First of all, pancake day, just before Valentines Day! How flippin awesome! Pancake day always crepes up on me; I spend a whole day each year exclaiming how much I love pancakes and eating far too many, and then don't touch another one for a whole year before the same realisation dawns on the next Pancake Day. So this year, what batter way to express the Valentine's Day love than in the form of a pancake!
Ahem. Let us toss aside these silly jokes, before they fall flat, and focus. After a short rest period, where I will recover from the pancake extravaganza, we shall move on to the next topic.....
....I'll Be Back....
A couple of weeks ago I did the Pic N Mix Sci-Fi marathon. Well, it sounded sweet, so I had to do it. And it had an intriguing name, which on closer examination turned out to mean it was a 'space versus time' themed run. Oooh. Does that mean I'll do a PB? All these years of running, and all I really needed was to crack time travel and I'd easily knock an hour or so off my marathon time, leaving more time for cake stops. In fact, cake and tea stops could potentially be unlimited, if you could traverse the boundaries of time.
Anyway, all that thought and no actual breakthrough in the time travel part, means I've just wasted a lot of everyone's time with this drivel. Let us return to the scene of the crime. Essex, no less. And the Whoosh Canoe Club in Sawbridgeworth to be accurate. What a name! We will whoosh our way around the course!
Or not, as I realised a quarter of the way through the first lap, once two things became clear. One, there were a lot of laps, and two, half of each lap was a mud-fest. I admit to having approached this marathon with a rather gung-ho attitude. After the Winter Tanners bog fest I had become rather deconditioned to normal mud, feeling that everything was really quite tame in comparison. So when I read the race description that it was along a tow path and river path which 'could be muddy at times' I dismissed this with barely a thought, laced up my road shoes, and set forth.
To be fair, the first 1/2 mile was lovely along a well formed and mud free path. What a treat, after all this winter mud! But treats only come in moderation, and soon enough, as we crossed over the river to run back along the other side, the path disappeared into a sea of mud. Only ankle-deep this time, I'll admit, but mud none the less. This lasted for the whole of that side of the lap (about a mile and a half), before crossing back over the river to the nice path again, back to the tuck-shop (AKA checkpoint) to complete one 5 km lap, pick up a cheeky jelly bean or two, and head back out to complete as many laps as you liked. Maybe 'liked' is the wrong word, as after lap one it started to rain, perhaps 'chose' is a better choice. I chose 8, to hit a marathon distance bang on the head. The laps passed quite quickly to be honest, and it was good fun despite the rubbish and uninspiring day. I always enjoy the Phoenix events - friendly, a good laugh, chance to have a good chat to people, and of course a nice tuck-shop. And 5km laps are my favourite distance for a lap - long enough so there aren't too many, but short enough so you can bang one out relatively quick. There was a brief anxious moment where I lost one of my hairbands (you collect one after each lap, to keep count) when I took off my gloves carelessly and threw them into the kit tent, accidentally pinging off a hairband without noticing. But it was soon rectified and the panic I had at having to do an extra lap subsided. Phew.
Well, I suppose you must still be wondering, as after all that I still haven't got to the point, why is it called the Pic N Mix Sci-Fi marathon? And what's "I'll Be Back" all about? Well! Phoenix Running have many events every year, all with a theme, with fancy dress encouraged (hurrah!) - several of the events are of a sci-fi nature like the "Timelord on the Thames" run, and the "I'll Be Back" run...hence the "Sci-Fi" part. They also have awesome medals. An accumulation of said awesome medals have built up and needed to be used, and so upon finishing your chosen distance, you picked a card out of a hat (the Pic N Mix part), which had a name on...and that was the medal you got! I got the I'll Be Back medal, which I've taken as a sign that my running form will return, at around the same that maybe some spring weather and some firm running ground will also back. Triple hurrah!
On that note, Happy Pancake Day one and all, and may the pancakes be back before this time next year....
