Thick & Fast
Draw any conclusion you want from the title. It could refer to a month in the blogging wilderness followed by three posts in a week; or it could be a reference to my good self following my awesome performance in the Manchester 10k this week!
It’s been a fun week. My last posting mentioned how good the atmosphere was in the city centre and what a joy it was to see so many friendly Rangers fans having such a great time and enjoying a festival of football. After I posted they continued this and enjoyed other friendly Glaswegian traditions such as ‘Rioting’ and ‘Kicking Seven Levels of Shit Out of Coppers’, indeed the Scottish Olympic Committee (chairman – Alain Baxter) is hoping to include these in the 2012 Olympics. Other events will include the Women’s ‘carrying a crate of Tennant’s Super’ and the ’100m Buckfast Dash’.
Because of our Scottish guests we will not have a big screen in Manchester for the proper European Final this week, nor will there be a victory parade (although this is still under discussion). My vote would be to all go up and watch the match in Glasgow.
Friday and Saturday were quiet as the Run was Sunday morning and I didn’t fancy doing it smelling of sick & kebab. It was supposed to be me, Karen, Matt Kelly and Stuoobs however Karen, Matty & Stu all pulled out due to laziness but I was fortunate that Foe stepped in to keep me company. It was quite an outing for the Fodens as Sarah was already signed up.
It was a really good day for a distance run, it was sunny but cool and the occasional cloud brought some relief from the sun. In order to accommodate the 31,000 runners the race is started in four ‘wave’ who start some 30 mins apart. We were in the second wave and it took us about 10 mins to get over the start line but an accurate time is assured as we were all sent a chip to wear around our ankles that registers when you go over the start and finish lines. You can then look up the time on the internet.
Denis Law was the celebrity starter this year and we managed to high-five him as we got underway. As ever Manchester came out in force and having crowds cheer you on over the entire course really does get you going and definitely cuts a good chunk off your final time. Foe and I crossed the line at 57m 41s (ok, officially Foe beat me by 1 second) and Sarah was about 40 seconds behind us.
What was absolutely brilliant though was the BBC coverage, they have put 20 pictures on the BBC website and one just happened to highlight us! I can see two Brainiacs in this picture, but one isn’t me. You may recognise Sarah, in the blue Cancer Research shirt running just behind Foe who is a proper, bona-fide, real life, met-Vic-Reeves-Brainiac; Foe is in the Brianiac shirt and I’m just in an Australia football shirt! Still nice to get a mention though!
It seems appropriate that I put a map of the course up:
Bupa Great Manchester Run
Find more Runs in Manchester, United Kingdom
All the focus is now on Moscow, we leave tomorrow morning for our 3 day trip. I’ll either be back blogging on Friday, or I’ll never speak to anybody ever again.
Andy
