Less than 12 hours since the last run I was at it again. Today I ran along the picturesque seafront taking in the fresh air and morning sun at the woods. I seem to run at the woods a lot. Too much me thinks. Tomorrow I vow to try and run somewhere else. The only reason I run at the woods is so I can take the dog with me and kill two birds with one stone. Big effort to take in some new scenery tomorrow.
This morning's run was pretty uneventful, a big lap on the trails of Bourne Woods: 5 miles. It was a bit foggy this morning, I tried to catch it, mist.
Loads of mud.
I didn't really have a lot planned today so I decided to sort out my snail collection. I took the shell off my racing snail, thinking it would make him faster. If anything, it made him more sluggish. Also, Helen has taken to drawing on her eyebrows, I told her she was drawing them on too high. She looked surprised.
Today saw four brave souls, Dead Men Running, attempt to complete a zombie infested 5km run….
Great example of teamwork – one hold phone, one press button!
A ‘short’ walk to the Zombie Evacuation HQ on a very cold and windy morning was enough to bring us to the edge of collapse before we had even seen a zombie.
Liability waiver was signed and timing chip, belt and tags collected. The liability waiver did not help to ease our fears:
‘The risk of injury and/or death from the activities involved in the Zombie
Evacuation Race and the Event is significant’
But we are a simple group of blokes and after a coffee and a KitKat, the standard zombie runners breakfast, we were feeling more confident and ready to face the zombie hordes.
Our allotted evacuation wave time quickly approached and we were ready and in postion to begin. We jogged to an assembly point on the edge of the infected zone where team tactics were quickly discussed. It was decided that we would stay together at all costs and if necessary risk possible zombie infection for the good of the team. After a quick briefing from the head of operations we began to jog ahead in a surprisingly light-hearted mood. This was soon to end because within 30 seconds we were running for our life, amongst smoke and dead corpses, after a zombie attack. At this point it was clear it was every man for himself, Simon pushing other runners to the side, Dave violently pushing me into a ditch in an attempt to save himself.
Over the 5km course we encountered various obstacles (logs, fences, walls, barbed wire, forest, mud, mine fields, rope bridges), what seemed like 1000s of zombies, and managed to just about stay together as a team. Only on a few occasions did the pressure of virus-infected zombies cause any team issues:
Early on Neil lost his hat which I bravely went back for, despite the cries from Dave of “leave it – it’s just a hat”.
On a particularly muddy part, Simon was seen walking over Neil to reach the top of the ridge.
At a rope walking obstacle again Simon was seen disrupting Neil’s progress by excessive swinging on the rope, nearly causing a zombie to infect him.
Trees twanged back into team mates faces…
Lots of needless shoving and grabbing for reassurance (the zombies were actually really scary!)
As we approached the end of the course Dave was the only member of Dead Men Running not to be infected, due to some decidedly ‘gay’ hand wafting around his hips, and it was decided that we would do ANYTHING to get him home in one piece. To cries of, “We’ll get you back Dave!”, we faced the final horde of zombies. Final outcome: 3 infected, 1 survivor. Good job Dave!
Escaping zombies makes you happy!
Overall it was a great day, and despite the ‘screaming like a bunch of girls’ I was very proud of the boys! A well earned pint was the reward…..
Dave was keen to tell EVERYONE he knew that he was the only survivor!
The start of a new month brings another monthly challenge: learning to ride a unicycle.
This is by far the most difficult challenge of the year, I wasn't too confident of success, and after viewing various YouTube video clips I was even less so. Even the 'experts' look as though they will fall off at any minute. Unicycle was ordered from Amazon for the bargain price of £45.
The first 5 mins of the challenge didn't go very well with various heavy falls, including ankle and elbow injuries. I was actually having trouble even getting on the bloody thing. So back to YouTube for some advice, and thanks to 'Coach Bob' I found a successful way to get on the unicycle. After another 10 mins I had discovered how to avoid hitting the deck, even if it meant letting the unicycle go flying through the air.
So with a new found confidence AND 2 hours of practice I am happy to report some success. The video below may not actually show said success but I'm feeling a lot more confident that this challenge is actually possible.
Although the video doesn't show it I was able to complete around four full pedals before stacking it.
Due to a rather eventful race I thought a blog dedicated to the Boat Race via Twitter was in order. All posts appeared on Twitter during what was, I think, one of the most entertaining races I can remember.
My first tweet about #theboatrace sums up what I always think….
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