The Jubilee Plunge

Down we go - don't fall over!

Ok it's a picture of a hillside with a few tiny coloured dots on it. However if you look closely (or even blow the photo up a bit) you will see two separate streams of dots descending on either side of the picture - these are some of the downhill dashers plunging the 2 miles towards the Golden Lion pub in Llangynhafal, Denbighshire. The race starts by the Jubilee Tower which sits at the top of the hill - what you see is a ruin of a much bigger tower at the highest point on the Clwydian Hills. And every year between Christmas and New Year a posse of foolhardy runners assemble - this year I was the race starter and having instructed the competitors that they can take any line they wish - I counted them off (giving myself a two second start of course!)

And of course the interesting bit is that every year some runners find a new way of getting down - normally the majority of the field take the line on the left of the photo by the wall for this first steep section. However you'll notice a guy in a grey vest (bottom right) who took the Offa's Dyke path line and went on to win the race - this rockier line tends to be avoided but maybe next year more will follow this route. Back at the Goldie the bar was packed and the organiser, Tony B, orchestrated a noisy presentation with cheers all round (with  prize for Vicky who was first in her age group!).

50 up!

Here she comes - Parkrunner extraordinaire - Vicky has now completed 50 Parkruns and will receive the famous red t-shirt! This shot is from the Oldham Parkrun on Christmas Day morning which takes place in a lovely old Victorian park (not flat!) We must go back on a summer's day!

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New pub for Dinbych.

Found! Just opened for Christmas - a new micro pub in Denbigh!! Y Goron Fach (The Little Crown) is tucked away on a side street by the town hall. DIdn't look much like a pub from the street but sure enough there was a row of hand pumps clearly visible through the steaming windows and a good crowd of happy customers enjoying themselves. We'd only gone out for a walk with Skip but we were in luck! The head brewer from the Denbigh Brewery was serving local ale (without the benefit of a bar we should add!) Three different brewers were represented all located less than 5 miles away which fits with the pub's mission which is to reduce 'beer miles'!

She's a winner!

Fame at Last

A big smile on her face and an unexpected win. But Vicky deserved the victory winning the Denbigh Harriers Johnson's Handicap shield for 2016. The seven mile race follows the lovely Afon Ystrad for much of it's course and passes the ruins of a cottage once lived in by Dr Samuel Johnson hence the name of the trophy. The route also passes the Johnson's Monument, an interesting piece of sculpture in the middle of nowhere, plus Gwaenygog Hall where Beatrix Potter did some of her writing - so a literary gallop through the woods and vales, Johnson was apparently not too impressed with Wales but the scenery, even in the depths of winter is delightful and Conde Nast traveller magazine recently described Gwaenygog Hall as having one of the top ten gardens in the UK. Vicky's win was slightly assisted by an energetic Skip on a lead - sadly Martin failed by 10 seconds to make it a first and second family victory!

The Johnson's race was a muddy one but the previous weekend Mortimers Forest Trail Race in Shropshire had been a lot muddier! I'd worn trail shoes basing my clever decision on my spotting the word 'trail' in the race title. 24 hours of constant rain prior to the event had turned the narrow forest tracks into an endless quagmire - when we finally found a bit of road (see the pic!) my inner racing demon was unleashed and I managed to pick up a few places on the run in.

Macc Half

Me towards the end of the Macclesfield Half Marathon

I was going well despite the undulations and the downpours - 1.35.23 for this one! I'd never done the race in it's dozen or so years in existence but I helped to run the finishing line at the very first event and I'd promised myself I'd come back to do it at some point - job done!

And me at the finish of the Saddleworth Edges Race

Spot the difference? Yes - dirty legs I'd been up on the tops in a bog. And maybe looking more exhausted. But what about having the same number for both races! There's a coincidence - mind you the famous Fishwicker himself, who is rapidly catching up to me interns of races completed, had this to say about his race at Saddleworth last year: "My 

time today, 1.07.34, is exactly the same as last years. What are the odds of doing this in a 8 mile fell race in claggy conditions?" I think the route change this year added something - I was 1.28.25!

Here Come the Dogs

Here are the dogs.....SIT!!
And what an atmospheric snapshot - this is on top of Beacon Hill, the highest point in Leicestershire. We had to find somewhere accessible for the various members of Skip's family. He has nine brothers and sisters and only four were missing for this photo. From left to right here they are: Tia, Kal, Cosmo, Peggy Skip and Ruin. Only two of them had to be slightly restrained for the sitting.
On the previous day we had called in at Congleton Parkrun for a quick early morning gallop - good to spot a friend of ours whom we'd not seen for a couple of years, despite suffering with metastatic prostate cancer with bone secondaries he is still knocking out 34 minute 5K's - inspirational!

And here's a thing -Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltters in a wrod are; the olny iprmoetnt fatcor is taht the frist and lsat ltteres be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Nearly there ladies!

Nearly there ladies!

Not mentioned running lately but we're still at it. This is from the Two Hillforts race which involves 9 miles of tough stuff up the prehistoric hill forts of Penycloddiau and Moel Arthur. Here we are at about eight and a half miles plodding through the last fields but Vicky and June charged across the finish line together and were joint winners of the L60 bottles of beer. Well done girls!
We've also been Parkrunning and the previous weekend all did the Vale of Clwyd 5K, a very pleasant gallop round the quiet country lanes near Llandyrnog. The upcoming big one is the 15 miler Clwydian Hills challenge at the beginning of September. Watch this space...

It's a bug's life!

Here's something that landed next to the point pots at a pub we visited recently in Staffordshire. It's a Hawthorn Shield Bug, a member of the family of 'true bugs'. Bugs is a rather misused word but used in it's correct sense it excludes beetles, spiders, flies and colds and flu. Bugs are a fascinating order of the insect family and consist of a wide ranging variety of creatures - pond skaters for instance who use the Marangoni Effect to walk on water! Other bugs you may have come across include bed bugs (but I haven't met any!), aphids and Green Shield Bugs which are related to Hawthorn Shield Bugs and gave their name to Green Shield Stamps.

Washing machine for 185 books!

Green Shield Stamps, rather astonishingly, only disappeared in 1991. The Green Shield Stamp company changed it's name to Argos and stopped accepting stamps at that time - no-one told me and I still have 47 books full! Each stamp was worth a nominal third of a penny and it took 1,280 stamps to fill a book. Things started to get a bit out of hand when competing stores offered 'double stamps', 'triple stamps', and so on. Part of the reason for their demise was that Tesco suddenly decided with no warning, to drop Green Shield Stamps and use instead the novel different sales tactic of price cutting!

And I challenge anyone to see the connection between Charlie Brown, his favourite Genesis album and Green Shield stamps!