NIGEL'S GONE SO NOW I CAN MAKE PLANS
The Met Office are naming 'storms' these days, or should I say they are naming seasonal Mid-Atlantic depressions which are quite typical for the time of year. With that in mind, if I was to name this recent cold, man flu or whatever it was, then trending towards current affairs and all this Brexit nonsense I would have to name it 'Nigel' with a certain Mr Farage in mind. The thing just wouldn't go away, hanging around for the sake of it despite having served it's purpose. Other comparable traits to Nigel Farage and my cold included making a brief comeback after threatening to step aside. Finally though, a persistent Nigel (the cold, that is) did fade away. I'm glad I didn't call it Boris or I suspect I would never have got rid of the bloody thing.
Last week I finally got back to some sort of training normality with 33 miles banked and much of that at a decent tempo. It was a bit disappointing to miss races such as the big one at Pendle and then another old favourite of mine, the David Staff Memorial race at Darwen which also passed me by. But now 'Nigel' has gone, I'm feeling ready and looking for a race.
Ribble Valley 10k is a possibility later in the month, although I've yet to commit - still not sure if I'll be quick enough to avoid disappointment and still unable to accept that it's a whopping £15 to enter - I'm sure it was under a tenner the last time I did it?! I've considered a Parkrun as a quick fix in the meantime, but two things have put me off Parkruns in the past; the 9am kick off is a bit of a bruiser for a slow morning person like me and secondly, two of my only four Parkruns at my local venue Cuerden Valley were marred by the discovery of the 'Parkrun snobbery' syndrome. Examples of this bizarre misuse of all things Parkrun were founded when Horwich runner Gareth Booth, along with a few other familiar faces that I couldn't put a name to, most definitely took part in the race and yet vanished without trace in the results listings. The Cuerden course is far from flat and certainly not the fastest. It seemed to me like these guys were avoiding the scanning of their number at the finish because it wouldn't look flattering on their 'Power of Ten' stats? If that was indeed the case, then certainly from my point of view they are taking themselves a little too seriously to say the least. Surely they have the sufficient self motivation to just go and smash a 5K out on their own, or even do a proper race somewhere without using and then snubbing the efforts of the Parkrun volunteers and it's registered patrons?
So speaking of which and with rant subsiding, although work blankets the whole of this weekend, the motivation to do a horrible run just won't go away and so I've set myself a solitary time trial this Friday. Against the clock on Witton Park track, twelve and a half laps, five kilometeres. Let's see what happens...