I'm sat on the mezz having completed 2 miles yesterday afternoon, 2 miles this morning and preparing to head out again .... but it's started to rain. Below is a picture of the 'world famous' mezz and one of the three Velux windows that are smattered with raindrops as the sky turns from a beautiful clear azure blue to a troubled deep dark grey-blue.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
One thing that did happen yesterday was a Close Encounter of the Twitcher Kind. As I was unloading the tyre from the car I looked up and, at exactly the same time, Mrs Twitcher turned round from emptying her bin. Dressed in an aggressive apron and a fierce pair of camoflague slippers that would blend in beautifully with any plaid carpet, she froze. So did I.
Time stood still for (well at least) 3 seconds as she and I assessed the situation. It felt a little like two wild animals in the jungle, hunters suddenly catching sight of each other, deciding whether to fight or move on to find their own prey whilst ensuring the other didn't lunge with a sneak attack. She put her hand in her apron pocket; I tensed. She slowly pulled out a ................................................... clothes peg and resumed her watchful gaze as she diappeared into the house. Phew, I could finally breathe aagin.
Other than that yesterday was pretty uneventful although the 'junior fan club' had grown in size and one lad (bless his heart) offered me the £2 in his pocket as sponsorship. Another one wanted to try the tyre harness ... why are the ginger-haired ones the loudest and most irritating? No Stephen that's NOT a point you should refer me back to in the office tomorrow!!
The lad, Jake, did about 100m in 22.1 seconds with one tyre and seemed please with himself although I have to say I was particularly annoyed on my return trip when I found the leaflet they took to look at (about the trek) torn in two and left to blow across the park in the spring breeze. Disrespectful little &*£$@# !!
One of the girls (who had a go pulling two tyres a couple of weeks ago) asked me why I was only pulling one this time; I figure variety is a key part of training so sometimes I'll pull the full weight for strength training and sometimes I'll pull a lighter one for distance training - the intent is the two things come together around January 2012 and I can pull both weight and complete distance too. The photos below show what the sled looks like during a packing phase (with thanks to Hazel Kurz who succesfully completed the Trek in April of this year) and hopefully the type of terrain we WON'T really come across in April next year (thanks to Google and Catlin Ice Survey; those guys and gals pull 90kg sleds!!).
Other than that and a plethora of humour from passers-by, the only moment that stands out was the moron who shouted out of his van window that "Looks like you're dragging 3 tyres around you fat b*****d". Ha ha such wonderful wit; a joy to know mankind can be so thoughful and uplifting with such prose.
SUNDAY MORNING
This morning was just jolly nice with a few people shouting encouragement, a really nice chat with one woman at the start, which flowed seamlessly into a chat with a blind couple (they offered me their dogs as huskies bless them) and another couple who stood nearby and tactfully tried to listen, although how you can tactfully try to listen when you're only 4ft away, have no dog busying itself and no grandchildren playing with twigs I'm not sure, but they loitered and also offered their good wishes once the blind couple had moved on before sauntering out of the gates.
Oh and I found a £5 note in the Park too so that will go to one of the charities.
Right, food time and let's hope it stops raining as I think I'll head to Barwick this afternoon and try to do 4 laps of the football & cricket boundaries. Hopefully there'll be a bunch of bored cricketers, some of whom I know, ready to laugh but dip their hands in their pockets for an ex teammate. We'll see.
In the meantime please feel free to admire the following; it's a piece of art by my girlfriend Lucia. The photo doesn't really do it justice. She too will be displaying some of her work; like Alison she is self-taught and has only been painting as a hobby for a year but hopefully she can get some praise and a sale or two. This one sold for £50 just over 5 months ago
You can see more at the Hanging Ditch branch of Starbucks (opposite Urbis in Manchester) on Friday 17th June as they host a fundraising day for the charities I'm supporting. Specially priced coffee and cup-cake deal on in-store too so get yourself down there.
And no, in case you're interested, it's not stopped raining. In fact it's heavier now and the sky is a solid blanket of pale grey : (
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
One thing that did happen yesterday was a Close Encounter of the Twitcher Kind. As I was unloading the tyre from the car I looked up and, at exactly the same time, Mrs Twitcher turned round from emptying her bin. Dressed in an aggressive apron and a fierce pair of camoflague slippers that would blend in beautifully with any plaid carpet, she froze. So did I.
Time stood still for (well at least) 3 seconds as she and I assessed the situation. It felt a little like two wild animals in the jungle, hunters suddenly catching sight of each other, deciding whether to fight or move on to find their own prey whilst ensuring the other didn't lunge with a sneak attack. She put her hand in her apron pocket; I tensed. She slowly pulled out a ................................................... clothes peg and resumed her watchful gaze as she diappeared into the house. Phew, I could finally breathe aagin.
Other than that yesterday was pretty uneventful although the 'junior fan club' had grown in size and one lad (bless his heart) offered me the £2 in his pocket as sponsorship. Another one wanted to try the tyre harness ... why are the ginger-haired ones the loudest and most irritating? No Stephen that's NOT a point you should refer me back to in the office tomorrow!!
The lad, Jake, did about 100m in 22.1 seconds with one tyre and seemed please with himself although I have to say I was particularly annoyed on my return trip when I found the leaflet they took to look at (about the trek) torn in two and left to blow across the park in the spring breeze. Disrespectful little &*£$@# !!
One of the girls (who had a go pulling two tyres a couple of weeks ago) asked me why I was only pulling one this time; I figure variety is a key part of training so sometimes I'll pull the full weight for strength training and sometimes I'll pull a lighter one for distance training - the intent is the two things come together around January 2012 and I can pull both weight and complete distance too. The photos below show what the sled looks like during a packing phase (with thanks to Hazel Kurz who succesfully completed the Trek in April of this year) and hopefully the type of terrain we WON'T really come across in April next year (thanks to Google and Catlin Ice Survey; those guys and gals pull 90kg sleds!!).
Other than that and a plethora of humour from passers-by, the only moment that stands out was the moron who shouted out of his van window that "Looks like you're dragging 3 tyres around you fat b*****d". Ha ha such wonderful wit; a joy to know mankind can be so thoughful and uplifting with such prose.
SUNDAY MORNING
This morning was just jolly nice with a few people shouting encouragement, a really nice chat with one woman at the start, which flowed seamlessly into a chat with a blind couple (they offered me their dogs as huskies bless them) and another couple who stood nearby and tactfully tried to listen, although how you can tactfully try to listen when you're only 4ft away, have no dog busying itself and no grandchildren playing with twigs I'm not sure, but they loitered and also offered their good wishes once the blind couple had moved on before sauntering out of the gates.
Oh and I found a £5 note in the Park too so that will go to one of the charities.
Right, food time and let's hope it stops raining as I think I'll head to Barwick this afternoon and try to do 4 laps of the football & cricket boundaries. Hopefully there'll be a bunch of bored cricketers, some of whom I know, ready to laugh but dip their hands in their pockets for an ex teammate. We'll see.
In the meantime please feel free to admire the following; it's a piece of art by my girlfriend Lucia. The photo doesn't really do it justice. She too will be displaying some of her work; like Alison she is self-taught and has only been painting as a hobby for a year but hopefully she can get some praise and a sale or two. This one sold for £50 just over 5 months ago
You can see more at the Hanging Ditch branch of Starbucks (opposite Urbis in Manchester) on Friday 17th June as they host a fundraising day for the charities I'm supporting. Specially priced coffee and cup-cake deal on in-store too so get yourself down there.
And no, in case you're interested, it's not stopped raining. In fact it's heavier now and the sky is a solid blanket of pale grey : (
No comments:
Post a Comment