Good morning to you
I hope this finds you fit, well and in finest pre-festive fettle.
Aiming for a non War & Peace style blog today.
Apologies in advance for some profanity use. I’ll stick a pound in the swear box. A bit f@cked off with the world am I just now.
Everything has been slipping and has gone off a cliff to be honest.
Here goes:
Two ways to ingest this bobbins!
I have had a Blog reader (there is one out there) who asked if this could be in audio format? Would that make it a podcast? I am not sure.
Just a spoken word version, with maybe a few more words and no photos.
What do you, the reader, think?
Keeping it simple, I could do a parallel Youtube video version, or there are podcast platforms available, which may make it a more professional listening experience.
I don’t know?
I am happy to give the people what they want!
Please let me know in the comments, by email: ladfromtad:gmail.com or by Whatsapp. If there is demand, I will do it 🙂
Trick or treat?
Another Halloween, this time trick or treating in York with Valentina and her school mates. The highlight was when one OTT house, complete with tombstones and skeletons half buried in the soil had a fox crossing at the exact minute we went there, it was so realistic, as it was in fact real!
Tad’s finest Halloween (& Christmas) house was looking mighty fine too, we swung by on the way home.
The wheels have fallen off.
May-June-July – On top of the world, on top of my game.
August – Take a breather after the Lakeland 50, regroup fro back end of season.
September-October-November – Everything is a crock of sh!t and/or has turned to sh!t.
Running, especially running on the fells is my life.
Does that mean I “identify” as a fellrunner?
I am not sure? If I lost both my legs tomorrow, probably not.
Am I about to pull on a GB vest? No.
Am I ever likely to be mentioned in Championship despatches? No.
Do I place a tremendous amout of time, energy and passion into the sport I love? Yes.
It is what I do, it is what I have always done, ever since my PE Teacher told me to “just run as many laps as you can, and then next week, run some more” and the Kentmere Pike Race in 1986 just opened me eyes completely, since then I have loved it and it is something I hope I can do until I am an old man, with grey hair, a grey beard, a knackered bumbag and very short shorts!
I got injured in August, sought professional help and started a good rehab programme, which involved A LOT of S&C. On top of this, I was already doing a lot of flexibility. However, not much running (& only a touch of cycling).
I got stuck into the strengthwork and scratched out all the races.
3 years ago I would have done anything to avoid gymwork, but now I bloody well love it 🙂
A runner who cannot run is not a good person to be about.
However, if you can “cross train” (swim, gym, bike, anything that releases the oh-so-addictive endorphins, it’s a good enough compromise.
So, having only run about half a dozen times since September, I was doing 6-7 sessions of S&C per week and feeling stronger than ever, albeit not especially fit.
A comeback was looking possible…
I did run a race with Lina. The Shepherd’s Skyline, a cracker of a Pennine race from near Todmorden, up and down the iconic Stoodley Pike, on a day of all 3 seasons (not sure there is a summertime in Tod?) Especially the wet, wet, wet season. We arrived early. It was raining, 30mins later, it was raining and blowing, 15 mins later/15mins to go, it was raining and blowing harder.
People were wondering “Is a warm up actually going to warm me up, or just get me drenched through before the start?”
Then, suddenly, as if by magic, the clouds parted, the taps were turned off and for a good hour, it was dry, then the rain (which felt like hail) came, but by then it was over. A great day out, steady stuff but great fun.
Then
Valentina got the lurgy from school, then Lina got the lurgy from Valentina, then after 5 days of resisting it by drowning myself in vitamins, holding my breath and washing my hands 27,000 times a day, I copped for it.
On day 1 of the start of the comeback.
I had cycled in to work, ran home and life was good, but the lurgy had different ideas.
Had it been normal flu, I would have just sucked it up, but this was a bloody awful malaise:
A constant headache that felt like walking into a solid wooden overhead hanging sign (which has happened to me) on the back of 15 pints of Stella (or heaven forbid, 15 pints of Carling Premier!)
A racking cough, that never stops, even with cough medicine.
A feeling like I has been run over by a HGV, several times.
Streaming nose and more mucus than it is possible to imagine.
Ribs hurt from coughing fits, back hurts from coughing fits.
Sitting down hurts, lying down hurts, standing up hurts.
Counting down the minutes until I can have some more paracetamol.
Anyhow, there are people far worse off, suck it up!
I don’t get ill often, but I have flashbacks to Long Covid of 2022 and that horrible Peris Plague last September, that wrote off last year.
Vitamin C & D, give me endless vitamin C & D
The BIG bill.
There is always one bill that catches you out. Car MOT, a new boiler, or something else, equally as dull/uninspiring. An oversight by me, my bank and a benefactor meant I suddenly had to sell everything of value, to cover this “missed” bill.
So, amongst other things (all of which I had saved up for) the bike and turbo trainer and some (not all) climbing gear had to go into the ebay funnel, and it has been bloody hard graft. Not as hard as making money on Vinted though, flogging pair of shorts for £2 (“Will you take £1.27”) reminiscent of a carboot sale. Bill now paid & some clutter gone!
(Whenever I write one of these blogs, I always go back through my photos since the last blog, to jog my memorty, but it pretty much entirely stuff I have sold on, hence the drought of pics in the blog).
FKT news.
In the world of FKTs (fastest known times, basically records) a new FKT was set recently.
The John Musgrove Trail FKT was decimated by a 35 year old Fireman and part time Cobbler, Mr. Charlie Barker. Mr Barker once played football for Crawley Town.
John Musgrove was the first Devonshire man in space, and when he returned from his trip with NASA, he felt restless and just started walking, linking up local beauty sport such as Maidenscombe, Cocklington, Brixton, Totnes and Dittisham.
Mr. Barker was quoted as saying “ბედნიერი ვარ. ” (I am happy) when interviewed by the Torbay Times. He prefers to use his native tongue of Gerorgian, when performing interviews.
Mr. Barker, we salute you!
O.C f#cking D
Sometimes it takes you a while for the penny to drop!
About 53 years in my case.
I used to share a house with a mate.
His “thing” was checking.
Plugs, gas oven, toaster, lights, door locks…
All perfectly rational things to check, as they potentially stop your house from burning down or getting burgeled, or both!
(I know someone who once went away for the weekend and came home to find they had left their grill on! I would never leave the house again!)
At the time, I thought it had kind of “rubbed off” on me, as I became semi-obsessed with checking locks and doors. Even if I knew it was locked I “had to” check, otherwise my mind would race with the possibilities of the world ending through me not locking my front door. (IF I did check, thinking a door was locked and it wasn’t, it meant that proceedings would be delayed, as I checked, checked and checked again).
Other people have it with washing their hands (fine until they touch a dirty door handle!) Or towels being straight (David Beckham). I knew a guy who had a strict warm up routine and if he was interrupted, he would have to start all over again. People used to interrup him on purpose, to see how long before he exploded!
One day I just thought “This is stupid”. I check once, ad that is it!
I thought that was it, OCD gone, until a conversation with a friend about the same topic and they pointed out all my OCD traits.
F#ck me!
Drinking ✔️
Running ✔️
Training ✔️
Not giving up on a process/relationship/job when it is clearly not working ✔️
The O part of OCD absolutely doesn’t care what it obsesses or is obsessed about, as long as it is something.
The C is in bed with the O, so the same goes for that sucker.
The D part is the bad boy, as it is a disorder, a defect in the brain.
That is the fecker that keeps coming back.
The thing is it’s like an “All-or-absolutely-nothing-at-all” switch.
Almost like longer durations versions of fads and crazes.
Things I was obsessed about previously: Beer, Horseracing, some types of music, travel, clothes, giving a sh!t about what people thought, are all just things I simply don’t care nor even think about these days.
All were the most important part of my life at some point, only to be replaced by something else and to disappear.
I am told this all part of OCD behaviour. The thing I thought was just checking my door was locked.
Don’t get me wrong, used well, it can get you a long way. It is just the delicate balance of what is the limit and what is too much.
Like an imposed dictator in a power vacuum, my only worry is what will replace running/exercise in my Magic Roundabout life, if I don’t get moving and back in the groove soon?
K-Pop-non-stop.
With the lack of running, racing and mountains, it has been a very quiet quarter. The one brilliant highlight of a day was when the youngster had a Baker Day and I swung a day off work, we cooked up a plan, there was zero worth watching at the flicks and the weather was a bit crap to go sea fishing.
Valentina is well into all things Korean (south!)
Especially the music and culture, so as neither of us had ever tried Korean food, we thought we’d go into York to investigate.
First stop a Korean supermarket, where I embarassed the young ‘un with my earwigged 3 words of Korean from her Duolingo. I used to live almost entirely on cheapo packet noodles, but gave them up completely years ago.
One more packet. We had them for tea, but I felt guilty and have now given them up for good!
Then we braved The Shambles (which I realised, being the anti-tourist that I am, I had never been to). A strange old street with peculiar numbering meant it took a while to find the place, “Omoni House”. Quiet, simple, good service and tasty tucker.
We never, ever go out for meals these days, apart from birthday fish and chips, so it was nice to have a little day out together. (This was before “The Big Bill!” Otherwise it would have just been packet Ramon noodles!)
Raiders round up
4 weeks to go until the first (friendly) game of the new season.
The Championship is wide open.
York, Bradford Northern and Toulouse have all been promoted to Superleague.
I personally feel Bradford deserve a shot in the big league, it would be great to see the Bradford of old, with their terrifyingly massive pack.
Toulouse are class. Not sure if a French team works logistically, but Toulouse and Catalan bring a bit of garlic flair to the superleague!
I have mixed feelings about York. It is a great stadium, it will be brilliant to see the big guns there and it’s good for the city, but there have been some underhanded tactics in the admin side of things, but that is my own personal opinion!
So back in the Championship, how will it pan out?
Barrow have history, passion and support.
They have potential, will they realise it?
And finally
There are people in life who are dog people.
If you have a dog, or have had a dog, chances are you are a dog person.
There are also cat people, budgie people, fish people and rats/snakes/spiders/iguana people.
Cats are pretty much idependent and basically do what the f””k they want (including letting you stroke them, then without warning, dig their claws into you for no reason).
I have kept fish, it’s very relaxing, but they only really get giddy when you feed them, and it didn’t matter if I fed them, or anyone, else, Michael Fish, Metal Mickey, Kayne West or Fred West fed them, it would make little difference. They wouldn’t remember anyway.
Back to dogs. A dog is part of the family, a loyal friend, if you have a good day at work, your dog will be happy to see you, if you have a crap day at work, your dog will be happy to see you, and that is why dogs rock and the reason that there is a special bond.
We have always had (family) dogs. You shouldn’t have favourites, but Meg (Chocolate Labrador) and I were best buddies. She loved eating, running and being daft. She was undecided about camping, (sheep outside the tent used to wind her up!) She would set off on a run at 100mph, regardless if it was a 1 mile run or 10 miles.
Tragically, she got cancer, too young, and was taken away way too early.
After Meg, we had Molly. Molly was ace.
Another Chocolate Labrador, with a huge heart. Valentina and her were inseperable, especially during the pandemic. Their birthdays were one day apart.. They used to spend hours outside, just sat, (Valentina doing most of the) talking. Molly suddenly got a condition called Twisted Gut and sadly had to be put to sleep. It was a dark time and the hardest thing I have ever had to do, telling Valentina that her soul mate had gone. RIP.
Jacob Tonkin is one of the most likeable people in fellrunning, “The Fellrunner’s Fellrunner” and one of my favourite fellrunning friends. This is his story about George.
It has been hugely popular with lots of different people.
Please take the time to watch it, preferably on a screen bigger than your phone!
That’s all for now folks!
Johnny
p.s. Sorry for my whingeing. More positivity next time!
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