Shepherds Skyline Fell Race Special!

Hello,

Results

Pos No Name CAT CAT Pos Time

206/235 171 Andrew Shirres M 59/64 67.30

I've been very lazy posting the report up, but a while ago I was invited to take part in my first Fell race (The Sheperds Skyline FR) by Kevin from work! Fell running for those not in the know is mainly off road running, particularly up rugged hills. There are many categories of fell races made up of two letters, this one was a BM. Whilst on paper the distance of 6.25 miles shouldn't have worried me, I was all the same very cautious of how I'd perform as I'm a big believe that conditions affect you more than distance, and hills are a bit of a weakness for me.

Unlike other races I've taken part in, Fell races seem to be very relaxed affairs, just turn up on the day, register (only £4, what excellent value!), stick the race number on your shirt, and off you go.

The start was quiet a challenge as the "path" (more of a deep worn out groove in the earth) was very narrow, was rammed with the 200 or so other runners. It was quiet a steep climb, and of course the off road nature ment that it wasn't smooth and stopped me getting into any comfortable pattern. It was good to get to the top of the hill and hit a "flat" stretch, but even this was uneven which slowed me down as will as sap my strength.

Getting round the top of Stoodley Pike marked the half way point, and I'd held my own for a mid packer at this point but a small trickle of people had been overtaking me. What was now revealed in front of me though was a really sharp decent. Some people just flew down it seemingly throwing caution to the wind, I just struggled desperately trying to stop myself from falling over from going too fast. I lost a fair few places and started to notice that a few times I was coming close to going over on my ankle.

At the bottom was a longish flat stretch which I tried to recover on, but what followed was hellish! We now had one really steep slopes, everyone I could see was reduced to walking and by the end of it my back was really hurting from being stooped over for so long.

By now my ankles were well and truely knackered, and whilst my heart and lungs were OK (after a brief recovery section), the muscles that supported my ankles and stopped them from going over on the rough and uneven terrain were worn out, meaning my speed dropped dramatically.

The rest of the course was downhill and towards the end I could hear the footsteps of a person trying to overtake me, and given that the race had flattened I used my road legs to great effect to stop them from overtaking. In the grand scheme of things though my placing was well down the rankings, but my aim had been just to complete this, and the weather had been brilliant, and I'd really enjoyed the experience. Clearly more training in this extreme off road environment was needed though!

What was really impressive though was the chap who finished first who got round in 39:25 which is quicker then I've managed to do the exceedingly flat Manchester 10K, no idea how he did it!

Nottingham Marathon Special

Hello

Apologies for the delay in putting up the Nottingham Marathon race report. I left to go on holiday the next day and have been struggling to find time since.

Anyway back to the report. Quick results for those short on time are below:
ChipPos ChipTime RaceNo Name GunPos GunTime
463 out of 1059 03:58:26 10187 Andrew Shirres 457 04:00:02

My training had been very broken leading up to this race and whilst the confidence had taken a little dint from this, the recent passing away of Jane Tomlinson reminded me people with far more troubles had overcome the Marathon distance and I drew strength from that. I had originally targeted less than 4 hours but with the training I thought at best I’d only have a 50/50 chance to get that, but I reminded myself this was more about the distance than the time.

I arrived in Nottingham on the Saturday and stayed with a mate (thanks Jim). I woke up Saturday morning a little nervous, but very excited. My mate Ben was particularly hard core and drove up from London on the morning to see my first Marathon, though I think he gets a quick out of seeing me in pain! After wolfing down 3 Wheetabix and headed off to the start.

As we arrived at the start the atmosphere was well and truly building up with thousands of people milling around. I ate my banana, did a few stretches and handed my post race bag to Jim. I moved closer to the front, watched the clock tick down, and then we were off! Almost straight away I realised I’d drunk too much water and I needed the loo! Thankfully, after 500 metres there was a public loo so there was no need for a Paula.

As the race unfolded we ran through the streets of Nottingham city centre and headed out towards Wollaton Park. I was being cautious with my running and making sure I was holding something back, but despite this I started to slowly edge ahead of my Runners World pace band which was set for a 3 hours 50 minute finish as well as ever so slowly begin to overtake runners.

Wollaton Park turned out to be a beautiful place to go for a run, and as I started nearing the end I noticed the crowd cheering a little louder as I ran by them. Not having become famous for my Marathon running yet I began to wonder why this was, and a quick look round my shoulder revealed that the cheers were for Spiderman who was right behind me and going from strength to strength!!!!

As I left Wollaton Park I passed through the most memorable water stop of the course. Not only did two bottles of water slip from my hands onto the poor volunteers handing them out, but the volunteers were the local American Football team for Nottingham University fully kitted out! Not wanting to hang around to see if these chaps would take offence I shouted a “Sorry!” and notched the pace up.

As I ran along Castle Boulevard, I managed to catch up with Spiderman and as we ran round the corner we entered the home straight for the half marathon runners. Both my uni friends, and a friend from work managed to see me running along this stretch and it gave me a boost. At the half Marathon mark, my time was 1:50:00 which put me 5 minutes ahead of the pace band which meant I had 15 minutes spare for under 4 hours. I started to feel I could do it!

However the half Marathon had taken its toll, and quiet quickly by mile 14 the odd person started overtaking me and by the 15 mile marker I noticed I had lost a minute on my pace band and now only had 4 minutes in hand. A dull ache in some of my leg muscles had started and it was at this point with over 10 miles to go I realised that the race was really only just starting!

Around the 16 mile mark a middle aged chap slowly overtook me wearing an Isle of Man shirt. Its funny how little things like this stand out during a long run, but for the next 3 miles I overtook him at every water station (when he tended to stop for a drink) and he then promptly overtook me on the straights once he’d got his speed back up!

Just after the 18 mile marker, I overtook the Isle of Man runner for the final time, with only 1 minute up on my pace band and approached a part of the course that will forever send a shiver down my spine… Nottingham boating lake! For the four miles I had to run round the rowing lake of the National Water Sports Centre. This place looks beautiful, but it’s one pig of a place to run round! The site is probably perfect for rowers, but for runners it is very exposed, and unfortunately a strong headwind was present for around three of the four miles of this part. It was soul destroying, the legs where pleading for me to stop, the headwind making an already painful stage more painful, the scenery gave the illusion that you weren’t making any progress, and to make matters worse, as we emerged from this section, I found myself on the banks of the Trent with only slightly more shelter than the boating lake, for another mile and a half stretch.

I checked my watch at the 24 miles marker and it was roughly 3 hours 41 minutes. I’d haemorrhaged roughly 11 minutes of my in hand time on the 4 hour mark and I was now one minute over the mark and that was if I could regain my pre-boating lake pace. Luckily as I rounded the bend at 24.5 miles, I was finally out of the head wind, sheltered, and now very angry, and threw absolutely everything I had into what distance was left!

I’ve no idea where I found the energy from, but I really motored through the remaining distance and it felt as though my fastest mile was probably done in this section! As I crossed over the bridge, I continued to make the most of my momentum and push onwards overtaking people fairly rapidly by now.

As I passed the 26 mile marker I heard the announcer start the countdown for getting under four hours on the gun time (chip time is my personal time, gun time is from the official start, but on big races it can take several minutes to cross the start line). I decided I wanted under 4 on the gun time to and went screaming down the final straight, but it wasn’t meant to be and I missed the gun time by 3 seconds!


Post race was a bit of a daze and I managed a couple of post race interviews with my mates who fancy themselves as future Ray Stubbs I feel! My legs felt destroyed but relieved to have finished. For me personally, I was really pleased with my time, and felt a great sense of achievement. Looking back, it’s been a steep climb since I started running first in 2005, but I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m already starting to look for other races so keep checking back every now and then!


I’d like to thank all the race marshals, volunteers and organisers at the Nottingham Marathon as the event was excellently run. I’d also like to thank all those people who’ve sponsored me as this has made the event so much more worthwhile doing, and for those who have been meaning to sponsors me but haven’t yet, there’s still time for you at my Justgiving website.

Cheers

Andy

July - Rain but no Spain!

Hello,


Well July was eventful, but I'm short on time so I'll be brief. I managed my longest run today which was approximately 20 miles. This was a painful experience which left me in a fair amount of agony at the time, and dinted my confidence as I really couldn't have gone a step further. After a lot of readining into it and a trip to the physio, I was diagnosed with Patella Tendonitis, and I began investigating a way to get through my marathon attempt with it

01/07 - Round Etherow and back - 3:01:00
03/07 - Dowhill training with the Harriers
06/07 - 6km - 25:53 (wrist weights)
10/07 - 1 hour Fartlek training (Pyramid 1 to 3 to 1)
14/07 - 8 Mile Eminem - 59:27
15/07 - Round Etherow and back - 2:50:01
18/07 - Harrier run - Romily & back - 1:30:00
22/07 - Sale waterpark Bridge and back - 3:38:45
27/07 - Jackson Lane 10K - 50:30 (wrist weights)
29/07 - Round Etherow and back - 2:52:55

Cheers

Andy

June - Trial by Harrier!

Hello,

First off, been very slow updating the blog, very lazy of me. Thankfully though I've not been as lazy with my running. This month was a busy one. Two main things happened in it. The first was my niggling injury to my right knee. I went to a physio and got it checked out. Thankfully it was nothing too serious and I was diagnosed with suspect patellar tendonitis. The exact cause was not found, but I do have a tight ITB, have been increasing mileage, and was told by the physio my knee caps are pretty loose compared to the average person!

The second main thing was that after having a chat with one of the engineers at work, it turned out he was a member of Stockport Harriers and he invited me along to there training sessions. I'd been thinking of joining for a while, and this was the final kick I needed. So off I went to a few Stockport Harrier training sessions! I was worried if I'd end up embarrassing myself at these sessions, but they were really friendly and offered encouragement and I was able to hold my own on the mid week session. The weekend distance training session though showed me the difference in class though!

Round Woodbank Park
03/06 - 29:40 - My right knee hurt on this run and got worse as the run went on and was what convinced me to see the Physio
12/06 - 24:34
16/06 - 2 laps - 38:19

6 Climbs up steep path @ Woodbank - 1st Harrier training sessions
20/06 - Forgot to record the time

Round Marple and back
22/06 - 30:00 - Failed to complete this run due to falling over and grazing myself to badly to carry on. This run convinced me of the value of trail running shoes

Round Lyme Park and back (15 mile XC - very hilly)
24/06 - 2:51:00 - 1st long distance run with the Harrier. I kept up with them on the hill sections, but as soon as we hit the flat after 7 miles I was spent and they had energy to burn. A kind chap called Brian kept me company whilst the rest sped off over the horizon. It was hard to see them so strong whilst I was spent, but it gives me something to aim for.

5 x Tempo laps of Woodbank (Interval training)
26/06 - 3:20 ish (each lap of woodbank equivalent to roughly 1km

600 sprint / 200 recovery - Speed training
28/06 - 2:14 per 600 on average

All in all it was a fascinating month. It was a real jump in the technical level of training for me. I'd been use to just going out running, whilst this was a lot more focused. The Harriers were great at sharing advice which I'm sure will pay dividends.

Cheers

Andy

Are you local?

Hello,
Just a short post, but I was out running today and on entering Marple I was detained by the local militia and marched away to be tried for being an "Outsider". Thankfully I was able to convince them that because I knew the ex-fellow local Mark Taylor, I should be allowed to pass unharmed. As the ruling was ratified by the Elders of Marple, they performed a special dance and luckily I had my camera to hand to catch the bizarre goings on!



I left quickly as the chant of "Harvester" started being cried out by the lead dancer as I wasn't sure he meant harvesting vegetables or human organs and had no intention of finding out. I suppose this is yet more reason to keep your wits about you if you pass through the place! I know we live in a tolerant society, but when will Stockport Council do something about this breakaway community/cult! :)

Investment Advice

I was surfing the web when I came across the web site for what I remember as my favourite tasting beer from my travels and there was this classic bit of advice.

If you had purchased $1,000 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00
With Enron,you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00
With WorldCom,you would have had less than $5.00 left.
But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of Beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.00
Based on the above, current investment advice is to drink Hansa heavily and recycle. It's called the Hansa 401 Keg Plan

Makes you think :) The Hansa theme song is also worth a listen to!

http://www.hansabeer.com/

May - It's race time!

Hello,

Been very lazy on the publishing of training, but I didn't do a huge amount of training in May, but I did have two races over two consecutive weeks so I was resting (or tapering in running jargon). I did however do my first Round Etherow & back run. This was a brilliant run though very long and is probably the longest run I've done to date. Etherow Country park was one of Britain's first Country parks and is a beautiful area. It use to be part of the estate of George Andrew, who built Compstall mill in the 1820's and the waterways and lakes were built to carry water to the mill to power the waterwheel. Nowadays the lakes are used for various watersports (including radio controled sail boats)! However right next to Etherow is the even more spectacular (IMO) Erncroft Wood. Within 10 metres you can go from English countryside to what appears to be a Scottish Pine Forrest where William Wallace could be lurking round the next turn! It also has an ancient silver mine within it rumoured to have been first established in the middle ages! Erncroft Wood is also home to the number 1 most difficult climb on my training routes. It goes on and on, and was too tough for me to run all the way up. Hopefully one day I'll conquer it though :) When you emerge from this climb you are on one of the highest points surrounding Stockport and you actually have to descend to get to the highest pubs in Marple Bridge!

There was also a free GAIT analysis session on at Running Bear towards the end of the month so I went along to find out my natural running style. After a quick run on a tread mill and some slow motion replay it turned out I was a mild to moderate over pronator. So I got some road running shoes designed for over pronator's and marathon type distance, some Asics 2120's.

02/05 - 10km - 47:44
05/05 - Round Etherow and back - 2:59:32
07/05 - Marple & Back - 1:37:35
Great Manchester Run
Buxton Half Marathon

At the end of this month, I was pleased with my achievements in the races, but painfully aware that my training wasn't good enough to get me through a Marathon. So as June started I was left with the bar needing to be raised several notches. I needed to get more enthusiasm into going out running whatever the weather, and a way to make the longer runs more enjoyable.

Cheers

Andy

Buxton Half Marathon 2007 Special

Hello,

Quick results for those short on time are below
Position Name Time Category Position
96 out of 201 Andrew Shirres 01:45:43 42 out of 68

This was to be the third time in my life I’d run this sort of distance. The first being the Great North Run in 2005 where I’d posted a time of 1:49:49 in what was a hot summer’s day, and the second time was in a training run. Neither of these runs had the course profile of Buxton though and so I was uncertain what to expect.

Thankfully I was joined on this run by Dave and Ben from my Uni days as well as a support crew made up of Jack, Jim & Alison. This really helped to keep the spirits high as weather wise it was a miserable day and turning it into a mini re-union event really helped.

I knew before the race that this would be very different to the more popular runs I had undertook as this was organised by Buxton’s local athletic association. As such I expected most participants to be of a very high standard. We started the race at Buxton Pavilion in some fine rain and a little wind and headed out of the town towards Ladmanlow. This was a steady climb but not too steep. I was surprised to find that whilst I was taking it easy, I was overtaking a lot of people. Given the quality of the participants I was worried that I was starting out too fast, but I’ve always thought that when you have energy you should cautiously use it so I happily overtook people before the climb got too steep.

After the long 3 mile climb I found myself at the top of Axe Edge junction (photo left) and started a welcome, though all too short downhill section! The rain had got heavier by this point, and the exposed nature of being at the highest point on the course meant the wind was strong. At this point I overtook someone on the downhill, and whilst I can’t be certain he didn’t overtake me again, I believe he was the last person I managed to overtake permanently. The significance behind this is that in the Great Run series I’d become use to slowly but surely overtaking the people in front of me all race long, but this was not to be in this race.

After a short but steep climb to the Raceway junction, the weather was still awful and I began to notice the craziness of how the race marshals and hikers had multiple layers and waterproofs on, and the runners were in T-Shirts and shorts. Thankfully I wasn’t feeling the cold, but I’m certain this was because of the heat being generated by running, and if I’d been walking I’d have very quickly been in a bad way. The view was also very good at Raceway Junction despite the best efforts of the weather to ruin it.

As I descended towards Glutton Bridge, the rain became lighter and then had periods where it stopped. Just after passing Glutton Bridge at 7 miles in I was surprised to bump into Jim, Jack & Alison who had managed to drive to a point on the course to cheer us on! They couldn’t have chosen a better position to offer encouragement as this was on a slight flat on the second major climb of the day. This was a vicious climb that really sapped all strength from my legs, and even though it was shorter than the first climb, it felt like it lasted longer. More and more runners overtook me as I slowly climbed this hill, and it was an immense relief to see the top of it and pick up some pace on the downhill as I ran towards Bierlow and the 9 mile marker.

Just as I rounded the corner at Bierlow and started the third and final major climb, Jack, Jim & Alison came passed in the car. Jim was leaning out the window and getting huge enjoyment filming me on his mobile whilst shouting words of encouragement. As they started pulling away I couldn’t help but try and replicate Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky montage sprint which I managed to keep up for several long seconds and was a personal highlight for me!

The third climb despite being the least challenging caused me the most pain and yet another steady stream of fellow runners overtook me. It felt like all my reserves were spent by the 10 mile marker and popping Jelly Babies wasn’t helping and my stomach was sending loud “I’m hungry” signals to me.

Somehow I reached the top of Harpur Hill and then the long descent started towards the finish. As we entered Buxton the course got a little confusing as we weaved through the streets and finally we entered the Pavilion Gardens where I knew the finish line would be!

As I came to within about 100 metres of the finish (photo left) I could here the footsteps of a runner approaching behind me. Having had to put up with being overtaken for the last 10 miles by a stream of people I was blown if this cheeky chappy was going to get past me just before the line and so I threw every last bit of energy I had into a sprint finish and crossed the line to the cheers of Jack, Jim & Alison ahead of the chap to finish in 01:45:43 and set a new PB at the half marathon distance.

I was in a complete daze and had only just pumped a Lucozade down me when Dave came screaming down the final few metres like he was in a 100 metre sprint! It was a sight to be seen as Dave crossed the line in 01:46:35. Dave, the support crew and I waited nervously for a sight of Ben. By any right he shouldn’t have been competing as he had done only one 10km run in training and I started to become a little worried that the hills of Buxton would teach him a lesson, but then Ben turned the final corner and ran home to loud cheers in 01:59:52 which he was rightly pleased and a testament to what you can accomplish with will power!

Overall I was very impressed with the Buxton Half marathon. The weather was terrible, and a huge thank you has to go to the marshals who manned checkpoints waving us on and offering us encouragement whilst controlling the traffic (this wasn’t a traffic free event) on what was a fairly depressing day to be standing around outside. The average standard of the participants was very high in this event and highlighted how much I have to improve to get to average club runner standard, and this high standard was probably highlighted best by this chap who looks around 70 and finished in less than 2 hours! If I’m half as fit as him at his age I’ll be a happy man… an inspiration to all I’m sure you’ll agree.

Cheers

Andy

Great Manchester Run 2007 Special

Hello,

Quick results for those that don’t want to read the full report was:
Forename(s) Surname Race No Time Race Position
Andrew Shirres 9206 01:08:49 16266

Well 364 days ago I ran the Great Manchester Run, and today I did it again. However these two runs couldn’t have been more different. This time, thanks to the ever persuasive Kate Thomas of the Manchester British Red Cross, I got to run it as Sharky, the mascot of the Sale Sharks!

I knew it would be hard, but I did think that I’d still be able to do it in a reasonable time and had high hopes of trying to set a Red Cross Mascot record at the distance. After picking the mascot suit up though, my high hopes took a bit of a dent as the head weighed a bit, and the visibility was terrible! It was going to be harder then I expected!

As I got to the Charity village in the G-Mex and put the mascot outfit my hopes took another dent as with the head on it got quiet hot very quickly inside the thing… and that was when I was stood still, but it was too late to back out now! To the left is a photo of me in the Charity village before the start.

A special mention should go to two of my friends who were also running the Great Manchester run for the first time this year. Belch had come back from a long term annoying knee injury that had required surgery, and Justin who was running for Diabetes UK after being diagnosed with the condition a while ago.

After being guided to the start (the head meant I couldn’t see the curbs and bollards) all the mascots were gathered together. Our group consisted of Ronnie the Rhino, Wolfie, Red Ed the Roughyed (who’d told me he’d recovered from a heart attack after wearing the outfit during a match!), Rocky the Robin, Roary the Lion and the Cheshire Cat. The beginning of the race was quiet difficult due to the restricted vision and thankfully I had Kate guiding me during the congested beginning sections.

Running as Sharky was quiet an experience as he’s very popular and there were lots of shouts coming out from the side and so lots of arm waving from me. Very quickly it got hot in the suit so I had to tone the pace down. I’d picked up a pace band for a target time of 55 mins, but it was so hard to see anything I didn’t bother trying to track my progress and just plodded forward in a herd mentality with the rest of the crowd. The head got particularly humid due to the heat and not enough fresh air getting inside. Thankfully I’d worn my hydration pack under my mascot suit so had a ready supply of water to take on via my straw as I needed it.

Quite a keen race was developing between Wolfie and myself as we kept overtaking each other on the dual carriageway. I bumped into a great many people on my way round and as I was approaching Old Trafford I felt brave enough to leave my minder for a while and try my luck at a faster pace. This year’s run went in the tunnels underneath the stands of Old Trafford and so was a welcome diversion to the usual route, and as I emerged from the last tunnel, a BBC reporter grabbed me and interviewed Sharky! My moment of fame wasn’t to be sadly as it did not appear on TV, why this was I don’t know, maybe because by this point I was so dazed I couldn’t come up with a witty reply to any of his questions, or maybe it was the head stopping his microphone getting close enough to pick up my replies. After finishing the interview I saw Wolfie a good 50 metres in front and knew that it was time to start running again. Thankfully there was an empty lane at this point so I sprinted and caught up with him just as we got to the water stations. Drinking bottled water in Sharky is quiet a skill I tell you! As we went into Salford, I’m afraid I couldn’t see any of the sights, and as we crossed the bridge Wolfie announced to me he had to walk for a while. I felt good enough to carry on, but Wolfie’s outfit was even woollier than mine and I had my hydration pack and given the temperature I’m sure it was for the best that he toned it down a bit, it’s only a run after all.

The last 4 km seemed to take an age to get round. I’d realised by this point from a quick glance at my watch I had no hope of getting under an hour, and was really beginning to suffer with the heat. The humidity inside the suit must have been the highest rating in the UK, and I was surprised that it didn’t start raining inside the Shark head! I really have no idea how anyone could attempt a half marathon in a full mascot suit, let alone a full marathon. I have a new found level of respect for people who’ve managed that feat… incredible!

Around 8 km I was really suffering and my stride length had reduced dramatically. I had to walk for 30 seconds whilst I drank some water as I no longer had the energy to drink from my straw and run at the same time. As I walked I got lots of encouragement from other runners who were patting me on my shoulder and telling there wasn’t far to go, and which gave me enough energy to start running again. I quickly ran out of energy though and if it hadn't been for Kate and another Red Cross runner catching me up and offering further words of encouragement for the remainder of the race, I'm certain I'd have dropped back to a walk.

As the finish line approached, I used what little energy I had to stumble across the finish line in what was an attempted sprint finish, but probably looked more like the drunken end to a Saturday night pub crawl. I managed to finish in 1:08:49, and if I find out the other mascot times I’ll post them up.

It was a great experience, but very tiring and easily the hardest race of my life to date. I’ve not yet decided if I’ll run it again as a mascot though. After talking to the lad who ran as Wolfie at the end of the race, he said he’d run in a few of the other mascot suits and believed Rocky Robin was the best mascot suit to run in for getting a fast time as there are no legs or arms on it so you’re a little cooler.

My friends who also ran it had great races. Belch with his ex-dodgy knee got round in 1:04:08 and was rightly pleased with his time. Justin completed it 1:06:41 and seemed to relish the experience and I’m sure he’ll be back next year when hopefully we can get a few more involved.

I’d like to thank the British Red Cross and Sale Sharks for making it possible for me to run as Sharky. Sale Sharks were particularly hospitable and made me a guest of honour at the England Saxons V USA Eagles Rugby game which was a great surprise and hopefully I did them proud as Sharky

Cheers

Andy

April - A new perspective?

Hello,

April was a funny month for me training wise. On the downside I didn't get as many training runs in as I would like, but on the plus side I developed a more relaxed attitude towards the stats element of my training. As I became more relaxed, it allowed me to be much more adventurous in the runs I tried, as it didn't bother me if I couldn't get an accurate estimate of the distance covered on every run. This change of attitude and the excellent weather we experienced in April allowed me plenty of opportunity to run across the public footpaths of Stockport and I found it much more enjoyable than my standard runs and I discovered places I'd never been to in my local area! I also went on a holiday to the Czech Republic and thought it was a wonderful place. Cesky Krumlov (pictured left) was a particularly striking town which somehow has survived the conflicts over the centruies remarkebly well. When I'm travelling round Europe, I always compare the UK to whatever country I'm visiting, and it goes without saying that my thoughts are based on personal preference, but I do feel that the UK is overpopulated. A train ride in all of the European countries I've been to tends to have endless fields and contryside, with the odd town. The UK is not really the same, and it's only certain area's of the UK (less so in Scotland) that there is not normally a town in sight at some point over a 5 minute window on a train journey.

Hydration pack
The link above takes you to the hydration pack I bought this month. After my first off road run I quickly realised that I'd need to find someway of drinking water on my longer runs. Being somewhat independent minded, I preferred the option of carrying my own rather than buying it at shops on route. The more fashionable (in running circles) camel pak ones come recommended, but these are vastly more then what I paid for my unknown brand which so far has served me very well.

12km Home 2 Home detour
01/04 - 58:57 - Not the best of runs really, the bit cutting through from Poynton to Jacksons lane is actually quiet dangerous as the visibility is obstructed by numerous turns and there are sections without footpaths putting you at risk of being run over

Exploring Woodbank and Vernon Parks
14/04 - 44:36 - Couldn't even begin to map this, just got a feel for the two parks and running on trails. I suppose this was the day that really inspired me into trail running. I reckon if I was to have a guesstimate it was probably around 8km I ran, but it is hard to tell off road as your pace varies much more

Offerton and back
15/04 - 1:00:10 - This was basically following the Fred Perry way from Woodbank to Offerton Marple crossroads in the big dip. This run ended up with me getting slightly lost off road and running through some couples garden! After much apologising, I was put on the correct route. In my defence, the sign for the public footpath was only pointing in the minutest of angle different to where I was running, and the garden was overgrown. Thankfully the chap wasn't to angry and more bemused then anything else!

10km
17/04 - 46:33 - NP (No Prisoners!) - I was determined that this run would be the fastest for this year, and I took just over 3 minutes off my time. It did hurt though, and it wasn't as good as last years time at this stage, but then last year all I had was a 10k run to train for, whilst this year I've had to get myself up to half marathon standard.

16km Round Marple and Back (1)
21/04 - 1:48:26 - A cracking run down the FPW (Fred Perry Way), up through Kirk Wood (worst climb I've experienced to date, very steep and brought me to a crawl, makes Jacksons Lane look like a flat!), onto the towpaths through to Marple and then roughly following the road till Oferton Community farm where I pick up the FPW again. Getting back onto the FPW at Offerton Community farm proved a bit difficult this first time as the public foot path is a bit hidden, but once you've cracked it, it's a clear trail through to Woodbank.

6.2km
25/04 - 28:50

16km Round Marple and Back (1)
28/04 - 1:43:25 - The quicker time doesn't mean a lot here as the first time you run a new trail route, a fair bit of time can be wasted working out which direction to run.

March - Action packed!

Hello

Sorry for the slow post on this one. This month was always going to be a hard one as so many of the weekends I had things on, and weekends are prime training days for the longer runs. Much to my surprise though I managed to get a grand total of 12 runs in. However first the more exciting things. My friend Alice from Uni who now lives in Mexico popped over to the UK to have a blessing ceremony for her recent marriage to Hiro. This took place on St Patrick's day hence the great picture of Alice at the party afterwards. It was great to catch up with people and thoroughly enjoyable!

The following weekend I went up to Bonny Scotland to see both my Scottish cousins (Stephen & Judith) as it was Stephen's 21st birthday and another friend from Uni (Jemma). Aberdeen was great and Glasgow was full of surprises as I found out it had an underground especially designed for small people (or wee people in Scottish)

For the final weekend Stephen came down to visit me as he wanted to see a Bolton match and it was his Uni Holidays. We managed to see the mighty mighty Bolton wanderers make a bit of a meal of the game, but eventually win 1-0 against Sheffield United! Lot's of excitement as we were sat near the away fans so lots of "friendly" words flowed between the empty 8 seats separating us!

Back to the training though, a good month and I managed to get three Eminem (8 mile) runs in
6.2km
03/03 - 31:20
10/03 - 27:57
15/03 - 28:59

10km
02/03 - 53:26
05/03 - 51:21
06/03 - 52:20
09/09 - 53:34
25/03 - 49:39
28/03 - 50:32

13km (8 miles)
11/03 - 1:03:05
13/03 - 1:03:10
19/03 - 1:00:19

Anyway, next month I'm hoping to get a few cross country runs in to try and reduce the pressure on my knees. There's no trouble with them currently but I don't want to wait till there is so it would be great to run on some soft turf :) I've bought an OS map centred on South Stockport so in theory I should know where all the public footpaths are!

Cheers

Andy

Fun in the Sun on the menu for 2009

Hello,

Just a short blog entry, but last week I got my confirmation through that I currently have a place on the 2009 Marathon des Sables. It's fairly daunting at the moment as there's an awful lot of training I've got to do, and its a long way off so I'm trying to keep calm about and focus on the events I've got before it. Briefly though, the MdS covers 243km/151 miles (in sections similar to 25, 34, 38, 82, 42, 22 km) run over 6 days (7 for some) - equivalent to 5 1/2 regular marathons. This takes place in the Sahara dessert where sadly you have to carry all the stuff you need on your back but water and a tent.

A fair bit of preparation will be needed by me for this even forgetting the running bit, but it should be an experience and a half.

Cheers

Andy

February - A good month to be born in!

Hello,

Well this month has been eventful. At the start of the month I had a dull ache on my left hip, after a series of runs it hadn't gone away and as it had been hanging around for a while I started talking to some of the veteran runners at work. The advice was to get it checked out straight away by a professional. So I did. Off to a local sports physio in Stockport I went!. A first for me so I didn't know what to expect. After a thorough examination I was diagnosed with Trochanteric Bursitis and I also had a really tight Iliotibial band on my left leg... none of which I understood at the time! To cut to the chase though, the prime suspects for this are that it turns out I have one leg longer than the other, and low arches. After some sports massages, anti inflammatory gel, heel raise and low arch support in my running shoes, things seemed to get better. I think only the long run will tell though.

My training for this month was good, especially considering the injury. I upped the distance to 10km although I did reduce it after my injury was diagnosed temporarily.

6.2km
03/02 - 26:50
07/02 - 27:12
14/02 - 27:20

10km
04/02 - 50:29
06/02 - 50:13
17/02 - 50:04
18/02 - 50:46
20/02 - 50:16
27/02 - 48:18

The last run I did push a little on, but I still had a little left. For March, I think I'll just consolidate this months work and if I'm still feeling well, maybe try an 8 miler in the last week of March.

Andy

An Inconvenient Graph

Just following on from a post on Pie's blog about global warming. Here is the clip from "An Inconvenient Truth" with the graph in that I mentioned in a reply. Says it far better than any words of mine could...



I have the DVD of "An Inconvenient Truth" if anyone who hasn't seen it wishes to borrow it.

January - The start of the hill climb!

Hi,

At the end of December I set myself the target of doing 8 training runs this month. I didn't manage that sadly. I was on course to achieve this and then a combination of not taking the opportunity early enough in the day to go for a run, and then getting rained off, and a bizarre short term injury (I think I slept on my back funny) stopped me.

Its not all doom and gloom though as it was still a good overall month

6.2km
03/01 - 27:41
07/01 - 27:11
10/01 - 27:06
13/01 - 26:21
14/01 - 26:26
16/01 - 27:13
28/01 - 25:50 - New all time PB

I probably pushed a little too hard on the last run, as its not a good thing to come back from time out and push so hard you get a PB as the odds of injury are high. I think I was lucky this time as it does not appear to have had any ill effect.

My left hip is still aching sadly. I think I'll invest in a new pair of running shoes as I've read that this should be one of the first things you consider when niggly injuries start happening and I've had my current pair for a year now. It's a shame as they still look in good condition, but that doesn't mean the shock absorbent properties are still good.

For February my aim is to complete a few 10km runs as well as some 6.2km ones. I'll set the target of 8 runs again as I've got quiet a few busy weekend and I don't know if I'll get as much time as I'd like.

Cheers

Andy

And so it begins (again)

Hello!

Well hello to 2007! In between the 2006 Great Manchester run and December 2006, I'd done very little jogging. My exercise ended up being limited to football once a week and several swimming sessions. I eventually stopped the swimming sessions as the water seemed to wreck my throat and nose for a couple of days after each sessions, which was not the most fun (I guess its something they put in the water).

As December 2006 started I felt the need to get back out there jogging. At this point I'd manage to hit an all time high of 12 stone in weight, and put this down to the lack of daily walking now that I only have a 3 minute walk to work. This isn't too great running wise, as it's at least half a stone more than last year, and carrying half an extra stone around doesn't help you when you're jogging!

So with a little reluctance, I started my running up again. The point of this first month's training is to purely get my body use to running again. I kept track of the time, but that wasn't the focus, just the number of times I got out. This months training times are below:

6.2km
09/12 - 29:22
12/12 - 29:33
23/12 - 28:22
26/12 - 28:03
29/12 - 28:56
30/12 - 27:16

Overall I was pleased with this months training. I didn't start at the beginning of the month, and with Christmas and New Year I could easily have found excuses to not do many runs. By the end of this, the old ache had just started to come back in my left hip. I'm not worried about it at this stage but will keep tabs on it and start searching the running sites for info if it persists.

For January's runs I'd like to set myself the target of getting 8 in total done. If I'm feeling up to it, I'll try and get a 10km in by the end, but distance and speed are not my targets at this stage in the training, just the number of runs.

All the best for the New Year to all, and for those of you starting any New Year exercise regime up, good luck.

Cheers

Andy

Stack 'em high, Sell 'em cheap, and be dammed with the consequences

Hello

Well October is almost over, and an interesting (or lucky) month it's been in the world of Nuclear power. Australian Prime Minister John Howard seems even more intent then our own Mr Blair at ramming Nuclear Power down the throat of the voters. Not content with just that, but Australia has recently signed a £100 million a year deal to sell Uranium to China.

It was a particularly bad month (well I'm hoping this isn't normal at least!) for the mighty US of A on the Nuclear Power front. In just October alone, it had to shut down 3 reactors scattered round the country in Phoneix, Dallas and Surry (Virginia).

St Peterburgs reputation as a tourist destination could have been somewhat tarnished if one plant in Russia hadn't been shut down also.

Thankfully, whatever those foreginers can do, we can do right here in the UK too. We managed two fairly serious incidents in the UK. Perhaps the most worrying line from the report being "The company said at the time that it was unlikely to carry out inspections and repairs at all the units simultaneously because of a lack of manpower."!!!!! Perfetic. Strangely I heard nothing through the UK media I watch/read about this.

And my point? Just that Nuclear power plants will malfunction, and that we're totally reliant on the safety systems to work(or in the case of Forsmark-Sweden shut down on my last post about Nuclear power, a rather quick thinking engineer who overrided a safety system!) or massive consequences will happen. A bit different to if a coal plant burns down or a wind turbine breaks.

Cheers

Andy

(Not so) Great Britain

There's been an unusual amount of press coverage on how Brtiain compares with our European neighbours recently. I thought I'd sum it up below:

• Britain is now the fattest nation in Europe
• Britain is now the most debt ridden nation in Europe (and by a long way at double the European average)
• Britain is the most wasteful nation in Europe

Now to get one of these could just be one of those things, but to get all three... well it has to speak about some core fundamental problems that the average (though not every) British person has?

So I wondered what it was? My first thought was "Laziness", that explains fat and wasteful easily, but debt ridden? I wasn't convinced it explain that. My next thought was "Selfish", that explained wasteful and debt ridden (I deserve a new sports car), but not fatness so well.

Then I struck upon "Impatient"

• Most bad foods are quick foods whether they be chocolate bars or microwave meals. Your average Brit can't "spare" the time to cook a proper meal regularly as there's so much on TV to watch!
• Waiting 6 months till you can actually afford your next major purchase, rather than simply adding it to your credit card and getting it now, is simply to long for your average Brit.
• Your average Brit doesn't think twice about the wasted energy used simply to save them spending 3 seconds to turn the TV on and off or driving to work 3 miles away when there is a bus every 15 mintues.

Which leads me to my last question. Are you an "average" Brit?

Nuclear Power – The wrong answer to the right question

So it seems in the wonderful democracy that is the UK, that Tony Blair has single-handedly reversed the Labour parties original policy on Nuclear power, and now wants to introduce a fresh phase of Nuclear power plant building. No need for consultation with the voters, the usual tried and tested tactic of release Tony’s officially opinion before the report is finished and effectively spike it will do. Mind you the report was written with the help of some not so unconnected third parties, so it looks like Tony had all bases covered on this one!

I feel there is a lot of rubbish talked about nuclear power. The biggest problem the Green argument has is the apparent logic behind the “Nuclear power doesn’t release CO2 so is therefore a green energy source and needed to meet our Kyoto target”. So I’ve put together my thoughts on the matter to share with the world.

So does Nuclear power release Greenhouse gasses?
Not an easy one to answer. However one thing that should certainly be taken into account is total cost throughout its lifecycle. I read in the Ecologist that during construction each Nuclear reactor releases 20 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Nuclear reactors are obviously specialist pieces of equipment, with Japan being one of the few producers, and shipping a Nuclear reactor from Japan obviously uses a lot of fuel up! Also, because of the risk of the plant having a Nuclear meltdown, they tend to be built in remote places, like in the highlands of Scotland, which generally means loads of infrastructure needs to be specifically created.

CO2 is also released during the mining and refining of Nuclear power. Nuclear fuel rods are made by smashing up rocks which contain trace amounts of Uranium. Anything greater than 0.02% of Uranium per ton is considered good. This expends CO2 obviously, and has the minor side effect of some of the radioactive Uranium being released into the air in dust particles… so that’s all right then.

Most Greenhouse gases however are released during the conversion & enrichment process. Here, dangerous chemicals are used to purify the yellow cake ore to produce the high concentration of Uranium-235. Half a tonne of fluorine is used to turn one tonne of Uranium into it’s gas form which is part of the process. The global warming potential for Flourinated compunds is a not so insignificant 10,000 greater than CO2! Oh dear!

So does a Nuclear power plant release less than more traditional power stations? It’s hard to sum up really. The general consensus seems to be they release less, but the ways in which Nuclear power contribute towards global warming are much more hidden and complicated that I certainly don’t believe when combined with the other downsides that it is a better option than traditional forms of energy generation which you know where you are with.

Energy Security of Nuclear Power
“Ah, but Nuclear power is a more secure energy resource!”. Is it though? I read in the Ecologist that the spot price of Uranium has risen by 600% in the last four years! It makes sense, with Japan, Canada, US, China, India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa all increasing their nuclear capacity, demand has increased, which leads to price rises. So what about future supply of Uranium then? Australia has the worlds biggest reserves (40%). However, Australia has shown a lack of will to turn there country into a giant Uranium mine, and presumably worried about radioactive pollution have banned any new mines from opening. So what about the rest? They are divided handily into two camps. We have countries like Canada(3rd), South Africa(4th), Brazil(6th), Russia(7th) and the US(8th) of stable countries which are all increasing their own number of nuclear power stations, so presumably will be using their own Uranium rather than buying it from other countries, and so may have less to export in the future. The second group, is full of unstable countries such as Kazakhstan(2nd), Namibia(5th) & Uzbekistan (9th). All personal opinion of course, but it’s not a recipe for stable prices in my book, and it's important to note that the extreme start up costs of Nuclear commit you to using it for 60 plus years to get your return on investment, and who can predict what shape the political and world situation will be in 60 years?

What about the waste?
Well the UK government is big on irony, and it doesn’t come much bigger than two recent announcements in what can only be described as “joined up government” at its best. The first is that Tony wants his legacy to be new Nuclear power plants. The second being that according to our own government department responsible for dealing with radioactive waste, it will take 40 years to find a geologically stable place to bury our current waste, some of which has been sitting around in leaky tanks for 50 years or more! All for the bargain price of £70 billion (equivalent to cost of building 140 new super hospitals). And who pays for this clean up, well of course, it's the tax payers! Brilliant, not only have they already paid once for Nuclear power on their electricity bill, but they now get to pay twice for it! How very efficient we are! Just imagine what a £70 billion investment into renewables would bring? There'd be no need for the next generation of Nuclear power plants to be built as we'd have so much being generated from renewables that would easily make up the lack of future Nuclear power contribution to our energy mix. So Emperor Blair is proposing to continue this vicious cycle of Nuclear power sapping investment away from truely Green methods of producing electricity; he's such a forward thinking Prime Minister after all.

Recent Problems in the Nuclear Industry
Surely all the bad press about Nuclear accidents is all in the past now right? I mean, they been running them for so long that they’ve sorted out all the “little” problems by now? Well the answer is of course no. Sadly there’s no such thing as a fool proof design. Combined with the fact that humans don’t always do what they are told. Throw in the pressures of shareholders wanting large dividends and private Nuclear Power plants are under pressure. Some recent examples of problems are:

• 4 nuclear plants in Sweden shut down due to a defective part being installed in 1993 and not being picked up in over a decade of “maintenance checks”. Strangely I found very little main stream media in Europe reporting this! Particularly the route cause! Of course, Sweden took the bold step in a referendum in 1980 to phase out Nuclear power… yet another field where their bold and decisive vision has put them ahead of the UK with it's stradle every fence possible and leave the decission till it's an emergency policy.
  
• That other high-tec, style conscious country in the world known as Japan also seems to have had recent troubles with nuclear power.
  

So there's two major incidents in just August 2006 described above, and those are just what I know! So with our Government record on major infrastructure projects do I have any confidence that we can do better than other leading countries... do I b#llocks!

So what can you do?
If you object to New Nuclear power stations being built, there are a few easy things you can do?

• The first is to sign the online petition for Europeans against Nuclear Power.
  
• Probably the most important thing you can do though is to email your MP expressing your concerns about the issue and that you are against it. So who is your MP? You can find out here, and it includes a handy bit where you can send them a message over the net.
  
• You can switch your electricity supplier to a green one like Good-Energy or Ecotricity that do not buy wholesale electricity from Nuclear power stations thereby reducing the economic demand for it, whilst also increasing the demand for renewables
  
• Finally, you can reduce your use of electricity by having energy saving lightbulbs, switching off Hi-Fi’s/TV’s when you leave the room, and generally not wasting it.
  

Anyway, I hope this post has given people something to thing about.

Cheers

Andy

Great Manchester Run 2006 Special

Hello,

Well I can't believe how quickly the jog blog has come full circle. Its hard to believe that it is now a year since the last time I ran this event. Time does seem to fly!

For those short on time my results for the race are below:

Forename(s) Surname Race Number Time Overall Position
Andrew Shirres 1347 41:01 446 out of 19771 who finished

This year the overall position also includes the Elite athletes (Male & Female), as well as Elite Athletes with a Disability. Needless to say I'm incredibly pleased with this time and position and whilst I was expecting to beat last years time of 45:20, I was not expecting to beat it by so much as this was an improvement of 9.5%!

Anyway, back to the start for those who have a bit more time to read....

The signs looked good. There were four waves in this years race, so that should space people out more and avoid traffic jams. I was in the first wave which should put me ahead of some of the traffic also. To top it off, Manchester's weather was behaving as it usually does with a light drizzle which would hopefully keep me cool on the way round to. The build up was the usual exciting affair with a good banter present among the fellow runners. Mark, Big Pete and Marple Phil were the runners I knew starting with me. I'd worked out the interval times I needed at each kilometer for 43 and 42 minutes finish times. I thought I'd aim for the 42 mins on the basis that if I failed I'd still have a chance of getting under 43.

The gun went, as we finally came to the start line, the adrenaline kicked in and the excitement of the event lifted me. For the first 100 metres it was more of a speed walk than a run, but it quickly cleared and I started threading my way through the crowd. I remember getting to the 1km marker around 3:40... whilst this was great on one hand, as it was quicker then what it should have been of 4:12, it did mean there was a risk of me burning out. I wasn't to concerned though as I thought I always slow down in the second half so building up a bit of slack would help.

As the race progressed, we headed onto the A56. The traffic was heavier than I had expected given the four wave system, but it did seem a little less than last year. Around the three kilometer mark I had a bit of an accident whilst overtaking fellow runners. I saw a stretch of clear road on the grass verge on the left of the A56, heading towards I had to weave around a few runners, and just as I hopped onto the verge it was at that point I saw an advertising board facing sideways with the pointy end looking right at me!!!! I managed to react just in time to avoid a full on collision, which at the speed I was running at would have probably taken me out of the race. I did end up smacking the side of the boards though but came away thinking that only my pride was bruised by it as I powered on.

Just as I got to around Man United's Old Trafford, I looked down at my rights hand which was starting to tingle. To my horror, I noticed that it was actually taking the colour of the Man U home strip... with a blood red tinge all over it. A quick check and I noticed there was a small chunk of flesh missing from my thumb, sucking it didn't help to much (except later I found out I had then smeared bits blood onto my face!). Anyway, thankfully it started to heal a little and stop bleeding shortly after this, which was reassuring as I couldn't afford to lose any as I needed every drop to carry oxygen to my legs to keep them going!

Around the Old Trafford/ Salford Quays area I didn't spot any kilometre markers so I lost track of how I was progressing. I could see Marple Phil ahead so I knew I must be doing well as he had joined a Harrier club down South and got some very good times. I'd totally lost track of Mark and Big Pete though. The water station was a great relief to see as I was able to wash my right hand of all the dried on blood that was caked on it, and I took a couple of mouthfuls for good measure.

As I got back onto the A56 for the return stretch I was in a fair bit of pain. My breathing was heavy, my left hip was playing up again and my right thigh felt sore. It reminded me a little of one of the Herbie movies where Herbie (the car) was literally falling to pieces on the last lap of a race and the passengers had the welding iron out trying to mend the car on the go!

Somewhere between the 7 and 8 km mark John and then Charlotte ran past me on the opposite side of the A56 heading toward Old Trafford (about the point where I'd so skillfully run into an advertising board). They'd started in the second wave which is why I was this far ahead of them. My breathing was becoming more laboured and I was also starting to scare fellow runners with my unintentional deep groaning... I heard angry shouts of "So your the g#t who keeps ringing me late at night!" from behind but luckily my legs were in better shape than his :)

As I passed the 8km mark I thought I'd up the tempo. I didn't have anything left in the reserves though so I'm not sure how much faster I actually went. As the 800 metres to go sign passed I threw caution to the wind and really started upping the tempo. About 100 metres to go I kind of ran out of energy but there was some other chap with me who managed to keep me going till I crossed the line.

I was exhausted after crossing and staggered to the goody back point and picked mine up. Bumped into Mark who'd finished with an incredible time of 41:07. There was no sign of Big Pete, though I'd no idea if that was because he'd finished ahead or behind. Mark helped me hunt down the St John Ambulance van to get the cut cleaned with some antiseptic and a plaster put on it. After sitting down for a while and getting cleaned up, I found out why my right thigh had been hurting as this had a graze right across it. This, along with a bump that has developed on my left arm now that I'm back home has reminded me that unlike Arnie Schwarzenegger, I can't punch through metal or walls! Anyway, after sitting in the ambulance getting cleaned up (it wasn't that bad) I felt much better and went outside and into heavy rain and bumped into Mark, Dawn and Big Pete (who'd smashed his time from last year and managed 42:30). Not wanting to stand in the rain we went into a nearby pub and Dawn being the only one with any money on them, shouted us all to a drink... thanks Dawn.

Anyway, the event seems to have got bigger this year, so who knows how big it will be next year. The rest of the Rangers and supporters also finished with great times to, and when we all met up it turned out that Charlotte's brother at the young age (compared to old farts like me!) of 17 managed a time of 52:39 (a very promising future for running giving his late entry and so less then ideal build up). Mini also managed a good time of 56:51, but more importantly had been the running partner for a new runner this year and helped Charlotte out with her training which contributed to her getting a great time of 1:10:02, so well done to both of them, the very definition of teamwork! Russ has my vote for Run of the Day with an incredible time of 59:38, which when you consider that in January, if he'd run 2 km he would have been close to needing life support, is an out of this world achievement. John managed 1:09:35 and so achieved his goal of beating last years time. This is despite spraining his foot during the event, and so he showed incredible guts to carry on going. The surprise entrant, Ann-Marie, was also running for her first time and started her training from scratch also. She did herself proud also and managed 1:24:55, and along with Russ, they both raised over £500 each for charity! Last but by no means least was Marple Phil, who we later found out had an incredible time of 40:01 and rightfully deserved the crown of fastest runner out of our group... those Harrier training sessions really paying dividends!

Everyone enjoyed themselves, and we topped off the event with an all you can eat Chinese which was lovely. I'm hoping to be back at next years event, though I think I'd struggle to knock much off this time unless I started taking it really seriously and joined a running club or something!

Over and out

Andy