When your luck is against you

I'm beginning to wonder if it was a good analogy to make. The one where compared by attempts to save my aching body by taking much better care of it being like my attempts to keep our car on the road long after the signs were there that it was crying "enough".

After getting a fair amount of work done on our 14 year old Clio last week, it was put to good use yesterday morning taking an old fridge to the amenity site before every cubic inch was filled with leaves from the cottage destined for the same place. After a visit to Robbie and a lovely walk with him around Quine's Hill (third perfect Saturday in a row), I set off to take my mother-in-law for a trip "up north".

The oil light came on and I turned through Baldrine Park before the engine seized. Its a bit worrying that its final resting place was only half a mile from the Ballanette Cross Country. If my analogy has too many similarities they might be burying me in the mud!

It was definitely the most expensive week of my life. The news from two vets about Marie's dog was worse than expected and he is to have operations on both legs.

Next there was the new boiler we installed at the cottage last year. A big capital outlay but the one that would save on maintenance costs. The one that tranmits a signal to a display in the kitchen to record the oil level. The one that was showing half a tank of oil but had actually run out. More than £500 to rectify not to mention another tank of fuel earlier than budgeted!

So if anyone saw me during the first few laps of the walk at the National Sports Centre looking a bit glum this morning perhaps you will forgive me. For when I went to start taking photos my best camera would not work! Not quite sure why but after going home and changing the card I was able to take some photos of the second half of the race and by then the rain had eased.

A change of luck at last? Then I watched the football!

Autumnal scenes yesterday.

Welcome you 11

I've just added all of the Manx Fell Runners fixtures for 2013 to the Fixtures at a Glance list - 11 fell races, plus the junior champs and three hill races.

I've noticed that the number of visitors to the site has been very high in recent weeks and up to yesterday was running at an average of 293 unique visitors a day for the year. That compares with 282 at the same stage last year.

Don't stop

I've been addicted again. I've spent hours and hours and hours face tagging photos this week. Tonight was a typical example, I started at around 7.30 intending to do something else and spent 2 hours trying to match faces. Picasa is very good at times and awful at others - either that or there is some serious inter-breeding on this Island.

When I popped out to buy a bottle a wine, Marie had something on TV where a choir were trying to sing Christine McVie's song Don't Stop.

Once I start something I find it hard to stop which applied to my running too. I was afraid that once I stopped I would never get started again. And after 5 weeks of doing nothing these last two weeks have been tough. I managed to do 2 x 1 miles this morning at a slower pace than I was training to run marathons at and yet I am stiff today!

Like my scanning projects, the face tagging does bring some good results. These two are the same person:

Keith might have retired by the time I finish the face tagging!

Magic Bus

I've had to take the bus to work today and will do so again tomorrow as double Parish Walk winner Peter Kaneen battles to extend the life of our Renault Clio just as Isla Scott has been trying to extend the running life of its driver and will do so again on Friday.

There was nothing magical about the Bus Vannin but I've been reading the autobiography of the man who wrote a top selling song called Magic Bus. That's quite an achievement for me as its my second autobiography in about three months!

As has been well documented, the Who's Pete Townshend stayed on the Isle of Man when he was a child when his father, who played in a big band, played for the season at the Palace Ballroom. What I hadn't realised was that he was here for 10 summers in a row.

He returned with the Who in the 60s at the time the Who had recorded Magic Bus and of course he also wrote Happy Jack which made references to the Isle of Man.

My favourite Who bus story though has been told before. My brother Mike witnessed them, in the days when if it was foggy at Ronaldsway the planes went to Jurby, on the bus with the other passengers being transferred between airports.

I like studying people; and relationships. I often say that we should get on with people even if we are not necessarily best friends. I like the story in the book about Pete Townshend having an argument with the Who's singer Roger Daltrey when they were still teenagers - he said they developed a grudging respect for each other that was to last a lifetime. I can think of a few relationships I have like that.

I have to admit I was rather scathing of Pete Townshend when the Who played in Peel in 2008 and he said how much he loved the Isle of Man and yet left within 30 minutes of the show. Reading the book I realise that it was been a big part of his rather confused childhood.

But it was Roger who returned last year.

 

Roger Daltrey poses for me at the Villa Marina last year.

Here ends the talk about My Generation. No Substitute for athletics where the Kids are Alright.  I Could See for Miles on Suiday. I Can't Explain how I started this bit but I Won't Get Fooled Again although I will be catching the Magic Bus at 5.15 tomorrow.I'm sure you will Join Together to get rid of me.

What a day for photos

I was inter changing a couple of cameras at the Postman Walks on the Marine Drive this morning to get different shots to make the most of the stunning scenery.

Then I wet to Ballanette to take photos and videos of the Microgaming Cross Country League. The forms to register cameras are not really designed for five cameras. I took them home and unloaded the data before heading to Peel for a walk along the headlands with Marie. I stuffed my compact Samsung in my pocket and was pleased I did.

If you can't get  a decent photo today you never will. I haven't got far with the video but I aiming to get it uploaded before rejoining Marie for the only TV we watch together each week at 9 pm.

Things I wouldn't have done had I been running a marathon in 12 hours time

Had a lovely walk from Port Soderick to Keristal with Robbie this morning. Can't remember a time when he was ready when I called for him and nice that he said "that was really enjoyable" as we climbed back from the beach to the Marine Drive.

For all its loutishness, football can be extremely entertaining, particularly if you team goes ahead, falls behind and then wins as mine did today.

The scanner didn't get used today as I have returned to one of my other addictions - face tagging in my photo collection. Spent several hours on it today.

And and this without ignoring Marie - we've been out to an Indian Restaurant tonight.

I have to admit to some concerns when Graham Young advertised tomorrow morning's Postman in Uniform Walk as being in a scenic course when referring to the Marine Drive. I have run around there on the majority of Sunday mornings in the last four years and it can be bleak if the wind in the wrong direction. But all looks good for tomorrow. I will be there with camera.

And I'll be further up the coast in the afternoon too. Better start charging the batteries,

Should have been in Amsterdam tonight

The photo above was taken by son Ben when we travelled to the Amsterdam Marathon in 2008 and I failed to start through injury. 2009 passed me by: 2010 I was also injured but ran and blew up; 2011 I thought I could run 2.50 and ended up with about 3.13; 2012 I entered but withdrew.There is more to life than running marathons!

History on side of scanning

I moved through another couple of years of race walking history this evening - my scanning of Race Walking Record is up to 1982. I was trying not to look too closely at the content as it was very much "my era". The indulgence can wait for another day.

I was kept going tonight with the aid of the wonderful BBCiPlayer and the even better documentary about World War II - chilling but fascinating history.

I have rounded off the evening my moving all the features of the fast few days off the front page and I was going to feature the cross country. But then I saw the headlines on the iomaa.info and saw that some more history had been made. So I have featured that.

Making dispatches

I've just stopped the scanner long enough tonight to edit a bit of the video of the Welbeck Hotel & Restaurant One Hour Walk from Sunday. The expectation is that I usually do these things in a few hours but I can't always.

I've had quite a long day as the odd scraps of time that I usually use at lunchtime and when I come home (if I beat Marie through the front door!) to do  few updates was taken up with a couple of seminars today. 

When I did get to the computer tonight, whilst listening to the hilarious attempts by the ITV commentators talk about the rain, the roof and the pitch inspections, I continued with my latest scanning project which is nearly as mad as having an all weather stadium that can't be used in all weathers.

I have attacked my collection of Race Walking Record magazines that go back to August 1976. I'm up to August 1980 so far and just starting to get the odd plug.

If anyone would like to take my collection of magazines which is virtually complete from the last 36 years, please let me know although it might take me a few weeks to get them all ready for departure.

Routemaster

 

As an amateur photographer you need a bit of luck for your shots sometimes. Although I am always looking for the best backgrounds, I was fighting a loosing battle at the Isle of Man Bank Hill Race on Saturday afternoon until Rosey Craine asked if I could take a photo of herself with her two team mates who had grabbed the first three positions. The photo turned out to be the best of the afternoon!

One of the things I like about the current group of athletes at the Northern AC club is that they have the ability to smile. I have to say that we should be allowed to pull silly faces when we are competing, but the more we smile, especially if we can take pleasure at other people's performances when we have a bad day ourselves, the better.

Rosey was smiling too on the first photo I took of her way back in 2002 at the London Marathon when she met Paul Curphey who she knew through Paul's hockey playing wife Paula.

London is known for its iconic routemaster buses and its always known that if you want to be a successful fell runner you have to be a route master.

The hill races are designed to be slightly different. Not only shorter but the routes are well marked. Saturday should have been no exception especially when members of the Manx Fell Runners club gave up time on Friday afternoon to flag the course. Imagine the disbelief on Saturday when it was discovered that some mindless idiots had pulled out the flags and thrown them into the trees.

A fair number of starters did not complete the course on Sunday.

Lap counting

I attended the second event of the weekend this morning, the Manx Harriers organised One Hour Walk. The  outstanding weather of the previous 48 hours continued and it was good to see some new faces.

There were also a few faces from the past, not least former international Carolyn Brown.

With my new scanner in full flow I have scanned 21 scrapbooks covering 1974 until 1992 plus a few extra bits and pieces. Although I continued  to keep press cuttings I either photo copied them or kept them loose in plastic sleeves thereafter apart from a brief attempt to revive the scrapbooks in 1997. The loose cuttings have already been converted to pdf form.

One person who featured heavily in the scrap books was the aforementioned Carolyn. Apart from her walking, did you know that she was the Isle of Man's first female football referee at just 18 years of age.

 

As always the lap scorers were hard at work at the NSC where Carolyn is photographed above. Their task was made somewhat harder when Richard Gerrard wore his number upside down and 191 became 161!

I completed another lap myself today reaching the youthful age of 56! Last night we visited the sponsor of today's walk, the Welbeck Hotel & Restaurant. Unlike my ageing limbs,  the Welbeck never lets me down.

Dramatic changes

Anyone who was not on the Isle of Man on Thursday afternoon and evening would not believe how the weather changed so dramatically.

There was flooding on Thursday and a beautiful day with the roads clear by Friday morning. I don't know if it is only because I have been out today, but my perception is that it is even better today.

I was out earlier having a walk around Port Grennaugh and Arragon with Robbie and the colour contrasts in the countryside were wonderful. Should be good for the Hill Race at Cringle this afternoon.

Scanned another three scrap books before I went out and the fourth is just processing. Time for one more before I go out again.

Bang the drum

I'm really pleased to have got through the scanning of another three scrapbooks tonight, particularly as two of them were double thickness. They will give me loads of material for the website and although they are hard work at the time, like the results databases and the photo collections, the work will pay off in time.

Right now I'm listening to a Squueze concert on BBC 4 as the final bit of scanning for the night processes. Earlier it was a great feature on Paul Carrack who I really like and have seen play twice on the Island. The first, during TT week in around 2002 (correct me anyone as I haven't looked it up) in the pouring rain in the Villa Marina gardens. The second was inside the Villa in 2004. The distinguishing  feature of that concert was a bit bizarre - I kept checking my phone as I was expecting my mother to pass away any time although she held on for a good few weeks!

I saw two of Paul Carrack's bands play in Stoke in the 70s - Ace and Squeeze. But on checking Wikipedia it seems that it was in neither line up when I saw them.  And I missed him again when I finally saw Mike and the Mechanics this year several years after he left the band. Mind you, the concert at the Villa was the best night of the year for me.

Glen Tilbrook, lead singer in Squeeze, is singing at full belt at te moment.Its hard to believe that I saw him as part of a crowd of about 10 a few years ago. He was doing a solo gig and he burst into WH Smith in Strand Street singing one of his latest songs to promote the concert and sell CDs in WH Smith.

The scanning has just reached the point where I can leave it to finish so I am quitting now.

But before signing off, to add to all those useless scraps of information, here is a scrap from one of those books.

Scan see

My new scanner arrived today and I set off at a cracking pace and have managed to scan the first 6 of about 20 scrap books that my mother first started for me.

You can see one of the scans from the very first page above - one of only two cross country races I ran out of school whilst at school. But I was well beaten by the up and coming Paul Bawden.

I am stopping now but the first scans from tonight's collection to appear will be on the home page in a few minutes. Plan C became scan see tonight.

185,000 to go

There was a certain irony tonight as, when I couldn't face up to writing a email that I had on my list tonight, I managed to start a task that I hadn't been able to face for several months.

Three hours later I have face tagged hundreds more photos but there are currently 185,000 showing as unidentified. I have no intention of doing the lot, I'm hardly going to track down the guy in the crowd in a walk in Valencia in 1982, but I hop to continue building on this soon.

It really paid off recently when I was asked if I could supply some old photos of Les Brown for his 60th birthday party - "the least flattering the better" was my brief!

And I did get the email done. Only 100 of them to go but I never seem to get less than that.

£1,375

I'm pleased to say that the profit from photo sales since I started the current site has now reached £1,375 although I have quite a bit to distribute.

I was going to do so many things tonight but a few glasses of wine after a long day have tipped the scales towards shelving all of them now that I have cleared a bit of space on the front page. Looking at the number of fixtures coming up in the next couple of weeks alone is enough to tire anyone out!

More of scan B than a plan B

On Friday evening I was all set to start work on one of my major "projects" for the winter - scanning and disposing of my scrapbooks. Over the past couple of years I have got rid of all the loose cuttings from the last 15 years or so but at least with those I could chop them up to fit on the scanner.

Scanning scrapbooks is different as you have to scan in more than one direction and the story ends up in two or three bits.

I wasn't even through the first of the big pile when the scanner started to put big coloured patches across the images (see above). I tried rebooting, and attaching the scanner to my laptop but the results were the same.

I suppose it was quite appropriate that it should fail when I was recording a world record. I reckon that in the 10 years or so that I have had my current scanner I must have scanned more photos and papers than anyone else in the world for every £1 spent - I think it cost about £65.

I hope that it will turn into a blessing in disguise as I have ordered a new one which with a bit of luck might arrive tomorrow. At a cost of £146 from Pixmania (it was about £200 at Amazon) I will end up with an A3 scanner so I can do a whole page of my scrapbook at a time. It will save me hours and hours of time.

Bring on scan B.

Lambie remembers

Robbie Lambie has just reminded me that it is 30 years tomorrow since we raced in the 30km walk in the Commonwealth Games in Australia. Just watched the video below for the first time for a while in which Steve Barry takes gold for Wales. It still bugs me that it was reported that "England's other competitors Roger Mills and Paul Blagg finished 7th and 13th." Steve was not English and why did the Isle of Man's entrants not get a mention? I was 8th. Only just remembered  that I added all my photos (taken by my mother) are added to the end of the film.

Graham Young, Murray Lambden & Robbie Lambie seeing the sights of the Gold Coast in 1982. We obviously didn't take much kit with us for three weeks as we have racing shoes and shorts on!

All roads lead to Peel

I've not heard  any news from Ramsey last night but all the action is in Peel this weekend.

Junior Fell Running Championships on Saturday afternoon

Western 10 Miles and Julie Brew Memorial 10 Mile Walk on Sunday morning.

Both events are featured on the front page linked to two very informative web pages from the relevant organisers, the Manx Fell Runners and Western Athletic Club.

Staying warm

I can't make it to the first round of the Ramsey Firemans' Runs tonight as I have to attend a function as Marie's husband.

Don't forget the safety notice below but most importantly of all, take care.

All runners in the Ramsey Bakery Fireman's runs on Tursday MUST wear a "hi viz" top on to be able to race.  White T shirts will not be accepted as suitable.  The decision of the race organisers will be final as to the suitability of garments for hi viz purposes.  However if a runner forgets their top or does not have one, they will be able to purchase hi viz bibs on the night at a cost of approximately £5.  The first and last races of the series will both be scratch races this winter. Signing on will be from 6.15pm for a 7pm race start throughout the series. Full details including a google earth map on Northern AC's website by Kevin Deakes who is the photo above.

MMM results

AS part of my coverage of the Manx Mountain Marathon I had added a link to the site of the same name assuming that the results would be published there. I have now learned that the link is on the home page of the Manx Fell Runners website so I have added a link to this on my home page and also a link to Steve Partington's photos which was only visible on the comments page.

In fact I have also featured the MFR's website in a frame this morning to highlight the performances of the Manx Youngsters in the English Schools Fell Running Championships. Well done to all the youngsters in this.

I would never have guessed how many

Although the remote backup of my photos seems to be working ok (in any event virtually all of my photos are on my photo website in full resolution) I still feel better if everything is backed up "on site" too. Last night I realised that my USB backup had not been working so I reset everything and started again.

I now have move than 113,000 photos although they still use a lot less space than the videos.

I have nearly 25,000 music files too and, yes, there are some newer than 1980 as most of Ben's music collection gets backed up too.

Bloody fell

How often, when one football team thrashes another, that the question arises whether team A was good or team B was bad?

I don't know much about golf but yesterday morning I heard everyone raving about the European team's performance in the Ryder Cup but last night, on the BBC News Channel, I heard an American journalist slagging the USA team's performance.

You could ask the same question about the Manx clean sweep in the Manx Mountain Marathon. Were there not many good performances by visiting athletes or were the Manx runners better than ever?

To find a n answer you probably need to go back to the reasons why the date for the event was changed from Easter to the end of September. There were mixed views about the change and I remember listing a lot of arguments in favour and against when I was canvassed for an opinion. But all in all I thought the change was justified.

It is of course ironic that we thought the course would be drier! With the majority of local fell races in the earlier part of the year and a clear "run" over the summer, the talent and dedication of the local runners were able to prosper from the end of season date. The visiting runners maybe saw things in reverse. They liked coming here at Easter at the start of the season but were not motivated at the end of the season. Either way, the locals were pretty impressive.

The heading was not a typo for some colourful language but a reference again to Nigel Armstrong's fall that required a rescue by the Civil Defence after a deep cut to his right knee.

 Nigel used his coat to protect his knee and this was the bloody colour after he fell.