I know I've not written for ages. It's bad and I've had things to write about as well. No real excuses other than the rigours of keeping up with the training (hard), the children (even harder) and a couple of part-time jobs which are aspiring to become full-time and take over my entire life - but that's another story - and if I start moaning about it here, I might never stop.
So One Golden Gate: Well I suppose really, it was two golden gates - yes, this was my last event. The Chatsworth Golden Gates 10K. I personally thought this event was fantastic. You would really struggle to find a better setting for a 10K race. Stunning scenery and you get to go through the Golden Gates entrance (normally reserved for family, the Duke of Devonshire and other visiting royalty etc) but on this day, thrown open for your common or garden "athlete". Plus - and I don't think you'd find this anywhere else - lots and lots of very posh people manning the drinks stations - pouring Perrier out of the back of their brand new Discoveries. OK, probably not Perrier, but there was definitely more designer gear than you'd normally see at one of these events (and I'm not talking Nike here, but Dolce and Gabanna Sunglasses, etc) and if the tap water isn't posh around there, well I don't know where it is. Sadly, there was a lot of moaning about this event on Runnersworld.com. Lots of people berating the fact that there was a very large hill to run up at the beginning scuppering any chances of personal bests - that there were only 15 toilets to go around 1,500 entrants (why would the Duke worry about such things I ask you - after all, royalty doesn't use the toilet). That some of the slower runners dared to take up too much space on a narrow strip of course. I haven't really got any answers to these complaints. I don't really know why they're moaning. There were loads of bushes around to avail themselves of, it was a beautiful day, beautiful scenery and being a slower runner myself (although I hasten to add I'd put myself near the back of the starting line for just this reason) I can't really say anything about that either. I think it's a bit sad, really, that the experience for them was ruined by a hill (sadly hills do happen in Derbyshire - actually they happen quite a lot) and the fact that they couldn't beat their personal best. But then that's up to them isn't it? I enjoyed it. I think the children (who came to watch with Daddy and Grandad) enjoyed it too, although we did have a very early picnic after the event (in the region of 11am) because they'd got bored of running around in a field and loading their toy recycling truck up with grass (grass which I later found strewn all over my lounge floor... Oh well).
After the Golden Gates, which was on 31st May, I've had a bit of a break. I was supposed to be running the Buxton Chick's Chase on 17th June, but sadly, due to there only being 7 entrants in the race, it was cancelled. It was a shame and a blessing all at once. It was a blessing because, somehow, I've injured my knee. I don't know how. I've hurt this knee before so maybe I've just got a bit of a weakness there, but the Saturday before last it was really hurting and the next day it was so swollen I thought it might be as well to rest it instead of going for my normal Sunday 12 miles. The next week it was a little better so I did a little light running in the week and then did 12 miles up to Stanton in the Peak on the Sunday (very hilly - if you didn't like Chatsworth you won't like it there because the hill goes up and up and up and up and up and you think it's never going to stop...) When I got up there, they were ringing the bells for church. I don't want to be too critical here, but it sounded terrible. There's something wrong with those bells (or those bell ringers). The people trying to have a Sunday lie-in in the cottages across the street must have been thinking "SHUT UP!!!" Anyway, it was all down hill from that point so I was able to make a quick get away from the noise.
But the next day my knee was up again. And sore. Like really SORE. And I was a bit worried because this weekend I've got my longest race. It's the Three Lakes Classic which is 15 miles long. I spent the first part of the week thinking I wasn't going to be able to do it and worrying about not finishing the challenge. I spent the second bathing my knee in Voltarol and thinking Sod It, I'm going to go anyway. How hard can it be? (Don't answer that). So, in some ways, the cancellation of the Buxton Chicks' Chase was a real blessing because it's given me longer to rest that knee. It was, however, a bit of a shame as I have said. For some reason I'd been entered into the men's race and there were only three runners in the men's race (including me), meaning that I would have DEFINITELY won a prize (probably third). It was my one and only chance to be in the prizes in any of the events I've entered - although I may have been disqualified for flouting entry requirements (i.e. I'm not a man). However, with my knee being as it was at that time, it was looking like one of the men was going to be dropping out of the Buxton Chicks' Chase anyway - so I suppose it was more of a blessing than a shame.
The knee is still a bit sore but I've got loads of Dextrose and loads of Voltarol and loads of determination to both start and finish the Three Lakes Classic. Although I may get lost. Yes, there are some marshalls. Yes, the course is partly signed. Runners, I am told, (rather worryingly for someone who has got severe dyslexia when it comes to map reading) are also given a map to help them find their way around the course. The map supplied looks like it has been drawn by a bloke in a pub. So if I don't finish it's because I got lost. And if you don't hear from me again, it's because I'm still lost. Somewhere near Ullapool or Treeton or Orgreave (which my Dad tells me featured prominently in the Miners' strike, but I don't know it myself).
To date I have raised £895 through sponsorship and my friend at work has raised a further £100. My boss has promised to double everything I raise so, in actual fact, I've raised around £2,000 to date - which I don't think is all that bad, considering the economic climate, the fact that I've been doing this now for nearly a year (taking training, planning, preparation and everything else into account), I've run 60 miles in events and probably nearer 600 in training miles and the fact that I'm completely sick of it. If you should find yourself reading this, please take all these things into account and sponsor me - it doesn't matter how much - any measure of support, no matter how small - is all that is keeping me going now.
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