New Year, New Plan, New Forest.

Posted on January 11, 2015 by James Clay
Home sweet home - YHA New Forest

Home sweet home – YHA New Forest

This last weekend I was supposed to be driving to Chamonix, drinking excessively for three days and driving home with my good friend Greg. I already had my doubts about the wisdom of this, what with the challenges I’ve set myself for this year starting 2015 by destroying myself probably wasn’t the one. So when the trip fell through and I had a few days to fill I planned a trip somewhere new, and replaced all the booze with all the jogging!

Greg was overjoyed about the under bunk storage, less so about losing at Scrabble though.

Greg was overjoyed about the under bunk storage, less so about losing at Scrabble though.

We stayed in the YHA New Forest, and while this blog is no place for travel reviews rest assured they’re getting all the gold stars on Tripadvisor. The place is fantastic and couldn’t have been more accommodating. We got up on Friday morning well rested with a route planned*, tied our laces, stepped out the door and immediately started our run.

It took us no more than a couple of hundred metres before we got lost the first time, trying to get through the village of Burley. Once we were on the trail though the scenery was stunning, simply stunning. In the Cotswolds where I live trail running means going from view to view, often with miles of hilly woods in between. You get fleeting glimpses of big skies and sweeping vistas then it’s back in to the close confines of the trees. By contrast, the New Forest offers huge expanses of heath land flanked by beautiful woods with glorious graveled paths to ease progress (although we also found a decent amount of mud!)

Beautiful stuff to look at...and Greg.

Beautiful stuff to look at…and Greg.

Big bum, big run.

Big bum, big run.

We went out for over 14 miles of glorious running. A few wrong turns added a few more hills which we didn’t mind at all, the local wild ponies made interesting obstacles and Greg stopped to admire some lewd street art on an underpass.

Almost exactly 5 years after my very first attempts at running, I think this was one of my favourite ever days out on my feet.

Ponies...thousands of 'em

Ponies…thousands of ’em

 

 

*(thanks to Catherine of New Forest Runners who provided the routes for the weekend after an appeal on the Brockenhurst parkrun Facebook page. Just another example of the running/parkrun community being bloody lovely!)

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Doing The Double

Posted on January 4, 2015 by James Clay

I don’t buy all the “new year, new you” rubbish, in fact January 1st is just December 32nd in a dress. But what I do believe is that bank holidays are that most beautiful and rare opportunity to do something fun while your employers pay you for it. In fact, if you think about it, if you go out for a run, ride or swim on a bank holiday you are technically a professional athlete. (don’t think about it too hard, just go with it and don’t burst my bubble!)

So on January 1st 2015 I headed off with friends Greg and Prash to be professional parkrunners and take advantage of the opportunity to “do the double” – the once a year you can do two parkruns in a day and they both count. A little investigation revealed that Chipping Sodbury and Pomphrey Hill were offering themselves, with a staggered start time and being only 45 minutes away.

I did a "selfie", I won't be making a habit of it.

I did a “selfie”, I won’t be making a habit of it.

Chipping Sodbury was a flat 3 lapper around a pleasant field with a good crowd, the usually friendly folk you encounter at parkruns around the country.

Big crowds looking to "do the double!"

Big crowds looking to “do the double!”

In fact I recognised several people from Ashton Court parkrun which I did a few weeks ago, which was handy because they were able to take group photos so avoiding the need for awful selfies!

Chipping Sodbury...done!

Chipping Sodbury…done!

Pomphrey Hill was a wildly different beast, I guess the clue should have been in the name. Over 300 people on a course that rarely sees 100 meant a tricky job to hear the briefing, but something it was impossible to miss was the cheer when the Run Director referred to going “up Pomphrey”. 3 laps starting with a climb past the cafe wafting the delicious smell of bacon across the course and at the 3/4 mark a steep, steep climb up a soggy wood-chipped track, the eponymous hill.

309 runners, of which 159 had done the double

309 runners, of which 159 had done the double

With two parkruns in two hours it was never going to be quick, but both were done in under 30 minutes and parkruns 42 and 43 were in the bag.

Celebrating with a cuppa and a bacon bap

Celebrating with a cuppa and a bacon bap

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Fulham Palace parkrun #55

Posted on November 1, 2014 by James Clay

When I first saw the memorial poppies at Tower of London announced I knew I had to go.

pop

As time grew short to get a visit in I knew it would have to be a Saturday.

Knowing I’d be in London on a Saturday I had to indulge in a little parkrun tourism!

So it was that I found myself rising to the 4am alarm, for the 5am coach, to get to Fulham Palace for 9am and enjoy their free 5km.

fppr

After a bit of confusion trying to find the start (or rather the congregating point, which is about 150 metres from the start) I received the usual parkrun welcome. Chatting to locals and fellow tourists alike, getting advice on where to stash kit to avoid the incoming rain (which thankfully never materialised) and comparing parkrun experiences. The crowd soon grew, 212 of us ran in all, and just before 9am run director Luke delivered the briefest of briefings and we were marched to the start line. With 200+ runners on the course there was understandably a bit of congestion at the start and the first few corners, so if finish times are important to you or you are PB hunting be sure to get to the front of the pack. The course is a 3 lapper on tarmac, pancake flat, and if the crowds don’t hold you up it could be a very fast course. The stretch back along the river is nice taken at a slower pace though, with views across the water to the boat clubs which feature heavily in the annual boat race footage and lots of river traffic to distract you. Eventually you come to another  cheery hi-vised marshal who points you around a few corners and you’re on the finish straight, or at least it will be after another 2 laps!

 

It's a busy start line at Fulham Palace parkrun!

It’s a busy start line at Fulham Palace parkrun!

Knowing the course and with the runners a bit more spread out now I relaxed in to lap two and started to enjoy the scenery, exchange pleasantries with fellow runners and advising a junior about her undone shoe lace and warning her not to trip. Suddenly felt very old and responsible at that point!

In to lap three and almost sad that it was nearly over. Picked the pace up a little and set sights on a few people to beat, received the obligatory compliment on my ridiculously large calves (every race/run!) and settled in for the sprint finish. Great support on the line from the volunteers and other runners and a lovely congratulations chalked on the tarmac (an idea that may come back to Cheltenham with me for our winter course) and it was all over in a far from impressive 27:24 but given the early start and distracting scenery I’ll take it.

Meanwhile at the front of the field Paul White was romping home in 17:04 from Stuart Fraser’s battling 17:12. Among the women Carolyn England (21:49) had a comfortable ten seconds over Katie Ferguson (21:59), both clear of the chasing pack by some distance with Helen Witt next home in 22:23. None of which affected the standings at the top of the points table for the year, shown below. Full results can be found here.

With 212 runners, 46 at Fulham Palace for the first time, there were 40 new Personal Bests to celebrate, and representatives of 29 different clubs took part including one happy Almost Athlete.

If you’re in London there are a plethora of parkruns to choose from, but I’d suggest Fulham Palace is a good one to start with. Thanks for the run guys!

Fulham Palace parkrun points tables:

Current standing in the Men’s annual points competition:
Thomas DALEY (Fulham RC) 285 pts.
Paolo BUSCAGLIA (Serpentine RC) 261 pts.
Bob LYNAM (Fulham RC) 259 pts.

Current standing in the Women’s annual points competition:
Dawn PAYNE (Unattached) 300 pts.
Eliza GAFFNEY (Unattached) 300 pts.
Carolyn SALISBURY (Unattached) 300 pts.

 

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Blunder Run 24 – Going Through The Night Just To Enter

Posted on October 8, 2014 by James Clay

The decision was probably made individually much earlier, but the team agreement was made on Facebook the Monday after Thunder Run 2014…we were going back and this time we meant business.

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So it was that I once again found myself bleary eyed at midnight, confused by simultaneous alarms and hauling the laptop in to bed with me. The hopes (and cash) of a team of 7 rested with me, but ten minutes of inconvenience was a small price to pay for what we were looking forward to… The memory of the next 4 hours will live long, I just hope I can blot it out when we’re setting up camp in Catton Park next July and not let it taint what promises to be another excellent weekend.

I was expecting a bit of F5 fever, knowing the team places sell out in hours it was likely to take a few minutes to get my place in the booking queue. After twenty minutes of constant refreshing I started to get a little concerned, and turned to Facebook for solace. What I found was a Thunder Run page with over 200 comments already from people who had enjoyed better luck than me, only to be booted out of the booking process at various points. It seemed no one was successfully entering the event! Now the fear started to build, and it was twofold…not only was I not making any progress but I could see the numbers of people trying and new it was a straight shoot out for the limited team places available.

The next two hours saw frantic opening of new browser windows, across Google Chrome and IE and using both on my phone as well…that’s 4 portals each with numerous pages being refreshed regularly, I could have beaten the world record for contracting Repetitive Strain Injury! I had some luck, although I never got as far as the payment screen which had proved the final resting place of many entrants dreams I had been given the faint hope of inputting my team details several times. Sometimes it even let me get all the names in before it inexplicably kicked me out.

Meanwhile the Facebook comments multiplied, the crowd turned hostile, the vitriol poured out as everyone from Pat the organiser (one of the nicest men you will ever meet and definitely NOT to blame) and FR Systems (the booking agent, who very clearly should shoulder the blame) was made a scapegoat. There was mention of multiple card payments, simultaneous entries and still the ever present agony of being booted out before completing your booking.

835 comments...and every one a complaint.

835 comments…and every one a complaint.

And then, around 2:30am, someone somewhere flicked the “fix it” switch and suddenly the website worked. I flew through the pages in record time (admittedly by this point I’d given up entering team mates details, we all shared one birthday, one phone number, some of my oldest friends didn’t even have names spelt correctly) but finally I had made it to the payment page. My troubles were over…

There are obvious issues inherent with opening registration for a hugely popular event at midnight on a Tuesday. Put aside for a moment the obvious inconvenience of having to be up and online at that time, we can even put aside the wasted hours of IT issues from last night, but one unforeseen problem with the late start I didn’t expect? Mastercard don’t like accepting transactions for hundreds of pounds originating from a Dutch company at 3am. In fact they hate it, because it appears fraudulent, so they block your card to keep you safe. Payment denied.

I’m not a rich man. My team mates had been very good at getting the money to me early so I could make sure the balance was there on the card ready to go…so I was frantic when the card was declined and I think the chap I spoke to at Mastercard realised this the moment I actually screamed at him in frustration. They would lift the block, no problem, just wait up to 24 hours…

Waiting a day clearly wasn’t an option. With entries now flying in successfully our place was far from assured and so some money management Gordon Gecko would have been proud of followed. Balances were moved, phone calls to Barclays made, call centre operatives in Mumbai told exactly what I thought of their policies regarding my money…but eventually, at 3:14am, I had gathered enough cash together in one place to cover the transaction. We were in.

tr24cover

The number of flaws in this process is staggering, for an event of this size, using a booking agent of FR Systems experience and backed by a sporting giant like adidas the whole thing was a shambles, and as it stands at 11:32am the following morning, hours after their respective offices will have opened for business, there has been no comment or apology from anyone.

I’m sure the weekend in July 2015 will be brilliant, and for my team mates it will be just as sweet as last year. But for me there will always be a sour after taste associated with Thunder Run from this day forward.

One small fillip from last night is that, whilst I was experience a single sleepless night, my team mate was becoming father to a beautiful daughter and as a result may never sleep again. Guess I got off lightly! Congratulations to the Foster Four, big love. x

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I’m Making A Commitment…

Posted on September 13, 2014 by James Clay

…To me…

…And to adventure.

One of my favourite wastes of bandwidth is to marvel at other people’s amazing adventures, whether it’s Jamie McDonald running 5000 miles across Canada or Sophie Radcliffe and her incredible Alpine Coast to Coast last month. I love the tweets, blogs and videos of people doing epic shit and having amazing adventures. I always dream that one day I’ll do something like that…and then my belly and bank balance remind me that no, I won’t, and I go back to pretending to work whilst surreptitiously reading more blogs.

And then I discovered Al Humphreys and his concept of microadventure. I’ve already chronicled how wrong my first attempt at microadventure went, but the seed had been sown. It had made me say yes to someone inviting me out to be challenged. It made me set a date, make a plan and stick to it (to begin with anyway!) Of course microadventure is pretty easy and cheap, that’s the whole point of it, it was still no crossing continents or taming mountains.

And then I came across another of Al’s fabulous ideas… #Adventure1000

The plan is a simple one. Set up a direct debit to leave your account weekly for an amount you won’t really miss and stash it in a new bank account. When it gets to a reasonable amount of cash blow it on an adventure. Al’s suggestion is siphoning off £20 a week, which means in a year you’d have over a grand to play with. £20 a week, when you add it up to £80 a month, sounds like a lot…but this morning I spent £12.25 on breakfast, £3.99 on a magazine that only vaguely interests me and £2.95 on a cheesecake treat to go with my afternoon tea. That’s almost twenty quid right there, which I spent without even thinking. Would I make my own breakfast and read a second hand book in exchange for a life changing and soul preserving adventure? Course I bloody would!

no-breakfast2

The second part of the plan according to Al is to make a commitment. Decide your adventure and tell the world. Keep telling the world, and yourself, why you are saving. You’ve got twelve months then to arrange leave, make plans, accumulate kit and expertise…and chances are you’ve also got a birthday and Christmas when you can ask for the adventure fund to be swelled rather than socks or a Michael Bublé CD (hint hint family!)

29307_money-present

That’s why I’ve just set up a folder in my favourites entitled “GR20“. In September next year I am flying to Corsica to walk the mountainous 180km Grande Randonnée number 20 along the spine of the island from the North to South. Staying at mountain huts along the way and taking 15 days out from the world. The next twelve months will see lots of saving, training, getting out in the hills in preparation and plenty of planning…and I can’t wait!

corsica

Is it too early to start packing?

What would YOU do with £1000 to spend on an adventure?

Posted in Adventure, Mountain | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments