Full of Beans.

A little phase of the garden calendar, one of my favourites, has almost passed.

First came the garlic, from autumn planting, eagerly awaited. Impatience ultimately over-rides and up they all come, ready or not. A few bulbs have "popped," so to speak. Softened. Gone mouldy. Started to rot. Had it. But most come up trumps and are strung up to dry.

Glee! There might be the best part of a years supply!

A mental sentry is posted awaiting the next in line.The Broad Beans.

The first, from autumn planting, swell and are ready a couple of weeks later. And over July more, from a spring planting to fill in gaps where some autumnal ones failed, are ready to harvest. Although there's plenty they don't last long!

"We could freeze some. Look, there's loads..."

Fat chance. Almost every day some more are picked fresh, given a quick simmer and stirred around with a minced clove of the garlic, chopped mint and lemon juice. Too good. All fantasies of a freezerful of the things evaporate in the feeding frenzy.

And then they're all gone. One last picking remains, to be devoured....soon. I mourn their passing....

But...already batallions of courgettes are appearing on the horizon. Each day they seem to double in size! I've overplanted somewhat and I don't think we can eat our way out of this one. (The kids aren't keen.) Into the frying pan they go as fast as they ripen, more garlic, lemon juice or maybe yoghurt. A vegetable treadmill.

"Can we give some of these away Adam?" (I'm deemed responsible, being the fool who planted so many.) 

"Are ye crazy woman! Fer chrissakes hurl them away before we go under!"

Next exciting port of call will, hopefully, be- Tomatoes.

Wave count.

Wave on! Wave goodbye to a good nights sleep.

More nice swell this week means that common sense has gone out the window. Go to work/finish work/get home/get gear, whilst avoiding time-consuming activities like communicating with the family (forgive me for I have sinned)/screech to the beach/surf until limbs fall off & eyes drop out and fingers look like prunes/crawl home/get domestic/attempt Dutiful Dad role in a bleary haze/sleep fitfully/try to undo head from vice when 5am alarm goes/wake up when in the sea again and the cold water hits/surf until brain turns to dessicated putty/go to work.....coda.

Amongst the flurry of activity, the stand-out bits were watching JC going at the little hollow lefts low-tide Bamburgh on Mon. night. Ripping, shredding, tearing, and all other wave-salad making verbage my friends! Verily I say unto thee that he was "Killing It!" And- sunshine coupled with squeaky-clean waves, again at Bamburgh, on Wed. evening. Oh Happy Day! Quite a few of us out, making the most of sets from 2ft up to....oooh...almost head-high on the good 'uns. I'd like to think I mirrored JC's Monday night antics on some mid-beach righthanders as some long peeling (more salad making!) walls were offering up scope for gee-ing up plenty of speed and space for good carving (aha, the meat course!) Good times. Hilarity reigned in the end, at least for DW and I, when tiredness started to turn the conversation a bit surreal and the "Casey Jones Whistling Butt-Plug (pat. pending)" idea materialised. Do the Chattanooga Choo-Choo and lower the tone at any event! DW said he had to leave 'cos he was getting too tired to catch any more waves but choking with laughter can't have helped.

Phoenix.

Just at the point of talking myself into this again, perhaps....

www.newcastleorienteering.org.uk/phoenix/phoenix.html

The Phoenix will be right up your street, or rather...hill, if you're sick of leading or following everyone else around a pre-marked course.

You have to find your own way and stealthily hunt down the cunningly concealed sportident checkpoints. It's great. Your brain needs to go as fast as your legs as you scrutinise your map (and perhaps compass) on the hoof. I've had some spectacular disasters because mine didn't and I've ended up blundering around various bits of the Cheviots cursing softly to myself or any of the random passers-by. Lost!

I say "random passers-by" because a variety of courses of differing lengths and difficulties (some categories can be entered as a pair) means that the competition area is soon being criss-crossed by people following their different courses or maybe the same course as you, but in a different way! Might it be safe to follow him over there, he seems to know what he's doing. If the 'him over there' is me then, on previous form in this one, the answer is 'no.'

Last year it was up around Keilderhead, and by most people's comments, a very tough year. This year it is centered at Barrowburn so most terrain should be a bit easier going. Usually 4 courses are available and you can enter for one or two days worth of punishment/fun.

 

 

The week that was....

Was filled with waves, wedding and wunning

Seven days straight with surf. Not unheard of, but not exactly a common occurrence either. The summer scenario can have a ridge of low pressure sandwiched in the North Sea which is what we got, making swell run through for the time it was stuck there. Wind directions didn't entirely play ball every day so it was a case of scouting around for places with the best approximation to an offshore, or choosing ones time of day when the winds were lower.

The 2 cleanest, although smaller days, bookended bigger and bumpier conditions on those in between. Went down to Bamburgh Mon.6th, not really expecting much on the basis of the forecast but scored 2ft to shoulder high waves which were clean and peeling. Got pounded after fluffing a late take-off on a backhander. Dinged tail rail on the board and a gash to the shin but, strangely, no wetsuit damage. The evening of Sun 12th had similar conditions at Bamburgh again and a raft of people taking advantage. Apologies to the guy I dropped in on- my fault- another wee accident resulting in more board damage pour moi. Bah! Will have to get some wing-mirrors.

Tue.7th/Wed.8th- waves were quite a bit bigger and winds too northerly for most spots. Swell was big enough to get  into Annstead Bay and give some OK clean waves. I was out both nights with AM, and also surf-stranger The Baron, on day release from his castle on the Wed. Fun stuff but a little tame.

Too knackered Thurs.9th, but probably should've made the effort and ventured a bit further south. Have seen some photos of "a certain spot" looking quite tasty at low-tide on either that day or the Fri. Good result for those that scored it! I had stuff to do in preparation for going up to Glasgow on Thurs. eve for my sister's wedding on the Fri. That turned out to be a super day on all counts and thoughts of missed surf weren't to be found in my head or even floating in the nearby vicinity.

Made it out again on Sat., once back in the locale, but things were still at bit boisterous at Bamburgh.

Punchy left goes begging amidst the mush.

Two brief sessions spent struggling with unpredictable surges bringing huge outside bombs that seemed to focus their energies right in the direction of yours truly. Rewards of rideable ones were few and far between, but exhilerating nevertheless. I saw sense eventually and bailed to conserve energy for the Coastal Run the next day- which was a good opportunity to check spots between Beadnell and Alnmouth including "a certain spot" previously mentioned.

Coastal Run 2009.

Well done to all involved on today's Coastal Run.

Not much to say about this one despite it being another favourite on the race calendar. I've participated in it.....ummm....several....ten?....eleven?.....I lost count of how many times. But, it's another NE race that deserves its popularity and status as Race Of The Year. A nice departure from your usual half-marathon turn along some tarmac somewhere. "I do like to be beside the seaside" too, but it's a bit distracting watching the waves rolling in during the course of a race! (Yes! Long awaited surf has been indulged in this week!)

Conditions often seem on a par with today's. The headwind probably slowed things up generally. I've posted times from around 1hr 33 to a pb of about 1hr 18 for the route, but my time today of around 1hr 27 was a bit down on the run of gradual improvements I've made in previous years which I'm attributing to that wind and the wetter sands than past couple of years. The wind was welcome from my point of view giving a bit of necessary cooling. Heat has been a problem in previous years but not excessive today.

With the course being basically flat my strategy for it has been to study the route, break it into 12ths and aim for 7min 30s on each 12th for an overall time of 1hr 30. Seems to work for me. If I'm ahead of pace early on it gives a good mental boost and the choice to reign things in a bit or try and keep ahead of schedule until later on then, depending on how I feel, start to race a bit. Today I was fairly evenly paced, knew I was going to get in under 1:30 barring any collapses and I reeled a few in during the second half of the course which kept me going through the bits I find tough (road section through Boulmer and last beach stretch to finish) Quite, thankfully, uneventful really!

Hope you all had a good time.

Here's some (not very good) piccies. Apologies to Simon- whose photo got accidentally deleted in processing, Sarah- who I only managed to take from behind (!), and Victoria & Nathalie who I didn't catch because I had to split with my lift back home. I would've missed the whispering swish of Claire's passing were it not for the, "Oi! Adam! Over here!"...or words to that effect. Nick seems to be pulling along a posse of admirers, is this his fan-club?

Chevy Chase: The Quest for 3:15:00...

Well...couldn't make the post race soiree at the Youth Hostel...so will just have to post my ramblings here and hope that you all had a, dare I say it, FUN day!

On the subject of fun, the Dr Seuss quotation on one of the wee signs along the Hellpath brought to mind this page from one of his books, an apt summary of yesterday.

Chevy 09-The Hellpath.

However, for me anyway, the Hellpath was where the fun, if you could call it that, ran- or rather, walked- out.

All had been going so well. To be realistic, having studied the splits, I wasn't going to get under 3hrs 15 which has been a personal goal for The Chevy, but until Hellpath CP I was well on course for improvement on the 3:20:something of last year and possibly a PB too. (How far back can we get results for the race?)

Taking it easy early soon became the sensible strategy. In fact, going down the Hellpath was where I first picked up on an updraft of heat from the earth which came as an early warning. So...steady as she goes...regular sips at the bottle and wherever else there was an opportunity for water and forget about those up ahead! DONT RACE! Keep the stride rhythm going and enjoy the boosts of congratulation from the walkers.

Cheviot Summit soon came. Despite the heat I knew my time was round about last year's and, with regard to the competition, things took a nudge in my favour. Course knowledge acts in one's favour from here and a couple of race newcomers up ahead went onward from the trig-point a bit too far. I cut across the fence asap, bore down the valley on the steepest contours before picking up on, possibly for the first time ever, the optimum line for the Hedgehope ascent which resulted in a couple of places gain for no extra effort. I knew my Cheviot-Hedgehope split equalled the best I'd done previously and the legs had dealt with the Cheviot descent much better than before. There were 2 runners ahead within striking distance and the back of my hand was less familiar than the Hedgehope-Langlee stretch.

Down Hegehope steadily, thighs still OK with that, and clear obvious track ahead. I passed one of the guys in front who was frustrated with a bad blister and wished him luck. On the path to Long Crag another waft of heat came up at me from the earth and I reigned in the temptation to try and catch next ahead, Keith Mackie from South Shields, an old club-mate from my time with them, and regular Chevy participant. But then weird fortune went in my favour again because Keith went wrong exactly where I did last year and bore too far left after Long Crag. Having recce'd this bit last week, in the fog, I knew exactly which sheep-track to follow. What stopped me from trying to hail Keith, not that he'd have heard me, was thinking that he might possibly be heading down to retire. Was this a subconscious desire of mine though...? Although I knew I'd redeemed last year's foul up on this section (4 mins better by now) I was feeling the pinch of the heat almost constantly.

But then, another bit of sweet relief! For a few minutes between Langlee-Brands Corner there was some cloud cover and cooling of the air. "OH YES!" Thought I. "Just the ticket!" Brief respite though as the sun reappeared equally quickly in all its glory. However, Brands Corner is a sort of 'the end is in sight' spot, I was still keeping momentum and at the bend in the wall where you turn down toward the Happy Valley fortune seemed to be smiling on me again. Here was yet another one of the runners ahead, standing, hands on hips, looking either wasted or bamboozled. I don't glory in another's misfortune, so asked if he was OK.

"Wassup mate? Knackered?"

"Naw. Just got myself lost."

"Straight on mate. We'll pick up the track to the Carey Burn Bridge in just a minute. About 4 miles to go. One more hill."

We ran together until the top of Hellpath, but what he hadn't said when he said he was lost was that he'd bypassed the Brands Corner CP completely! Whoops!

He though bore witness to me 'blowing-up/hitting the wall/mega-bonking' or whatever you want to call it. In fact I actually expressed my concern to him that I might suffer that fate as we ran along the Carey Burn. All the telltale signs were manifesting. The legs aren't lifting quite so high and you clip a stone and stumble. (A sprawling fall just before the footbridge, then a stumble on the stony track before the waterfall) That breaks up your rhythm and breathing. Little cramps start up. (My calves were rippling with niggles under the long socks, a really freaky feeling!) A bit of a flickering sensation across the field of vision turns to dizziness...

Maybe if I'd just walked all the Hellpath? But I got into a trot again after stopping for water then walking the first steep stretch, and thought things were still in control. But, by the gate (That's a gate, and not a wall. Ha Ha!) my head just climbed aboard the Waltzers leaving the rest of me to pay the fare. Mister Lost got into his stride again and made for the farm whilst I did my best to put one foot in front of the other and watched my watch mercilessly ticking away the precious time gain I'd made. Oh bugger!

Got to the farm. Still couldn't run. Dejected. Mister Lost must've been too. He'd had to stop at the farm gate and wait for me to stagger up so he could ask directions again! In my current state I was a bit less sympathetic.

"This IS the same way we ran out you know!?" Indicating the quite well trodden grass across the field to the left of the farm..

Off he went. And was shortly followed by Mister Blister, Keith and one other who all passed me together as I trudged miserably on. Keith offered encouragement, "Come on Adam lad. I know how you feel!" I should've tried to shout him from going wrong earlier. I crammed about 5 glucose tablets into my dry mouth and told myself I was going to start running again when 3:20 ticked over. Gordon Dixon came tappy-lapping past at a great clip on the road and that spurred me on to get going again for the last mile. The curtain somehow lifted and I was running again. Just caught Mister Blister who was down to a walk at the turn off the road, and then it was the welcoming sound of the spectators clapping before the final turn...

As to the organisation... What can I say? Smooth and seamless. It's a great event and duly popular. I'm sure that it'll be a firm fixture for me as long as I'm capable. This year I was initially too focussed then latterly too knackered to acknowledge and thank the long-suffering marshals who must've had an equally brutal day out in the heat, so I take the opportunity now. Hope some of you have time to blog up or e-mail your experiences since I wasn't there for the crack last night.

 

 

 

Chevy- Walkers Start.