A sense of something lost

There is a strange feeling running through me at the moment. For the first time that I can remember in a long, long, long time I feel like I'm being left behind with something.

Sunday marks the first time when I will be going to an OCR/Challenge event and not taking part myself. I've ALWAYS been taking part, either with the original MUBU Rick or more recently with Natalie and/or the whole host of other friendly faces who have joined me for one or more event.

And the most frustrating thing of all is that it is a completely avoidable situation, I WAS signed up but an inability to focus on the task at hand has lead me to this situation. Which is unlike me - I'm usually like a dog with a chicken bone once I get my teeth into something. So what has caused it? Why have I found it so difficult to keep myself fit for these races when I find them so intoxicating and enthralling?

It is a puzzle that I don't currently have an answer to. But I guess that the fact that I'm unhappy about it is a least a good sign. It is evidence if nothing else that I still have the drive and the desire buried away somewhere - if not the application! Sometimes it needs a jolt like this to remind us of what is important and why we shouldn't make excuses. Especially when I see how hard Rick has been working to get fitter and better.

So Sunday will be a strange experience. I'll be cheering Natalie and Rick on with all my might, though a small part of me will be disappointed I'm not there too. But I know I'll get back there, the fire still burns inside and the spark feels ready to ignite again.

Wish them luck, they are definitely going to need it!!
Tough Guy

Till next time,
DT

REVIEW: The Iron Jackal (Ketty Jay Tales #3) by Chris Wooding

It's been a while (nearly six months) since I visited the world of Darien Frey and his rag-tag bunch of misfits aboard the Ketty Jay. But it really doesn't feel like they have been away.

*SPOILERS*

Plot wise, Wooding's third tale in the Ketty Jay Tales follows a pretty similar pattern to the first one; the crew (or in this case the captain himself) manages to get into a spot of bother which they need to extricate themselves from. And off they go, hell-for-leather while trying to avoid the attentions of Darien's ex-fiancee, a couple of Century Knights and seemingly most of the Samarlan population.

There is nothing in Iron Jackal which sets the world on fire but it is another solid story in the Ketty Jay canon. Wooding is slowly developing his characters one at a time and on this occasion it is the quiet engineer Silo who receives most of the attention. Not much has been known about this engimatic character but Wooding takes us through his past and, I feel, does a nice job of it. In addition there are a few new characters introduced but nothing that really upsets the balance of the crew and the story telling.

We are starting to learn more about the world that the Ketty Jay inhabits and setting the story in Samarla rather than Vardia helps to add an additional unfamiliarity which plays well within the confines of the type of plot Wooding has brought together.

I found this one a touch harder going than the first two. The story didn't seem to rattle along with the same intensity as the previous installments. It feels like Wooding has settled into this series a bit and knows he can take his time more than with the first couple of books where he is trying to establish a fan base and make sure there is demand for the later ones, It's not a bad switch but there are occasions where the plot gets a bit bogged down and bloated - this book could have been 25% shorter and I don't think it would have been any worse for it.

Overall this was another enjoyable romp through a universe which is exactly my cup of tea. It wasn't quite as good as the first two but it retains a certain charm, witiness and sense of recklesness which is no bad thing sometime, The characters remain engaging and, in some cases, likeable. Certainly I'll be enjoying Book #4 at some point in the short-to-medium term future!

Verdict: 4 stars out of 5

Till next time,
DT

REVISED EVENT REVIEW: Ram Run 8km OCR

****REVISED THIS A WEE BIT BASED ON A RETHINK - MAY HAVE DONE RAM RUN A SLIGHT DISSERVICE ****

The Christmas “rush” is over, all the mince pies have been eaten and the cupboard is empty of chocolate – except in our house but I try not to open that cupboard if I can avoid it!

The first OCR of the year has been and gone, and a cold one it was too. Hard to believe it is almost a year since Rick and I embarked on Pandemonium which was our first OCR together. He has got fitter, I have not – work must be done to catch up!

So anyway, it is now time for the latest part of Team MUBU’s "Seriously, How Good Was That?!" Obstacle Course Race Review. The scoring criteria and categories are covered in a previous post which is somewhere on this blog (see bottom left in the Archive).

RAM RUN

8km Obstacle/Mud Run

January 2015

Warwickshire

January isn’t the best month for OCRs – particularly for someone based in the North West of the country. Ram Run was the only one that we could find that was less than 4 hours drive away! A couple of OCR newbies joined us (and hammered it) but this wasn’t one of the better ones.

General Event Organisation

It was pretty easy to sign up and go through the online process. Plus the t-shirts were sent out in advance so you had them if you wanted to run with them. Nothing was sent through the post but to be honest when we turned up we didn’t need anything so that wasn’t a real problem. A point has been lost though for the shambles on the day in terms of starting the race before the advertised start time while some of us where having a pre-race wee!

7 – Good

Event Facilities

A single stall selling bacon sandwiches and soup but nothing else. The base was a permanent structure so there were toilets and places to stand to keep warm but very little else.

5 – Average

Registration

Considering there were less than 1000 runners the registration was painfully slow and badly organised. Some people were running in the trophy race at 11:30am but nearly missed the start as it took so long to process. Once you get there you didn’t need anything except your name so I have no idea why it took so long.

4 – Below Average

Location

Pretty easy to get to and find. The park at Stoneleigh is perfectly set up for OCRs but I feel they could have made more of it and had a few more stalls and a better organised “finishing” arena. Just felt a bit undercooked.

7 – Good

On Course Facilities

A water station after a few km and a coffee station after you climbed out of the River Avon kept you hydrated and warm-ish. Plenty of marshals around but no distance markers and in some places the route wasn’t too obvious.

7 – Good

Warm-Up/Pre-race briefings

Didn’t see them.

0 - Absent

Variety of obstacles

A decent mix of going over things and under things. A few signature ones but this felt like what it was, a small race realising that the bigger ones are pulling out all the stops and this is falling behind a bit.

7 - Good

Obstacle/Run mix

Too much running to be a classic OCR. I know you have to run at these things and the running sections are a good way of stretching the field out, but the early bit was full of queues and the middle section just a variety of hills and fields.

6 – Above Average 

Terrain

Not the hilliest place but they managed to use the terrain well enough. Good use of the river and the general surrounding areas.

7 – Good

Post-Race

The t-shirt arrived beforehand which was great (and it is a nice t-shirt too) but there was no medal for the 8km racers (nowhere in the sign-up pack or anything did it mention that) and I didn’t see hide nor hair of a post-race pack. No-one greeting you at the finish line, just felt like they didn’t really have any interest in the 8km racers.
**UPDATE** - apparently a medal is on the way!

6 - Above Average

Difficulty

This wasn’t really a difficult course, just a bit tedious. Certainly the running bits should cause no trouble for anyone with a decent level of fitness and the obstacles were easy enough for the most part.

Course: 5 out of 10

Obstacles: 6 out of 10

Overall Thoughts

Well it finally happened, after over a year of OCRs I finally found a which was a bit disappointing. I didn’t like this from the shambles at the start and it was difficult to get into the groove and find some enjoyment out of it. Yes I’m not fit and that meant I struggled to get round but there was nothing driving me on and wanting to make me complete it.

Overall Score

6.0 – A small event that is going to struggle to compete with the big boys of the OCR world – both in terms of the organisation and the challenge it offers. Glad I did it as it has been on the radar for a while and I’d always wondered what it would be like, but doubt I’ll go again.

A reminder of the new system

10.0 Nothing will ever get 10.0, you should always strive for better

9.5 Sell organs AND children. And everything you own. About as good as it gets

9.0 Sell organs and/or children to do this event every single time

8.5 Highly recommended indeed, this gets booked as soon as it is released

8.0 A very good event, only money or illness would stop this being  a yearly thing

7.5 Definitely one to recommend. Not much would keep me away

7.0 On the list for another go, though not necessarily an automatic selection

6.5 Would do this one again if the stars aligned, but wouldn’t break the bank for it

6.0 Was fun but only a very cheap deal and a free weekend would tempt me again

below 6.0 Not for me for one reason or another.

EVENT REVIEWS SO FAR

7.5 Reaper Day Race

7.5 Yorkshire Warrior

7.0 Tough Mudder North West

7.0 Survival of the Fittest Manchester

7.0 Spartan Sprint Yorkshire

7.0 Total Warrior Lake District

6.5 Mighty Deerstalker

6.5 Pandemonium Iced

6.5 Stockton River Rat Race

6.0 Ram Run

Next up was supposed to be Tough Guy on 1^st February but I’m not fit enough for that one and can’t do the cold weather acclimatisation training in time. So instead I’m taking a 7 week break and returning at Avalanche – Chase the Yeti on 28^th Feb. Hopefully fitter, stronger and with my enthusiasm back.

Till next time,

DT 

Tempus Fugit

The Romans had a phrase, “Tempus Fugit” which simply means “time flies”.  They weren’t wrong were they?

Another year has begun and I don’t know why but they seem to come thicker and faster as you get older. I remember waiting what seemed like an eternity for the next birthday to come along, now they turn up almost before you’ve recovered from the previous one!

Everything seems to happen quicker, with less time for recovery in between. You look down at your calendar to find a spare weekend and there isn’t one. You can’t find the time for 30 minutes in the evening to go for a run.

In truth though, the time IS there. We just fill it poorly. Every person’s life is a combination of positive endeavour, responsibility and futile procrastination. It is the balance between these elements that is the difficult thing to strike.

How many times have you said to yourself recently, “I’d love to do that but I just don’t have the time”? And how many times has it that actually been the case? By that I mean a genuine lack of time not, “I need to procrastinate on the sofa tonight” or “well I could do this but I need to have a look at Facebook for an hour”.  

This is where the time goes I think. It gets frittered away on things which in all honesty don’t excite us or drive us on. We just do them because they are there and they don’t require any “extra” effort. You COULD go for a run tonight, or you could not. So you don’t. Because it is easier. Then you blame “lack of time”. The cycle can actually be quite devastating.

Obviously I am making sweeping generalisations here, based on a life which is relatively free of the burden of responsibility at the moment. I do appreciate that there are some things that do make real demands on your time; I know as I’m slowly learning myself how much time helping to raise a 6 year old takes up!

But ask yourself, deep down, do  you make full use of the time you have available to you? Should they take up as much of your time up as they do. Or can you use the time better?

There are times when I know I am wasting time, times when I could be doing something but choose not to under the cover of “there isn’t time. And I’m pretty active in terms of using my time to see and do things compared to most. There is still more that can be done, and you’d be amazed at how much time there actually is if you are determined enough to see it done.

It can be scary to get out of a comfort zone, and it can be difficult to get out of a rut. Having adult responsibilities can be draining and exhausting. However, you owe it to yourself to push yourself. Just that one extra thing a week that you don’t think you’ve got time for? Try and make the time.

Because time does fly. It also waits for no man, so you’d better get a move on and track it down.

Till next time,

DT

Beginning afresh

I seem to do a reboot like this every so often, usually every few months or so when I realise all I've been doing is book reviews and I haven't volunteered an opinion for a good long while. And I have SO many opinions that it would be rude not to share them all with you. So I'm back. Just like Spiderman, rebooted and (I hope) improved,

Last year I didn't set resolutions, merely goals to achieve. For those of you who are interested they were the following (I'm claiming 2 and a bit out of 5):

1) Write something on this blog every day - FAILED
2) Read at least a book a month - PASSED
3) Get my short stories published - FAILED

4) Tick 4 more European Capitals off the list - PASSED

5) Complete 14 Friends of Serenity challenges - FAILED (barely though, I did 13 and I'll do 14 from 10th Jan 2014 to 10th Jan 2015 inclusive)

It has been a crazy, strange year from start to finish - looking back at where I was twelve months ago to where I am today it feels like a lifetime ago. Those five goals don't seem to even scratch the surface of the adventure that was 2014. It's been a rollercoaster; emotional, psychological and physical and there have been both  unimaginable lows and breathtaking highs mingled together.

Looking forward 2015 looks to be no different; with 12 races booked so far, more books on my shelf than you can shake a log at and 31 european capital cities still requiring my attention. Not to mention a fantastic new relationship, complete with a new 6 year old "daughter" who I am sure is running rings around me for fun!

I'm sure you'd agree that this is shaping up to be one of the best years I've had. It'll be interesting, challenging and eye-opening but I can't wait for every single minute of it.

So without further ado I present 2015's goals to achieve;

1) Beat last year's total of 24 books (I'm aiming for 30)
2) Complete 15 Friends of Serenity challenges
3) Get a publisher for my kids stories
4) Start at least two new hobbies (one of which must be out massively of my comfort zone)
5) Spend more time with those people who matter

6) Enjoy every moment

I don't think I'll have any problems with #5 or #6 but I do welcome any and all suggestions for #4!

Have a great 2015 everyone and take care of those you love.
Till next time,
DT