Tuesday 31 December 2013

Tuesday 31st December - New Years Eve run

The start
Well - a reeally good turnout for the final run of 2013. 15 brave souls left warm houses and ventured out for a half dry/half wet run. We ran Manchester Road/Tytherington Park/Middlewood/Tinkers Clough/Canal and back via Middlewood/Summerlea. Sadly the weather forecast was exactly correct and at 10.00am we got caught in a downpour  :-(

Sadly not so many pictures today as the camera was not very happy in the rain.

Still - a new route enjoyed by the group and a very sociable way to end the year.

You should all feel very proud of your personal achievements and enter 2014 with spirits high!

Happy New Year

Neil & Alison
The route


... and off they go

Philip on a mission ...

Manchester Rd

Margaret being chased by 'hat girl'

Kate and Dawn

Jane, Philip & Savitri

Over the Silk Road

... and onto the Middlewood

Still dry ... but not for long




Sunday 29 December 2013

Sunday 29th December - Adlington Winter Warmer

Race HQ (Miners Arms)
What a great opportunity to work off some of the Christmas excesses and get a 10k under your belt. The Adlington Winter Warmer is a friendly  'trail' run using the Middlewood Way and Canal Towpath around Adlington.

Entry details can be found on their Facebook page and an entry form can be found HERE

Registration is open from 8.30am with a mass start at 10.00am. This is a self handicapped race (you decide your predicted finish time and the winner is the person closest to that time).

The Race HQ is the Miners Arms (Adlington) and there is pre-race bacon butties plus the option of food afterwards.

Up for the challenge?

Neil

Saturday 28 December 2013

Saturday 28th December - Prestbury Lollipop

The Start
Yet again we were lucky with the weather - a good turnout of 16 runners today (including a guest appearance of Jess - Maria's daughter). It was good to see Heather A, Julie, Wendy B, Dawn, Margaret, Jenny and Philip who ran the CAFOD race on Friday!

Conditions were 'a bit muddy' but it was 'good mud' (there are various types of mud) and not too slippy.

Some good running, good loop-back, good banter and a very nice way to end the year. A few group members went for a coffee afterwards.

So - what will be your running goals for 2014 ... 5k, 5 mile, 10k, 1/2 marathon, marathon, cross-country, fell, orienteering (street and off-road) ... whatever they are we wish you good luck!

Neil and Ali

Off down the Bollin - Jess and Maria setting the pace...

A cold morning ...

Three runners airborne..

Margaret setting the pace now....

Which is the less muddy path?

Into the woods

Trail shoes better than road shoes today

All the colours of the rainbow

2 seconds before they were walking!

Scratch that itch ...

Working hard..

Caption competition?

Heather with her MOJO back!

Smiling in the mud

On the way back - is that why there are smiles?

Su on a mission to avoid a walk break

Julie after 4 weeks off and two runs in two days ...

Philip - always with a hat

A fine set of runners

Only 1 mile left

When did Stevie Wonder join the group?

SUNSHINE!

MORE SUNSHINE

and yet more sunshine..

Great conditions

Almost back

Caption competition?


Who will be the first to run a marathon?

Friday 27 December 2013

Friday 27th December - CAFOD

Preparing for the task ahead....
Good effort. We had wind, rain, sun, mud ... the lot ... but that did not stop E group from from fielding a squad to tackle the annual CAFOD run. When we first started to do that route we struggled to get under 1h10m but almost everybody managed under an hour and in some cases WELL under the hour.

Great team spirit and we can claim one 'near miss' and one 'fully executed' post-run puke .... no more details available.

Well done!

Neil

ps Route shown at the bottom of the photographs...
pps Sorry for some poor images due to water on the camera plus sorry if I missed anybody!
Too smiley by half!!!

Got to look good before a race ...


Happy and mud-free

So fast ... a blur ... who is it?


Guest appearance

Wendy B with traditional sprint finish too fast for the camera

Near Miss ...  :-)

I feel better now...

Too much energy left at the finish?

Happy!

Kate looking VERY good...

Look at the effort!!!

Ah ... wind and rain as well as mud...

Sprint finish (what happened next ...)

Heather sprinting for the line

Does Julie ever stop smiling?

Time for a post-match debrief and tea!