Race Report: GLCL 2017 Road Race Series Race 3 of 5 - Parc Penallta
Race Report: Rack Raid 2017
Rack Raid is another brilliant local event that is put on by Fairwater Runners. It is an invitation only relay event for clubs in South Wales, starting at Grosmont Castle and finishing at the Castell-y-Bwch Pub. The route is approx. 100 miles split across 13 stages of varying length from 5-13 miles. Each stage starts and finishes at a castle/historic location and it is great fun. Every year I look forward to it, but this year I was quite concerened I would be letting the team down after being hit with ITB pain two weeks before the race (more on that in a future post).
Race Report: GLCL 2017 Road Race Series Race 1 of 5 - Parc Bryn Bach
The Gwent Leisure Centre League is one of the highlights of the racing calendar for me (well, the road races are at least). It's a free series of ten races for club runners in Gwent, five road races between May and August and five cross country races between October and March. It can get really competitive, but in the best possible way 
. The road races are always on a Tuesday evening so usually I can make all the races. As a club we really get involved in the series, we always have a great turnout and we finish every race with a pile of cakes 
. This was no exception. The first race of the series this year was at Parc Bryn Bach in Tredegar. This is the furthest away venue, but there were runners everywhere! There were a total of 502 runners and also a huge number of supporters, which is the greatest number so far!
Rise of the Robots
Image by Chris Christian via Flickr I was recently listening to a Radio 4 Podcast entitled “The Rise of the Robots” that got me thinking. It was a three part series that looked at the past, present and future of robots and how they have developed in our society both culturally and technologically. The first episode was concerned with where the idea of the robot originated and looked at robots/automata of the past. I was very surprised to discover the first recorded concept of a robot was in Ancient Greece (although I suppose I shouldn’t really be surprised by that given what the Ancient Greeks actually achieved in their time). It was very interesting, but what really got me thinking was episode 2. Warning! This...
Learning to Juggle
I have wanted to learn to juggle for years but, for various reasons, I never got around to actually putting the effort in that’s required. I tried a couple of times on an ad hoc basis but never really got anywhere. When I got around to putting together “My Epic Quest” I added “Learn to juggle” to the list. Well, last year Rosie & George decided to give me a bit more encouragement and bought me a set of juggling balls for my birthday . This time I didn’t want to let George down so I put in the effort and practised everyday. The first day was pretty horrific, I managed to hit myself with the balls more than actually catch them! Each day got...
A Busy Weekend
A couple of weeks ago, on the last weekend of half term, George went to stay with his Grandparents in Taunton from Thursday to Sunday. Rosie and I thought this would be a good chance to replace his bed. The above timelapse shows the process of sorting the bed, which was a bit of a mission (see below) and the room completed. I hope you like it. Read on if you want to know more about it
. In August 2015, George made the bizarre decision to move from his comfortably sized bedroom at the back of the house to the box room at the front of the house. His main storage is a massive Ikea shelving unit, so moving into the box room meant...
Race Report: Admiral City of Newport Half Marathon
This weekend it was the Admiral City of Newport Half Marathon. Another popular local race organised by St Davids Hospice Care. This year I was well aware that I was not in shape to run a PB so, I made the decision to use this as a long tempo run instead. This meant taking it steady(ish) right from the start. I parked up at Newport Stadium again this year with a view to walking over to the start as a bit of a warm up but, as usual, I was running a little late so I ended up jogging the 2 miles to the bag drop to make sure I got there in time. With my bag dropped off, I headed to the start line...
Race Report: Pontypool 10k Home Run
After a busy start to the weekend sorting out George's bedroom, Rosie and I both took part in the Pontypool 10k Home Run on Sunday morning. The event is organised by St Davids Hospice Care and is always very popular (not quite as popular as the Lliswerry 8, but it does always sell out). So far I have not managed to get myself sorted early enough to get a place, so this year I booked a place almost as soon as the entries opened, and Rosie booked a place shortly after. I have run the route many times as it is so close to home, but this was the first time I have actually run the Home Run. It was a great race, and I will be competing again, despite the slightly boring generic 10k race medal we received at the end...
Time Management
I recently read an article on the Guardian website (thanks Graham 
) about time management that really got me thinking. In a nutshell, I feel that the Guardian article has got the right idea, time management, at least the way it is pushed today, is flawed and not actually helpful to anyone. Over the years, I’ve been on a number of different management courses, including specific time management courses, through work. After each course, I diligently try to implement the practices and ideas given and within a couple of weeks, I’m more stressed than I was before! I always put this down to the fact that my workload had increased and I was just getting overwhelmed. Most of us have experienced this creeping sense of...