Between the dentist and the concert

I was at the Parish Walk 50th celebration last night and up early this morning to start editing the video that I took, hence less than five hours sleep last night.

It wasn't easy to force myself out of bed but I'm quite pleased with the first video that I have published. I got that done before going out for my morning run at my usual time. My run went quite well and I have just got to get through one more longish run tomorrow to complete a very tough couple of months training before "resting" in the form of sleep deprevevation on Saturday night! I'm in much better form for than before the London Marathon as I head towards Amsterdam in October.

Marie has been ill since her car crash last Friday and although she got back to work yesterday afternoon she wasn't up to going with my last night but I came back armed with loads of messages for her. Hopefully she will be well enough to go with me tonight to the Jools Holland concert. But I have a return visit to the dentist before that and how much more of my video and photos I sort through will depend mainly on this short interval...but I have to eat too!

20 years later

I've spent the evening on Parish Walk stuff because it is the last evening I have free to let everyone who what I am doing for the site. I'm out for the next two nights.

I thought I would provoke a bit of discussion about the football by seeing if I could find a picture from Slovenia which we had two great holidays in 1988 and 1990 when it was still part of Yugoslavia.

Alas I could not find a photo from those years but I did find a connection. I thought 1988 was the only year that I had missed the Parish Walk (then I remembered 1977) but that was the year that brother Martin won. I remember phoning him from Slovenia (you see there is the link) to find out how he got on (it was rare to make long distance calls like that in those days) and he told me his time. "That would put you well up" I ventured. "What do you mean well up" he retorted as brothers do. "I won". Did he have the look of a Parish Walk winner 20 years earlier? Double click the photo to see what you think!

Today's publication

I've add the course map and a new website for Laa Columb Killey, thanks to Adrian Cowin.

The Parish Walk 50th celebration and the Oompah Night Island Games fundraising night have been moved off the front page but are still linked there.

A number of other recent features have had their links archived to the Features page. That is all for today.

So many good intentions

I starting off this evening by clipping the newspaper articles on athletics for the past three months but I never got as far as scanning them. I have been doing one job after another (non website related) to try and clear the decks but I have failed miserably, even to update the PW site as intended. Although I am frustrated, it is nights like these that allow me to devote other nights to the site.

I'm also receiving time wasting emails - everything from "can i still enter the Parish Walk?" to people who continue to try and add user names to the forum such as ABC123 in contravention of my "real name" policy and moan that they do not get approved as users.

The sun won

Judging by the number of people with red faces, necks and arms it seems that many people were caught out by the sun at the weekend and caught a bit of it.

But in the Isle of Man Children Centre's fund raising event, Race the Sun, the runners well and truly beat the sunlight hours with a record breaking winning performance.

I have just linked to the results page at http://www.manxtimingsolutions.com/Results/2010/2010_ResultsMain.htm

but unfortunately you can't see the individual performances as the team name is listed on all the split times rather than the names of the runners.

It was the daughters rather than the sons that caught the headlines off island. I published photos of two of the successful athletes, Harriet Pryke and Gail Griffiths, and linked to the reports on the forum only to then read about another star performance from Lauren Whelan.

Two cars since 1991

Jonathan Leece was the only person to respond to information about the athletes in the track opening photo from 1991 and I have just published them.

What a beautiful night in Ramsey tonight. Fewer runners than usual but I suspect anyone who stayed at home to watch the football would have wished they hadn't.

I whizzed it through on Sky+ - my only regret was not using a faster fast forward speed. What an appalling match.

I then joined Marie at A&E where she was waiting to get some medication for some whiplash injuries. She was waiting at the end of Albany Street Lane at lunchtime today when someone decided to re-tune the radio in his van in preference to steering it and veered into the side of her. It could be the end of our Toyota Avensis (the first of its type on the Island just over 7 years ago) which was worth more to us than it is to the insurance company. It replaced the car we bought in 1991, a few weeks after the track opening photo when the Mark 3 Vauxhall Astra was new.

Waddington 3, 4 & 5

Its only just over a week until the Scottish Widows Parish Walk and several "in the know" have suggested that Jock Waddington will make it three wins in a row. More about that next week.

The night before last I stayed at the Waddington Arms in the delightful village of Waddington in the Ribble Valley. Its a village that used to be part of the West Riding of Yorkshire but ended up in Lancashire when the county boundaries were changed. My sampling of the Waddington Brewery ended with four pints.

I was being collected at 7 am the next morning and unfortunately had to miss the breakfast on offer. But I still had an early morning delight when I ran five miles to and from Waddington at 5.45 am. The name of the road (Fell Road) should have been a clue and my outward 2.5 miles was entirely uphill! I don't think my miles splits have ever been more varied starting with 7.59 and 7.28, recovering to 7.03 on a half up and half down mile and finishing with 5.22 and 5.14.

I'm used to running undulating courses but that was something else. Hope to see some of the usual crowd in Ramsey tonight - those that trust their TV recorder or don't like football.

Oompah Night!

The advert for the above has been republished as the original contained an incorrect phone number.

Focus on Parish Walk

In addition to the feature on the 50th anniversary (just published) I have updated the layout on the www.parishwalk.com site tonight.

I'm extremely tired so quiting now.

London Marathon full report

John Watterson, Sports Editor at Isle of Man Newspapers, got a shock when I filed my report of the London Marathon back in April. It was about three times the length he said he could manage and he didn't, at first, appreciate that I had researched, compiled and written it specially for the paper, thinking it was only something that had already been published online. After he had read it he managed to negotiate some extra space with his editor and he ended up publishing the vast majority. I told him that I would use the full unedited report a few days later - well here it is, finally!

Among the 55 Manx born or resident runners among the record of 36,500 who completed the 30^th Virgin London Marathon on Sunday were many who had rarely competed before and are not members of athletic clubs.

And they were distinguished before the hundreds of thousands of spectators whose noise made their ears nearly as sore as their feet. Tim Knott, who ran with a broken wrist on his debut last year took just 3 hours 2 minutes and 4 seconds in his second race since school, Adam Russell who has competed just a handful of times in local fell races covered the 26 miles and 385 yards in 3:14:23 and with a debut of 3:14:32 you wonder how fast Gary Ashe, the former Manx golf champion, would have been had he started running in his prime.

Could one of this year’s debutants finish in the top 100 in five years time? It was only in 2005 that Onchan man Ed Gumbley made his local debut in the Great South 10km in Port Erin and switched from martial arts. This year Ed finished in 99^th position and became the fastest Manxman in London since Robbie Callister’s 2:28:59 in 1993.

Ed was persuaded to attend training at the National Sports Centre by race promoter Graham Davies where initially Chris Quine advised him. The benefits of coaching, compared to unstructured training, are clearly visible and for the past couple of years Andy Fox has been coaching him in a period that has taken the Manx Harrier to the Island Games Half Marathon, a 2:37:20 marathon in Berlin and now 2:35:14 in London in warm and humid conditions after a wet start.

Ed’s standards are so high that his opening 10km on Sunday (35:38) was faster than any of the other Manx marathoners had raced over that distance this year. He covered the next 10km in 36:00 and hit the halfway mark in 1:15:34. London is faster in the first half because of the elevated start at Blackheath but Ed began to wonder if he had overdone it when at 16 miles the heat and too much water consumed with his energy gels were making him feel weak. His next 10km splits were 37:00 and 38:22 and with an 8:34 final 2.195km he covered the second half in a respectable 1:19:40. Talking the following morning as he waited for a Eurostar train on his way for a well earned holiday he was self critical of his pace judgement but he moved up from 134^th at half distance.

The revival in Manx standards had been predicted beforehand and nowhere was it more apparent than in the women’s class where for the first time three locals were faster than 3.30. But nobody had predicted that Debbie Loader would lead them home in a 2 minute personal best of 3:20:29 - it had not even been reported by anyone in the sport that the Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club member was taking part. More predictable was the sight of Northern AC’s Nikki Boyde reaching 10km in 44:45 compared to Debbie’s 47:22, and the Manx Harriers duo of Sam Cowen (48:04) and Rosy Craine (51.16) who was behind temporary Manx resident Rachel McGivern (49.01).

By halfway, Nikki (1:35:49) was almost 4 minutes clear of Debbie (1:39:38) with Rachel (1:44:13) now ahead of Sam (1:44:35) and Rosy (1:45:12). With fantastic splits of 47:22, 47:10, 47:09, 48:16 and 10:32 Debbie passed Nikki whose 55:23 4^th 10km reflects a winter of illness but which nevertheless took her to a personal best by some 6 minutes (3:25:39). The deafening noise of the crowd caused another bout of vertigo and she described the final 10 miles as the longest of her life. Rosy (3:29:32) improved by a massive 38 minutes compared to her previous appearance in 2002 and her half way splits differed by just 12 seconds. Sam held on well for a 3:34:51 debut (25 minutes faster than in 2005) while Rachel endured a painful final 10 miles finishing in 3:49:01. Former Isle of Man Island Games representative Karen Rushton, who returned to Southampton, made a cracking debut of 3:01:28.

Paul Curphey (7), Murray Lambden (4) and Nigel Armstrong (2) had been the fastest locals in 13 of the past 16 events. Paul (all consecutive) like Richard Radcliffe notched up his 17^th finish while 53 year old Murray (14^th over 50 in 2:49:54) had to concede to a man 20 years younger for local honours. Nigel had been the most likely to compete with Ed Gumbley for this distinction until he a broke his toe on a Jetski early in the year. Scheduled to “jog” this year he became Paul’s pacemaker but eventually ran 3:03:42.

2007 Manx Champion Mark Clague was delighted with his 2:57:12 having not raced since last year’s local Salclear Marathon where he was distraught with an injury. Tom Melvin (3:02:56) was another who stood out for his ability to overcome a succession of injuries.

Yet another feature of the Manx contingent of 22 women and 33 men finishers were a remarkable six married couples. Dave and Lynne Quine recently bade Ellan Vannin a sad farewell but Geoff and Moira Hall still do so much for the Peel community. Janna and Ross Williamson were both raising funds for Cystic Fibrosis, while Louise and Adam Russell take turns to train and look after their four year old son and doubled up for Children with Leukaemia . Debby Ashe’s third finish was alongside husband Gary while physiotherapist Wendy Sandford, who was credited by several runners for getting to the line, was joined by husband Alan. If it were not for a harsh cold that struck Lynne Cain the week before and caused her retirement around half distance she would have crossed the line with husband Steve making it the magnificent seven. Nigel Armstrong may have his sights on entering the Guinness Book of records with Emma Rogan as the fastest married couple in a marathon but there is a slight detail missing yet!

There was so much action that spectators often miss the people they are looking for. Likewise it is impossible to record the achievements of all 55 in anything other than the impersonal computer times. Even these were missing for Andrea Reynolds, Jo Gelder and Philippa Sutterby, but they didn’t care- they finished and should be, and were, applauded as much as all the others.

Ed Gumbley: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 02:35:14
Murray Lambden: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 02:49:54
Mark Clague: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 02:57:12
Tim Knott: Club - ; :Charity- :Time- 03:02:04
Tom Melvin: Club - Northern AC; Help for Heroes:Charity- Help for Heroes:Time- 03:02:56
Nigel Armstrong: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:03:42
Paul Cubbon: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:08:25
Adam Russell: Club - ; Children With Leukaemia:Charity- Children With Leukaemia:Time-
03:14:23
Gary Ashe: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:14:32
Richard Radcliffe: Club - Northern AC; :Charity- :Time- 03:16:17
Debbie Loader: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:20:29
Paul Curphey: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:21:39
Stephen Brown: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; Children With Leukaemia:Charity-
Children With Leukaemia:Time- 03:21:43
Nikki Boyde: Club - Northern AC; Rebecca House:Charity- Rebecca House:Time- 03:25:39
Rosy Craine: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:29:32
Alan Sandford: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:33:56
Sam Cowen: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 03:34:51
Tadhg O'Mahoney: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:38:18
Martin Bell: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:43:09
Rachel McGivern: Club - ; :Charity- :Time- 03:49:01
Emma Rogan: Club - Metros Running Club; :Charity- :Time- 03:51:19
John Wilson: Club - ; Whizz Kitz:Charity- Whizz Kitz:Time- 03:52:17
Emma Shilling: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 03:52:37
Mark Bridson: Club - Northern AC; :Charity- :Time- 03:54:07
Dawne Watson: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 03:56:41
Michael McHale: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 03:58:06
David McHale: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 04:03:46
Jan Cooil: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 04:03:57
Debby Ashe: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 04:04:10
Wendy Sandford: Club - Western AC; :Charity- :Time- 04:24:38
Brian O'Neill: Club - ; Marie Curie Cancer Care:Charity- Marie Curie Cancer Care:Time-
04:26:47
Malcolm Kirk: Club - ; Coaliac Org:Charity- Coaliac Org:Time- 04:29:50
Moira Hall: Club - Western AC; :Charity- :Time- 04:33:31
Louise Russell: Club - ; Children With Leukaemia:Charity- Children With Leukaemia:Time-
04:33:38
Leila Ashton: Club - ; Help the Aged:Charity- Help the Aged:Time- 04:33:52
Jon Quayle: Club - ; Leukaemia Research:Charity- Leukaemia Research:Time- 04:38:32
Sarah Quirk: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 04:48:21
Matt Dyson: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 04:51:00
Tommy Crowe: Club - ; Hospice Isle of Man:Charity- Hospice Isle of Man:Time- 04:56:20
Kevan Osborn: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 05:15:00
Ross Williamson: Club - ; Cystic Fibrosis Trust:Charity- Cystic Fibrosis Trust:Time- 05:17:36
Janna Williamson: Club - ; Cystic Fibrosis Trust:Charity- Cystic Fibrosis Trust:Time- 05:17:36
Steve Cain: Club - Manx Harriers; :Charity- :Time- 05:19:01
Rob Dickinson: Club - ; sense:Charity- sense:Time- 05:24:58
Darran Loader: Club - ; Leonard Cheshire Disability:Charity- Leonard Cheshire Disability:Time-
05:30:51
Geoff Hall: Club - Western AC; :Charity- :Time- 05:33:58
Damian Bird: Club - ; NSPCC:Charity- NSPCC:Time- 05:35:36
David Quine: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 05:46:17
Lynne Quine: Club - Isle of Man Veteran Athletes Club; :Charity- :Time- 05:46:17
Stuart Thornhill: Club - ; sense:Charity- sense:Time- 05:57:10
Hazel Webb: Club - ; Southern 100 Helicopter Fund:Charity- Southern 100 Helicopter
Fund:Time- 06:55:18
Lynda Brew: Club - ; Southern 100 Helicopter Fund:Charity- Southern 100 Helicopter
Fund:Time- 06:55:19

Island Games fundraising

Among the many emails awaiting my attention when I got back home last night was one from Anthony Brand with the advert for the Island Games fundraising.

I have used the content on the home page (and moved the No Rest for the Wicked Feature to a separate page) but that is probably the only email I will have time to deal with this morning. In particular I received a lot about the Parish Walk but the day job has to come first.

Offline for 36 hours

I'm off to two meetings in Burnley this today and tomorrow. The person who organised my accommodation for tonight gave more concern about getting a good pint tonight in the Ribble Valley than to the availability of broadband so I'm not bothering to take my Laptop.

I finished the feature on the No Rest for the Wicked series this morning and that will stay as the main feature for the next couple of days.

Don't forget to check out the forum. And if you are not a member, I'll approve you when I get back as long as you use your real name.

TT 2011

In between family matters and a visitor to the house tonight I have been trying to reply to the dozens of emails that we have had enquiring about our holiday properties (which are already let for the 2011 TT).

Several phone calls too and its getting late to compile the feature I had intended to tonight so it looks like an early start.

I forgot to count the lanes...

....but I was sure there were still only 6 when I ran there last week (with an 8 lane straight).

Follow this that says otherwise:

http://www.gov.im/sport/nsc/welcome.xml

Pet owners tied down

I was already getting tired of the number of times the road safety announcement (warning people to leave theirs pets inside during the TT) when someone pointed out the funny side. The wording was ambiguous warning owners of pets who live alongside the course to ensure that THEY were secure during the races.

We've had a walk on the promenade tonight and they have been taking the fairground attractions down for another year - another sign that the TT is over. And the pubs were all empty despite the World Cup.

Split shift

I started work on the website at 6.20 this morning but my 30 minute session didn't get further than clearing the decks and archiving a number of recent articles.

All day I have been trying to get back to it but I have only just done so publishing some important changes to the road closing for the Scottish Widows Parish Walk.

Car drivers are advised to go straight to the Oatlands and Old Castletown Road but the best solution of all to avoid congestion and make it safest for the walkers is to leave the cars at home until Peel and when someone needs a lift back home after retirement.

Shifting people's attitudes is very hard.

A day at the races

Apart from a 12 mile run first thing this morning, I was going to take a break from athletics and watch the races with Robbie - I had only seen a few minutes up to today.

But for some reason I always end up putting myself under pressure to share a few of the hundreds of photos I took before we go out to a friend's barbecue this evening.

The needed quite a bit of editing and after an hour and a half I was jumping through them pretty quickly.

So no athletics website today other than the TT photos. But click on the above and you will see that one of the most experienced TT riders, Ian Lougher, is being watched by one of the most experienced Parish Walkers. 22 times finisher Tony Kneale is in the dark glasses on the scaffolding.

http://murraysocial.fotopic.net/c1859821.html

Wind at night wind in the morning

This time yesterday I received an email from Marie to tell me that it was Geoff Hall's 60th birthday. In contrast to some features, where it takes me ages to dig out an appropriate photo, I thought straightaway of the ones I had taken in the Laxey Fell race last year and within about five minutes of receiving the email I had added the photo of Geoff.

It was a lot nicer that day in the mountains than it was last night. Although the 10,000 metres championships don't produce big fields (although last year there was a bigger entry for them than any other track and field senior Manx championship) those that do tend to have targeted the race for a while so it was a shame that all the times were slowed by the wind - by how much is anyone's guess.

My training sessions suggested that I am in the best form since before I got injured in August 2008 and I thought I would target the time I ran in the equivalent race in 2008 - 35.51. Like others in the race I couldn't decide whether to adjust my race plan to allow for the wind. I was therefore relaxed when my first lap was 1 second slower than my 86 seconds a lap schedule but thereafter I made my mistake. I was not too much loosing ground on Mike Garrett and Ed Gumbley for a while which should have given a clue, particularly as they appeared to be looking at their watches to judge their pace every few yards. I went too fast and as a result, I slowed later and finished in 36.12. Apart from my pace judgement though I was very pleased with the gaps with other athletes and my recovery was good this morning - running into the wind again!

Paul Jackson kindly dropped off a CD for me to publish Kerry Mackey's photos. I would like to say that it took me a while to publish them as I had some urgent family matter to attend to -but I would be lying! I was actually watching the TT on ITV4 whilst sipping red wine. By the way, there are still people saying that they can't watch it because they only have Freeview (and ITV4 was taken off) but it also streamed on ITV.com and can be watched later on the ITVplayer.

As already said on the forum, I would like to thank all the people involved in the event last night - the man hours put in by the officials probably exceeded the time spent by the athletes.

NSC opened for all ages

We were out at the Villa Marina last night for the Doves concert. I was a bit worried when the support act were on because there seemed to be so few people there but thankfully quite a few more emerged before the headline act started at around 9.15. It was a good evening although, because we were sitting with the "old farts" on the balcony, the people around about us were very restrained but the youngsters downstairs made up for us.

We went around the prom and town afterwards and I thought it was going to be too late to do anything on the website after midnight but Jenny Dowling's email was interesting. She sent me two photos from the opening of the track in 1991.

I remember the period very well. I was chairman of the IOMAA and a member of the Sports Council at the time and I can't remember which hat I was wearing (both at different times perhaps) but I was a member of the committee that planned the opening meeting. As far as the track was concerned (there were also events on the all weather pitch), the main event after Steve Ovett had opened it was a match between an Isle of Man team and several visiting clubs.

I always think that athletics at its best involves athletes in their peak years but we were also keen to involve all ages. We came up with the veterans mile which has been held every year since then and I also suggested that the youngsters could run around the track with Steve Ovett with him acting as a sort of Pied Piper.

What really made that part of the event was when, rather than jogging around with Steve, some of the athletes started speeding up and the late Geoff Cannell, who was announcing at the time, gave a commentary as if we were witnessing a rare defeat for one of the greatest milers of all time.

Its interesting that the two photos I have published about the opening meeting feature the two supporting acts rather than the main cast.

Talking of supporting acts, I missed the support band being introduced last night but we were laughing that they were sharing a towel between them on stage. You must have to reach a certain level in your career before the band gets a towel each.

I'm running in the 10km tonight so won't be doing a feature on the track meeting but no doubt will be keeping the profile of website on the track for another day.

Only 23 hours a day

I guess that one of the reasons that I have been less prolific with my publishing in the last few days is because an hour a day has been taken up watching the North One produced TT show on ITV4. Stunning stuff.

I took this afternoon off work because I had a family commitment (a meeting at 3 pm) and I popped up to see the TT for the first time this year on Bray Hill. I hadn't realised that the second race had been put back from 2.15 to 2.30 and so I only had 10 minutes to spare to take some photos. I lined the riders up perfectly but I have now remembered why I use the automatic settings - my focus was appalling.

I finally got my little piece about country sports published tonight and I plan to write a few of my recollections here later. I deliberately didn't touch the website until I had reduced my mountain of home paperwork. If a mountain is anything above 2000 feet then my paperwork is only down to 1999 ft above see level - certainly well above North Barrule!

Road race organiser vs marshall

The easiest way to clear the front page but to retain a link to this for easy reference in the future is to copy and paste it here. So I have done.

More than 6 months late, here is great YouTube video sent by Steve Partington (contains strong language)

Breaking the habit

Most athletes have experienced the feeling that, because they can't train, they feel guilty to begin with but then they start to enjoy the freedom.

Its only been a couple of days since I updated the website and blog and I feel the same. I planned to do some stuff last night but after a long day as I was feeling whacked out so I got to bed early to improve the quality of training this morning. Today has whizzed by and I am not going to worry about the website for now even though I have a couple of things to feature, one of which I planned last week.

Websites sponsored by Coronation Street

The only way I have managed to keep my websites and blogs going this long is because sometimes I have based my evening around watching Coronation Street, one of Marie's favourite shows, particularly if I have been working long hours, running too much or just spending too much time on the websites.

At times I even enjoy it. But on many occasions I have walked out of the room complaining about the excessive violence and "over the top story lines". I usually return a few weeks later when I know that I am pushing my hobbies too far again. But this week even Marie said that she wasn't going to base her week around extra shows with violence threatened.

Last night ITV had to "pull" Coronation Street because the story line was too sensitive bearing in mind the events in Cumbria.

They should stop glorifying violence and recognise the reality of violence - we saw that on out TV screens yesterday without Coronation Street.

Here is to cleaning up soap. It will help this website survive.

PS - this post was sponsored by Sex in the City 2 - Marie is there with her friends allowing me to write this stuff!

Bradford walk

I tried to find a photo of Simon Cox at lunchtime today to go with the report that I wrote based upon Simon's own writing. I couldn't find one so I gave up after half an hour and went for a walk. I went through Ballasalla to see if the road was open (it was; there had been an accident in the morning) and decided to explore the footpath opposite the Whitestone Garage - another place on the Isle of Man I had never trodden on. and how peaceful it was considering it was so close to the village, an industrial estate and only half a mile from the few square feet where I have spent the last two and half years sitting in front of a computer. It came out at the end of the Ballthane Industrial Estate and by the time I got back I realised how warm it was in the office - in other words I had moved myself during the day.

I finally found a photo of Simon a few minutes ago and have published the article. By the way, Simon was amazed that I knew he was taking part.

When I was googling to see if I could find the full results I rediscovered a piece I had written about my own experiences at the Bradford Walk in 2004.

To be honest I had forgotten that I had written so much detail:

http://www.manxathletics.com/2004features/Bradford.htm

I also wrote about the event on my Parish Walk blog in 2008:

http://parishwalkcom.blogspot.com/2008/01/it-used-to-be-best-walking-event-in.html

It was one event I would have loved to have done one more time, if only to stroll around. But its too late now. I just wish more people could have enjoyed the atmosphere, the heat, the smell of food and the hills, like I did.

Calling it a (bad day)

I had a visit from Simon Cox at lunchtime today bringing news of the Bradford 35km on Monday in which he took part.

I couldn't decide whether to do a feature on him tonight and use his report or stick to my original plan.

In the end I am doing neither. I was up at 5.15 today and I am now drained of any creative thinking that I might have had.

David Wilkinson

David Wilkinson who featured on the site in the 1972 TT Relay Walk article that I have just updated was in nearly all my old collections of photos taken by my dad.

David worked for the Isle of Man Road Services, where Bill Lambden was the general manager, and although he would generally ration his slides to 4 or 5 of each race, as it was an expensive hobby in those days, he normally took one of David who he regarded as a model employee.

Here is another which I have published before of David at Ballig in the 1975 TT Relay Walk.

It doesn't get much worse than this

After feeling so good about things this morning I can't believe how bad the day has become.

I learnt about the Cumbrian shootings at lunchtime and although I checked the news throughout the afternoon it was only in the car driving home listening to the Radio 4 coverage that the scale hit me, especially when I heard the update that 12 people had been killed (they had said "at least 5" for a long time before that).

There will surely be thousands of people whose lives will never be the same. From the injured, to the relatives of the dead, to the witnesses, to the professionals who had to deal with the events and the people they will surely be deeply traumatised.

In the (almost) ten years that I have been publishing the website there have been all too many days like this when you wonder where sport fits it. When the terrorists struck on 11 September 2001 (I hate the Americanised 9/11) and on at least one other occasion I have cleared the front page and left it blank as a tribute.

But the sad thing is, unless we are closely connected to someone who is involved in such tragedy we very soon get back to our own lives and I am not sure whether we achieve anything by stopping too long.

If I offend anyone by carrying on as normal and trying to enjoy the quality of our lives here then I apologise but I think we always have to make the most of each day.

I have just stopped to reflect again and become emotional again but I'm not helping anyone.

1, 2, 3 back to the homepage.

It doesn't get much better than this

Was it really only yesterday that we had foul weather in the morning?

Was it only a few weeks weeks ago that there was sometimes a frost in the morning?

Was it only a few months ago that I was slipping and sliding on the ice and snow on my early morning runs?

I went out at 6 am this morning and it was absolutely beautiful - hardly a breath of wind. Even Chris Evans has just broadcast this fact on Radio 2 - from another Chris in the Isle of Man.

I ran twice around Douglas and it seemed that there were more runners joining the throng on each mile.

It was so nice that the lady who pushes her dog up and down the prom had taken it out and was sitting on the grass.

I'll want to look back on this sort of day next winter.

I was looking back last night when I published three photos from the 1972 TT Relay Walk. I wonder if anyone who was not involved in those days can pick out those in the photos.

Tonight I will be looking forward but in a nostalgic sort of way. That probably makes no sense so you will have to look at tonight's offering to work it out.

Nigel the prankster

You should have seen my closing shot from last night - the publicity for Emma Rogan's endurance running.

Its a little over 2 days since the Comrades Marathon in South Africa. Its almost 2 years ago that Emma took part - and her life was to change when she met the Island's fastest dentist, Nigel Armstrong.

When I was looking for a photo of Emma last night I found a whole collection of photos from this year's London Marathon that had not seen the light of day. This one shows that Nigel's keen sense of humour has not changed with his engagement. I wondered why he was so keen to take my photo on the train from Luton airport - he wanted to show that I was sitting in a seat for the old or disabled!