I notice that the last entry I made to the blog was back on the 3^rd May 2010, so I have been rubbish at keeping up with regular entries – must do better! It has been a busy couple of months generally and with the running in particular, trying to fit it all in before the baby!

There have been a couple of stand out experiences – including the Wessex Ridgeway with Paul Price which started at Beaminster and should have finished back at my car at Thorncombe, but insufficient preparation (map, torch, sense of direction) and a bit of bad navigation meant that we ended up in Birdsmoorgate, still miles from the car, as darkness fell and if it weren’t for a very nice lady feeling pity for us and giving us a lift at 10.20pm, we’d probably still be there now! (in the event we did make it to Wynyards Gap before closing time!).   

There was a Ham Hill Hash at the Foresters Arms on 16^th May which went well and I’ll attach photos elsewhere on this site.  

June began with a recce of the new course of the Sherborne 10km, which next year will be from Leweston School and the course devised by the Rotary Club is workable, albeit looking to run it in the opposite direction to the one that they intended. It will be interesting to see how the relay marathon goes over the same course in October and we can work on any teething problems that they have.

The Cricket St Thomas Run in the Wild on 6^th June was a bugger this year – this was run in the opposite direction to last year which was hard enough in itself but now the hills seemed bigger and more frequent; obviously the landscapers of the new owners have been busy! A disappointing time of about 1hr05 (not helped by giving up once realised that the hour mark was up) was followed two days later with a time of 23m47 at the Michelmores 5km on Exeter’s quayside – very crowded course (1,000 plus runners in two waves) made for slow start but it was gratifying picking people off throughout and despite an average time which would have been low down the field at Yeovilton saw me finish in about 250^th place.  

The Club’s own races at the 5km Series and Ninesprings 9km both went off well, although the numbers at the 9km weren’t great. There were about 70 in the Corporate  challenge 4.5km albeit that the only business who took up the challenge properly was the Hospital.

One event that will be on the calendar for future years will be the Mendip Mashup, which took place on 19^th June. I went round with Richard Blackmore in the 2 hour event, mapping our way round the course in orienteering-stylee, working out the best route and ending up with 440 points – enough to finish 2^nd and 3^rd, my first podium finish!  

Wednesday saw the first run of the Eco Fitness 5km Series at Stourhead, and I thought I would give it a go, travelling over from Shepton Mallet after work. I arrived at the National Trust car park and was immediately struck by the almost total absence of cars – only a few bits of barrier tape that I’d driven past gave any clue that there was a race on at all, and I wandered up to Stourhead House to register. Race started 7pm, I entered at 5.50pm and was given Number 8 – I quickly thought that I might be able to follow up second place at the Mendip Mashup with a top ten finish – until Dickie Wythe and Rod Appleby turned up, I was looking at top 3!

It was quite hot, an indication being the fact that my Vaseline had turned nearly to liquid and was thus easier to rub liberally on to thighs and nipples (I know, too much information!).

The runners assembled and there were probably about 30 people there in total – Lesley Nesbitt and I were eying the opposition, fancying our chances (I mean in a competition sense – I realise that that sounds much worse than was intended!) of a decent finish. Dickie was in pot hunting mood, although noted that there were a couple of triathletes who looked half useful. The organisers (who hold a monthly outdoor exercise route from King Alfred’s Tower and regular outdoor boot camps) were aghast that no-one was doing a proper warm up – after all, that’s what the first mile is for!

The start came and I headed out as strongly as I could, quickly counting that there were only 9 ahead of me – the top ten was on! Sadly two chaps came past me after about 1km and whilst I tried to hang on to their coat tails one pulled away and after briefly overtaking the other on the down hill section, he came past me in Six Wells Bottom, and there was then a hill from the valley bottom up to the Obelisk which I was determined wouldn’t beat me – but which did, I’m afraid to say, but the truth is that my walk was probably as fast as my run at that point. The course came out by the obelisk and there was then a 500m sprint back to Stourhead House for the finish and a time of 23m47 – exactly the same as at the Michelmores 5km in Exeter on tarmac a fortnight before and now I’ll be trying to find someone to marshal for me at Yeovilton to see what I can do on a flat course!