Surprises

With my voice eventually returning properly by Wednesday, the joys of the weekend at Wembley had to come to an end. Tuesday’s mailbox presented an electricity bill of nearly £1,800 and the news that an electricity company was going to get a warrant to break-in and turn off our electricity! Somewhat of a surprise for our first electricity bill since moving here... A quick phone call and I discovered a couple of things - 1) the bill went back to 2003, and 2) that they had the wrong meter and address. Phew!!

So, that solved, Thursday arrived with the return of Charity from Edinburgh and what turned out to be a pretty good couple of days. Friday night we caught up with Marty n Karyn Cairney again (and that should give you a google hit there Karyn!). Brick Lane was our destination after meeting up in one of Liverpool street station’s pubs. We made our way there to be offered tables at restaurants all claiming to be either restaurant of the year or to have the chef of the year. 20% off the bill and a free round of drinks was the best offer, so that became our restaurant of choice. Excellent food, somewhat interesting service and a nice surprise awaited inside. At the end of our meal, Charity, who had somehow managed to not only find the cake you see in the pic, but also to smuggle it in, produced the cake and musical candle to go with it. (It played Happy Birthday, not the theme to Doctor Who).
The evening finished off in a cafe in Spitifields indulging in some rather decadent hot chocolates.

After a fairly cruisey Saturday spending some time in the shops up the High Rd, came Sunday and the Reading Half Marathon. With a sore throat on the Saturday morning making me question whether or not to even run, on top of the fracas of a training schedule brought about by the issues with my knee, I wasn’t particularly confident in doing well. In fact my original plan of properly racing this half marathon and trying to break 1 hour 50mins was pretty much out the window - as was doing it in less than 2hours. I would be happy just to finish in one piece with no injury or other health issues.
We left home just before 6am to get the bus to waterloo before then getting a train to Reading. From there it was a free shuttle bus to the Madjeski stadium, joining 17,000 other runners and their friends, family and supporters. At least the sun came out for the early part of the event, even if it didn’t do much about the cold wind...
In the starting “street” were all sorts of folks, and I don’t just mean runners of all ages and sizes. I started next to two people in a camel suit! (you can see my white cap just by its head) Pink Panthers, gorillas, Mr Men and also sorts of creatures were out in force amongst what turned out to be the best atmosphere I’ve experienced at such an event. It seemed that most of the town were out along the course for this one, happy to cheer people on or donate to the collection buckets carried by those costumed folks, or even be offering jelly babies and other sugary lollies. I can also recall about 4 or 5 bands along the course as it wound its way through the township, playing all manner of tunes from Tequila to the Great Escape. Even my ipod chimed in by timing some songs at what seemed to be just the right time as well.
Entering the Madjeski stadium for the end of the run was something else. It may not have been full of spectators, but those that were there gave you quite a lift. All this combined to make this the most enjoyable run I think I’ve ever done with the added bonus of finishing with a time of 1:51:58!
With medal and goody bags collected, it was lunch in the stands watching others finish, before heading back to London and a quiet arvo and evening.

With a BIG Thankyou to Charity for coming along and doing all that she did on the day!

I’m feeling far more confident about the London Marathon now, but there’s still several weeks to go til I get there and that sore throat came back with a vengeance on the Monday night to leave me with a bad cold and unable to train all this week!

http://www.justgiving.com/aussierunner