It has been two months since I last put on a pair of running shoes with the intention of going for a run. I have been lazy, overindulgent and I have procrastinated on several occasions. Instead of honouring my body by doing some form of exercise every week, I have done nothing more than exercised my arm when lifting the pint glass to my mouth and I have exercised my arse by… oh wait, no I haven’t.

My penance:

March
2 Half Marathons

April
5 mile village cross country run

May
Possibly a couple of 10k races

June
Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon
(or Rat Race Bristol Adventure)

July
100km walk (sponsored event in under 30 hours)
Tough Guy

August
Rat Race Manchester Adventure (if I don’t do the Bristol one)

September
Windsor Half Marathon

October
Ridgeway Run
Original Mountain Marathon

November
Hellrunner

Plus another little something that I might tell you about sometime.

So Andy Robinson’s gone and Brian Ashton is the new England coach eh? About bloody time they got rid of that no good waste of space. I’m honestly surprised that Robinson lasted as long as he did because I think it was apparent to everyone from very early on that the only new era of English rugby he was ushering in was one where they were the laughing stock of the rugby world.

I know this is now old news but the reason I mention it is that while watching Rugby Club on Sky Sports in some seedy Dublin bar last night, I suddenly realised why Ashton looked so familiar: 20 years ago he was my history teacher.

On a side note, nice to see Wawp tight-head Phil Vickery appointed as captain. Don’t know if he’ll be any good but, hey, he’s a Wawp man so can’t be that bad.

Here’s a link to my Flickr set of pictures from Sunday’s Nettle Warrior. Only half have been uploaded at the moment. Stay tuned for the rest. (Preview after the jump)

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We survived.

We made it around in 2hrs 34mins and were placed 321st (out of 1690 finishers and ~2000 starters). It seemed harder than last year but we did do it 20 minutes quicker. A few changes to the course (notably the Berlin Wall was another 10 foot higher and was mainly a climb up netting - oh, and no more Bailey Bridge either).

Many thanks to Pix for taking pics and shooting video. You’re a star.

More updates (and photos) soon.

Okay, so I admit. I’m a bit of a six nations whore when it comes down to it. I’ll get in bed with anyone and saturday found me rooting for Scotland. The boys in blue held the ground in Fortress Murrayfield with some of the best defensive play I’ve seen in many years. (The Sunday Times gave the stats as follows: Scotland made 112 tackles and missed 6. England made 35 tackles and missed 5.) They’re tactic was totally different from the aggressive forward play that they used to subjugate France and this, along with their tenacity and determination, gave them the upperhand against the visitors.

But why was I rooting for Scotland? Am I really that fickle? Well, no. You see, if England had won, they would have been on course for a Grand Slam. If Scotland won then it would have put England, France, Scotland and Wales in contention for the trophy and it would be game on for the last two matches of championship.

Did I say Wales? Yes, I did. They would have been in the running for retaining the six nations ground providing they beat Ireland at Lansdowne Road yesterday.

They lost.

I’m not happy.

Can’t say it suprised me at all given all the hoohaa surrounding Mike Ruddock’s controversial departure and another injury set back with captain Gareth Thomas being out for the rest of the season but after the opening 10 minutes I thought the boys in red would do the job. Ireland, however, showed that despite recent outings, they really can play a good game of rugby and demolished Wales in the second half.

So the chances of us retaining the six nations crown are looking very slim.

On the up side, Wawp beat premiership leaders Sale this weekend with a 26-16 victory at home. They face Leicester in the Powergen Cup semi-final this coming Saturday while Bath play Llanelli Scarlets. Could we be looking at a Bath v Wawp Cup final? That would be something to get tickets for! However, Leicester stand in the way and it’s not going to be easy. The last encounter resulted in a 29 all draw and although the time before that Wawp won (in the Premiership final last year) they lost twice against Leicester prior to that again.

Time to get the hatchling a Wawp babygro I think.

What an interesting weekend! I didn’t expect Wales to do well this year with the amount of suspensions and injuries they have but at the end of the first half against England, I felt that they’d shown some tremendous spirit and great play and that they could be in with a chance. England came back to dominate though and the old warhorses were brought back into put Wales firmly into place. A shame really but I’m not going to write Wales off yet. They could still win the series!

However, despite some exceptional play, that match wasn’t even the highlight of the weekend. What about Scotland? They beat France for heaven’s sake. I think most people have written Scotland off and although I don’t think we’re about to see a resurgence of Scottish rugby this year, it would be nice if they shook off the whipping boy tag they’ve adopted in the last few years.

And what about Italy? Although Ireland would have my preference in most matches, the way Italy played, I was almost rooting for them to upset the home team at Landsdowne road. Great match but Ireland have got a lot of work to do if they’re going to challenge for the top spot.

So lots of suprises and after the first weekend of the six nations, all bets are off about who’s going to take the title. I get the impression that there may not be a grand slam this year though.

I had a cold last week. It was one of those ones that started as a bit of a sniffle then developed into the brain fogging, throat trashing, can’t quite cough enough type of cold that is supremely irritating. It also meant that walking, let alone cycling, anywhere suddenly took on a whole new challenge as I thought either my lungs were going to explode or my heart was going to pack it’s bags and wave bye bye.

This did not put me in a good mood. One because it meant that my lips got dry and chapped and I now have the ugliest cracked cold sores you’ve ever seen and two because the cold meant that I wouldn’t be able to do Tough Guy on sunday. At least I had the weekend free.
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Hellrunner is probably the toughest race I’ve done to date. It’s as exhausting as Tough Guy without any of the silliness or distractions of obstacles. The course itself has, apparently, been made tougher than last year by upping the distance to about 11 miles and putting more hills in the way. The weather was chilly, overcast and windless - near perfect conditions for running and despite not having done any sort of exercise for two weeks, I was looking forward to the race.

The multi-terrain course was a mix of moorland and woodland for the most part. The tracks we ran were obviously used to vehicles and were trenches more than paths, waterlogged and woody. For the first couple of miles, the slopes were gentle enough but quickly increased in gradient at about the same time as the surface became more sand than earth. The problem with sand is that it’s not firm and you have to work that much harder. I also find it makes my calves work harder and it wasn’t long before I started feeling them tighten up. The undulations started to become more pronounced and when we reached the forest, they became steep hills covered in loose rocks. The descents were just as steep and sure footing was required, especially if going at speed which I tend to do as one foot wrong was going to lead to an embarrassing mouth full of mud.

Leaving the forest (after about an 1h15m for me), a large sign announced “You are entering the Wetlands” and they weren’t lying. The Wetlands consisted of a bog that, while not on a par with the general consistency and stinkiness of Tough Guy mud, earned a 10 out of 10 for effort owing to the fact that it was knee deep – or thigh deep for some people. The race slowed right down at this point as people struggled to wade through the energy sapping terrain to the other side.

After another 5/10 minutes or so of running through woods I could hear cheering in the distance and, believing the finish line to be only minutes away, picked up the pace a little, finding energy reserves I wasn’t sure I had. But turning the last bend out of the forest, we found it was anything but the finish that confronted us. Instead we had a series of repetitive shuttle runs up and down sand dunes. My legs were protesting in agony and I wish I could say that I managed to run up each one but I had no power left in my legs and my calves were screaming so much that I was reduced to walking up the dunes. The torture over, we hit the last section which was mercifully flat and only a few minutes away from the finish and my last, customary sprint for the line.

My final time was 1h 35m 18s for the 11 mile course which I’m reasonably pleased with (despite the fact that I still ache two days later). I’m getting quite into this adventure racing lark and still have the (comparitively flat) Grim challenge to do in December. My mate, who has done the last couple with me (and habitually races in blue while I race in black so we shall henceforth be known as the Bruise Brothers), is touting the Karrimoor International Mountain Marathon as a challenge next year as it’s the granddaddy of adventure racing but I’m prepared to leave it for a while. Or at least until I sort my calves out!

A couple of weeks ago, the Sunday Times Style Magazine* had an article which discussed the type of midlife crisis psychology behind people doing events like Tough Guy. There’s an online version here.

I guess I agree with the overall sentiment but that was something I discussed last year and was the reason I entered TG in the first place: proving to myself that I could do it, looking for something that made me feel a little more alive. Not only that, I want to do something different, something exciting. But then, that’s the type of person I’ve always been in one manner or other. Of course, if, as a result of this article, next years event is going to be full of city wankers then I’m not sure I want to have any part of it. There’s always more challenges to go for.

*I hasten to add that I don’t read the Style section myself but the wife does, habitually. I normally go for the Culture section first.