24 paseos de la bici de la milla

Monday 25th may. Off work today, so my pal Stevie C and I went for a nice bike ride. 12 miles out to Portaferry where the Ferry takes cars and passengers to the other side of Strangford lough. We stopped long enough to have the traditional banana for energy, a photo (as attached) and then the 12 miles back again over the hilly course home. We managed to beat my previous PB of 1hr 39mins, and came in at 1hr 3omins 46secs. As you can see in the photo, (which was taken on my phone by a man in his car who was in waiting for the ferry) there was some considerable fog across the bay. Fortunately, it stayed there and didnt travel over to our side. Our trip a few evenings earlier had been cut short due to a heavy fog. All said, it made for a nice cool journey though. I have been so used to running and cycling by myself, now I have someone who can come along on some of my runs and cycles, keep pace and is good company to boot. Cheers Stevie C!

PS...young Stevie C is fluent in Spanish and has agreed to try and teach me!....Hence the post title.

So you wanna be a record breaker??

Saturday, 23rd May. I had a notion of a run after dark today. I was getting quite impatient about it and really wanted to get going. the day had been overcast and the thought of a run in the dark, cool night was very appealing. However, late in the evening the sun broke through, clouds dissapated, and a beautiful evening revealed itself. That was it. I had to get out. I set out for a 7 mile run. It was warm, not to much in the way of a breeze, but a beautiful night. The sky full of colour and felt good. As soon as I had done about 1/2 a mile I decided to break my PB. I widened the stride and pressed on. my breathing quickened and heart beat raised considerably, I pressed on. I kept it up for 4 miles, then started to feel very tired so slacked off a bit, but kept a good pace. I done this for about a mile and a half then stepped on it again. once more the breathe quickened, heart raced and my legs complained a bit. I felt like slackening off so much, but grimaced, and pushed on. anyway...my 7 mile pb has been 54min 50secs......NOW, it's 50 mins 10secs!!! Yehaa. that's almost 7 minute miles. Gonna go and lie down now.

SHINS SORTED

Shins sorted. I thought I would give my shins a bit of a rub to help them along. As I started I found my attention turning to my calves, they were rock hard tight! I massaged them untill they were relaxed again. The next day I was out running again....A nice 7 miler with a friend of mine from work, Stevie C, and it turned into a real feel good run. Shins sorted...by rubbing the calves....go figure!!??

OH SHINS!!!

Sunday 17th, went out for 7 miler today, after just 1 mile my old shin problem from last year reared it's ugly head again. My planned feel good 7 miler turned into a walk/run/walk/run 3.6 miler rubbish run with sore tight shins.

I now have a pea sized lump on each front outer edge of my shins where the muscle is so knotted up!

Will just have to pamper them for a couple of days. I now have deep heat rub on them and compression bands.

Ballyhalbert 1943.

Hi, in episode 3 I talk a bit about the war history in Ballyhalbert. I talked about how my home town of Ballyhalbert was home to the RAF, the navy, the army and the United states air force in the second world war. It was predominately used to protect against enemy planes headed for Belfast. the air Field was sold in 1960 to a developer who used it as a caravan site. In the bottom picture you will notice that the behind the men is a semi-circle wall. This is where they used to fire rounds into to align the sights on the on board guns. that semi-circle remains today. This history is right out in my back yard! I have posted this image of these men in front of a war plane in 1943. Below is a little snippet of the text that accompanied the photo in the website.......

(The photo of B Flight was taken in August 1943 at Ballyhalbert in Northern Ireland, when the flight was detached from the rest of the Squadron based at Church Fenton. I can identify most of the pilots in the front row: 1,2,3 Flying Officers Hughes, McKinnon and Stooks 4 ground-crew Flight Sergeant 5 Flg Off Doug Murray 6 Flt Lt Kit North-Lewis � (the flight commander) 7 forgotten! 8 ground-crew Sergeant 9 Army Liaison Officer 10 Flt Lt Pope 11 Flg Off Griffiths (Me!) The aircraft is a Mustang Mk1 � the early version with the Allison engine.Regards Arthur Griffiths )

Another snippet..referring to top picture

23 April 1944. Bally Halbert. From left (only those with visible faces): F/Lt Kudrewicz, F/Lt Jenik, F/Lt Stasik,F/O Swietlikowski, F/O Szaposznikow, F/Lt Proktor (503), F/O Franckiewicz, F/O Marszalek, F/Sgt Zygarlicki, F/Sgt Bienik, F/Sgt Polilejko (?), F/Sgt Sadowski and F/Sgt Lopuszynski.

Twilightrunner Episode 3#

http://twilightrunner.podbean.com/2009/05/14/twilight-runner-episode-3/

Twilight Runner episode 2

http://twilightrunner.podbean.com/2009/05/07/twilight-runner-episode-2/

Belfast City Marathon 2009.

On Monday 4th of May I drove nervously to Belfast to take part in this years marathon, my first ever race. the traffic was a bit hectic in the city making it difficult to get near the starting area. I pulled the car onto double yellows just long enough to take off the tracksuit trousers and jumper I had over my running gear, and stood and shivered as my wife pinned on my race numbers & chip. It was a cold rainy windy morning and i pretty cold. I made my way on foot to the starting area with moments to spare. the road was packed with people all bustling, waiting for the start. I worked my way through the crowds to get to the section for sub 4 hour finishers. there was a belly high barrier that I had to swing my leg over fast and high as the starters gun went off, and almost immedietly I was moving along with the crowd, building into a run, no warm ups, stretches or anything. I found it quite bizarre running alond with crowds of people around me. Soon I got to realise that there was more to take into consideration, before I make a move to the side to go around someone I would have to glance over the shoulder to ensure that I was'nt intruding on someone elses run space, which I had done to me a few times and I found this very frustrating and well, rude. It was strange also how perhaps I would find myself running along side another runner for 6 or 7 miles and hardly a word was spoken. So after a while I started to talk to some people, even perhaps briefly, a word of encouragment or something to make them giggle, but I thought it was a crime that there were so many people with the same passion and not many were communicating. OK sure, I'm not saying I would want to hold an in depth conversation for miles and miles, but the odd minute here and there makes all the difference. Anyway, after being quietly amused with being able to run down city streets with no traffic, and the rebelous feeling of just dumping down water cups on the street, which felt alien to me, and the surreal sight of groups of people by the road side handing out goops of vasaline at various stages, I started to feel more at home in this surreal experience, especially that as the miles went on, you started to recognise how was in for the long haul, and who were the relay runners who changed every 7 mile or thereabouts. However, at mile 13 I felt a twinge that made me worry. My left hamstring got really tight really fast. Oh no, why, why now? Since I had started running I had never, ever once got a cramp, and now, on race day my left leg was cramping up. I had to reduce my pace immedietly, but there was no notion of stopping. I was going to get over that finish line, come hell or high water! I nursed the cramping hamstring for the remaining 13 miles. I remember that at mile 20 I was running along side a young girl in her twenties for a while and her face said it all. She asked me the time, and her voice was trembling with suffering. I knew her legs were cramping up, I just knew it, so I asked her if thats what was bothering her, she answered yes. I encouraged her with some advice, then with 4 miles left to go she got further and further behind. I'm not sure if she finished running. I hope so. I will never forget those last 4 miles. "four miles to go!" an official shouted, great I thought, I know what 4 miles feels like, happy days, not long to go. Everything below the waist was sore now, not to mention the leg cramp which felt like something was about to go 'PING!'. So what seemed like three and a half miles, another official called 3 miles to go! "WHAT!!??" I thought to myself, NO WAY!!!OK, settle, 3 miles to go, Thats ok, so after what felt like 2.5/3 miles an official called out "2 miles to go!" Oh Crap! this is tough! I thought it was never going to end. My left leg was getting tighter and tigher with every step, my feet were sore, my knees, my hips, and every time I thought we must be near the end it seemed that someone must be moving the finish line further and further away. But i endured, and crossed the finish line in 4 hrs, 15 mins, 15 secs. i was elated with finishing, but dissapointed because i knew that without the leg cramp for 13 miles I would have done it in well under 4 hours. But, I had achieved what I had come for, to endure, overcome and have my first marathon, 26.2 miles under the belt. There were thousands of people in the park were it finished and I foolishly did not carry my phone with me, and therefore did not manage to meet up with my wife for about an hour. By that stage it was pretty darn cold, raining, and i was wandering around on tired legs, a foil blanket wrapped round me, looking for my wife who had brought sandwiches, which if I didnt get to soon, would start to eat the grass in the feild, because i wanted food badly. But it's strange, I'm almost glad of that time wondering around, because you get to see some sights. At one point as the rain really came down, I stood aginst a wall for shelter as the rain was coming in sideways, I saw a guy coming from the finish line with a white t-shirt on and two bloody rings were his obviously sore nipple were, and two trails of red running down. not good. I had tape over mine, and was very happy in that area. also there were some red inner thighs, I was glad of my lycra shorts for that. Anyway, when I did meet up with the wife and kids, got a few pictures took, I enjoyed getting back to the car for a lovely warm coffee, which I had a hankering for after drinking water etc all day, and enjoyed a sandwich, as i proudly wore the medal I had earned. If you were to ask me in those last few miles if I were to do another marathon, I probably would have told you were to get off. But, after some food and a hot shower, I got home and was looking online for my next challenge! He he,............ I am a runner!

Twilight Runner episode 1

http://twilightrunner.podbean.com/mf/web/mnhjut/Twilightrunner.mp3

26.2 miles...done.

Hi all. I did it! my first marathon, the Belfast City Marathon 2009...26.2 miles, under the belt. just for the record, everything under the belt, legs, hips, feet, knees are stiff and sore but not too bad. The elation however of acheiving the goal I had worked so hard for makes it all worth while. My finish time was 4hrs 15mins, which I was a bit dissapointed in. this was due to a leg cramp that started at mile 13 and got tighter and tighter forcing me to stay at a reduced pace. this was my first ever leg cramp, and on race day!! But i reckon I know what caused it...when driving up to the city the traffic was pretty slow and made getting to the start line quite tight. It was a cold morning, overcast with some rain, so when I stopped the car and took off the track suit trousers (as I was running in the usual lycra shorts), I was pretty cold, shivering as my wife pinned on my race numbers. I dashed off to the start and it was packed out with bodies all going in different directions, I found my way to the section of entrants that were sub 4 hours and had to climb over a barrier just as the gun went off. Throwing my left leg quickly and high to stumble into the street with cold muscles then straight into running cost me my sub 4 hour target, which I know I would have definitly done otherwise. Ah well, I'm happy to have finished my first marathon. What's next? I'm having a think, will let you know. I have to say it was a surreal experience, which I will detail out in my next post very soon. I also have a pending podcast, which because it is a first timer is under review by itunes, but i will talk some about race day in the second episode which I may do on my recovery run. PS... A big thanks to Stuart at quadrathon for his help and support in geting my first podcast through the technical aspect and into itunes.