Thursday 22 October 2009

ultra surfing pooch

just read in the paper about this dog. he surfs with a young paraplegic boy in the states to help stabilise the board. amazing beings dogs aren't they.

testing testing

Monday 19 October 2009

rediscovering the joy




i am now starting to feel a new sense of freedom and rejuvenation in my running. simply by mixing it all up and doing what i feel when i feel, i'm beginning to enjoy it once more. out have gone slavish training schedules (for now) and lots and lots of pre planned races (for now also). the distances have come down but the quality is getting better. there's no shirking..last week included track, hills, and a tempo...but i'm just doing what feels right on any given day. take saturday, in the morning i headed out and 10 minutes later i was back, totally lacking inspiration to run. but fast forward 5 hours and i was loving a simple 8 mile hilly x-c under a sunny autumnal sky. add in to the mix a bit of biking, swimming and gym and its a varied cocktail to keep it all fresh, interesting and fun. and thats what it should be yes?
again some variety on sunday..a tempo run here..

followed by some x-c chasing karen riding fred here...

Tuesday 13 October 2009

not a lot of people know this

Shutlingsloe, pictured by me this fine morning from my garden, is known as the Cheshire Matterhorn. Well I certainly didn't know that until today.

Funny that. Because, from the track at lunchtime, where I was banging out 8 x 200's x 2 with my mate Steve 'Speedy' Daniels, guess what you can see..Shutlingsloe. And what can you see from Hollie's school in Macclesfield..and the school Will is going to in Leek next year..and as mentioned from our house..yep, you guessed it.

A nickname well earned..though not a lot of people know it.

Monday 12 October 2009

Mad Cows

our early morning run at 0545 saw the first outing this autumn of my hat and gloves. it wasnt freezing but cold enough for a ground frost veneer to brighten the ground under the stars and moon above.

feeling rather chipper today i decided to pack some gear for a lunchtime kenyan hill session in the 'cornerfield' in bollington (hayfella knows the one). my choice of gear was somewhat guided by my first outing, so i took a berghaus base layer and shorts.



arriving in 'cornerfield' after just 10mins of running and i was sweating cobs.it was roasting for the time of year. so, with only cows and horses in sight there was only one thing to do, so off came the shirt. ahhh..liberated running once again though i'm not that sure the onwatching cows would have necessarily agreed.

Saturday 3 October 2009

what's this!



this 'thing' was delivered by the postman today. anyone got a clue what i should be doing with it?