Round Hill Fell Race & Baggy Heads

Woke up feeling a bit tired and under the weather today, however turned out for what was my first crack at our local fell race ... God knows why I haven't done this before, I'm frequently running up and around this area so will have to put this down to my own foolishness in missing it. Didn't have that good a race, truth be told, went off a bit fast and paid for it. Had little fight in me for a hard run to the end, although there is a fast finish to be had. This race has a good, steady climb but is actually more akin to a trail race, have to say it is very boggy in places. Here's what Mr Garmin has to say about the whole thing:

A Busy Little Bee ...

Both boys round to dinner last night, a rare enough event nowadays, so I decided to cook one of my infamous chicken and chickpea curries. All was going well, a bottle of shiraz was aiding the process and I was on course for a very nice, tasty offering until I temporarily lost control of my senses and decided to add a small dash of Dave's Insanity Sauce, a bottle of which I keep chained up in the back of the fridge (I expect most blokes do). Problem was, my "small dash" was more of a dollop, truth be told. The result was a curry that warranted an entry on the periodic table, as it almost certainly was possesed of a nuclear half-life. Gulp. All I can say is that everyone ate it!

Swimming in Ripon lake this morning, loads of weed ... God knows where that came from, appreciably worse than on triathlon day and I confess that at one point I was getting a bit fed up with it, I know I dragged enough of it back to shore with me.

Shopping in Ripon afterward, which I hated. Home, decided to do some painting - a particular door frame that has been waiting for at least a year - then laid a much-needed coat of polish on the hallway floor.

Massage on sore leg afterwards, the problem is a very tight vastus medialis - one of the quadricep muscles - that has been taking a bit of hammer lately with all these trips to the Lakes. It make it seem like my knee is sore, but it's just the area around it. Eva Braun's little sister got really stuck into and I confess that it was agony .... I hope it will stand the rigours of tomorrow's Round Hill fell race. We will see

The Bob Graham Round - A Truly Romantic Ideal ....

I don't suppose my preoccupation with The Bob Graham Round is much of a secret to those who know me, however I've tried to keep it low-key and deliberately not blogged much about it, or indeed, said much about it outside my immediate circle of friends or to family. Of course, this has been nothing more than a protection mechanism against the realities of the enormous challenge that is the BGR; those who know about it - and if you don't, please Google it now - will be aware of the difficulties and dangers, the physical effort required and the inevitable blood, sweat and tears that are part of the package.  Since my interest was first kindled I have not wanted to publicly commit to any kind of firm involvement, just in case it turns out I don't have the desire, nerve and commitment needed to embark on a regime that would ultimately see me attempting to cover the best part of 66 miles over 42 Lakeland summits with a culmulative ascent/descent of around 28,000ft, all within a 24-hour window.  Sounds hard doesn't it?  It is, pardon me, unbelievably f***ing hard.

 

With all that said, the truth of the matter is that I don't think I can keep stumm much longer and it's time to come clean.  Several weeks back I was I was fortunate enough to be part of Dave Almond's (Calder Valley) support team for his successful BGR attempt, this weekend just gone I did the same for Neil Woods (Dallam A.C.) and this, coupled with a signicant amount of time spent up in the Lakes lately has turned a wavering desire into a firm objective, a life-goal that I desperately want to achive.  Believe me when I tell you that not a single day goes by without my dreaming, scheming or thinking about the Bob Graham Round in some way or another and it's all wonderful.

 

I first heard of the BGR a few years ago, when I heard that one of our club members - a good runner - was taking a season off from competing in local races because he was training for something odd called a "Bob Graham Round".  I was curious and eventually (like so many others) read Richard Askwith's "Feet in The Clouds" where everything was explained in very graphic detail.  The seed was planted and it came at a time when I was getting thoroughly bored with road running and moving to more off-road stuff, even dabbling with the odd fell-race.  You see, I've reached the point where the road has totally lost its appeal, I'm tired of constantly chasing rainbows and the repetitive impact has caused me all sorts of injuries, because biomechanically I am not that good.  Off-road I seem to cope much better.  Also, it's just like the Inov-8 advert says - once it gets in your blood, off-road running is a very powerful narcotic.  If that's true, then fell-running in The Lakes is the most addictive of them all ....

 

I'm the sort of bloke who has to have a goal to aim for and as a result tend to jump feet-first into things that interest me. I've indulged in various obsessions over the years, but I've stayed passionate about a couple of things since I was very young.  One is [soul] music, the other is The Outdoors and by that I mean camping, mountains, orienteering, backpacking.  It's always fascinated me, but as a young lad I could never really afford all the bits and pieces I needed.  School holidays would come round and we'd pack all our stuff up into some tatty old rucksacks and my dad would dump us somewhere up in the Peak District, we'd walk for miles, camp without permission, wonder if we'd ever dare to do the Pennine Way and wonder who the hell this Wainwright bloke was.  So, fell-running and the BGR fits that particular passion very well, the difference this time is that nowadays I am a) considerably older and  much more breakable and b) Have more common sense.  Alright, b) is debatable.

 

So I have committed to the cause and am truly loving the time I spend up in The Lakes, but must confess that until the last few years I hardly knew the area at all, most of my outdoor experience was gained in Snowdonia and The Peak District or wherever the military establishment chose to send me.  I've spent a lot of time up there this year, almost to the point where Keswick seems to be a second home and I'm on nodding terms with the lady who runs the Kingfisher fish and chip shop :-) It has been fantastic, I look forward to every dash up to the Lakes and feel a thrill of excitement when I see those mountains.  My life has a new focus and I consider myself fortunate to have met some truly wonderful people into the process.  This is not just me, of course.  My infinitely better half [Helen] loves the outdoors as much as me, so a lot of the BGR recce stuff we've done has been a joint effort and she has began to accumulate a lot of the BGR lore that is vital to a true understanding of the Round's mystique.  It also makes it much easier if your wife is quite willing to spend all weekend in a rain-soaked tent and get up at 2.00am to convey her insane husband and his mates to a pre-arranged rendezvous point. 

 

We were very fortunate to be up there during that spell of nice weather in May and it was probably the most enjoyable time I've spent with my clothes on in recent years, armed with a handful of OS maps and a dubious sense of direction, we got some serious miles under our belt, covering hefty chunks of the BGR at a time.  It was glorious ..... I remember we were on a leg 3 recce (Dunmail to Wasdale) and we'd done and out-and-back thing, parking at Dunmail for the day.  It was getting towards evening and we were on our way back to Steel Fell and the steep drop back down the fell, so we stopped for a breather and watched the distant horizon bathed in the early evening sunlight.  It was incredibly peaceful, I felt like we were the only souls around, the summits of Bow Fell and Esk Pike soared high above the rugged scenery and I knew I was in the right place.  It seemed a quintessentially British place, somewhere unique and worth fighting for.  I knew I was in a privileged position to even be there and all of a sudden it seemed very important to quantify that, to earn my right to walk these fells and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men and women with whom I would be proud to be mentioned in the same breath.  The BGR would be my rite of passage.

 

Of course, it's not all glorious weather and inspiring scenery, but I never expected it to be.  A couple of weeks back Helen and I went up to Wasdale for what was meant to be a week of relaxed camping and multiple BGR recces, however it typical fashion we got monsoon conditions.  We endured, however, and still managed to cram about 70 miles and 20,000ft of climbing into the week, including that bloody awful climb from the back of the Wasdale Head Inn up to the summit of Kirk Fell.  The point I'm making is that I know it's going to be hard and I'm prepared for that.  2012 will see me attempt the Bob Graham Round and it will be in the wake of a lot of training and planning.  If I fail - and a lot off attempts do - then I will try again, but in the end it won't matter because the BGR has already given me more back than I've put in and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Ripon Black Sheep Triathlon

Well, Saturday saw my first triathlon come and go and I have to say I quite enjoyed the whole experience. It all started about a year ago when, as a spectator, I watched the 2010 Ripon triathlon and thought "I'd like to have a crack at that" or something equally insane. Encouraged by a mate at work, I got a bike and slowly (very slowly) began to get out on two wheels, but only really got down to any serious swim training about 8 weeks back. I also joined North Yorkshire Police (NYP) Tri so I could swim in the racecourse lake and I think it's all paid off as I feel much fitter and have less aches and pains, although I confess I've ran fewer miles in recent months than is the norm.

Saturday came and I'll have to confess that I was bag of nerves, don't ask me why - perhaps it was the prospect of the mass start for the swim and the inevitable maelstrom. In any event, I was up bright and breezy and off to Ripon by 0930, so after a bit of bnater with blokes in the car park and realising that there was no backing out now it was off to registration. My pal Emma was handing out the timing chips and took the opportunity to giggle at my apprehension, I suppose it must have been written all over my face. Back to the car, carefully assembled my bike and trundled everything over to the transition area, laying all my gear out neatly. Checked out my position and did a good recce of the area, there would be no mistakes in transition.  That's what I thought anyhow :-)

Back to car (Helen was arriving later with her parents) for a cuppa and slow change, when the weather - which had been alternating between overcast and sunny all morning - took a change for the worst.  I was just wriggling into my tri shorts when the heavens opened and within seconds it was torrential rain, it then started hailing.  Clearly, someone up there had decided that certain individuals in the area had been very naughty boys/girls and this was retribution.  It stopped, eventually, and I squelched over to transition to see how my gear was.  Everything was soaked, my bike shoes and trainers were just full of water, my carefully prepared (with talc) socks were useless and so like everyone else it was all systems go to dry stuff off and prepare for the start.  Fortunately I had spare socks and loads of towels, but it didn't do anything for my nerves .... I have no clue why I was so nervous, but I was.  Going up a mountain range in total darkness - that's something to be jittery about, but not this.  Perhaps it was just unknown territory and my subconcious was playing its normal tricks?  Anyhow, by now Helen and mum/dad had arrived (who are about as un-sporty as you can get and know nothing about running/triathlon), some amusement and embarrassed faces as I applied chamois cream to my nether regions (very necessary with tri shorts, not much padding) and squeezed into my wetsuit, taking great care to ensure the timing chip/strap was under the leg of the wetsuit - I didn't want it snagging in transition.  The race had been delayed by 30 mins by now, this was just adding to the tension but it turned out to be a wise move and allowed the roads to dry out.

Over to transition for the race briefing (1400) and I'm committed.  The sun is coming through the clouds and steam is beginning to rise from the mountains of wet kit and bikes, the familiar smell of hot/burning rubber was evident from the assembled mass of triathletes and their wetsuits.  In what seemed like no time at all the first wave was off and I watched as the melee of thrashing bodies attacked the water.  I was in the 4th wave, five minutes between each and I was soon inching my way into the water and swam cautiously over to the starting buoys.  Now, I've swam a few times in this lake and know that it's been very weedy (if you'll excuse the term) of late, NYP Tri obviously thought so too as last week they paid to have the weed trimmed. I don't know if this was a good idea or not, as despite the weed the lake is normally very clear, but the effect of trimming it was to have a good amount of weed debris floating about and a very distinct smell of rotting vegetation.  Not like this normally, so on balance - bad idea.  I trod water and tried to envisage my line up to the last island, this would be the worst bit.  Off we went and it was mayhem: almost immediately I got clouted round the back of the head and then kicked in the face, but this was all par for the course and expected.  I got into my rhythm and focussed on breathing, confident I could destroy the 30mins it's taken me in training to do this course.  Well, things started to go wrong pretty much straight away ... my mask started to mist up (a posh Aquasphere model I'd borrowed from a mate) and with the sun straight in my face I couldn't see where the hell I was going!  Mistake no 1 was to follow the feet in front and predictably, the body they belonged to went seriously off course and the canoeists had to nudge us back on course, but by then we'd gone quite a way off the best line and it took precious seconds/effort to get back.  Held the line until the last island and, following my practice in training, I turned to go around.  Wrong.  This year they'd put a buoy further up the course to ensure that nobody cut the course short and with my obscured vision I didn't see the damn thing.  More time wasted.  The return journey was pretty uneventful apart from a couple of people swimming over the top of me to try and get a better line, what did become clear though was that I was a faster swimmer than those I was bracketed with and I just couldn't get past them.  Should I have adopted a "barge through" policy?  I don't know the etiquette.  In any event, I didn't want anymore mistakes so I was content to stay on course.  I should add that by now my mask had let in a little water and this actually helped, as when I was face down that water cleared the mist in the lens and I could see again.  A bit of a pain when I turned to breathe, but not something I found a massive problem.  So, we approached the landing stage and as instructed, I began to kick hard to get the circulation back in my legs and facilitate the exit.  Disaster!  This had happened before and in exactly the same spot .... about 20ft from the ramp I got a nasty knot of cramp high on the medial side of my left calf, God knows why.  I hobbled out of the water with my left leg locked, cursing my stinking rotten luck.  Focus.  Ignore the bloody cramp.  As rehearsed, it was mask up, wetsuit zip down and head for my bike, found it no problem.  By the time I was there, the suit was down to my waist.  Mask off, goggles off, wetsuit down to ankles as taught by Emma.  Right leg came out after a bit of stomping, but the left foot wouldn't come out.  Minor flap.  Sat down to use hands, but it was really tight and I couldn't shift it, the neoprene was biting into my ankle.  After about 40 seconds of frustration I realised that what I'd done was hook my fingers inside the the sodding timing strap - concealed under the leg of the wetsuit remember - and I was trying to rip it off my ankle.  Bugger.  Got the thing off, dried feet with hand towel, on with socks, bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses, grab bike and away!  Total time in transition, 2.49 - should have been less than 2 minutes, but there you go.

It's quite a hike out of transition and because of the rain, a bit muddy.  My bike shoes aren't designed for running, but there was no way I could have done it barefoot like a lot of the more serious guys did, leaving the shoes clipped to the bike.  I got to the mount point and could I get my cleats into the pedals?  I could not, of course they were caked in mud - now you can see why some prefer to run through transition barefoot!  I got away in the end, much to the mirth of HH clubmate Kirsty who was refereeing for the BTF at the mount/dismount point.  I was in unknown territory from here on, I don't mean the course - which I'd practiced on - I refer to the fact that I had never been in a bike race before.  As expected, a lot of people overtook me in the early stages, but as time wore on I began to claw a few places back, a lot of green numbers (ie. my swimming wave) came past after about 8 - 10 miles, proving to me that in triathlon you have to focus on everything, these guys were obviously slower swimmers but came past me like I was standing still on the bike.  It was hard work, but I was getting into it and my trip computer told me I was going alright and well on course to get in under my 1hr 30 min target.  My next calamity was at the roundabout before the turnaround at Dishforth:  I was approaching the roundabout and the marshall waved me across, then this idiot in a BMW decided (without indicating) that he'd chosen the wrong exit and continued round, forcing me and the bloke alongside to anchor up hard.  Of course, we were stuck in high gear and levering off once he'd cleared caused my stupid calf to sieze up again, Jesus it hurt.  Fortunately the exit off the roundabout was slightly downhill so I unclipped and rolled down the hill with my leg stuck out and toes pushed back until it cleared, must have looked really stupid.  Lost about 5 - 6 places and more time I reckon.  Fortunately, that was the last of the problems with that calf although it niggled all the way and I can still feel it now despite a good workout from t' missus.  God knows why it happened ... I had two bottles of electrolyte on the bike and glugged them both, maybe that helped keep it at bay?  Anyhow, once around the turnaround we hit a headwind and it was really hard work to keep on pace.  Up until then I'd been reckoning on around 1.25 as a finishing time, but that wind killed the prospect completely.  The last two miles to the racecourse were into a vicious wind, everyone complained about it even though it was downhill.  I've ridden it before and on a nice day it's pretty fast.  Didn't feel like it on Saturday though and it was with some relief that I came to the dismount point and jogged into transition, legs feeling like lead.

Did a pretty fast transition (considering), pulled Garmin out of my running shoe and was on my way as fast as I could.  This wasn't fast, as it happens.  It's wierd, you come from a relatively fast-paced evolution (bike) and given that the last time I ran was a 3-mile club PTP where I averaged 6.50 pace, it felt very odd to be moving so slowly, my legs felt totally dead.  I had done a couple of brick sessions in training, but nothing like this ... but still, I headed out onto the 10K route and have to say I was overtaking a lot of people, despite my perceived lack of speed.  Splits look very average for a 10K, but I suppose they're not bad when considered alongside the preceding two evolutions.  From 3K out I could see and hear the racecourse, the sun was beating down and I wanted to finish badly, my batteries were flat.  With hindsight, I think I was under-fuelled for this, I had a gel on the bike at 2m and another at 20m, but a bit more energy would have helped I feel, I guess I have no clue about triathlon fuelling strategy.  Came into the last kilometre and was overwhelmingly glad, this felt like finishing a marathon.  Big cheers from Helen as I crossed the line, triathlon DONE.

My final time was 2.55.59 and I'm pleased with that, despite all the screw-ups and miscalculations.  My final results were 30.22/444th T1=2.49 1.30.55/598th T2=1.11 50.42/354th. Can I do better?  Oh yes, much better.  Particularly on the bike, much room for improvement there.  I will plug away, but seeing as my focus really is going to be on Lakeland BGR recce for the rest of the year it will have to fit around that.  I've totally enjoyed this whole triathlon thing and will be back for more ...

A Bit of a Drama ....

So, I went to Ripon Racecourse Lake last night for my open water swim induction.  A bit late in the day this, my first triathlon is on 9th July and I've yet to do ANY open water swimming, but hey-ho - better late than never eh?  I'll get a few in before the big day.  Anyhow, while I was there waiting for the induction-bloke from NYP Tri to show up, I got chatting with the other lad who was waiting for him too.  He looked a bit shaken up and I asked him why?  Turns out that he was looking for the correct entrance to the racecourse lake and mistakenly turned into the entrance for Ripon Marina (a few hundred yards bfore the racecourse), only to be greeted by the sight of a car with a hosepipe plugged into the exhaust and leading into the car!  The door was open and the guy inside was still alive (ie. had a pulse), so he called an ambulance and pulled the guy out of the car to get him into the fresh air ... I actually DID see the ambulance there and wondered what was going on.  Bloody hell eh?  He saved that person's life .... funny thing though, he'll never know who saved him (assuming he wanted to be saved - this had to be cry for help at 5.30pm on a busy road) as the ambulance crew didn't even ask this lad's name.  He genuinely was shaken up though and I don't blame him.  As for the person who tried to kill himself?  Well, I hope he's OK but my thoughts are very much along the "you selfish bastard" line.  Is that a way out?  What was he leaving behind him?  Was there a family, a life, children, a whole gamut of people who would have to live with the knowledge that someone close to them chose to die in a car park in Ripon?  Perhaps it's wrong of me to be judgemental, but the whole suicide thing is anaethma to my soul.

 

Anyhow, the induction went well, I am now a second-claim member of Ripon Tri (which means ditching my affiliation to the RNAC) and can swim in the lake at the training sessions.  I dashed home from there, a quick change to running kit and it was out to Arkendale for a club Point-to-Point.  I didn't expect to do well, have been doing a lot of hard training of late and it's left me tired, however things didn't go too badly.  I managed a consistent 7 min pace on a slightly undulating course, nobody overtook me and I overhauled about 4 other runners.  Legs felt good, no aches or pains so generally I think things are OK.  I think I could have improved on that had I been fresher, but I'm in a training phase at the moment and didn't expect to break any records.  Course (out and back) below:

Changing subject, am looking forward very much to supporting Dave A's BGR attempt on Friday and will be getting camping gear etc ready tonight, Stuart is picking me up early on Friday morning so camp should be all set up by midday.  Hope Thirlspot is not too crowded, rumour has it that Dark Peak FRC are descending en-masse, so decent pitches will be at a premium.  Weather forecast looks like we're going to get rain which is a bit disappointing, but hopefully that won't be accompanied by high wind.  I refuse to believe the weather could be as bad as it was the last time I did BGR support.

 

Better get some work done!

Bed Race Victory

A rather entertaining weekend, all in all. Legs feeling a little tired from Friday's exertions, however Helen and I forced ourselves throught the door for a 30-miler (bikes, you understand) out to Boroughbridge and back, went pretty well. Stopped at Ripley on the way back for pies/ice cream and to muse on what b****s some car drivers are, then back home, quick scrub-up and out to the Knaresborough Bed Race. A hugely important event hereabouts, last year our club ceded the title back to Ripon Runners and this year it was looking very dodgy, as due to the ridiculous policy (and incompetence) of Knaresborough Lions we didn't even get a place! This meant of course that there was no viable opposition to Ripon and they were going to walk away with it ...

Fortunately - and I don't know what happened - a team pulled out and we were allocated their place. Not perfect, as we were fourth on the grid and that means it's hard to overtake .... I am told there was an amount of pushing, shoving and near-temper losses, but in the event, our team's time was 2 seconds faster than Ripon, so once more Harrogate Harriers are the Great Knaresborough Bed Race champions. TV was there too, check out Trans World Sport for an interview with the winning team!

Have been messing around for most of the day, catching up on BGR news from the weekend etc. Repaired bad paintwork on front door frame, website updates, am now contemplating a run. And it's raining.

http://www.knaresborough.co.uk/bedrace/
http://www.harrogate-harriers.co.uk/index.htm

Exploring the possibilities ....

Excuse me a moment while I indulge myself, I've just found out it's possible to embed Garmin Connect code in these pages. Let's find something to test with .... how about the Austwick Fell Race from the other day?

I feel I should point out that I did this race off the back of very tough BGR support leg on the Friday Night/Sat morning and a jaunt round the AW route on the Sunday! I was limping a tad .... [best whiny voice]

Stomping Uphill

Took a day off yesterday, felt very tired after interval/fartlek training on Tuesday night so thought that a day with no training would give the ol' glycogen levels a chance to replenish.  Also persuaded Helen (who's a qualified sports massage therapist) to give my legs a bit of a going-over and feel much better for it today, so as a) I'm upping my game (so to speak) and b) we have a tremendous gym at work, I thought I'd start doing the odd lunchtime workout.  So, did a nice relaxed 30mins on the treadmill, carefully working the tightness out of my quads then did a fierce 15 mins on the Summit Climber - you don't see many of these around actually and few people in the gym use it, which suits me perfectly.  Managed about 2000ft of ascent before I fell off in a sweaty heap, I will be using this machine a lot as the months progress.  The goal is to seriously build up my quads to a point where they will convey my worthless body uphill in a much more robust fashion.

 

On a very positive note, was beginning to worry about getting to our campsite in the Lakes next Friday in anything like a timely manner, owing to the fact that Helen can't get out of work early.  All is resolved, one of the guys I'm running leg 2 support with has offered to pick me up, this will mean I can get the tent up and have a nice relax before we have to get up (around 0200) and run across a fairly inhospitable mountain range.  It will be wonderful.

Johnny Mae Mathews

Have today off work and as usual, am not producing much. On these occasions I'm given to messing around the house listening to my beloved soul music, usually played very loud! When people see my modest collection, I'm usually asked if I have a favourite ... a difficult question, as there are multiple genres of soul and they're all mood-dependent. If I was forced into a decision, this one would be up there near the top of the list. It's incredibly rare and worth a lot of moolah, just to hear it at all is really a privilege. it has tremendous depth and real soul, I have no doubt that Johnny Mae means every word. It hits the spot, give it a try and see if you can feel it.

Running on Empty

Since getting back from our last weekend in the Lakes, I have been focussing on cross-training (cycling, swimming) chiefly because I have my first triathlon in a few weeks and don't want to look an arse. Have really been cracking on and, for the first time in years, have been doing some sort of training every day. For instance, swim session Friday, long bike session Saturday, 10-mile run Sunday, medium bike session Monday, interval training with club tonight.


I am exhausted and eating everything that is not nailed down or foolish enough to stop moving for more than two seconds.  I'm going to keep at it - maybe with a rest day thrown in at some point - but taper back for supporting my friend Dave's BGR attempt on the 17th June.  Really looking forward to it.

I Think I'm Beginning to Understand .....

So, the Ripon Triathlon approaches and I'm beginning to panic.  Little training done and I really don't want to make an arse of myself, therefore last week (once my legs had recovered from our weekend in the Lakes) saw me hit the pool and the bike with a vengeance.  Did a benign(-ish) 35 miles on the bike yesterday, albeit in quite hilly country, and was surprised at how knackered I felt on my run today.  I mean, really weary.  Maybe I've been fooling myself all these years?  I hope this training period brings positive results ....

Just found this on You Tube.  What a lovely chunk of soul, please enjoy ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNyLj-Ae9mo

I've just been reading a friend's beautifully crafted blog and realised what a tremendously good outlet it can be. OK, given that the "Exile's View" appears to have survived the damn good ignoring I've been giving it, I think it's time to revive.

So what's been happening? Well, the most immediate thing to note is that I am at home, quite poorly, suffering the occasional tremor and with a high temperature. The earth is closing in around me and I believe the end is nigh. It's called a "Man Cold" for the uninitiated.

Work is awful. We've recently gone through a contract change and although it would appear that the next five years are now secure, it's also meant considerably more stress. I have another company further South chasing me and offering oodles more cash to take the job, however I don't feel tempted. I love my life here in Yorkshire and will never forget the circumstances that led me to where I am today. I don't want to mess it up, so although the moolah is very attractive and I have visions of Porsches in my most fanciful moments, I don't believe I'm going to do it. I'll just have to stick with it for the moment, crap or not.

Anyhow, we'll see just how much use I make of this resource. I know you're all dying to hear from me.