Runner who loves the off road

At saturdays 6 stage relay at Hartlepool Blyth doen really well and even got a mention for a "superb" performance to come in 34th of 84 teams in the local rag The Evening Chronicle.I done the first leg in 18.22 for the 3.4 mile course and was pleased with my time considering im not traing for the short stuff.Hartlepool has been much improved since i was last year in 1997.As i ran the 1st leg i went on the course to watch the runners in full flow and some of them were superb making it look so easy especially Hudspith(Morpeth),Walsh,Bilton and Grice(leeds) and many more.Me and my teammates were discussing how lads like Peter Newton(Claremont),David Kirkland(Alnwick) dont get a chance to do the relays as there club dont have really 6 solid runners.The next day at Norham i made my annual trip up there to do the 10k and jsut ran as a GNR pace run and felt solid enough and enjoyed the day.

Trainings been going really well recently and seem to have a balance between maintaining a bit of speed with endurance.Long runs especially are going great and todays 22 miler felt really easy on quite a hilly run managed to average 6.34 average without trying.All in all feel really confident to do 6.08 miling or 2.41 in Amsterdam after hopefully getting a morale boosting pb on my Great North Run debut.Double header this weekend Saturdays 6 stage relays then the Norham 10km.Funny thing is dont really want to do them but would like to help my club on saturday where as the Norham 10k is becoming an annual thing and its really good to catch up with some of the family.As always ill give 100%.

Ages since i last updated my blog.Have really been training hard putting in some quite monstrous sessions but beginning to think i can do it in training but not in races.At the Ray Harrison 10k i ran well but blew up and disapointingly done 35.35 but this has not swayed me from my belief that ill run a pb at GNR 2008 and Amsterdam 2008 then beat all my pbs again by April next year.Started training with Ash Henderson and have to say we are working together well really pushing each other.I have heard a lot of stuff about the eccentricy of Ash but i have to say a lot of things are absolute bollocks and people have got him wrong.6 Stage realays at Hartlepool on the 27th then maybe nexy day Norham 10k the following day.

Done my first fell run in 3 months today at a sunny pinchinthorpe in one of the North York moors races.The course itself was a trail race and i looked forward to testing myself gainst some good hands including Bulman and Lowe of NYM,Tom Danby of new marske and my teammate Phil Sanderson Nfr.The first 2-2.5 miles it was myself and the 4 people i mentioned together but once on the tricky pull up Little Roseberry Lowe and Bulman pulled away and i dropped off the back.Whether this was my lack of fell running(ie:Climbing)or the fact id run 91 miles without a rest day i dont know but i was happy to run strong on the run in nearly reeling in Phil to finish 5th in 44.16 for the app 6.9 mile course.1.Bulman 42.10 2.Lowe 42.38 3.Danby 43.37 4.Sanderson 44.14 5.Me 44.16.Later on done a 7.1 mile run in the strong rain averaging 6.15 so all round a satisfying day.

This week has been a mixed bag but i was pleased to run another 90+ mile week.The links 10k was a bit of a downer but the next day having run 14.5 mile in the morning i ran a 6.7 mile evening run which included a 16.53 5k tempo interval which i didnt set out to do!!.This amazed me and made me think is it just nerves when it comes to racing.Once i get this Marathon out the way i intend to do a lot of short intervals and tempo runs over the winter to try to get my 5k,5 mile and 10k times down.My road running is really baffling me at the moment as some days i feel ive got a fair bit of talent and then the day after i feel im wasting my time.The other particular gripe ive got at the minute is that Blyth running club have a decent group of runners who just wont train and help each other when i know we could do well.2009 maybe for me is at Morpeth,Heaton or North Shields Poly.

Last nights links 10k was on a blustery night on the out leg but tail wind coming home.My race was ruined by an upset stomach for the 2nd half of the race.The race was won by Michael Dawson of NSP quite easily but the battle behind was between an increasingly familiar group of Waterston and Walker of Morpeth,Myself,Whalley and stott of Blyth as well as Moore of Nsp.On this occasion 2nd place was Moore in 34.50 followed by Waterston in 35.02,Whalley in 35.11,Walker in 35.20 then myself 6th in 35.40 closely followed by Stott in 35.44.After the initial dejection at a poor time i certainly hope to be near pb by the Nissan 10km on the 7th September.

Started to do yoga with my lass and slowly realizing how un flexible i am!!.Read somewhere that this can help my running so im going to perservere with it.If anything its prooviding a right laugh at home with my son crying with laughter at my feeble attempts at the positions.On the running front ive continued to train really hard last week clocking 95 miles.On Saturday i done the Albert park tt 5km run on the back of a 90 miles week and still clocked 17.00 so quite happy.Looking forward to tommorow night at the Blyth Running clubs annual Links 10km where weather permitting i hope to run well.with the mileage high i hope to run the last 2-3km strong.