PB?

If you are a chemist, PB probably means lead to you. If you are in IT you might think Packard Bell or (Apple) PowerBook and obviously if you are into running, PB stands for Personal Best. For me today PB stands for PROUD BLOKE. Today my little boy ran his first ever race. He turns three in November and to be honest he doesn't stop running and bouncing around, so PB could stand for Pneumatic Boy.

I was taking part in The Big 10k event in Bexhill and what is really nice about this event is that they stage three fun runs of 500 metres, 1k & 2k before the main race. So this means there is a lot more opportunity for younger kids to take part.

Max entered or should I say 'was entered' into the 500m. Max was so excited before hand, when he had his own number and as you will see below he made sure he was warmed up and went through a stretching routine

We lined up and lined up with about 25 other kids. Max was the youngest at age 2 and the eldest was age 8. After a countdown of 5-4-3-2-1 we were off. I think the comotion got to him a little bit to start off with and he wasn't sure, but after about 50m or so he got into his stride and then was laughing and smiling all the way. It was a really special moment for me running with him and he ran the whole way without stopping. As you can see, he was focussed on running and had no time to wave for the camera!

As we crossed the line, the tannoy man commented "and here comes Max" "and I have here he is only two" I don't think he believed that Max was two? Being the geek that I am, I had to start my Garmin for his run :-) We completed the course in 3:33 and his average pace was a very respectable 11:54m/mile

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/228556192

Max was not only rewarded with a medal but also a couple of Mr Men jelly sweets.

When I asked Max if he would like some water, between his deep breathes he said 'Yes Please' and then he got a massive hug from proud mummy as well.

Once the other two fun runs were complete, it was my turn to line up and Max said he wanted to run with me, so I had to tell him it was a bit far. Just for the record, I managed a new 10k PB of 45:27 knocking 2:21 off my previous best (ooh look there is another thing that PB could stand for)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/228556210

But this weekend was all about my boy and in case you haven't realised I am a really PROUD BLOKE :-) Here is a final photo of me and my boy with our medals from today.

P.S. Max got the same medal as me and I had to run 20 times further!

Until next time
TJH

Chalk & Cheese & Water (lot's of the latter)

This weekend saw the Sievey family have only their 2nd ever camping trip, the first being last week in Oxfordshire. Last week there was a large group of us, so we had help putting the tent up and also dismantling it. This week, we were on our own. So my wife was a bit nervous about putting the tent up. At this I point I must say that I had to 'gently persuade' my wife to go camping in the first place, she is definatley more a B&B type of person. But we arrived in the New Forest around lunch time on Friday and the tent went up with no problems and no arguments :-) So to celebrate we went into Lyndhurst for a Hampshire Cream Tea and very nice it was to.

Saturday was an absolutely delightful day, a bit fresh but glorious sunshine. A short drive to Poole saw Mich, Max and I running the Poole Parkrun (Max in the buggy by the way, not actually running, afterall he is not 3yo until November). A lovely park and a really friendly atmosphere.

I came 2nd, not in the entire race but out of the 5 running buggies that were being pushed round the course
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/226084395

Incidentally, the three of us ran the Oxford parkrun the previous week. I came 3rd out of 3 buggies that time.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/224267369

We spent the rest of Saturday, pottering around the New Forest, going to a farmer's market having a pint of the local ale from the Ringwood brewery and generally enjoying the sunshine. We also saw the unofficial golden postbox in Lymington in honour of Ben Ainsle. Apparantly, a local chap (who was later arrested) painted it as Ben lives in Lymington. The official one is in Cornwall where Ben grew up.

When we got back to the tent, I unzipped the front of the tent as was about to start cooking dinner when I realised we had been burgled. We had been raided by a local criminal who is still at large and roaming free in the New Forest. The material of the larder had been chewed through, the culprit had quite a choice including Alpen bars & porridge, but it seems that Squirrels cannot resist Malt Loaf. I had bought a pack of 5 lunchbox slices. 4 empty wrappers were found a few metres from the tent.

Our neighbouring tent had also been raided and they had actually chewed through their tent to gain access to Doritos and a French stick!

Now, I had been keeping an eye on the weather all week and I knew that rain was forecast, but because the glorious sunshine hadn't been forecast, I was rather hoping that the rain might hold off. At 5am Sunday morning I was awoken by the pitter patter of raindrops on the tent and put it this way, as I type this at 8pm Sunday evening it is still raining!

So I got up at 7am and made myself some porridge (kindly left by the squirrels) and later ventured out into the rain to drive to New Milton. Mich sensibly decided to stay behind in the tent.

I managed to briefly meet up with a group of PWR's just before the off and then before we knew it the race had started. The race was enjoyable (once you are wet, you are wet) and a lot of locals made the effort to support the runners despite the weather. I thought it was ironic that we passed one pub both on the way out and on the way back, the name? 'The Rising Sun' There is a bit of a drag of a hill at 9 miles but there were loads of humerous signs on the way up to keep people's spirits up. My favourite was 'FACT, New Forest Half Marathoners have better legs than any other runners'. Also I have to say for the first time ever the mile markers were virtually in perfect synchronisation with my Garmin, never bring more than 0.01 different from when my watched beeped!

I managed a 1:48 and might have been a bit quicker, if I hadn't had to stop to do my shoe laces three times. The third time I finally worked out to do a double knot! I think water must have seeped in through my ears and affected my brain or maybe it was because I didn't get to eat any Malt Loaf before my run?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/226084418

So then it was a case of collect my medal, space cape, make my way back to the car and back to the quagmire, I mean campsite.

Being the chivalrous chap that I am I said to Mich "There is no point of us both getting wet" So I packed the tent up in a monsoon on my own. To be honest it was actually quite enjoyable. I couldn't get any wetter and (despite being told it is virtually impossible to get a sodden tent in the bag) I managed it first time. By the way, I am talking about a 5 berth steel frame 7m x 3m tent here, not a 2 man dome tent!

So all in all a fun weekend. Hopefully the memories of today will have faded enough by next year when I ask Mich if she wants to go camping again :-)

TJH

Exactly what is says on the tin!

Well, on the race number actually.  As you can see it says 'Proper Cross Country' and indeed it was.

This was my first ever cross country race as I don't think you can count running up Tiger's Alley and round the school field as cross country which is the last time I did anything that resembled cross country aged 14.

So, as you can guess from the picture above, the event was the Eridge 10 hosted by the Tunbridge Wells Harriers. This event is held in high regard amongst the running fraternity and regularly gets top marks on the Runners World forums.

As my last race resulted in a very rushed prep, we (Me , Mich & Max) arrived with over an hour to go before the 10:30am start.  So I was able to collect my number and t-shirt with ease and even go to the toilet without having to queue.  As you can see Mich and Max were enjoying the morning sunshine

I met up with the rest of the PWR's and the general conscensus was that it was going to be tough and there were some killer climbs and you would have to be sadistic to find this run fun.

600+ runners set off in the blazing sun and the first bit was downhill, but what goes down must come up.  The race itself is round the Eridge Estate and a lot of the route is on land that isn't usually open to the general public.  There are numerous features that are signposted as your run round, nice views such as 'Lake Serene' and 'Lake Magical' some small challenges such as 'The leap of death' and 'Watership Up' and some in your face, come on then if you think you are tough enough features such as 'Cheeky's Bog' and 'Deeply Steep'

At about 2.5 miles, Cheeky's Bog appeared, as I arrived there was a bit of a queue as people were in single file trying to skirt round the edge of the bog.  Hippos are known for their love of mud, so I thought bugger it and went through it, well I not quite through it.  As I stepped into the bog, I promptly dissapeared up to my knees.  Fortuntaley, I managed to extract myself with shoes still attached, unlike a poor fella at a later bog who was knee deep and had his arms in the mud up to his armpits trying to retrieve his missing shoe!

It was quite novel to see a snake like single file of runners in the distance going over the undulations rather than the mass of bodies I am used to seeing in road races.

In all there was over 1100 feet of ascending in the 10 miles.  At one point I was trying to run uphill, but every couple of steps was walking a bit. In the end I worked out is was actually quicker to power walk up the hill rather than shuffling like Quasimodo.

I completed the 10 miles in 1:44:31.  I was told that this course was not PB material, but as I have never done a 10 mile cross-country this was a PB :-)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220687957

Oh, and the holy grail at the end was a free pint of real ale from the Larkins brewery.  As a CAMRA member this is about as good as it gets!  So I joined Mich & Max and the already finished PWR's in the sun with pint in hand to cheer home the rest of the PWR's

And do you know what, I think I must have sadistic tendencies as I quite enjoyed this run

TJH

32nd, 5th & 1st

You may think that the numbers in the title are finishing positions? Not so. These are the number of parkruns that I, my 2yo son Max (albeit being pushed in the running buggy) and my wife Mich(elle) have completed!

So this blog is primarily about Mich. I mentioned to her a few months back that Petts Wood Runners were hosting an 8 week beginners running course and begrudgingly (I think) Mich said she would give it a go.

So over the last 8 weeks she has turned up every Tuesday night and slowly began to increase the time running interspersed with recovery breaks. At this point, I would like to commend Mike & Liz of PWR for taking the course, Mich has told me she has enjoyed it and that is a massive compliment as Mich didn't really 'do running'.

I must admit that I have been surprised & impressed at Mich's commitment to doing the prescribed training between sessions. She missed only one additional training session and that was because we were at the Paralympics. Max has particularly benefited from this as this meant he would either get to ride on the bike with me, or we would have a kick-a-bout and play on the swings whilst Mummy jogged round the park.

So this all culminated in Mich completing her 1st parkrun today, 5k without stopping in 36:19 and I am very proud of her!

Mich on the right accompanied by Jo (a PWR member)

Mich has spent the last 4 years either looking after Max or following me round the country whilst I trained for my Lands End to John O'Groats ride in 2010 and the London Marathon in 2012. I hope that I can repay that loyalty and maybe at some point in the near future it will be Max and I waiting by the finish and cheering as Mummy is completing a 10k?

So is there a downside to this?

Firstly, Mich had said she is now going to join PWR, so that now means taking turns on who goes running on a Tuesday night.

Secondly, I will need to keep an eye on my running gear. In the past 8 weeks Mich has already borrowed some socks, a t-shirt, a cap and has even been using my Garmin! Luckily we don't have the same size feet :-)

TJH

Pure Gold!

Yesterday I took a day off work to go to the Paralympics with my wife and little boy. It was one of the best days out I have ever had. It was an absolute gem of a day.

Getting to Stratford via bus and DLR was a breeze as was getting into the Olympic Park and through security. The Gamesmakers lived up to their name and certainly made the games. Every single one we encountered and I do mean every single one had a smile on their face and couldn't be more helpful. I wouldn't be surprised if my boy woke up today with an aching hand, I am sure he got a world record yesterday for 'high-fives'

We had tickets for the morning session at the impressive Aquatics centre and had the privilege of seeing 4 new world records including one from Team GB's 15yo Josef Craig (which he later broke in the evening to earn Gold). I can only retype what I put in a tweet during the morning and that is the athletes were bloody incredible and I was in total awe of them!

We then had tickets for the Orbit, the crazy rollercoaster looking structure by Anoushka Kapur. Amazing views over the stadium, the Olympic Park and London. I expect a viewing on a clear night would be even more spectacular!

We then found some grass to sit on to have our lunch and sit in the balmy sunshine. We then had a wander round the Olympic Park followed by meeting up with friends and having a few beers in the afternoon

At 6pm we made our way to the Stadium and was seated by 6:30 for a 7pm start.

Bonus 1 was that we were in row 4, bonus 2 was that I had managed to pick the night when we would see David Weir and Jonnie Peacock amongst others.

As you know the WeirWolf and Peacock did not disappoint and the crescendo of noise for all the GB athletes medal winners or not was spine tingling.

The journey home was easy as well! And special mention must go to the bloke on the tannoy at Stratford DLR who was very funny and had everybody laughing with his commentary and adding a real feel good factor.

I must admit when London won the Olympic bid, I wasn't that excited and a bit cynical that it would just increase my taxes and we would probably balls it up. I couldn't have been more wrong (except about my taxes :-)

Watching the Olympics at work and at home was great, being part of and actually experiencing the Paralympics was an absolutely amazing experience and a privilege. I am so glad that my little boy was able to share that experience with Mummy and Daddy

As we were leaving the stadium, Max was in his buggy and bless him, he said "Mummy can I go to sleep now?" The poor mite had had a very very long day but didn't have the opportunity (despite encouragement from us) to have a nap because he was having such a wonderful time and didn't want to miss a thing!

Proud to be a Londoner, proud to be British!

TJH