REHAB, REPS AND RELAYS
It's not that running has come to a halt over the past month or so, far from it, but more a case of having very few negatives to report for a change. A reminder that these pages can actually be an outlet for positive musings as well.
So I've just been getting my head down training and the great story behind that is that I have been able to. The Achilles continues to feel stronger. The swelling is reducing and is starting to look more like it's slender counterpart on the right heel. Last night was also the fourth week in succession down at the Witton Park track for a tough speed session under John Chaplin's watch. Around those rep sessions I am mixing it up, the only thing missing is a long run every week. I think if I could chuck that in to the agenda with some regularity then things might start to come together. Anyway, a really decent month of consistency has given me the confidence to go over to Haworth this Sunday for the Withins Skyline fell race. Dave Woodhead's races are fantastic and you can't beat a bit of Woodentops to get back in the groove. This will be the second time in a few weeks of pinning on a race number again after running for Blackburn Harriers at the Northern Road Relays...

NORTHERN SIX STAGE ROAD RELAYS
It was a proud day for Blackburn Harriers both in terms of quantity and quality with five teams out in force at Manchester's Sportcity and a top ten spot for the men's 'A' team. The club's big guns all turning out on the day has been long overdue and it was good to see the talent at the club finally registered with some sort of validation at a major team event. As for myself in team 'C', with a couple of track sessions under my belt at least a bit of race pace was not going to be such a leap in to the painful unknown - as was the case in my last appearance at Podium back in July. But I don't make things easy for myself even when they should be. Due to some kind of electrical fault in the brainwave department I decided I was running after, rather than before, Sean Proctor and as such kept checking to see where he was up to. This was after Sean had been in the shop where I work the previous day and I had even uttered the words myself that I was handing over to him. Back to the relays and as I was casually chatting away at trackside, suddenly our coach George Woodburn interrupts and asked me what I was doing? "Uh? I'm after Sean aren't I?", "No, you're on now!" says George urgently. Shiiiiit!!! Ffff....The airwaves turned blue. It was my own ridiculous fault of course. I had now denied myself a chance to warm up and there wasn't even room to stretch a limb in the waiting pen, besides it wasn't long before I was off and running. If preparation wasn't ideal, the course was the most contrived I have ever run, u-turning four times alongside the Etihad Stadium and at it's most ambitious, branching out to the far reaches of an empty car park twice.
Maybe Tuesday's track session was still tightening things up or maybe the lack of immediate preparation didn't help, but I was a bit deflated not to have had an extra kick in the last half mile and instead found myself hanging on in desperation. I averaged just under six minute miling though, so as far as my own modest expectations went it was a satisfactory outing.
It was unfortunate that in some sort of mix up our 'D' team was disqualified and were one of ten teams to experience the same fate as some runners pulled back in to the athletics track a lap short. Sportcity might have offered easy and ample parking as well as a great base for teams with legs starting and finishing in the impressive former Commonwealth Games warm-up arena, but as I touched on a few sentences earlier, I thought the course was contrived, disappointing and also poorly marked in places. As a venue for the relays, some boxes remained unticked in my opinion. Sara might have joined me to watch that afternoon had there been some evidence of greenery and doggy friendliness. But this was a bloody awful concrete jungle and I'm glad she and the Connie dog didn't risk it. For me, you can't beat a good old fashioned proper city park for these type of contests.

Sunday 25thg September 2016
NORTHERN SIX STAGE ROAD RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS  Sportcity, Manchester.
My Stats - Blackburn Harriers 'C' Leg 4  (5.5K)  20:05