Cross Country & Poetry

It's that wonderful time of year again, when of all of the rain, wind, hail and snow we've had throughout the summer can be enjoyed in all of their glory in the wonder that is the Cross Country season.  As a wee bit of a XC taster I reworked (butchered) a christmas favourite to give you this poetic masterpiece:

Twas the night before XC-mas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The spikes were hung in the spike bag with care,
In hopes that rain and the mud would soon be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of races ran round in their heads.
And lasses in shorts, and lads in club vests,
Stocked up on Tiger Balm, Vaseline and Elastoplasts .

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed, stubbed my toe on a trainer.
Away to the window I ran like Mo Farah,
Tore open the curtains t’see what was the marra’.

The moon on the glimmer of the newly made mud
The rain was hoying it down, as hard as it could.
When, what to my wondering eyes appears,
But a bunch of officials, marshals & timekeepers.

With a smile and a wave they all looked up,
I knew in a moment it must be the Sherman Cup.
More races they said, "we’ve the Davison Shield too",
"Get ya spikes on, it’s race time, we’re talking to you!"

"Now Strollers! now, Striders! now, Birtley and Alnwick!
On, Tynebridge! On, Tynedale! on Jarrow and Elswick!
To the bottom of the dell! to the top of the hill!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

I'm the ladies secretary for the North East Harrier league.  This involves a lot of emailing back & forward to clubs, sorting out race numbers for seniors, vets and juniors, vast Excel spreadsheets, me cursing at the computer, various people, and a fair bit of hair pulling.  I was still sorting out race numbers & team sheets the night before the big day when all the wee xc runners were tucked up in bed, but not quite as late as the men's secretary Simon who apparently had a 3am finish :s  So all you folks out there who do any kind of race - please spare a thought for the officials, timekeepers, marshals and race-results fairies who make the day possible!

Back on with the running:

Being that I was injured for pretty much the whole of last year's cross country season, I hadn't had my spikes or fell shoes out of the bag since this time in 2011.  They were of course still in the state I left them in after the Davison Shield last year, so after a quick dusting off (for which read bashing against the garage wall 'till the caked on mud cracked enough to pry it off) I was set to go.

The Jarrow & Hebburn team have somehow managed to triple in size from last year, but the senior lasses have an important race next weekend, so it was down to us veteran ladies to fly the yellow & blue colours.  So Elaine, Anne-Marie and I lined up at the start on the Temple Park course in South Shields, bedecked in our team vests, and I have to say Anne-Marie's trail shoes where a damn sight less manky than my fell shoes.

Elaine - 6th overall

me & Anne-Marie (many thanks to George Routledge for piccies

It was windy as hell, but the skies were blue.  There was a fair bit of mud in parts, after all the rain we had earlier in the week, but it was otherwise very passable.  After slogging it round the two lap course, me and Anne-Marie finished in a pretty respectable 61st & 63rd place, but Elaine managed a fantastic 6th!

This meant we finished 5th vets team out of 12 - pretty bloomin' good.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to complete all but one of this years races (I can't normally do the Prudhoe fixture because the results for the teams need to be worked out on the day), and after feeling okay all the way round yesterday it's looking pretty good.  

An enjoyable run, lugging myself up & down hills, who'da thought it.  Well done to everyone who turned out :D

Happy running folks!

Golfy update

I started playing golf at Tyneside Golf Club with a scheme they were running for ladies who had never played golf before called the "Tee-Timers".  The first session was carnage on the practice field, with 24 of us lined up, and balls flying everywhere, and not going anywhere at all.  After several months of lessons with Gary the pro, and the wonderful Lillian and Anne from the ladies section, they finally let us loose on the course (a terrifying day for the rest of the membership no doubt).

Of the initial Tee-timers around 16 joined up, so it was a great success, and this has been my first full season playing with a handicap. 

Andy, my hubby, who has played golf since before he served with Nelson in the Navy, is keen as mustard.  So he entered us into all manner of mixed competitions this year.  This could have been grounds for divorce with some couples, but fortunately he also has the patience of a saint when it comes to my 'lively' putting style, so we haven't come to blows as yet.

Yesterday saw us off on our travels after work again, this time up to Garesfield Golf Club, near Chopwell Woods.

View from the clubhouse

The weather really didn't know what it wanted to do, it was blazing sunshine on the 1st, and after a soaking in heavy rain on the 7th,  and an initially poor start we managed to recover to 17 points on the front nine.  The rain stopped on the 9th, but the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and by the 10th it was bloody freezing.  We really did have four seasons in one day.

14th tee, facing the green

The views were stunning on the course, and you are so high up you can see the sea at South Shields!  I could probably just have walked around the course with my camera to take some great pics.

14th tee, looking back across the 13th toward Chopwell

It was getting late, and we were playing into a low sun on the 17th & 18th which was really difficult for judging were the ball was going, but we (mostly Andy) rallied round on the back nine, finishing with 39 points. I did myself proud though in my first mixed comp playing with my new 30 handicap, and the score was a team effort.

I was so cold I couldn't feel my fingers at the finish though - crazy after such a warm start to the round.  So the trip back home had the heaters in the van on gas mark 9 ;)

Back home to a lovely Birtley sunset

That's it for my season of mixed golf, the last competition 'till next year.  I've got two more ladies competitions, and then it's full on into the cross country season (with the first harrier league meeting in 10 days time)

Happy running / diving / /golfing folks!

Fantastic weekend of sport

It really doesn't get much better than this.

After the buzz of watching the elites competing at the Olympics & Paralympics it was my turn to get stuck into some sport over the weekend.  I was hoping for a decent time at the Great North 5k, but sadly the hills and wind put pay to it.  Nevermind.

After an initial promising start, the route took us along the south side of the river, which unlike the Newcastle side (totally flat), is more what hardened cross country folks like to call 'undualting' - though to anyone with half a brain would say a wee bit hilly.  It had more ups and downs than an Indiana Jones film.

I tried to stick it out with the fasters lasses, but my legs said 'sod off, you loon' and I just about pushed myself on with willpower alone to finish in a not-too-shabby (but ultimately poor) finishing time of 22:56

However, all was not lost with a super finishing position of 5th Lady! and 2nd over 40 which made the whole thing worth it.

A big well done to the ladies who finished ahead of me, and to Janette (first L60), Fred (second v70), John Iley, Tim (second v40), Steve (fourth v35) and Jason (fourth v40), who all ran too!

I met up with rkid, Pete, and Pixie for the Citygames on the quayside later on, which were great!  Good to see so many people out supporting the really fast lads & lasses.

Sunday, well, this is Great North Run day traditionally, and I must say I was really jealous of everyone I saw waiting for buses, and travelling to the start while I was heading west to play golf at my home club Tyneside.  I've had a great season of mixed golf, winning a few comps with Andy, and a win with one of his golfing buddies, Tony, last week (while Andy and the boys from Bristol came third in their comp at Alnmouth), but I've not had a great deal of success in our ladies medal competitions.

Well, today was a bit different.  I thought I'd rather be running the North Run when I finished the 1st with an 8, but the Red Arrows came flying past the course, on their way to do the traditional Tyne Bridge formation, and we saw the red white and blue trails, and I thought it was kind of inspiring.  So, I just got on with the rest of the round, trying not to drop too many shots on the rest of the round.

And...after months of trying..I managed to break 100, finishing with a net 65 whoohoo!

So here it is in black & white :D

Not bad since this is my first season playing with a handicap.

Actually...I'm over the moon

So...finished 5th lady, 2nd L40, broke 100, and won the comp.  I'd say that's a pretty bloody good weekend :)

Well done to the hundreds of friends who ran in the Great North Run today, especially to Pixie as it was his first, and he got the time he was hoping for, and to Peter from my running club group who knocked 5 minutes!!! off his pb to finish in 1:29:14, and Anne-Marie with her shiny new pb of 1:46:22

Well done to you all :D

5k delight

It's been 5k season for me over the last couple of months, a few 5k races, and the parkruns have seen me get some pretty decent times, but nothing close to my personal best.  So, sub 22 is the main goal for today's 5k effort at the Great North 5k, on the Newcastle & Gateshead quaysides.

I'm not sure that having my 'Sunday' name on it will help me run any quicker, but I'm quite looking forward to the fact that it's got chip timing, and that the course looks pretty fast, despite a couple of ups & downs.

According to the powerof10 I'm not doing too badly in the UK rankings for vet 40, but I'd like to just dip under the 22 minute mark for my own sanity, and the fact that I know I can do it, and haven't yet this year is a bit annoying.

 I've ran 22 5ks/5000m this year, so hopefully by the end of the year I should have cracked it!

Event	Time	Position	L40		Date
5KMT	22:15	31	1	Riverside parkrun 5K Event 3	28-Jul-12
5KMT	22:15	24		Riverside parkrun 5K Event 5	11-Aug-12
5K	22:21	183	3	Sunderland 5K	18-Jul-12
5KMT	22:30	25	1	Riverside parkrun 5K Event 8	01-Sep-12
5000	22:48.3	7		North East Veterans' Pentathlon Championships (inc NECAA Pentathlon)	08-Sep-12
5KMT	22:59	66		Riverside parkrun 5K Event 1	14-Jul-12
5KMT	23:02	66	4	Watergate 5K (Inc NE Veterans' Champs)	30-Aug-12
5K	23:03	125	2	Wallsend Harriers Terry O'Gara Memorial 5K	22-Apr-12
5KNAD	23:23	134		Newcastle parkrun 5K Event 107	04-Feb-12
5KNAD	23:23	30	1	Gateshead parkrun 5K Event 10	28-Apr-12
5KMT	23:24	29	1	Riverside parkrun 5K Event 6	18-Aug-12
5KNAD	23:28	16	1	Gateshead parkrun 5K Event 3	03-Mar-12
5KMT	23:29	70		Whitley Bay parkrun 5K Event 1	16-Jun-12
5KNAD	23:30	21	1	Gateshead parkrun 5K Event 20	07-Jul-12
5KNAD	23:55	129		Newcastle parkrun 5K Event 103	07-Jan-12
5KNAD	23:58	17	1	Gateshead parkrun 5K Event 14	26-May-12
5KNAD	24:01:00	16	1	Gateshead parkrun 5K Event 16	09-Jun-12
5KNAD	24:14:00	26	1	Gateshead parkrun 5K Event 4	10-Mar-12
5KNAD	24:39:00	19		Gateshead parkrun 5K Event 7	31-Mar-12
5KMT	25:03:00	76		Sedgefield parkrun 5K Event 1	17-Mar-12
5KNAD	27:51:00	54		Gateshead parkrun 5K Event 1	18-Feb-12

I know I didn't manage to get under 22 mins last year either, but I was injured for a good portion of it, so hopefully it'll happen today, with a favourable tailwind in the last mile please!

Best of luck to everyone running, and of course to everyone doing the North Run tomorrow :D