Numbers – they can mean a lot. Or nothing at all.
49…. getting on a bit. Gerrin auld. Or – 49 years young!?
wee story for ya. 36 hours in my life …Read on …
Friday
1400
My two pals, Andy & Colette are in the area and we walk up Dufton Pike (4.5 mile) I decide to run down from the summit and wait for them at the bottom.
Haven’t fell ran in ages…I’m cautious and doddery on the lower slopes. This is BAD. Not from a safety thing. But from a sore thighs thing. Your quadraceps become your braking mechanisms that arrest your speed on a descent. Two days later..you know about it! You get 48 hours before the PAIN hits.
1700
Meal in The Stag at Dufton and a few beers. Then two other friends staying in Dufton (Ben and Dawn) more pints, chats and laughs.
I left at midnight. I lost count on the beers. Possibly double figures
0030 – ??:??
Decided to make a pizza and watch an episode of Monty Python.
Bad decision. Not because of my comedy choice. No – it was because ..I added shit tonnes of chillies on it. I’ve no idea what other toppings I added.
fell asleep on sofa and woke up at 5.30am. Went to bed.
Saturday
0820
Forced myself to get up. Does my usual routine of 30 press ups and 40 sit ups but abandon the sit ups because acidey stomach feeling, I think I might hoy up.
Water, limes and stretch then coffee. All seems well. Good!
The stretch seems pointless. The 48 hour rule was thrown oot the window. Quads are BATTERED. I can barely walk. I barely got 12 hours grace before the agony that walking up stairs brings with painful thighs like this.
0835
The chillies call me to the lavatory.
0845
Jump in car…Penrith Park Run. This is a non-negotiable . Unless I’m injured, I need an absolutely unavoidable reason to NOT do it. No excuses.
0900
I start at the back and potter round in a leisurely 24’18” (But there’s a reason for this and it’s not the aching quads.)
1000
Booths in Penrith for my breakfast, a latte and my weekly planning session. I consider a 2nd latte but the the chillies take a strangling grip to my abdomen and call upon another visit.
1100
ingredients shop for pizzas. Them chillies once again are kicking at me furiously to the point where I think …train station? McDonald’s ??
I play the risky game of Poo Roulette …I drive the 15 mins back home. I make it. Just!
1130
Quickly stuff perishables into the fridge and scramble round for all my fell running kit.
I get another call from the Throne of Eternal Spice
1155
Jump in the car and hammer up to Dufton Show. Pay my entrance fee and enter the fell race (my third attempt to do this race since I moved here)
1230
Off go 50 competitors to tackle the 480m steep, grassy sloped Dufton Pike. 5 miles. This is my first competitive event in 20 months (Park Runs don’t count) And on that subject, my stupid brain reminds me that I’ve just done a park run barely 3hrs past and my legs are screaming blue murder at me. It’ll be reet!
I pick my way through the field then get to that no mans land where it’s unlikely you can move up any more places and you have a sizeable gap on your nearest pursuer.
I reckon there are 15-20 people behind me
I spot Guy ahead of me, a fit young lad from the village whom I assumed would wallop me today. But he’s just cresting the conical summit…COULD I???
A marginally less stuttery descent compared to yesterday ensues
(For info – if you’ve not ran the fells and descended steep or technical ground for a wee while, the tendency is to ease back,arrest your speed and thusly bugger up your quads 2 days later. With regular runs and practice , confidence builds, a relaxed ‘flow’ sets in and these braking quads stiffness issues disappear )
After the steep section, it’s still downhill but so so runable. Suddenly I’m in heaven. The joy of fell running floods through me and out of absolutely nowhere, I find an extra gear. I’m jammed into 6th and it’s like the Micky of old…I’m flying. I pass John Tollit of Northumberland Fell Runners with ease. A very good runner who usually beats me.
Guy is next. I’m determined. He’s a great lad. See him around Dufton a lot. Comes for pizzas …but today I’m taking no prisoners. Any trace of this morning’s park run, sheer lack of fitness and ridiculously sore thighs were nowhere to be seen. The blood is pumping, I’m breathing like a racehorse and my pace is taking me by surprise.
with a few friendly exchanged words, I pass my target
Then…
DISASTER! I go the long way round a track and not the signposted short cut onto the road. My man retakes his lead on me. I was already flat out. I can’t possibly up my pace and pull him back. There’s a quarter of a mile to the finish. He beats me. But I’m pleased as punch with how well I’ve done today. Loved it! I’ve missed fell running more than I realised. I finish 24th out of 50. Top half of the field. I never envisioned THAT.
Forgot to mention that one of me best pals, Robert Crawford had made a showing for the event. Was great to see him again. First time since he accompanied me for the first week of my trip to France.
We sit in the warm sunshine on a couple of deckchairs that are outside the beer tent, sink a couple of pints and catch up. It feels like summer. Life is simply beautiful.
It’s 1515…time to go!
1530
Shower. Then Micky Pizza mode. Prep. Dough ball up. (48) Load the van. Leave at 1645
Temple Sowerby 1725
40 pizzas for a 50th birthday party. I’m handed a Peroni and I get to work. I decided to wing it and not get any help in. I smash out 41 pizzas in under 90 mins and head home again
Van unloaded, everything except dough boxes washed and dried. Kitchen looks like it doesn’t serve a mobile pizza business anymore (this is always my post-pizza event goal after I finish for the evening)
2045
Back up to Dufton to catch an unsuspecting Ben and Dawn for a drink. They leave after an hour. I head home
Then I wrote this …Because the thought of going to bed involved those STAIRS!
So there you go…how the hell?
I sometimes surprise myself with my energy, capacity for work, suffering and cramming thing in. But we ALL have this ability!.
Energy creates more energy. It’s so true.
We can easily make excuses for NOT doing things. For NOT grabbing life by the horns and shaking it this way and that. Living it to the full
Age is NOT an excuse or a handicap.
Just crack on kids! We only get one shot at this thing called Life!