New Multi-sport Sport

Today has seen a new combination of sports into a Multi-sport day. Starting with extreme porridge making (porridge cooked on top of the wood-burner) whilst watching TV in search of the Rat Race and Deerstalker on Country Tracks, the day has progresses relatively profitable. Logs chopped, tea drunk, hoovering, a visit by Spike (in person! eek) and some consequent website and blog blah, blah. All this was accomplished with a raging sore throat and head-cold.

The positive news is that our Tour de Helvellyn is attracting a lot of interest and promises to be an interesting day out for everyone. The Tour is intended as good winters's training run; it's not a formal race but an opportunity for a long day out on your feet in preparation for next year's adventures. Naturally the weather could be poor, but the route should be do-able in most conditions, and we do have a Plan B, if Sticks Pass is impassable. I only wish I was able to do it myself, instead of tied up with supporting.

On the personal performance side, I am just about re-covered from the pains of last week's Kielder Marathon. Having not run for weeks, and with just a handful of training runs and events this year it required a certain amount of determination to get to the finish. This race was a physical challenge in contrast to the mental challenge of Terrex. 4:28 is now a 'pw' for a marathon, so I have something to aim for next year. It also showed up how little running I have done in recent years. The course is a good one; undulating and always interesting, and with the winning time being 2:30 you can expect a sizeable chunk to be added to your normal road marathon time. As it was the inaugural event I trust Steve Cram has learnt a thing or two for 2011, with the biggest issue being drop the road race razzamatazz and mentality and get in tune with off-road running. Whether this was under UKA regs I don't know but I find it very offensive running through a sea of three-quarters full drinks bottles in such a remote and beautiful location. Especially, when they mainly toxic sports drinks from a sponsor. Ok, so they will all be picked up, but by whom and what what cost? Perhaps I should stopped being grumpy - No doubt the event will be over subscribed next year. I certainly be back, as I'm a regular visitor to Kielder with it's deserted trails and tranquility. I'll be back there very soon to help with the Kielder Duathlon, riding the trails and getting a training run in.

Joe