Another good week...

.....well, for training anyway. The less said about football the better !

Managed to keep up to my promise of getting out 3 times a week again. As well as my laps of the NSC on Monday night, I did my usual Wednesday night session on Laxey Prom working on technique and speed, and did a good 9 mile loop on Friday night at a good pace a little over 5mph. This is a far cry from the top boys, but miles on from the 4mph average when I started back in 2006. Mixed up with a bit of skipping, and swimming with Archie and his friend on Saturday, I am pleased with what this week brought.

To be honest, my main aim is to do long events such as the Parish, End to End and Sarah Killey, but I use the shorter stuff such as Winter League as training for my ultimate goal. Race based training I suppose you would call it. Although speed is certainly not my forte, I am extremely competitive and am always determined to do my very best if I am racing against someone else. This is why I think I sometimes seem to get the odd warning from judges because I push myself so hard, I stop thinking about what I should be doing and try and go faster.

Because I am so tall (6 feet 4 inches if you were wondering), I tend to stoop when I am tired which doesn't help when trying to keep my landing leg straight. It comes as a bit of a surprise to me though that the leg I struggle with most is my left leg. This is because I have had serious right knee problems for the last 15 years culminating in reconstruction of my anterior cruciate ligament in May 2004. Maybe it is the endless physio I have undertaken over the years, and stretching that has made my 'weaker' leg more supple and really I should now be concentrating on my left leg and getting the hamstring looser.

Anyway, I have a good schedule lined up for next week, starting with the cross country today at Ballanette. Running is definitely not my bag, but I agreed before round 1 that I would give it a go. So far, I have taken part in all 3 rounds and currently find myself in 3rd place in the league table for the short course. I must hasten to add that this is nothing to do with ability, but because I am one of only 4 people to have taken part in each round so far. Today is double points, and I am hoping the extra effort I have put in since the turn of the year will manifest itself in a better performance today. As long as I can make it through the bog section with my shoe still on will be an improvement in itself.

Last time I told you about my first foray into walking, so next time I will share with you my experience of the first Parish I took part in as a walker in 2008.

Prior to walking I have acted as support for my brother in law Julian for a number of his successful loops. The one that sticks in mind most though was 2004 when my sister attempted the full distance for the first time. She had walked to Peel a number of times previously, but decided this year that this was the time she wanted to go the distance.

Julian made it round in a good time, and Lou's back up told us that she was out of Maughold and well on her way to Dhoon and was going ok. Instead of wanting to go home, Jules wanted to go and give support so off we set to find her. By the time we met her, she was just rounding the top of Bulgham but looked a lot less than ok. Her white trainers were red, and she looked in agony. She was complaining of terrible back pain and as height runs in our family, she was also stooping because she was tired which was probably causing the problem. By the time she made it to Laxey Village she had slowed considerably and we were starting to worry about the Lonan cut off. I jumped out of the car to try and encourage her, and she asked that I push my fist into the base of her back to try and relieve the pain. So, if you can imagine it, the two of us walking through Laxey about 6am with stumbling along behind like a puppet master. I had completely forgotten about the car and Julian, until about 20 minutes later he came driving up behind us. I still to this day cannot comprehend how he managed to walk 85 miles, and then drive whilst being as stiff as a board.

As we arrived at Lonan church, the marshals were packing up and had said that we had missed the cut off and that Lou had to stop. She was devastated and wanted to go on, so I used my best charm and convinced them that she was just emerging from a bad patch and was actually speeding up and by my calculation she would make it to Onchan before their cut off. Good job I'm not pinocchio otherwise I'd have had the poor fella's eye out!

Things came to a head on the straight down to Baldrine, all of a sudden she stopped, a bit like that scene in Forrest Gump when Tom Hanks decides he's had enough running. Only difference was, instead of turning round and going back, her legs went from under her and I managed to catch her before she hit the deck. I scooped her up and put her into the back of the car and her first attempt was officially over.

Having witnessed this I vowed at that point that I was never going to get involved in something as daft as the Parish as it can only be bad for you. Hmmm, how things have changed, but I still use that experience as something to spur me on and to remind me of how difficult an achievement it is.

I always remember that although I have been successful twice, it doesn't give me a right to complete it again, as you will only get out what you put in and I use this as one of my main forms of motivation.

Bring on the mud...