LONG ROAD OUT OF EDEN JURBY – PART 5
TRAINING PROGRESS – NO PLAN B
I
have now reached 150 miles of ‘proper training’ for the big day(s) which is
where I had had planned to be by the end of March. However, this does not tell
the full story. On 7th March I called in at an elderly relative’s
house to find that he had taken a fall and had been unable to get to his feet
unaided. The time since has been taken up with visits to Noble’s and Ramsey
Cottage Hospitals, sorting out pensions, bills and shopping prior to
discussions and meetings on future accommodation needs etc.
Family
must always come first of course, though the time lost meant that it was only
by doing 17 miles last week that I was able to get ‘back on track’ whereas I
had hoped to be well ahead of schedule by this point. So, for the other 1016
entrants registered at the time of writing I can only advise that training
doesn’t always go as planned – ensure you have a Plan B!
There
were two competitive events held during March. Firstly, the last Winter Walking
League event saw a win on the day for Jayne Farquhar (and a win overall in the
series – well done Jayne!) whilst the other podium places for 2022-23 went to Parish
‘Legend’ Sean Hands and (10th to the War Memorial last year) Tony
Edwards. I was slightly disappointed with my own 70:12 for the 6.21 miles
distance, though it wasn’t out of line with my performances throughout the
winter, basically two minutes down on 12 months ago. More treadmill work
required!
The
following Thursday saw the Spring Handicap, also at the NSC. Prior to the start
several of us learned that we had been given some rather ‘interesting’ handicap
times so all I could do was the usual strategy; try to pass those ahead of me
before those behind left me in their wake!
In
the event the plaudits went to Neil Wade with 27:32 whilst Erika Kelly was
fastest actual time with 25:27. This near OAP was pleased to record 33:32 (over
5.5 mph) showing he is still competitive over 5 km – if not 85 miles!
TECHNOLOGY
Reading
through Dermot O’Toole’s histories of this wonderful event one of the
significant changes over the years has been the recording of the entrants at
each church. In the early days competitors had to carry their own card to be
signed off by Arthur Jones and his team. I wonder what they did if it was
pouring with rain and the card turned to ‘mush’ or even worse was lost?
The
introduction of the ‘dibber’ was a great initiative whether worn on the wrist
or round the neck, though for those at the top end of the race the time taken
for the insertion of the device into the recording machine would no doubt add
on a couple of minutes overall, which can make all the difference! The modern approach
to having the recording device embedded into the race number has eliminated
this allowing a smooth approach past each church and helping some of us further
down the field to just get to the next one before cut-off!
For
many years headphones were permitted to be worn and there were certainly
benefits in taking your mind off the pain and fatigue! Conversely though they
could take your mind off other walkers in close proximity or (even more
dangerously) vehicles and they are now wisely banned. I personally found with
an ‘I-pod’ (mine was a Sony I recall) that once I started to swing the arms
then I would catch the wire and continuously knock the ear-pieces out, so would
eventually become frustrated and put them in the pocket of the water bottle belt
and forget about them.
Instead
of music, I try to concentrate on lists, going through the A-Z for the likes of
countries and capitals, football teams and footballers, groups, artists and
songs etc. Another idea I have been taught is to focus on a telegraph pole or house
a couple of hundred yards up the rod and then recalibrate to the next one when
I reach it. Whatever you do it is imperative to focus throughout – often is the
time my mind has wandered only to find that I have lost impetus and Pete Miller’s
‘chimp’ is trying to work negative thoughts into my head – usually approaching
Bride!
A RANDOM TOP 10 OF PARISH WALK RELATED SONGS
Don’t stop - Fleetwood Mac
A walk in the night - Junior Walker and the Allstars
(17 times’ finisher Mick Holgate’s favourite part of the event)
Walk don’t run - Ventures
Glorious - Andreas Johnson
I love America - Patrick Juvet
Up the hill backwards – David Bowie
(How Jeff Black got up part of Ballajora on his way to 3
finishes)
Walking on broken glass – Annie Lennox
(How the surface on the way to Andreas Church feels…)
Faith – George Michael
I knew the Bride – Dave Edmunds
Everyone’s a winner – Hot Chocolate
PARISH WALK MEMORIES – PART THREE (2015 – 2021)
2015
I had trained well for the 20
June 2015 event in the company of Ralph Peake M.H.K. and the plan was to walk
together throughout the day (and hopefully night). A few days before the event
though Ralph found out that there was an important meeting at Tynwald first
thing on Monday morning to prepare for and decided that it was only practical
for him to walk to Peel. I kept wanting to go at a quicker pace, but Ralph reigned
me in which helped later on. Approaching Jurby I was delighted to see that
Ralph had come out to support me, joining my son Andrew who was down as
designated driver. A fine leg to Bride (so often my nemesis) had me starting to
‘believe’ by Andreas until a rather large blister popped under my foot and
knocked the momentum. At Lezayre we made preparations for the next leg and
Ralph/Andrew had barely driven off before I leant against a fence and started
to retch etc. Once I had got my senses back I was dismayed to find that several
parts of the clothing were heavily caught in the barbed wire, and it took
further time to extricate myself! Trudging on a vehicle stopped on the hill up
to Maughold and it was the ‘wags’ from the Civil Defence again who stated that
as the cut off had gone the Maughold Station had now closed, and they had gone
home! I was by now somewhat disorientated and implored them to make sure I got
to Maughold and take a picture of me showing a watch as I had never reached the
Church before and wanted to prove to the organisers that I had reached that
point. Sure enough, when I reached Maughold Church the place was deserted but
then a few seconds later Martin Lambden jumped out from behind a car to swipe
my dibber, whilst my comments were unprintable! So, my best chance of success
had fallen short, though at least a personal best to Maughold in 19h 18m 32s
It was only a couple of days
later in Greenwich on my way to a Fleetwood Mac concert, and wandering why
everyone was stepping off the pavement to let a hobbling Manxman go past that I
realised how much the event had taken out of me…
2016
Saturday 18 June 2016 – a hot
day (this will become a common theme…) Pleasing performance to Peel but then
the extra weight I was carrying (personally) started to have an effect, with
even the arrival of Ralph Peake with some reviving soup only being a temporary
fillip. I walked with former work colleague Garry Curtis up to Jurby, and then
resisted his offer for us to stop and try his home-made curry at his residence
in Andreas, though in the event only got to Bride just inside the cut off and
called it a day.
2017
Saturday 17th June
2017 was a very hot day. I again walked for much of the time with Garry before
I started to struggle from the Round Table and had already ‘gone’ before throwing
up on the hill up from Glenfaba bridge and struggling into Peel before handing
in my dibber despite the protestations of Liz Corran, who reminded me that I
‘always’ carried on. I ended up flopping down on the couch for the evening whilst
Garry showed far more guts and reached the War Memorial in an excellent 23h 05m
34s. A disappointing effort (for me).
2018
A year later (on 23 June) there
were good conditions at the start of the Walk, and I started a lot nearer the
front, and everything went well until
the temperature soared when I was heading up Ballakillowey. I made the conscious
decision to just enjoy the walk into Peel and arrived at the Town Hall at 7h 58m
28s.
2019
Saturday 22nd June
2019 was (once more) a hot day. In the early stages I walked with namesake
Kevin Moore, and we were surprised along Clanagh Road to be passed by Alan
Teare, who would usually be miles ahead of us by this stage. He explained that
he had forgotten his timing chip and had to wait at Marown for a family member
to bring this from Peel (Alan would eventually haul himself up from 1201st
at Marown to 39th place at the Finish).
The ’hills’ went well though
after Peel I had problems with my right heel which needed constant attention up
the west coast. It was only Garry Curtis’s ‘magic soup’ which got me from Jurby
to finish at Bride, though I recorded
that it had been a ‘reasonable effort – having only thrown up once!’
2020
Alighting the coach at the Point
of Ayre for the 2019 End to End Walk, I jarred my knee on a bar on the step
down from the back of the vehicle and struggled throughout the event, only
being recorded with a time to Cregneash, although I stubbornly/stupidly carried
onto to the finish line in around 10 hours 8 minutes. Feeling sorry for myself
later at the Barbary Coast with wife Cath, I acceded to her previous request
for us to go on a particular cruise on the date of the 2020 Parish, which I had
declined previously for obvious reasons!
What to do instead? I eventually
decided to venture far afield and enter the 50 miles event in May 2020 at
Schiedam, Holland, part of the Wandelweekend, and took to training round the NSC
at nights once I realised that the event would have an 8 p.m. start… In March
however, the dreaded ‘Covid’ word entered our vocabularies. We cancelled our
cruise and on 23rd March the Schiedam event was also shelved. Not to
worry thought me, I will be able to enter the Parish after all! Within three
hours our wonderful event was also a casualty, and I spent the next month
taking the advice of ’one walk a day’ literally socially distancing around
Baldwin.
On the day scheduled for the
event I ventured out for a ‘tenth of a Parish’ (8.5 miles) walk through Baldwin
to the Injebreck reservoir and back and later ventured down to Onchan Church to
cheer on Angie Robinson, who was cycling the Parish course in memory of Teri
Waddington.
2021
My latest venture in this most
addictive of pastimes (June 19, 2021) was held in humid conditions, which did
not help when mixed with the car fumes going up the Sloc. The changes implemented
by the event’s organisers meant that the traffic was much better between Round
Table and Peel though instead there was a major snarl later down the hill to
Glen Wyllin. I made the fatal mistake of succumbing to the ‘beware the chair’
mantra and too many occasions sitting down on the boot of son Andrew’s car meant
that I barely had the inclination left to get up to Jurby Church.
THE MONTH AHEAD
With
the (hopefully) warmer weather and lighter nights April is the month to up the
training schedule, with more training walks, longer distances and varied
routes. Whether I pay attention to my own advice though we will see in the next
blog!
Taken
during the now discontinued Peel to Douglas event in 2010 before the days of
health and safety!
(Courtesy of Doug Allen – runner up in the Parish 2000
and 2002)
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