Did my 6th London marathon last week. Hated it. Which is in complete contrast to last year. Why? Hmm not sure, but I suppose a shaky few months training and no real idea of what I wanted to achieve were contributing factors.
Lesson 1........ Always have a plan and know why you are doing what you are doing.
I did finish it though, even though I could happily have walked off the course many times....well I say that, I would have had to be some sort of martial arts guru to break through the crowds but you know what I mean 😊
Didn't do much all week really, except go down to the leisure centre and run a tiny bit of 401 marathon challenge mans 230 somethingth marathon. Really nice guy, and a bit of a chat with some Dag 88s which made me miss being a member 😐
Oh I did work of course and have realised that if all the projects that are lined up got their shit together and wanted to start the next day I would just have to change my name, my appearance, and dissapear. Still I'm sure loads of people have jobs like that. You just juggle and try to appear competent until you can be promoted out of harms way 😝
Anyway, yesterday was a trip to the Isle of Wight with some mates for parkrun tourism and a ride round the Island. My alarm was set for 3.30 am so I woke at 2.15 and was unable to go back to sleep. Eventually Thundercat who was trying very hard to sleep on my legs which kept tossing and turning, told me to 'just fucking get up and feed me or something, you are doing my head in!' So I did. I was being picked up at 4.15 and the time just dragged! Seriously if I worked in the small hours I would get so much more done cos those hours are loooonnnnggggg.
But eventually I was picked up, bike racked and a little trip round Dagenham to pick up Paul and Mark who were along with Andy the driver, car buddies for the day.
Conversation was surprisingly lively for that time in the morning, though I had to intervene when the blokes started discussing whether a fish would use its gills or its fins to operate a walkie talkie.
Lesson 2....... If you give men long enough in an enclosed space they will start to talk complete bollocks very quickly.
(Fins of course, it's bloody obvious isn't it?)
Anyway, arrive at the Isle of Wight and drive to Shanklin, where this weeks parkrun is, along the esplanade. It's a lovely venue in the sunshine, with toilets available and a sizeable crowd gathering. Mark introduced himself to all the locals 😃
What followed was the longest parkrun intro I've ever heard which included a warmup and me giving my name and address to a lady who knits erm, egg cosys for barcode scanners (nope, me neither) anyway, Barking should be getting 2 soon.
The course was literally an out and back with a bizarre first 200m loop which meant you saw the leaders coming at you about 5 seconds after you started! But settled in nicely with Mark who said he thought 27 minutes but was actually running comfortably at 5.15 ks. Finished in 25.07 albeit a bit of a short course. We then got knitted up for bike and went back to the cafe we had been running past minutes before for brekkie.
It was fine but we waited ages for a couple of the orders and all the while I was looking up. Looking up at the hill we had to climb out of Shanklin. Now, I know hill climbing is hard, but I also know I can grind them out, what I was worried about was the new pedal/cleat combo and turning a corner then not being able to clip in when you've suddenly got a massive bloody hill in front of you.
Still, you won't know if you don't try.
Got on my bike in the car park, clipped one foot in went to stomp the other one round and nearly fell off cos the chain wasn't on. Great start! Paul put it back on for me, he was carrying gloves just for that purpose 😀.
Rode round the car park for a while trying to get clipped in before I turned up the road cos it was most definitely up, finally did it and slowly span up the hill only almost co pletely stopping when I change the front ring by accident 😳 so you get to the top of that hill then a relatively flat bit for about 100m to a set of traffic lights that of course turn red as I get to them. Unclipping is dicey mainly because with my old ones you turned your foot in, these are out and it's not wired in yet, but I get there.
Lights turn green and I turn left scrabbling to clip in only to see just what I feared, a hill. So I stop. Get off and walk up it. I'm thinking here, 'ffs is this what it will be like all day? ' I'm feeling incredibly anxious and this isn't helping. But I carry on, and it's ok, until a few miles later in going downhill fast and see a line of cars in front of me on a narrow road. Oh I think, they must be parked but. Realise as I get closer they aren't, and have to do an emergency unclip, which almost undoes me. It's a temporary traffic light, on a steep downhill around a bend that I can't see. At this point, Andy, who must be the most patient friend I have says 'do you want to go back and not do this?' And he's quite right, I'm done with this already, I can't cope with riding 50 more miles shaking like a leaf. I don't really argue much, I know when I'm making the right decision, I don't want to hold everyone up and if there a part of ironman Andy won't struggle with it's the bike. So he informs the others and we head back to Shanklin, plus David who also had decided he wasn't in the right place for the ride round the island.
We ride back and have a tea in the cafe, then head out for a few loops, lots of clipping in and out practice which is what I need, with at times someone behind me telling me I need to flip the pedal 😅
So the afternoon was spent round that area cycling around and it was fun. Less fun was not being able to get any warm clothes because Andys car key was in Pauls rucksack but never mind. It meant we were super pleased to see the rest of the group return about 5.30 😊
Oh yes Lesson 3...... Putting new pedals and cleats on, and trying them once in a traffic free environment is not really prep for an ultra hilly ride round the Isle of Wight.
Anyway, it was still fun and I'm glad I went.
I learnt a new lesson today.
Lesson 4...... Always double knot your laces before a race you fucking idiot!!!!!
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