Crossgates.

As if on cue, the sun is shining bright this morning, and there is no sign of rain and none is forecast for a few days at least. The start of Spring is noted by many people on television and radio and those I meet later during the day. I expect it is more welcome than usual after what has been a very gloomy period. At least it was often brighter when it snowed which was more than average. It is cold and frosty to start with, but everybody has grown accustomed to the cold, and when the temperature rises just a little it will feel great.

I start the day with a visit to Pro Am Sports for a sports massage by Jenna Wheatman. This goes well and should help with my recovery, but I still feel that I have the race ‘in my legs’, and I will have to avoid running with Scarborough Athletic Club members tonight, particularly if I want to go for a long run tomorrow. On return back home, Joan joins me for the Monday walk with Gemma the Labrador, at Ayton. The frost has not melted yet as we walked around, and Joan almost fell after slipping on one icy patch as we walked round.

My next outing is the food shopping, with Joan’s friends from Saint Martin’s church, Joan and Jean. They are also pleased to see the sunshine. As we drive to and from Morrisons, I play a CD of 1950s pop music which they both liked. After delivering them back home with their shopping, Joan gives me large fruit cake which she has baked, which I know will be very tasty. I will have to try hard not to eat too much of it too often!

After lunch I have a lazy afternoon, and after leaving going out for a run on my own until the last possible time, subsequently decide that another day’s rest will suit me much better. I attend the meeting of Scarborough Athletic Club at the Filey Road Sports centre, but only to give out the results from the weekend, and pick up news for my reports. I ought to be back on track tomorrow after two easy days. We shall see.

Crossgates

The last day of winter has finally arrived. It is a bit like many of the preceding winter days, in that it is cold, wet and overcast. I feel tired when it is time to get up in time to drive Joan over to Seamer for the early church service, and I can feel the effect of the race on my legs, and decide straight away that I will not be doing any running at all today. Joan decides to miss the Church service today as she also feels tired. After breakfast I settle down with both the Saturday and Sunday newspapers, after deciding that whilst I feel tired, I am not able to snooze sat in an armchair. I therefore work my way through two Mails, a Daily Telegraph and a Sunday Times. I break off to make some breakfast for Joan, sit and skip read the lot before lunch time. As far as the television programs on offer today are concerned, this is certainly not a good day for viewing. I keep looking at the Radio Times in the vague hope that I may have missed something that may have some even remote interest for me throughout the day.

In the afternoon I watched some of the League Cup final between Aston Villa and Manchester United. I am not really bothered who will win, but it was fairly interesting. Manchester United went on to win after Wayne Rooney scored when the score was 1 -1. As usual I stir myself later to take Bindy for a walk round the block, which will constitute the total exercise for the day! I hope the rest form running will be beneficial.

With Joan still partly sidelined following her wrist surgery, I cook a Sunday dinner of roast chicken, after which I am careful not to eat quite as much to balance out my lethargy. After the meal I have another close look at the Radio Times. Surely there must be something worth watching. Alas there does not seem to be. Joan watches ‘Dancing on Ice’ and I settle for some of the ‘Allan Titchmarsh’ Radio 2 program again. Now that I have got the BBC IPlayer up and running, I can now hear this again during the week, which is good. So goodbye to Winter and welcome Spring.

Crossgates

I get out of bed slightly earlier than usual this morning, in good time to get breakfast of porridge and get all my kit ready for the cross country event. As usual this all takes a lot longer than what I thought, and I have no time left for even a cursory glance at the Saturday newspapers. I tune in to Brian Matthews’s ‘Sounds of the 60s’ as usual and continue listening when I start out on the drive over to Leeds. As the second half of the program starts, Brian tells his audience what records will be included in this part of the programme. I have only heard of one of them, which as it happens I do not like, so I switch over to Radio York. This features a presenter who irritates me, so after switching again to Radio 5 for a while, and then opt to listen to a CD of mostly film music. Fortunately the journey does not take long, and I am soon at Roundhay Park in good time before the start of the first race.

It feels rather cold, but it is dry and looking likely to stay that was for some time. I have just over 4 hours before my own race, but I am happy watching all the other races in which Scarborough Athletic Club members are competing in, and doing my best to take some decent photos with most of the club’s runners in amongst lots of other runners. Due to the sports function on the camera which gives continuous exposures whilst the shutter remains depressed, I manage to get some shots of almost everybody from the club, which will supplement my Press Report.

As the races progress throughout the day, the parts of the course that are muddy, become extremely difficult to run through. This together with the hills on the course, mean that I will find this race to be very hard, but I am fairly confident about coping with it, and also avoiding last place again. Just before my race starts it starts to drizzle a little, but it soon stops and does not start again at least not until the race is over and I have left the park. The race is something of a procession in that after overtaking a couple of runners early on, I only catch one more over 7.5 miles. I am pleased that several runners are behind me, and therefore will not be last. When I check the results later, I see that the very last runner was 8 minutes behind me! As soon as I finish, I put some clothes and walk back to my car and drive back home wearing the event ‘hoodie’ and feel very pleased with myself.

Crossgates

It is not just appearing damp this morning; it is raining quite heavily, and has been for some time. Flood warnings for North Yorkshire are being broadcast on Radio York, so the optimism of yesterday was seemingly misplaced. In the morning I take Joan to Ayton and then do some additional food shopping at Morrisons. By this time it is time for lunch, and so I miss another training run.

After lunch, with the rain still falling, I drive over to Ayton to meet up with Gemma for the Friday walk. It has been raining so hard, that Gemma’s owner Peggy has telephoned to enquire if I am still willing to take Gemma for a walk. Of course I am, and just wrap up well as normal and also take an umbrella with me. After starting out, the rain eases off a little without actually stopping, but half way up the Moor Road towards the forest, I decide not to take the forest trail route, as it is likely to be extremely muddy and I just cannot be bothered to negotiate the worst parts of it today. I opt for a walk round East Ayton instead. I was amused as I past the sports field where somebody has just glanced at the waterlogged field, and wisely decided without a close inspection that football matches will not take place on it over the weekend!

On return from the walk, I take Joan to Ayton once again so she can have stitches in her wrist removed at the surgery. The rain is still falling and parts of Scarborough are flooded as envisaged. Whilst it is a fish and chip evening meal day, I am not tempted to go for a run. I convince myself that whatever I do today is unlikely to help with my performance at the English cross country championships tomorrow, so the only problem might be to gain a little weight, but as this has been a good week so far in this respect, I could stand it. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s race now, both as a competitor and to supporting the mainly young members of Scarborough Athletic Club.

Crossgates

Whilst it is not raining, it is about as near to it as is possible, and the weather forecast is predicting a lot of rain arriving in the next 24 hours. Just what was not required at all! I am not tempted to get out for a run in the morning as I often do on a Thursday before the training session with Scarborough Athletic Club in the evening. . Instead I put the finishing touches to the main Press Report I have to send in to the Scarborough Evening News and also edited several photos to accompany it.

After lunch Joan joins me for a visit to the home of what we hope will be our future puppy, who his still with his mother and 6 other pups at their home in Harrogate. We had decided to take the more scenic route there which was via Pickering and Thirsk, but was a waste of time as it was so dull and overcast. Just as we reached Harrogate, we were delayed by a hold up caused by some road works. Thanks to our Sat Nav in the car, we found the home of our prospective puppy, which would have been quite difficult without, as it was located on or near a large housing area. We had the choice of 3 pups, and it was very hard to choose as they were all very nice and took to us straight away. Eventually we made a decision and therefore reserved a puppy for us to collect in 3 weeks time, when he will be old enough to leave his mother and newborn brothers and sisters. He will be called Jurgen which I consider is a good name for a German schnauzer! Joan is not so sure, but has left the name up to me so that is settled. On return home, I download the photographs I have taken of Jurgen and Joan e mails them to lots of people who all think that our future pet is really lovely.

After missing a morning run, when I attend the Thursday night run at the Scarborough Rugby Club with Scarborough Athletic Club, I opt for the main long run rather than an interval session. I cope quite well with this, and avoid running at the back of the group again, which like last night, is a consolation for missing a training run.

Crossgates

There is an air of optimism around today, and a hope that as the winter draws to a close, some better weather will start to arrive. Of course it has snowed in May and once in 1975, snow halted a cricket match in June, but what would be most welcome now would be a sustained period of dry and warmer weather to dry everything out, particularly my back garden! For the third day running since the snowfall on Sunday, it has at least stayed dry, so that is a start perhaps. I seem to have a lot of things to do today, which serve to give me a reason not to go for a long run again. I now have 8 weeks starting next Sunday to turn this round, and hopefully I can do this. At least I have managed to lose and not gain any weight during my recent lethargy.

As usual for a Wednesday, I start the day with a walk with Gemma the Labrador, and I opt for the forest walk again this morning. The trail road to the forest is extremely muddy, and I am now wondering what conditions will be like at Roundhay Park in Leeds for the cross country races this coming Saturday. There is an absence of sunshine this morning, which is probably why when we walk alongside the river Derwent, Gemma does not five the river a second glance. What a wise dog she is !

In the afternoon, Joan needs a lift to and from Seamer for a visit to a friend. I cannot decide what to do about training runs, and in the end, I decide to have a day off, and settle for just the circuit training this evening as far as exercise is concerned. In between trips outdoors, I spend some time doing Press Reports and get the largest one of 5 reports completed other than for photographs which I have to do some work on as yet.

Having not been out for a run today, I find that my legs are much fresher than usual at the circuit training session in the day at the George Pindar Sports College gym. I cope well with most of the exercises, particularly the lower leg ones. I therefore end the day on a positive note.

Crossgates

There is a welcome break from the overall damp and overcast weather this month, and the sun makes a welcome appearance today. After what turned out to be an above average effort on the club run last night, I am feeling somewhat tired this morning, and I soon decide that yet again a long run is not really a practical possibility today, and thus I opt to try again tomorrow!

As Joan is unable to carry out very much cleaning for a while yet, I spend time in the morning cleaning most of the downstairs part of the house. I would have done this anyway at some point, but probably not especially today, but I know that Joan will be happier if cleaning of the house in general does not start to get postponed and pile up. Anyway, the cleaning takes up a fair amount of time in the morning, and soon it is lunchtime and the climax of the midweek daily ‘Bargain Hunt’ television program. It must have at least curiosity value to me, as I continue to dislike the basic principle of the show which is to buy something at the lowest possible price, and then hope to make a profit at auction. Most of the items do not appeal to me at all, as I have no real love of antiques, but the element of what seems more like luck as to how much money an individual item will at auction, has a sort of fascination. I also love it when an item makes a huge loss as is sometimes the case, even when the experts have forecast otherwise.

The bright weather today serves to remind me that the days are lengthening significantly, and it is possible to run on country tracks up until around 5.30 now. I have just checked that the clocks will go forward for the start of British Summertime on 28 March, which is only 33 days away now. After all the dull and damp weather, some sun and just average temperatures will seem like summer time by then. After the usual walk with Bindy around 4 p.m. I set off for a run on the Seamer Tracks for the first time for 4 weeks. Once I reach the actual tracks, I soon realise why I have avoided this route for a while, which is that it is very wet and muddy for large parts due to the above average amount of rainfall and the recent snow. I do not mind getting my shoes muddy and my feet wet, but after a mile or so of slipping and sliding around, I decide that I may as well cut the run slightly short and settle for 5 miles instead of a planned 6 miles, but I was happy to have an easy run in fine weather for a change.

In the evening Joan and me watch a Michael McIntyre DVD which is a recording of a one man show at Wembley Arena. Joan is a big fan, and I like some of his observational type humour, but around 90 minutes is a bit too much of any comedian for me these days. There seems to be a limit to the length of time somebody can make me laugh. 30 minute comedy series seems about right for me, perhaps because this was what I have become accustomed to, going back to 1950s radio programmes and 1960s television.

Crossgates

It is a case of Sods Law time today, as almost as I expected, no more snow has fallen and yesterday’s snow is starting to melt away, although strangely it still feels very cold. The area I cleared is totally free of snow and ice, but the surrounding area, and particularly Byward Drive is now at least partly free of snow. I can hopefully catch up with my training now. However a long run today will not be easy to fit in and so once again that part of my training is postponed for another 24 hours.

My first port of call this morning is Gemma the labrador’s home at Ayton for the Monday morning walk. Even though it was early in the morning, it was thawing already, and the walk through the Forge Valley forest was at it’s most muddy, but as usual we plodded along happily enough in what has been the usual damp and gloomy conditions which has typified the month of February.

After the walk, I head back home for a quick coffee break, before going food shopping with Joan’s two friends at Morrisons, as Joan cannot drive and also cannot join us as there would not be enough room in the car for more than 3 people with all their food shopping. I notice that the Morrisons car park has been cleared of snow, and that the snow is now piled up in huge stacks around the park, which is an indication of how much snow fell and was shovelled up.

In the afternoon, I go over to the post office at Proudfoots in Seamer, and then make a start on some press reports which concern mainly the Yorkshire cross country championships, and some success by young members of Scarborough Athletic Club. I then take Bindy the poodle out for the daily walk round the block, and am pleased to note that the thaw is continuing and what was a considerable amount of snowfall, has now left all of the roads and a lot of the pavements.

Whilst I am slightly disappointed that my snow clearing of yesterday has seemingly been a waste of time, I am pleased that I will be able to run on pavements that are free of snow and ice. Contrary to what I had planned last week, I opted to run with members of Scarborough Athletic Club, starting out at the Filey Road Sports Centre. After two days and only just over a mile of running, I am eager to make amends and have at least a decent paced run, which I achieve simply by striving to avoid running at the back of the group. I have to occasionally make an effort to achieve this, but I just about manage over a 6 mile running route, which included a stretch on the sands at South Bay.