Whatever next................?

Thanks to my sponsors - and with only 42.195 km on the clock these will be good for a few more.

I shall auction them at my mother's birthday party in August. Lot No 1!

Paris Marathon......

My hotel was about ten minutes walk from the Arc de Triomphe at the start of the marathon so I had a relaxing warm up rather than having to travel miles on the Metro. I went and had a look for General Cafferelli and then made my way to meet the rest of the team at the end of Avenue Hoche.



The team - from right, Pete, Jane, Martin et moi!




Looking away from the Arc de Triomphe and down Champs Elysees - Martin, Jane and I are right at the back and Pete is in front of us in the sub-4:30 group (he eventually managed 4:10!)

We were facing right into the sun for a start at 8:30 - hazy blue skies for the rest of the day.




The best bits really are the bands that play alongside the route as you make your way around. Most have an African flavour as this one does - a driving beat helps propel you along. Very energetic.




You meet some very strange spectators! This camel was part of a Moroccan outfit at the start of the route around Bois de Vincennes...........




.........which meant stopping for mint tea before continuing.




More music of exceptional quality - and clearly, I'm not the only one to appreciate it.




The nice thing about the Bois de Vicennes is that there is plenty of opportunity to run off the road and on the adjacent gravel path. A bit easier on the knees and an opportunity for speeding up.




A distinct Congolese influence here -I explained that I was from 'National Geographic'. I think they believed me.




Halfway at 21 km. Now just to do all that again.




The Paris fire service set up a hose at about 22 km. It was actually quite a shock passing through the ice cold shower - but this runner obviously welcomed the experience.




This lot were really going for it and must have been keeping this up for a good two hours by this time. Absolutely fantastic music and very encouraging after running for almost three hours.




Running along the Seine we had spectators perched all over the place. These two above could have fallen over backwards into the river. Well, almost.




The bridges provide useful vantage points for spectators as we jog alongside the Seine.




At about 28 km we came we to a tunnel that lasted about 500m. Obviously, this is the right place to practice scales. We got a good chorus going and it works even better than the shower.




I first saw Les Josettes Noires about 3 km into the run. They really were very good and I rergretted not taking their picture at the time. Having played to the entire field on the way out however, they then picked up their instruments and moved a couple of kilometres across the circuit to play at around the 30 km mark - so I was able to catch them towards the end. If they look slightly tired in these photos it's because they must have been playing for over four hours by now - and not quietly either. They probably put more effort into the marathon than I did.



Les Josettes Noires - vivid and excellent!

I eventually managed to successfully capture some of Paris' architecture. I haven't got a clue what this is - but that's because it doesn't look as though they have finished it yet. (Probably they are on strike.)




Ah-ha, I'm not sure exactly how 'Arrivee' correctly translates at this point ( only in Anglo Saxon, international language of banking etc) - but that's it, just up the road!




Some of the people who finished after me.




This chap took his bike with him all the way



Very French. Except for Winnie the Pooh of course. It's worth having a close look to see what he has taken along for the ride.



Finis - 4hr 56min. A bit slow - but I took over two pictures per mile. (PS several weeks later I discovered that what I thought was general fatigue in my left ankle was in fact a hairline stress fracture - so I'll add that to my excuses! Actually, its very painful.)

My neck is finally much better.....

When I sat down in the evening after the Bath Half and the temperature chilled, my neck muscles began to ache extremely badly. For the next few days if I wanted to move my head I had to use both hands to help! Anyway, although I still have a slight ache it is much better today and although I have been running and cycling etc since - it has not been fun.

Her is another blog that I am following on sustainability:

http://www.petermcmanners.com/html/blog_2009.html

I thought I would paste it in here as it resonates well with the ethos behind Temi. I have included it in the 'Look here.....' section.

Bath Half Marathon

On a gorgeous Sunday morning I drove across the Somerset Levels up through the Mendips and into Bath for this year's half marathon. As you can see from the picture below it was clear blue skies, sunshine and a slight cooling breeze. You couldn't ask for more for a run around one of the prettiest of cities.



At the start it was difficult to make out who there were more of- spectators (above)......



...or runners. Including fairies.



The start was delayed by half an hour but eventually we were off. I have no idea where this was apart from not long after we got going.



This was crossing the River Avon for the first time - the Bath run involves two laps of the same course. Here we ran just outside the town before turning east and back in again.



Runners everywhere and spectators everywhere.....



This is the top of what is apparently a hill.



This is crossing the Avon for the second time and carefully observing the speed limit. Note the Telly Tubby - can anyone tell me which one this is?

The Telly Tubbie is 'Po' (Thanks Jenny!)



Finished at last - although it was a lot easier than fiddling about with the photo's on this blog.

From some runs in the snow and ice....

Back in Somerset this is Crowcombe Hill under over a foot of snow. A good slog but not runnable. Thank heavens! The sign is for an escape lane - presumably for the snowboarders who had also been playing barflies into the slope at the right! I joined them for a bit of a cool-off.




At the end of nine miles I was rewarded with some sunshine. A beautiful day to be snowed in!



The snow here is pretty frozen but every footfall was accompanied by a deeply satisfying, crisply cryogenic, crunch. Heaven on the knees and suprisingly effortless.

A day after it snowed it froze. This lane in Oxfordshire was like an ice rink and impossible to run on. I did manage to stay upright but I did feel like getting down on all fours at times.

I came across this bovine behemoth shortly after the snow started. He stands over six feet at the shoulders but thinks at an appropriately glacial pace given the weather and his kinship with the Pleistocene megafauna. You can see that he is quite perplexed by the snow which has, cunningly, hidden all his grass!

They say there is nothing like a charging pachyderm to concentrate the mind - so it did and so I ran.

Actually, he's a big softy - albeit with a tongue that could sculpt concrete!

A clean pair of heels......

It was sunny last weekend - so I thought I would record that event as it might be some time before it is again.

Photographs from Temi

Here are some photographs from the Christmas celebrations at the Temi Community.