish tip. There were bottles, jackets and items of clothing strewn all over the road. Someone will have had a job clearing all that lot up after we'd gone.

I have never been anywhere so pretty as Paris. The run round was beautiful for the full course. Running down the famous Champs Ellysses from the Arc towards les Tuilleries, past the Louvre, the Bastille, Notre Dame, The Eiffel Tower, along the Seine and through the Bois up the Avenue Foch to the finish.

My Garmin was not in sync with the mileage on the route but that often happens when I'm in a race so I just ignored the distance on it and went by the time and time per lap. I was trying to finish in 4h45m and was on a target for that according to my garmin, but checking the actual splits from the official times I was too slow. i think though that it was due to my 15 min wait for the loo.

Just after the half way mark my hips started hurting quite badly and I had to struggle to run. A kind lady gave me some dissolve in your mouth ibuprofen and the pain went within minutes enabling me to pick up the pace again.

There were plenty of water stations, each with cut up oranges, bananas, sugar cubes and raisins. One of them had red wine as they were promoting the Medoc marathon where you can get wine or water at each stop.

I finished in 5h17min so almost exactly the same as London last year. I didn't want to hang about as I told Graham not to meet me at the finish, so I just got my medal and t shirt and went back to the hotel for a drink and some food. Graham had left sandwich making stuff for me and some very very stinky cheese which I had to leave outside on the window ledge. (I gave it to Ricky when we got back) It was lovely cheese though.

I spent the rest of the day chilling out in the room. I just didn't have the energy to meet the others at the other end of the city as my legs were ceasing up and just refused to take me anywhere else. Graham looked after me as usual making me drinks and going to mcdonalds for a take away.

Monday morning was spent going to the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame cathedral. Then back to the hotel to wait for a taxi to the airport.

Looking back we wasted a lot of time hanging around waiting for transport on Monday. The taxi picked us up at 4:45pm then at the airport we had to wait for 2 hours only to find the flight was delayed for an hour. That meant that we would miss our last train home from Manchester airport.

It was 10:15pm when we landed and our last train was at 10:29. No chance of catching it. We got our bags and headed off to the train station to wait yet another hour for the 0001 train to Preston and then caught a taxi home.

Great North Run 2009

For those of you who don't want to read about the whole experience I've put headings.

THE BUILD-UP

What a weekend. It started on Friday night when Graham and I went up to Lanark to take a table for my daughter. We had decided to go straight from there to Newcastle on Saturday afternoon.
So we set off intending to do a bit of sight seeing of Hadrian's wall on the way. However, I had misjudged just how long it would take to get down to Carlisle and across on the A69, so by the time we saw the turn off for Hadrian's wall, we decided not to bother - afterall it's not going anywhere and there'll be other times for sight seeing.
Of all the times to let us down, the satnav decided it needed to be updated and flatly refused to work. We tried beating it with a stick a la John Cleese, but that had as much of an effect as it did on the mini. So reliant on road maps and the AA routeplanner which i had printed off just in case, we continued into the labaryth that is Newcastle upon tyne. Came off the A1 at the wrong junction and got directions from two lovely ladies at a Shell garage.
I have to say I've stayed at better hotels. This was one of those dives intended for the drunk and unwashed. The bedroom consisted of one double bed with a bunk bed over the top of it. In the corner was a small wash basin and in another corner a TV perched on a plinth. There was one socket which only seemed to work for the kettle and that's that. The toilets were at the end of the corridor along with the shower cubicles. They were self-cleaning TBH there was more room in my camper shower than in those. In fact it was like sleeping in a caravan because of all the noise made by people walking up and down the corridors, the floor even seemed to move as they walked. Herds of elephants spring to mind. Fortunately they were all there for the GNR, so there were no parties going on.

RACE DAY

I had been talking to a really nice chap called Phil and arranged to meet up with him at 8am on sunday morning with the intention of catching the metro to the Haymarket and then after the race we were to catch the ferry to North Shields and from there the metro back into newcastle. However, when I woke up on Sunday, I got this urge to drive over to South Shields and leave the car there. I would then pick it up after the race and just drive off home. So that's what we did. packed up quickly, set off at 7am and after getting directions, headed off for South Shields.
The traffic was building up quite heavily as we got into South Shields with most of the cars going into the Leas car parks or to one across the road. However, we'd been told to go to marsden's cove which is just about at mile 12. Plenty of people had the same idea but we managed to park just slightly on the kerb so as to give others enough room to get past me.

We just managed to leg it for the last shuttle bus back to the start. I must say it seemed further than 13.1 miles!! The throngs were gathering around the Haymarket station with everyone following along like sheep towards the start. I spotted the loos and of course headed straight for one of the queues. Considering there were 54000 participants and their relatives, there were very few portaloos available and none, so far as I'm aware, had any loo paper left in them.

I had a green number so I had to negotiate my way past the elites, then the orange, white and then to the green pen where I dutifully walked in and as close to the front as I could. It was quite a long wait before the start and my eyes kept wandering to the bushes up the hill where people kept ducking in and out - should I or shouldn't I? I decided to hold my dignity (and my bladder) and carried on with the warm up in a slightly less enthusiastic manner than i would had I made that little trip up the hill.

The warm up was very good and really got us all in the mood. I'm sure the poor gorilla behind me (not Graham) was roasting under all that fur.

Off went the wheelchair race, followed by the ladies elite then the men with the masses at 10:40. I set my garmin several times whilst waiting to start but it was 11.01 before i crossed the start line making absolutley sure I touched hands with Sting as I went past (such an old groupie).

It was a slow start, only to be expected with all the runners, and I tried to keep to my pace as much as possible. The sun was out and so were the crowds shouting and cheering us on. It was quite a spectacle. I'd heard that if you keep to the right as you approach the flyover you go up and over with the possibility of seeing the red arrows, but if you keep left you go in the underpass. As a big red arrows fan, I hopped over to the right lane and low and behold there they came, right on queue. I got quite emotional.

The next landmark was the Tyne bridge. If only I'd set off sooner I would've been on that when the red arrows flew over. Now that would've been special. I couldn't help singing away to myself "the fog on the tyne is all mine all mine "as I was going over it.

The race just seemed to consist of one long hill after another and was I glad I'd done lots of hill work in my training. There wasn't a single space free for people to stand all the way along the route. The people of Newcastle were fantastic. Some kids were squirting water at us whilst others were stood there with little boxes of change for the collections going round. there were jelly babies, orange segments, hand wipes. The generosity and kindness was second to none.

I particularly liked going past the fire station with the fireman squirting the fire hose at us (it was only sprinkling, but wasn't half refreshing)

People even had their garden hoses out spraying us.

Along one of the bridges there was a poster stating " This is the run where you leave your PB's behind" and I've got to say i know exactly what they mean. It was hard work with all the hills.

There were quite a few bands en route, but my favourite was the heavy rock band who were giving it their all on a roundabout near South Shields. They were fantastic and really lifted me.

I started to get a bit tired as we got into South Shields but managed to keep going thanks, I think, to the gels I'd packed in my bum bag I also managed to stride out a bit to try to make up a bit of time.

It's a lovely sight as you get your first glimpse of the sea, but I knew that was only mile 12 and I still had another 1.1 miles to go. It was a good 1.1 miles though, with all the relatives and friends of the runners shouting a cheering. Also, the red arrows just came into sight again so I was a bit distracted watching them go through their manoevres.

400m mark (why change to metres?) I managed to stave off the cramp starting to hurt in my calf and kept on going to the end.

My watch said 2.22 but the official time was 2.24.56 - (but I did stop for the loo so I guess that makes up for the 2 mins or so).

I wasn't impressed with the goodie bag a bag of crisps or something salty would've been nice but all I got apart from the t shirt and medal was a bottle of energy drink, a sticky cereal bar and a sample of vaseline. Let's just hope the charities did well out of it.

GOING HOME

Well I had arranged to meet Graham at the Z family meet area, but couldn't find him, nor could I phone him as the lines were jammed, so I texted him to say go back to the car. 1 1/2 hours later he appeared. I was getting really cold by this time as I didn't have a key to get into the car so i was reliant on my t shirt and the foil blanket to keep me warm. I'd eaten the biscuit and bought an ice cream earlier and was getting serious munchies.

So he eventually made it to the car, let me in, and I managed to get into some warm clothes whilst he went for some hot drinks for us.

The traffic was horrendous all the way down to the A1 when we set off home and it took us 5 hours. We had to make a few diversions to get out of traffic and decided to go via blubberhouses on the A61 and from harrogate we picked up the A59 through Skipton and Bolton Abbey. a lovely route, very picturesque.

As we got through Pendle, the traffic was at a standstill and I noticed people turning round, so I did the same and took a side road which I'd spotted, leading to Barnoldswick. From there we went through Colne (stopping at KFC for some tea) and from there onto the M65 to home.

So that's it. GNR 2009 box ticked. In the words of every runner ---NEVER AGAIN!!!!

granny's bay 10 miler

16th August 7:30am and the alarm went off. I turned it off a couple of times whilst I decided if I was going to run in the race today. Afterall it was only £6 to enter.
After a cup of tea and an oat biscuit, I decided that I would run. It would be somewhere different and next to the sea, plus the dog could have a roam about in the sand dunes whilst I raced.
We set off at about 9:10am and as the directions were from the M55 that's the way I went. I really don't like going on the M55 because it's such a long way round, taking you to the North End of Blackpool via Fleetwood and the north shore.
When we eventually got to St Annes we saw plenty of runners heading towards the start, and as we were on the last minute, I parked up in a street. Who should be in the car right in front of me but Shelley from Chorley Harriers. What a spot of luck! I like to run with Shelley because she goes faster than me and keeps me going.
We did a brisk walk to the start and I needed the loo (for which there was the inevitable queue) and just managed to get to use it as the runners gathered at the start.
Once round the car park then out on to the main road. I managed to keep up with Shelley for about a mile or so, but then let her carry on ahead of me. The pace was just a bit too fast. I tried not to lose too much momentum and looking at my garmin I was doing less than 10 minute miles for about 6 miles. When we turned round at the windmill in Lytham the wind was against us and quite strong so that slowed me down quite considerably.
I was quite amazed at just how many people were behind me as I ran back down the course and started to feel quite happy that I wasn't with the back markers.
Four people overtook me, but i wasn't too worried about that as I was now going at a comfortable pace for me and I knew there was still lots to do.
As i got to the last 2 miles i spotted Shelley who was walking. She had told me beforehand that she'd been on a carb free diet all week so i was a bit concerned that she'd hit a wall.
Anyway, she started to run again and I finished only a minute or two behind her in 1hr 42 mins. that's a PB for me and I was very pleased with it.
I got some squash and a goody bag containing a small box of cadbury's chocs, some shower gel, anti perspirant and a lolly. Nice goody bag!!
Shelley and I walked back to the cars together and Graham and Chaz were in waiting for me. I had some water, my banana and a couple of small biscuits which I was given with the squash. My BTM was killing me and I was glad to stretch off. Sitting down was a bit painful, but by the time we got to Preston it had eased off.
A good morning all in all.
If anyone reads this I would recommend this race. It was well organised with plenty of marshalls, water stations at the windmill and at the finish, first aiders on bikes patrolling the route and flat and fast.

10 August 2009 Dartmouth summer camp

Just got back from another glorious week at Dartmouth. I love going to BRNC, it's a very special place. Lots of uniform changes and I usually managed to get it wrong and ended up going back up to my cabin to change, but it's nice to feel part of something special. The Royal Navy always make us feel like one of them, even though we aren't "real navy". It's great for the cadets who always manage to mix well together and by the end of the week have made new friends and really bond well.

I arrived at Totnes at about 3:10pm and got the minibus to the college. Found my cabin and met some old friends. The hike up the stairs is still quite a challenge especially with a heavy suitcase but i do try to take the bare mininum.

Sunday is an easy day as is Monday and tuesday morning. Then we get our first lot of cadets down on the river in the afternoon.

My job, as always, is instructing cadets on the whalers (officially singel screw craft). Although it gets quite monotonous going through the same thing over and over with different groups, it is pleasant to do with excellent company on the river.

Tuesday it was pouring down and I got soaked, even with my foulies on. The worst thing was getting everything wet, especially my mobile which was in the pocket which had a puddle in it when I got back to empty the pockets. One poor dead phone and panic set in. all my appointments were on it, photos etc. The carphone warehouse sent me a replacement the day after I phoned them. Good service and it only cost me £14 because I didn't have insurance.

I mangaged to do 5 runs into Dartmouth at 6am every morning except the last 3. I also took part in the annual ramp race against the cadets. Our team came 6th out of a possible 8, so we didn't do too badly for oldies.

British 10k

London 12 July 2009
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Mayfair for a change this year. Previously we've stayed at the Washington Mayfair and tbh both of them were on a par as far as facilities etc. I think I'll try a more modern hotel next time though as both of these seem a bit tired.
Anyway, I didn't sleep too well due mainly, I think, to the extra strong coffee I had at Fran's. she doesn't have de-caf and I know I shouldn't've had it, but after 3 or was it 4 glasses of champers, I'll drink anything.
So where does Fran come into all this???? Well, it was Rick's 70th birthday and Graham and I went down to help her to do the catering and to take a cake and some curry. A lovely relaxing party. Lovely to see Steve, who'd flown over from SF, Nat, Lucy and Archie.

Back to the race. Well I set off to the start at about 8:15 but as i saw other people walking back towards me I thought it best to go where I should and be "walked up" to the start with the others. That's not what I've done in the past, though, in the days when they had a wave start.
The old marine band played away to rapturous applause (or was it more like thanks -very- much -now- can- we- get- on- with -it applause?).
I got talking to a couple of people as usual whilst we waited the 50 or so minutes for the gun to go off. I started to look around and noticed the bus stop sign which was quite strange as it said people are not allowed to embark here - what's the point of a bus stop where you can't embark?
A man with a 'tach was standing on one of the balconies at the RAF club on Picadilly. There was also a couple in the same building but further up and along. I wonder if they all knew each other.
Some of the elites were warming up on the other side of the road in front of the start line - can't be long now - 09:30am 5 minutes. National Anthem then countdown and we were off.
As I ran down Picadilly I heard a very loud cheer in fact several very loud cheers coming from those still waiting to start. When i looked up there was a woman in a bath robe and i can only assume she was entertaining the crowd. Down St James Street and past the palace then on to Pall Mall and out under the footbridge to the embankment. It's funny, but I go to London because of all the sights of the capital but when I'm running I don't really notice them. Down the embankment and the elites are passing us in the opposite direction. On under Blackfriars tunnel where my garmin lost the signal and round past St Paul's (which I never see) back over the bridge and down on to the embankment again. Eventually seeing big ben in the distance and westminster bridge beckons. Over that and back then round the streets a bit and back in to whitehall and the cenotaph to the finish. I'm sure the route has got longer. The finish seemed much further past the cenotaph than it was in the past.
1hr 3 mins showed on the official clock, but my garmin said 1hr 2 mins. I think it was really 1 hr or less because it wasn't spot on time when I set off from hyde park.
I'm not going to do this race again because of the long wait at the start and the lack of goodies in the goody bag also a cotton t shirt which is neither use nor ornament.
Next race is the Granny's bay race in Lytham St Annes. I've not entered in yet, but intend to right now!

FLM 2009 half way round and finished.

Flora london marthon 2009

Part 2
The day of the marathon was very exciting. The sun was up and so was I in plenty of time. I think I’ve already told you about getting to the start, so I won’t repeat that bit.
The race started on time, predictably and as I was in pen 6 I got away quite quickly at 9:52 (or so everyone was told in a text message at about tea time).
You can’t help but go along with the crowd and I had my Garmin set for 5.5mph which I kept to. I noticed that I started to slow down after about 3 miles which was quite frustrating, and I tried to catch up, but needed a loo break so that kind of put me off. All the loos were full with a queue, so I kept going until I found one with hardly anyone outside at about mile 5.
I took small drinks at every drinks station as I was told to do by all the experts. I also took one of the Lucozade sport drinks but only a few sips just to see how it went down (I have had them before and not liked them). I also took 5 gels with me, 3 SIS and 2 Lucozade because I noticed the SIS ones only had 35g of Carbohydrate but the Lucozade had 65 (enough for an hour).
I took one every 45 mins or so with some sips of water.
I never felt completely tired and kept what I thought was a fairly even pace all the way round, but when I looked at the times, i knew I had slowed considerably. I don’t know how the elites keep it up. Still it’s their job and they don’t have to go to work all day then train at night.
The crowds were fantastic. Cheering and whistling and shouting out my name as i went past which they got from a grotty piece of paper hurriedly penned at the hotel reception.
It was a real carnival atmosphere in the blazing sunshine. I had no idea where I was during most of the race as I had to concentrate on keeping going so as not to trip anyone up or trip myself. The only time I diverted was when I heard someone mention peter andre and I turned to see him just over to the right of me, so I went over to say hello and good luck to him and gave him a high 5. He looked very happy and enjoying the experience. (can’t say I recognised the Cutty Sark when I past it because it was all boarded up but I do remember going round the boards)
Tower Bridge appeared out of nowhere and I knew I was almost half way. Wave to the cameras again in the hope someone would see me. Over the bridge and unable to see any sites because of concentrating on people around me.
There were loads of people dropping out injured or cramped up (quite apart from all the men peeing in the bushes). The smell was awful at those points.
Saw Graham at mile 15 as arranged, bless him, he’d got the camera ready and gels and sunglasses, energy bars and drinks. What a star!
Further on and I noticed a sign saying South Quay. Aha, I thought, Hilton Hotel (where we were booked in) time for a quick toilet break. I was in two minds whether to do it or not, but then thought of the alternative queue and went for it. I don’t know if I was the only one who did that, but I got a few smiles.
Onward through Canary Wharf and loads of crowds once more. Through the Isle of Dogs (apparently named because HenryV111 kept his hunting dogs there).
I saw a sign that said “You are 3 miles away from making history” and started to well up. I felt so emotional.
Through a tunnel and out into the city down the Embankment and I knew we weren’t too far from the finish. I was quite surprised we didn’t get any oggy oggy oggy’s as we went through the bridge and felt too embarrassed to start one.
Big Ben loomed ahead it was like being in the British 10k again (embankment’s part of the route). Down Bird Cage Walk past Liz and Phil’s and into the Mall for the last few hundred yards home. Masses of people watching. Finish ahead – one last push and bugger me if I wasn’t overtaken by a bloody Rhino!!! How embarrassing.
5 hours 15 minutes and 35 seconds. More than I wanted, but it was my first marathon.
I was given my medal, then shuffled up onto a ramp where the chip was removed then over to the right to have a photo taken with the medal. Next the goody bag then to look for relatives.
Nat and Lucy were there, but I couldn’t see them. Graham was on the park waiting for me but I couldn’t get to him it took me all my time to get into horse guards where it was almost as crowded as the pens at the start. I got a standing place near a kind of landmark so that i could tell them where I was. I got a big hug from Nat and we chatted for a bit. Then Graham turned up and they both took photos of me with my medal. We then went over to find Lucy, more hugs and then over to sit on the grass where we talked for a bit and I ate a bag of crisps from the goody bag and had a recovery drink. Nat had also brought me a recovery drink which was really thoughtful.
We sat under the tree and chatted for a bit then started to make our way to the subway for the trains back to the hotel. Graham had it all sorted and we got back no probs. One kind lady gave me her seat when she saw I had just finished the marathon. We chatted for a while until my stop. We had to go up some stairs to the DLR (that was hard to do), then loads of seats on there and off we went again to the hotel at South Quay.
I went and got changed and we booked a taxi to Euston. It was only £27 and he had to keep taking diversions, so I gave him £30. The train for Preston was just about to leave, but the men on the gates insisted on seeing our tickets, so i showed them to them whilst they took us to the train. I was too tired to walk all the way to 2nd class so we bought Sunday first upgrades and stayed in first class.
Got home about 9:15.
Great Weekend.
Will I sign up for the next one? What do you think??