Dancing in the Streets - Martha and the Vandellas

We had a great time yesterday meeting a very unusual JOGLER, Ben Hammond. Not only is he going to cover the classic 850+ miles distance, he's going to DANCE it!!! Now that's what I call a challenge and do you know what? He's going to be just fine, as he's a really great guy with a fantastic attitude that will get him the marathon a day he needs to do for the 50 days of dancing that he has planned.

His reason for coming to see us, was to find the best way of preparing for his challenge.

Obviously I showed him some of my best moves and that's helped him no-end as well as giving him some running to do too of course. Here's his website and please take a look at this unique challenge.

More tomoz...

The Heat is On - Kenny Loggins

Not only for us but for lots of our ULTRA-running friends and contacts it seems right now... As the 27th Marathon des Sables rumbles towards us like a slow moving juggernaut of an event, Jenny and I are attacking the training schedule in very different ways.

I think Jenny would just like to live at Merthyr Mawr in her own bespoke Sand Castle! I reckon she has worn a trench tearing round the dunes with her pack on, huffing and puffing her way thru the very deep sand along the shore. I've been a couple of times but I am also clocking in the marathons and power-hours in the gym which is so hot, it is doubling up as heat-chamber work too - boy do I sweat.

It's funny how ULTRA-running is putting that huge amount of pressure on people to perform and how a very simple act of running for a long distance is pushing people well beyond their limits  of human endurance. This week alone we are seeing, entry level runners, MdeS wannabes and yet another JOGLER 2012 coming to stay for two days so that she can run a couple of 60 milers back-to-back... it's jolly busy.

Let's hope that the 'Joy of running' is kept foresmost in our minds and we can enjoy our running experiences rather than be a slave to it...

Relax - Frankie goes to Hollywood

Well what a few days we've had at ULTRArace - who says that excitement coupled with good hard work and very little sleep isn't fun? Our Tribesports London ULTRA, provided us with just that... It had a couple of very late night route marking exercises that the SAS would have been proud of, including an total eclipse of the moon when Jenny went over a six foot high set of railings out of one park and a few moments where we wondered about our sanity as we must have been the ONLY people daft enough to be out running around the capital's countryside in the early hours.

The biggest highlight being that we saw 12 foxes during our night out, (or maybe the same fox 12 times?) right up close on most occasions...

Oh, the race, well it was most enjoyable on a lovely spring day in London. The new start and finish worked well for us and the runners' I think and we can now fine tune it for next year and make things even better...

Happy Days... and more tomorrow.

Armed and Ready - MSG

Time for action on the eve of the Tribesports London ULTRA... well it was last night anyway when we route marked throughout the night. The biggest casualty was my poor old eardrums as the Lovely Jenny went into whinge mode after just a few (6) hours of running.

We've worked out that she's a speed merchant and wants to get to the end asap and I am just an ULTRA-runner who just likes being out there clocking up the miles regardless of how long it takes... in this case far too many hours, stickering and marking the course.

We finally got back to base at 6.30am this morning and I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Adventure' of the night and felt special that we were the only people probably in the UK doing what we did last night. All I can say is for Jenny, she was glad to get back.

Perhaps, route marking is a solo job from now on... or we need to use the Tandem or a Taxi...

It will be a lot easier for you tomorrow and see you nice and early.

Who are you? - The Who

Couple of things today which got me thinking and hot under the collar... I wonder if you know who the guy is in the picture, as I didn't after watching a very 'tanned' interview on TV. His name is Alex Reid and to find out, I had to 'Google' - 'Man married to Katie Price' as that's his claim to having Celebrity Status it seems, and is listed on Wiki as an ex-cage fighter. A whole career from an 11 month marriage to Jordan, amazing! Makes me wonder why we let these people into our lives as they offer us nothing...

Just like UK MAIL, whose inability to deliver three parcels to one address in one go was only matched by their Telephone Help Desk who was SO off-hand and monosyllabic in her first replies were surpassed to my 'So two parcels are on the Van and one is in Chelmsford' by simply remarking', 'It's not hard is it',  I put my phone down in disgust.

Maybe we could put ex-cage fighter Alex to go and do some Customer Care practise at UK MAIL - a good solution all round - no gloves allowed of course...

Help! - The Beatles

Well it's been aaages since I've blogged and I have been promptly reminded it's about time I started writing again. I'm currently a bit like a rabbit in headlights having been sponsored by Eurosport for the MdS this year. There I was thinking I would leave the 2012 MdS and I get a 'phone call offering me a place - well it would be rude not to! The thing is, I quite like running in races as an unknown with no expectations on you. I'm a bit too familiar out there already and this will probably increase the pressure tenfold - my 2 teammates are men that have both finished in the top 10 - yikes!

On the plus side it has certainly helped focus my training with plenty of trips to the dunes and a pretty comfortable 30 miler today I am feeling pretty strong. Largely I believe thanks to Rory's efforts with some leg weights sessions recently (thanks Rorz).

So my dilemma is Barry 40 - to race or not to race that is the question! If any of you have any opinions I would love to hear them - it's on March 4th (MdS starts on April 6th). It's a fabulous event but I just don't want to reck my chances in Morocco again this year (I did a 100km the weekend before last year and paid the consequences from about 4 miles into day 1)!!

Anyway, I hope you are all enjoying your training, particularly now the temperatures have eased a little bit (fingers crossed for the weekend and our London ULTRAracers). If any of you have any recent achievements (PBs, placings, or just runs that have gone well) then I'd love to hear them - I find it really motivating!!

Fame - The Kids from Fame

As another on another once bright star signs out at the relatively young age of 48, one wonders what Whitney Houston's adviser's were doing during the past five years of her life to protect her from a death at the hands of a massive Crack Cocaine habit.

There are just too many Jacksons, Hutchences, Winehouses it seems and there are a few more casualties to come perhaps... George Michael beware!

Maybe Fame isn't what its cracked up to be eh? It's a cruel game that is sought by so many young folk but trouble is, when they get it, it proves too hard to handle... let's hope Whitney's death is a wake up call for someone today to clean up and keep living as Whitney had it all!

Happy Birthday - Stevie Wonder

Well old age has finally crept up on me and I am now firmly thru the 50 barrier hoping that I am yet to still reach half way on this journey we call life. I must say that the weekend's marathon and party have left me totally wiped out and a couple of hours deep sleep is all I could muster this afternoon...

Maybe I should ask Nurse Jenny if I could sleep outside on an afternoon when the weather gets a bit warmer!

For someone who doesn't like a lit of fuss, crowds or partys, I have reconsidered my opinions and it's been a great few days of warmth and friendship from my nearest and dearest. The family reunion on Saturday was a real delight for all concerned...

Jenny's been a diamond thru out and thanks and love go to her for making it such a happy transition into Fiftyness xxx

Telephone Line - Electric Light Orchestra

It's been just one of those days... dropped my iPhone and been pipped to a couple of car-parking spaces by some pretty aggressive Pensioners and raced by women collecting children from school around the  ridiculous road system at The Cardiff Bay... The only saving grace was from my old adversary - Orange UK.

Since moving our mobile account over to a business account from a personal account... hasn't been easy... it was less easy when they said my phone wasn't insured. Fortunately for 'Geordie Steve' after getting my first barrel funnily enough 'Found' that the phone WAS covered... but would cost £50 for admin... until getting the second barrel when it became the old £15 that I was expecting.

How nice, I thought... and happily rung off, victorious.

Even nicer when he phoned me 10 minutes later and said that because of their poor service, it was going to be totally FREE. Good old Orange! That's what I say and wouldn't it be nice if more companies did the same eh? Bit of 'Geordie Steve' at Vodafone would sharpen them boys up a bit for one...

More tomorrow after 6pm when I will be hammering my new iPhone...

Speed - East 17

Well it's been day one of my new training regime which started with eight reps of Toton Hill in Nottingham. It was a tough old session I can tell you BUT I was really pleased by the reps which were consistent and 30 seconds faster on the ups. Maybe I wasn't pushing it hard enough but it has made a good start to my 'Need for speed' as I felt like I'd pushed it...

Yesterday's ULTRArace.45 has really empowered me and although I felt totally knackered today - there was no way that I was going to back out of 'That Bl%dy Hill'. Jenny will be so proud of me...

More than ever, EVERYONE needs coaching and pushing INCLUDING ME, so there's no excuse really!!!

I'll need to as the runners yesterday preparing for the GUCR145 looked really useful... the days when I finished Third back in 1998 look long gone... a Top 20 will be a good result, if I get my ar5e into gear... must get Jenny on my case - she takes no prisoners!!!

More tomorrow...

Why? - Lily Allen

I have written a lot here recently about 'WHY' I run and what my aspirations are... What is becoming more and more evident to me, is the growing number of people who seem to be trapped in an 'exercise bubble' where they just keep on with the same endless gym, run & bike routines. I can remember when I started on this running lark and that I was more about achieveing things rather than worrying that if I didn't exercise that I would go back to my old drinking, unfit days, it was a lot of fun when I first started running...

Of course, I know that will never happen now after all these years but I know for some folk that exercise has become a burden to their everyday life and that's a real shame.

Today, it was anything but a burden as Super-Salter and I attacked Llanedeyrn Road Hill with gusto for 6 of our 8 reps until again of course it pi55ed down for the last 2!!! It did make me feel fabulous though and a days running was over in just under 45 mins. Giving us time to get ready for the trip to Tring for ULTRArace 45. Those hills really make you feel alive!

It might be worth sometimes thinking out of the box as this is a sport we all love, that we need to be in control of, not one that control's us....

See you tomorrow at Northampton perhaps.

Enter Sandman - Metallica

I wonder what will be written on our headstones... mine will say that I ran lots in Deserts I suppose. Today was no exception other than it was the famous 'Welsh Desert of Merthyr Mawr'. Was it earth scorchingly hot and dry as the driest sand you've ever seen? Nah... this is Wales and it was just tipping down making the sand more of a mud if I was being honest. Talk about sodden!!!

It was still bloody hard, even Desert Girl, handicapped by at least 4kgs more pack-weight more than mine was blowing like a good one thru' the deep sand that had been churned up by the local Warhorse (good film btw if you like a cross between Black Beauty and Saving Private Ryan, there was a few lumpy throat moments I can tell you).

Anyway, today, it feels like I am on my way to writing more more of my own personal pages of history and when the day of glory finally comes, I can say that I did and I tried as hard as I could... what's your epitaph?

Dark Side of the Moon - The Mighty Pink Floyd

Well Hello, and a Happy New Year to all of our 'Blog' followers... hopefully the Christmas period has been good for you and it hasn't rained as much as it has in old ARAFtown where you are... We got to the stage that all we wanted was a 'DRY Christmas'. Need I say more...

ANYWAY, over the break the news or lack of it interested me. A cat was reported found after 4 years of being lost was shown on the MSN website yesterday, groundbreaking eh? and one that really caught my eye which was the the U.S. space agency NASA saying that two unmanned spacecraft are now orbiting the moon as part of a mission to measure lunar gravity and investigate how the moon evolved. NASA said the second GRAIL spacecraft on January 1 joined the first GRAIL probe, which went into lunar orbit the day before.

The twin GRAIL probes - GRAIL being short for 'Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory' - arrived near the moon after launching from earth in September and making a 3.5-month flight, costing a mere £469m to discover an insight into how the moon was formed and what the moon’s interior may resemble.

The two probes are planned to fly above the moon and, using measuring instruments, map the moon’s uneven gravitational fields. Scientists say the mission should provide more information about the mountainous far side of the moon that doesn’t face earth, and also test a hypothesis that earth once had two moons that collided and formed one.

What a ridiculous waste of money!!!

Now I am no Astromoner but the Moon's core is rock and there's bugger all on the other side of the moon, (ask Roger Waters) and who cares if we ever had two moons... now can we have the £469m retured as we need to buy another box of fireworks for the Olympics...oh don't get me started. What was Seb thinking...

Happy New Year Folks and my New Year's resolution is to be just as grumpy as last year... hopefully I am right on course.

More tomorrow...

Let's Go - The Cars

Makes you wonder eh? Fancy people wanting to open shops on Christmas Day... whatever next?

Let's hope the Christmas Day Trading Act 2004 will hold this notion at bay for as long as possible and keep it as a 'special day'.

As far as I can see by the huge amount of sales this year we don't need added time to shop as there simply isn't enough cash to go round. I remember as a lad in Stratford-upon-Avon that Wednesday was half-day closing day... apparently Tesco's best sales day is now Sunday... and can you imagine them closing early one day a week? Hmm...

Let's hope that we can keep some of our traditions in 2012...

TV is King - The Tubes

There was a time when TV was great and best of all there was the ground-breaking and totally awesome 'The Sweeney'. An education for a young man of 14 I can tell you and even now it's still showing on ITV4, it's plain brilliant.

Regan and especially Carter were huge heroes on mine, and it's was a breaking ground for many a young actor including Karl Howman or 'Jacko' as he became in the 80's sitcom, Brushstrokes'... as in today's programme.

Makes you wonder what will stand the test of time for today's programmes as Christmas looks rather bleak on the old box this year for new shows, apart from the very funny 'Outnumbered' perhaps in an otherwise dire schedule.

The only bright spot is that the hours of viewing will be topped up by The Two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise and the odd Good life and Porridge, which makes me think that the 'Golden Age of TV was probably 1975... as it was for music imo.

1975 Christmas number 1 was Bohemian Rhapsody... see what I mean!

Anyway, let's hope we can keep the rest of Christmas as traditional as possible eh? and we hope you have a very enjoyable one...

Merry Christmas from Rory and Jen...

Get Ready - New Order

My word Christmas has come round quickly this year... and it's always surprising that although we know when it is each year it has arrived at 100 miles an hour... There has to be an easier way to get ready for the festive period, or is that the fun part?

Cardiff was chocka earlier today and full of party groups out presumably on their last day of work before the break, they certainly looked happier than most of the shoppers I saw. They looked rather strained IMO.

Anyway, it's finally stopped raining and there's no chance of a White Christmas in these parts but I am looking forward to the break as we haven't stopped during the past few months and it will be good to get some local running in, especially on the hills.

Are you running over Christmas?

Change - The Lightning Seeds

I was thinking today of all the best presents that we had when we were kids and there really were some big highlights at Christmas which included Subbuteo and Scalextric... Toys of the Gods IMO which gave hours and hours of fun, unlike the modern toys that are now available at miserable toy outlets such as Toys R Us or should I say Toys ain't Us, more We R Rubbish. What a terrible shopping experience!

Nothing will ever compare with 'The Midland Educational' shop of Stratford-upon-Avon's High Street or a trip to Hamleys when we were little back in the 60's. The magic has simply... gone, as has Santa. Pearl at 6 already knows that it's all lies and wants to know the truth! Maybe there's another 12 months in it but it's doubtful... and it's a bit sad really.

Wii and DS will never take the place of old style Lego or Airfix and let's pray that you will always be able to get hold of a Spitfire Mk1 1/72 kit as every boy needs to have had a go at one, it's part of growing up.

Maybe, I will get one myself this year to relive my youth... well here's hoping anyway as I did put it on my list and I have been a good boy!

What's Santa bringing you?

Conquer the World - Energy

Conquer the World and that's just what Jenny did today on a very cold track in Barcelona. The 206km target set prior to the event would put her 4th in the GB rankings to go to Poland in next year's World Championship Event and subject to confirmation she passed that by a staggering 500 metres... phew!

The Spanish actually did an amazing job of staging every type of running event possible during the day using different lanes of the track. Our 437.70 metre lane made for some interesting if not complicated correlations as to how far to go and on how many laps had been completed. My biggest fear of the night was for a Spanish power cut and data loss... but it didn't and the people were so supportive. I would imagine most runners are still buzzing from the amount of Rola Cola they have consumed over the past 24hrs. Boy did they drink gallons of that.

It was nice for me to run with the leaders for my 97 laps to get yet another marathon clocked up and I must say I was most glad to stop at that stage... little did I know how many more miles I would cover to make sure Jenny was, fed, watered, humoured, pushed, kicked and clapped to an amazing run, proving that she is in fact a 'World Class Athlete'..

Right now?... she's a World Class Sleeper and I am looking into buying some jockey wheels so that I can get her mobilised for the trip home.

12 hour Champion and 24hr Runner-up... my word the Girl did well and I am most proud.

Quiet Life - Japan

Ahhh.... and RELAX... yes it's all over and we are now firmly based in central Cardiff, in lovely Wales... 'Land of my Fathers'. Well Granddad anyway although he was from nearby Barry. I must say that it's been a lot of hard work but we are finally all straight and ready for action... in good old ARAF!

I'm not too sure if you will ever see me in the Scarlet shirt or singing a 'bad hand at scrabble' at the Millennium Stadium against the not so 'Mighty Whites'... but for the time being ULTRArace is as Welsh as Jenny... how much more Welsh can you get eh?

So the next few weeks including the Christmas period will be a good time to get to really know my new neighbourhood and possibly progress off the TOM TOM to go from LL to GH (that's an A to Z, Welsh joke) and find some new and challenging long distance routes to run and train on.

Dyddia Da...

Computer World - Kraftwerk

In this digital age of ours I must say that I am looking forward to getting back online with Virgin down in Wales as we have really struggled with the Old BT Network up here in Derbyshire. Talk about S L O W... last night even Sir Alan Sugar was interrupted so much it took three re-loads of the I-player for him to say '
Y....ou are f...i re...d!' It's really annoying...

It's bloody annoying actually as we are meant to have a 10mb download speed and it never really gets out of first gear and peaks at 4000 revs. How can BT offer a 40MB service?...hmm don't think I  will be going for that baby. Sir Michael up at the Hall who has a better speed than us on BT kicked that idea into touch straight away.

No, we are heading for Richard Branston and his super highway with limitless MB's without nasty emails at the end of the month (please) saying that we have once again gone over our limit.

It's all been a bit cheeky really...

How on earth is the 4G network ever going to work around the country, if we can't even receive a call in our own home in the middle of the UK?... Come on you communications companies, pull your finger out! If it can be done in Cardiff, it can be done anywhere or perhaps Wales is the new centre of the universe... if it is, then we are heading to the right place...

ARAF!