Big weekend/Berwick Tri

Don't quite know where to start with this weekend's activity epic. Saturday morning, 5:20am was when the 'on' button was activated and already I knew there was thespian activity in the form of a Belford Players performance coming up, and a funeral service as well as the triathlon. The early start had been necessitated by the added complication of the first decent swell and waves for about a month being forecast for saturday. Would getting up at sparrow-fart and going surfing impact negatively on acting and triathlon abilities? These things can't be pondered on too long...! It's a surfers duty to cast aside all other considerations and get out there if conditions are good. Besides, a dawn patrol is proper now and again, just to make sure the sun is checking in on time.

So, some nice early morning waves at Annstead, just south of Seahouses, were good to kick off the proceedings, before shooting home again and getting props, costumes and kids loaded up to go over to Ford. The Belford Players, of which I'm a member, put on their first performance of 'The Mad Hatters Posh Party' as part of the Berwick Food Festival. This wee play adapts the tea-party scene from Alice In Wonderland as a means to showcase, in song and verse, some of the regions local food producers. There are NO prizes for guessing which of the familiar Alice in Wonderland characters I was called upon to play. This was a warm-up show of sorts. We're due to put on 2 more perfs. in Berwick this coming saturday if anyone is interested. 11:30am on Walls by Gymnasium Gallery, 1:30pm Palace Green, weather permitting.

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. The afternoon was given over to a funeral service in Belford. That of a friend's mother who, sadly, died unexpectedly last week. R.I.P. Margaret. I'm not big on religion, but the bible has some very moving verses and a reading from 1 Corinthians 13 was indeed that. Alot of folk turned out to pay respects. Belford's churches also saw a wedding and a christening over the weekend. Life's full spectrum of rituals.

The sea beckoned again in the evening. Mobile phone was stacked with messages about the great condtions. I threw caution to the winds and headed down to Bamburgh for more, meeting up with Dan and Rab and 3 guys paying a visit from Scarborough. Pretty classy waves, head high or so on the reef and then the beach when the tide dropped. We pigged-out on it until the sun was slipping. Worth the wait.

Moving swiftly to sunday morning and I woke up a wee bit throbby with tiredness! Porridge and coffee and loads of water to get hydrated. A minor blur of getting kit together and then Super Chauffeur Mr.S was on the scene with the tri-taxi and off to Berwick we did go! There were some differences in the format of this triathlon compared to the ones in the Borders series- which I'd had reservations about. Paper numbers on number belts as opposed to marker-penned on arms and legs and the requirement to count your own lengths in the pool seemed odd. In the end it all went smoothly though, even the crossings of the A1 on the cycle route which must've been a headache for the organisers. Best of all about this tri was being amongst so many familiar faces (see Dolly's post and pics). I hadnt had a close enough look at the entry list to see who was all having a go. Well done to the Alnwick Tri/WRC connection competitors. You know who you are, even if I'm not readily familiar with everyone yet!

I just tried to ignore the surf-lag from the day before and get on with it. Quite hard work at the start of the bike leg with a few generally uphill miles into the wind. My thighs were complaining straight away and I was a bit worried that I'd overdone it until the turn out of the wind when there was chance to get the speed up again. Similar scenario with the run. The first of two laps I found very tough but there were lots of other runners ahead to aim to catch and into lap 2 I was feeling not-too-bad at all and giving it full steam ahead.

Everyone I spoke to seemed to have enjoyed it all but had similar difficulties with the tougher sections of the course. Mr. S seems to have come up a few places in the field in this event and I know Big N is mighty pleased with improvements in his run leg. There was a meal laid on for competitors in The Bonarstead afterwards and some results and prizes materialised quite quickly too. I came in 6th place overall and scooped a prize for  2nd Vet.

All that remained to be done was go and see the latest Harry Potter with Sarah and the kids in the evening! I managed to stay awake for the 2-and-a-half hours! Possibly the best achievement of the weekend, made easier by it being a pretty good Harry Pottering in comparison to some of the others in the series.