The briefing is held at 9.35 and everyone is ready for the start at 10am. Problem is there are five waves (starts) and all the adults, e.g. most of the field, are in the fifth and final wave. The organisers intend to finish each wave before they start the next, which takes ages, even though they in the end combine a couple of waves. It also isn’t a popular strategy. They'll need to give out more specific start times and have multiple briefings if they're going to run in the same format again next year.
When we finally start at around midday, there are some pretty annoyed people, which means if they put all that pent up aggression into the race, it’s not going to be a pretty sight. It's also going to be fast.
The first run of 5k goes very well, I go at my 10k pace as I’m confident of maintaining this all the way around. I know I need to be quick because I expect to get annihilated on the bike yet again. My time, 19:51 is pretty good. I could probably take a bit off that but I opted to hold something in reserve for the bike. My transition isn't the best, as usual. I really must practice leaving my bike shoes attached to my pedals. Whether I can incorporate this into my bike to work I'm not sure. Is the car park at work or the road outside our house the best places to do this?
I feel the bike goes well too. The first of the three laps is hard but then my legs loosen up and I feel I go quicker and quicker, although L's split timing doesn't support this theory. As predicted loads of people overtake me, which also doesn't support the theory. What also doesn't support the theory and also makes me feel slightly suicidal is that a chap who looks as old as I feel, e.g. ancient, overtakes me. I desperately try and stay with him. Luckily he's crap on the downhills, even L goes quicker downhill than he does and I overtake him there, although going round the outside of him, on at bend, at 30mph is a bit hairy. I'm also as quick, if not quicker, than him on the uphill bits but he's so fast on the flat. How does he do it. Hmmm. Card marked.
Then close to the end of the last lap, a young girl with knee length tight black lycra trousers goes past me. I was just about to compliment her on her attire when I realised she was in front of me, which isn't how it's supposed to be. Hmmm. Another card marked. Just wait until the run, I'll sort them both out then.
The three of us career into transition together, almost colliding as we squeeze through the tight entrance. My time, 40:30, is pretty good, even though it's obviously not good enough.
Lycra girl doesn't have cycling shoes on, so she hops off her bike and is off like a young whippet. It's not looking good. The old chap, does have cycling shoes but he changes them in a flash and is off like, well like an old whippet on steroids. I stagger off on the run to give chase. It really isn't looking good.
Thankfully, current foes apart, most people look worse than me and I gradually reel in quite a few of the other competitors, which is nice but isn't the point, I have scores to settle. I can see lycra girl in the distance and I'm gaining on her but very slowly. Keep calm I tell myself, keep a steady pace and perhaps try and up it a bit at half way. There's no sign of the chap at all, he must have had a lift waiting for him, there's no way he could have pulled out such a gap on me. Hmmm. Card re-marked and underlined.
At half way the girl still seems a long way away, I try and power round the rest of the course, which is unfortunately uphill. Eventually with probably less than a kilometre to go I finally have her. Relief. She certainly played hard to get. There's no one else really in range, so I concentrate on keeping a decent gap between the girl and me, don't want her putting in an embarrassing sprint finished and beating me. There is another lass in front of me but she is probably just too far ahead to chase down. So I leave her be.
My time for the final run is 20:28, not bad and 1:20:49 overall. Which gives me 17th place in the men's event out of 34 starters, so mid-table. Not bad. It turns out that only one woman beat me. Which is, yes you've guessed it, the one only just ahead of me. She won the female event. Bugger, if I'd known, I would have tried to find a sprint finish from somewhere. To make things worse she has the nerve to come up to us and fuss Doggo, just to rub it in. Card marked in capital letters and double-underlined.
With the late start it's regrettably too late to nip for a pint, instead we head home and I'm that hungry, I have two lunches. I crash out for a bit, as does Doggo, while L and Daughter go off to the Gym. Doggo looks far, far worse than me. Who, exactly, did the event? His supporting wasn't even that good, he kept barking at the wrong cyclists.
In the evening, I'm checking the calendar because L has got stockings and boots on again. Nope it's not my birthday but I'm not complaining.
I manage to summon the energy to drive over to Lincoln because tonight I find myself, along with my girl in boots, at Lincoln University to see the folk maestro, Seth Lakeman, in action.
Firstly the university confuses us because we head for The Shed and the gig is in The Engine Shed, to which we have to ask directions. It's very confusing them having places with such similar names. Secondly, and this a first, the gig seems to be running ahead of itself. We arrive in time to see the start of the second support band but end up catching only the end of them. Seth himself comes on twenty minutes early.
The place is also packed, obviously folk is in vogue at the moment. The audience is a mix of oldies and youngsters who have got old before their time, and us of course. This makes me feel very young. There's no proper beer available, which would have sold well given the clientèle, and I have to make do with Kronenbourg 1664, that famous French lager brewed in very Gallic Reading.
Now, as I've said before, I'm not really a great fan but I have done my research by listening to both 'Freedom Fields', and 'Kitty Jay'. It starts well because Seth opens with a string of tracks that I know and I am very impressed because for the first few tracks he plays the fiddle. Very good he is with it too. He is accompanied by quite a vivid stage show, plenty of flashing lights etc but this leaves the back of the stage a little too dark to see what the two percussionists are doing which is a shame. The band also consist of a double bass and I'm told his brother on guitar.
Seth himself doesn't stay on the fiddle for long and plays an assortment of bass guitars and the material isn't stuff I recall, consequently he loses me a bit after that. Personally, I think he is at his best on the fiddle.
My legs are knackered and I consider moving a little further back and leaning against the wall until someone steals my intended spot. Seth grabs my attention again towards the end when he plays the title track of 'Kitty Jay', which is clearly popular and possibly the stand track of the evening.
He returns for an encore of two tracks, one of which is an instrument, then he's gone and that's it. It's still very early, these folk people don't like to be out too late.
Afterwards we show our age and have a flask of coffee in the car. Perhaps everyone else is doing the same thing. It helps us home, as we are both tired after a long day and they shut the A46 just to make things even more difficult for us.
We get home and have some liqueur that we can't remember what it is. We think it's sherry but it isn't very nice. Possibly off. We throw it away and have a whiskey instead.
26 units this week.
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