How long between the red carpet and the red light

One of the reasons I failed to get the website updated on Saturday was because we decided at the last minute to get tickets for the "premier" of Me & Orson Wells at the Gaiety. It was really exciting to see the youngsters screaming outside and we almost had the bar to ourselves upstairs as everyone waited with their cameras for the arrival of Zac Efron and the other stars.

It was fascinating to see the film from the theatre where most of it was made and, as with all Manx made films there were whispers of "That's in Finch Road" etc. Amazing how well they overlaid the backgrounds that had been made in the Pinewood Studios.

A good number of the audience appeared to be very proud extras. I can only imagine the work that went into the film. I'm glad that I don't have the pressure that they have the film industry where so few films are successful from those that are made. I'm afraid if it hadn't been for the local interest I wouldn't be watching and I doubt if I will be watching it on general release. I hope that others are more positive than me and there is a bigger gap between the red carpet and the red light than I predict.

Time trial

For the past 18 months, other than when I have been injured (which is actually a big chunk of it!) I have been training in the morning. When I am not training, I struggle to answer my own question of how I fit it in as the time seems to go just as quickly without training.


Yesterday morning I planned another "longest run since the London Marathon" of around 19 miles. I had to be in Port Soderick by 10 am and needed to shower, change and get breakfast before driving there. So I had to be on the road by 7. I made it by 6.49 and got to the cottage in time. Actually, this plan really paid off given the bad weather later in the day.

Today I only planned a half hour jog but I lost count of the number of times that I rescheduled it. The deadline turned into 1 pm when I was due to deliver lunch.

And it was the same with the website. A quick refresh and a couple of pictures to publicise the Millennium Way Relay was all I planned and I didn't even plan to watch any sport on TV. But instead of doing the website this morning, it was 7 pm before I started.

I then got deeply into the MWR feature and spent most of the evening online. It was a time when some of those other evenings spent organising files paid off, however, and I found some files that I had forgotten about.

A lot of thinking time in the past couple of weeks has gone into the launch of the http://www.parishwalk.com/ website on 1 December, and a few letters, emails and phone calls too. I had a long chat with Ray Cox, for example, this afternoon. But because the deadline is still 9 days away, other committments have been given a higher priority.

I had at least three other stories to tell but they have been found guilty at the time trial.

Dampening expectations

What a dreadful night. The weather outlook for today appears to be even worse.

Its amazing, when the weather is extreme and you usually run in the early morning, how you can find justification for having another rest day. I turned over and went back to sleep on Saturday morning when I heard the thunder and this morning I decided my legs were too tired to risk injury in the awful weather.

I added a couple of extra photos to the fell running feature last night before watching some of the Ireland v France football. It took an unpunished handball rather than the weather to stop the Irish from having to practice for the summer.

At the end of the day it has to be fun

As I tried to leave my half read pile of newspapers and half full bottle of wine at around 9 pm last night I tried to find the motivation to update the website.

One thing I try to do with the website is to produce a feature when you are not expecting it. I particularly like to publicise events a long time in the future because I believe it is far more effective than last minute plugs and reminders when you assume that everyone already knows about the event.

I ended up delving into my photo library and creating the feature on fell running. I spent far more time than I ever imagined I would but at the end of the day it has to be fun.

Its hard to link that with me getting up again at 5.30 setting off half an hour later to go and run 12 miles in the dark, the rain and the flooded roads of Baldwin. It was my first successful midweek run of this distance since before the London Marathon. This morning was certainly not much fun. But at the end of a lot more days like that it would be fun if I can see less the minute hand on my watch on less than 45 minutes when I finish in London next time around.

The champion frother still going strong

Over the years I have had letters published in such diverse publications as the Manx Media (lots), Race Walking Record, The Sunday Times, Motor Cycle News (MCN), New Musical Express (NME), Autosport & Athletics Weekly (lots).



But for every letter I have written there have been at least 10 times when I got "wound up" about something and think I shall write a letter. But then I either calm down, forget or just decide its not worth the effort.



The same thoughts go with my blogging and indeed with the ideas I get for doing larger features on the manxathletics.com site. I must have had 20 thoughts since Thursday about things I have been going to say and then not done so for the reasons explained above.



So for now, I am going to keep to my most recent thought and comment about Dave Newton. The 56 year old finished 27th out of the 36 starters so he only made the top 75% of the field. For some people that would be an achievement in itself for someone who used to regularly win Manx cross country events this is hugely sporting.



Most people watching would probably not even know that he used to be a winner let alone have seen a picture of him in full froth. It takes true sportsmanship to carry on making the same effort when you slow through running injuries and other overuse of the body.





Dave Newton (290) with Niall McGarrigle (248) pictured at Nobles Park by Neil Wilson yesterday. Dave has been competing in cross country for more about 35 years.

Website numbers peaked?

Although numbers of visitors to the manxathletics.com site have continued to grow this year, yesterday was a surprisingly quiet day (unless there was something wrong with the tracking software).

The average number of people visiting the site through the year is up to 259 compared to 223 at the same point last year - that's an increase of 16%.

But yesterday only 166 people visited which is by far the lowest weekday of the year.

Here are the days when less than 200 have visitedN


Saturday 25th July 2009 124
Saturday 17th October 2009 134
Saturday 24th October 2009 134
Saturday 22nd August 2009 136
Saturday 12th September 2009 136
Saturday 18th July 2009 152
Saturday 14th February 2009 153
Saturday 21st February 2009 154
Saturday 26th September 2009 156
Sunday 7th June 2009 162
Sunday 15th February 2009 164
Wednesday 11th November 2009 166
Sunday 4th January 2009 174
Saturday 17th January 2009 175
Saturday 8th August 2009 176
Friday 21st August 2009 176
Saturday 21st March 2009 177
Saturday 27th June 2009 177
Saturday 6th June 2009 178
Saturday 14th March 2009 180
Saturday 4th April 2009 180
Saturday 3rd October 2009 180
Saturday 31st October 2009 182
Saturday 3rd January 2009 186
Thursday 29th October 2009 186
Saturday 28th March 2009 187
Saturday 30th May 2009 187
Friday 30th October 2009 187
Friday 16th October 2009 188
Sunday 2nd August 2009 189
Monday 8th June 2009 190
Wednesday 28th October 2009 190
Sunday 26th July 2009 192
Saturday 5th September 2009 192
Sunday 30th August 2009 193
Thursday 15th October 2009 193
Saturday 10th January 2009 194
Friday 23rd October 2009 194
Saturday 25th April 2009 195
Sunday 13th September 2009 195
Friday 2nd October 2009 195
Saturday 31st January 2009 196
Saturday 19th September 2009 196
Thursday 26th February 2009 197
Saturday 7th March 2009 197
Friday 12th June 2009 197
Thursday 20th August 2009 197
Saturday 7th February 2009 199
Sunday 29th March 2009 199
Saturday 1st August 2009 199
Tuesday 27th October 2009 199

No jokes tonight

I've had a pretty hectic social life this week and we saw Julian Clarey at the Gaiety last night. Tomorrow night I am finally going to see Ken Dodd who is now 82 and still performing. I think he has performed hundreds of times on the Isle of Man in the last 50 years but its the first time that I will have seen him.

I have to admit, with the weather is, I wish I was not going to the Ramsey Firemans runs tonight but Robbie is keen to take part in everything at the moment. So unless the weather is extreme and I have to keep my tackle in the dry (too much Julian Clarey!) I will be taking photos or video (or perhaps both) tonight.