Car Wash - Rose Royce

I discovered that our cars are in fact Silver and Blue today as I washed a very dirty January off our vehicles. One of the things I noticed in Australia, was just how clean everything stayed out there and that it's so much cleaner with out half a ton of mud and winter salt.

Today was bitter in my opinion and I am really suffering with the harshness of the weather and just getting my feet and hands warm is unusually hard... an unheard of for me as I am unusually a T Shirt in winter sort of chap.

With the daylight slowly extending, maybe there's hope and light at the end of my winter tunnel and glady February beckons... and some nice spring running out there in the warmth!

I must say I am looking forward to our trip to Northern Ireland this week and will let you know more of the mission later in the week... now where's my slippers as my feet are like ice blocks and there's another cold night ahead!

Life of Mine - Toxic Federation

Makes me wonder with the celebrity culture that we now live in, whether ULTRA-running would have some good effect on those in dark places. Take the news today of actor Charlie Sheen... maybe if he experienced some of the natural highs that I and I am sure many of you have experienced ULTRA-running, then he might finally get rid of the Drugs and Alcohol nightmare that he is currently experiencing and that will probably hound him for ever.

I think it's a real shame that these people live with these pressures and no outlet to relieve their emotions but to mentally drop out with drugs...

Whether George Michael for instance will EVER come and run an ULTRArace, well we'll have to wait and see... we won't hold our breath BUT what we DO know is that maybe he'd be in a better place if he came and did a few miles with us.

More tomorrow...

Fantastic Day - Haircut 100

We saw a man of about 30 yesterday on the tube with a 'Bobby Charlton' Comb-over. It was mighty weird and a real fashion flashback to the 70's. Let's hope that they are not coming into fashion eh? It does show that what goes around comes around and no doubt the 'Kevin Webster' moustache will be next... though as a previous culprit myself, I am not too sure that I will be regrowing my whiskers.

I recently looked at my shiny Nike purple running shorts that I ran my first ever marathon in and for sure they were a massive fashion statement at the time but a real mistake in hindsight ... I am keeping them though for my 1000th Marathon, whenever that is... if I can still fit in them of course. Seems only right to finish as I started!

From now on it's keeping it simple, especially with what hair I have left and making sure that there is no evidence of any facial hair...

More tomorrow... now where's my Mach 3...

Right Here Right Now - Jesus Jones

Well it's official Jesus has a mobile. We know this as Jenny had a text today from him saying that 'She was loved' and continued 'Seek an U will find'. The fact that it said that and not 'Seek and You shall find', might mean that it's not REALLY the big man himself. Hmm.... makes you wonder though. Anyway If you you can call him on 07875 704763 and you can find out for yourself. S'pose he would be on Virgin Mobile eh?

Back to earth and we are now recovered from the weekend and ready for a day out tomorrow on the London ULTRA course. A 5am start and a few miles to Wembley and back... can't be bad.

More tomorrow...

Feedback - Janet Jackson

Well we've been blown away today with the feedback from ULTRArace 45. People are so kind and it makes our world a very nice warm place when we know we are giving folk what they want at the weekend.

Over 90 miles in the mud and dark on a canal in January has never been so much fun eh?

Back in the real world and after emptying a van of race refuse it was a ten hill rep session with M2M Runner Claire Wright... and boy it hurt! That suffocation/asthma feeling mixed with a bit of pukey queasiness never gets any better I can tell you. I was so glad it was over... and as for Claire, she is going great guns and has achieved a great level of fitness and confidence following my ULTRA running training plan.

Tomorrow... well Jenny and I start a run up to her Celtic Plate 100kms with some early morning conditioning sessions and running... hmm lovely.

More then...

Bodytalk - Imagination

Watching the runners set off this morning on ULTRArace 45 day two, I got to thinking about just how amazing the human body is. 45 miles or so is an awfully long distance for anyone to consider to run, let alone complete. Doing this twice in two days, in the mud and cold of a January weekend and it starts sounding remarkable to me.

It wasn't an easy day out for some of our competitors, battling injuries as well as plain fatigue BUT they got there... in great spirit and that's what we are all about at ULTRArace. As I write, I am waiting for the final three to complete their runs and I know that next in, Andy Stewart, will have great smile on his face and be more than happy about his weekend's racing. People are nice you see...

As for us, well we are knackered but most happy that we have had another great event... more later.

Nightfever - The Bee Gees

It's been a great day out of course on ULTRArace 45 today... and yet again we've been blown away by all of the runners in this amazing sport of ULTRA-running that we all enjoy so much. In a world of politics, rising petrol prices and so much negativity it's really heartening to be surrounded by so many positively minded people.

With our numbers expanding and the 9bar UK ULTRArace Championship now getting underway we feel delighted to be part of the recent ULTRA running explosion in Britain. Having the added bonus of runners from Germany and Sweden's Torkel Skogman breaking the course record by 1 minute in 6hrs and 26mins... is just fantastic.

These are great days at ULTRArace and it's another day out on ULTRArace 45 tomorrow... now where's my gloves...

More later...