Rainbows and Cloudscapes

...I had a very long day, starting with a 5000m swim at 4:45am after a very nice but also very real like dream. To tell you the truth I still don't know if it was real or was just REMing. I don't know what to say, I could even feel the weight of the girl and her blowing air on my face and no it was not my cat or dog.

Anyway to cut the long story short, I worked on a few other things throughout the morning, baked bread, send emails, rang my mum, listened to the radio, designed...and then I started preparing for my session on the moor.

I ended up chasing the clouds and the rainbows though and I also ended up running fast and furious to capture some magic. So much magic was again in the air...and the clouds were amazing. I thought that this one would come out really nice just after a short shower and you could see the roofs shining under the rays of the sun, but I decided this won't be the one.

Then I saw the rainbows and I started running up and down the moor to find the right position to capture the magic. The one over the cow and calf was just so so wide and beautiful, not sure if my iphone did it justice here.

...the team gathered at the field and I ran down to meet them and start the session. It was a magic session and I hope they had a lot of fun. During the session though while they were doing a 2 min planque...I was also looking at the amazing colours of the sky and the clouds and I capture these two photos that I liked too...the first one is this and the second one just because of the inky blue cloud over the woods is this one

One of my friends Jan that saw the photo told me that the top one looks like a scene out of the film, Brigadoon. I have never watched it so I ll have to find the dvd and watch it. She says it s a nice film.

To conclude my blip I thought to treat you to my little post race report...just so you can read a bit more about my running life. So here it is '...watches were synchronised with Gavin (by the way he loves his high tech and watches, I only had a string around my wrist) on Saturday night him in Ilkley and me at the Lake District and agreed that we should make sure we reach Shelf for half past twelve. We were both hopeful that we going to avoid the mass start as we thought we are going to freeze waiting but surprisingly the weather was warm although fairly windy. Both made it and met for a quick briefing on tactics and strategies while i was having some Greek honey and offering 'how many layers' advice to Gavin. Some texts were exchanged with wonderful Clare to monitor progress. Aaahh I forgot to say that although they don't give the numbers out unless the pair appears at registration together, my charm and having Gavin on the phone making sure I am picking up the right team bib saved us another trip to registration. That Y for our team did confuse me, but swiftly enough I noticed the number 27 on the list and registration done!

On the way back I was happy to see Andrew B ...but not his camera haha...but it s ok at the end after a lot of convincing i let him take some snaps. Patiently waited for our teams, did worry about Lee and Dave not been there but at some point they appeared. We even managed to have a brief chat with Alison and Jan before the mass start. So...mass start it was and here was Andrew again taking sneaky photos. A mass start that was I would say civilised, no pushing too many hold ups, as we had to keep those 6:23 min/miles we did for the first two miles (I think I was the only one screaming at Gavin, are you still with me?) it was funny though and very cinematic like, but eventually that took us out in Norwood Green where the first downhill starts and the paths become wider. This leg has quite a few nice countrysidy bits and running through two woods where the long steady incline is not for the faint hearted, but Gavin kept going and I was tut tut socialising with every runner on that part. Atmosphere was great, even made some friends on the way. The last downhill was fantastic and we managed to pass many teams as well as at the finish we both sprinted to the finish (sorry Wharfedale girls, I was in a bit of a race mood)

All in all...it was great run with Gavin and we did the 11.1 miles in 1.32.63 My mind chatterings is that I pushed him a bit but he was happy happy!! And thank you for the hugs at the finish :-) once again I
realise how many people I got to know!! Even Gavin was surprised how many people I know. We even had a Physio session with lovely Clare, tea, cake, small twisters that covered us in dust and lastly we picked up the voucher prices for our team A. What else...post social was great, it was good to see how many people made it!'

Signing off. Thank you for the comments, I will spend some time during the week to comment on all your journals!