Church of the Holy Sepulchre

My training is getting back on track so I'm happy on that front but I have just returned from a networking / conference visit to the Technion in Haifa, Israel so I thought I'd post a few thoughts about the trip. The trip involved lots of water infrastructure tourism (wooo I hear you gasp at the thought of pumping stations, reservoirs and desalination plants) but also a brief visit to Jerusalem on Thursday evening last week. But what a visit! The significance of the place is quite overwhelming both in terms of the history and the continuing influence that the various sites within the old city continue to have on the lives of millions of people.

Our first port of call is what is generally regarded as Christianity's most holy site - the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which was built around the rock of Golgotha (or the Hill of Calvary), the site of Christ's crucifixion and burial, prior to resurrection.


Plan of the Calvary and outline of the Church from here

Although agnostic in position, being able to see the spot and actually touch the slabs on which Christ's body was lain was really quite something. I'm still struck by the tangibility of the experience, and the sheer significance of what it represents in terms of lives across the planet.

I then walked the Via Dolorosa (or Way of Suffering), the route along with Jesus walked , carrying the cross before ending at Golgotha. Then it was on to look at the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's 3rd most holy site, where Muhammad ascended to heaven. Then, at the same site we visited the last retaining wall of the Temple Mount, the most holy site in Judaism, where Jews believe Adam was created.

Quite an experience all in all.

MK half marathon race report and Wuthering Hike pre-race report

MK half race report

Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 01:29:59
Position: 242/3038

Early March is pretty late to have my first race of the year, but this was it. My other 2 planned races had to be aborted for various reasons (one was cancelled due to yes would you believe icy conditions - and it was supposedly a 'challenging' trail race ha ha) and I've not had a good start to the year training wise. Eilidh's various ailments and bad teething have left me down 1 session per week pretty much consistently since the start of the year.

Excuses excuses I know but I've been gradually upping my speeds and getting PBs every year since I started running half marathons 5 years ago. My previous PB set at this race last year was 01:29:06 and I was hoping to beat it, but this wasn't to be. I was lucky to stay under the 01:30:00 mark.

I ran strong for the first 5-6 miles at a consistent 6:35 - 6:42 min/mile pace then began without noticing to slow to 6:50. I regained 6:45 pace but then slowed to 7:05 and worse over miles 7 to 11 as the route turned into a fierce headwind. I just couldn't get any faster through the wind. The last mile I picked up to 6:40 pace again but too late, the PB gone for another year (c'est la vie).

Wuthering Hike pre-race report

I am filing a pre-race report because although registered and was actually in Haworth ready to race on Saturday morning I was stricken with the most torrential bout of diarrohea you could imagine. Vast volumes of pasta consumed in the interests of glycogen storage were turned through a marvellous chain of biochemical reactions to an outpouring of water with the odd brown fleck. Quiet amazing, and quite debilitating too when it comes to running 31 miles. So there I sat in my Westfield Lodge apartment overlooking the last road drag up to Penistone Hill watching the bobbing heads of runners nearing the end of their race. Gits said I feeling jealous (I hope all WHWR'ers there had a good race even if they are all gits for bobbing their heads far too happily as I looked out my window).

Where did I get the lurgy bug from? A baby of course. We went on holiday with some friends and their almot 2 year old baby boy to a Centre Parcs holiday camp thing near Nottingham. It turned into holiday sick camp. We arrived on the Monday only for them to be stricken down on the Monday night with the lurgy - they caught it from their baby son who had it the week before (lesson - do not go on holiday with babies who have just had sickness and diarrohea, even if you are paid to do so). Eilidh then caught it on Wednesday with a magnificent series of ejections from either end. Kirstin then came down with it on Wednesday night / Thursday morning and I felt pretty ropey at the same time but thought I'd escaped the worst of it. How wrong was I.

So more, tales of a poor start to the year running wise. I'm a glass half full kind of chap though so I'm happy I have a couple of extra months up my sleeve when it comes to the UTMB as compared to the WHWR. I'll do a race pace 30 miler one afternoon this week to make up for missing the Wuthering and that'll get me back on track. Until the next baby related illness incident of course! :-)

Eilidh in hospital

The 2nd year of Eilidh's life is proving to be peppered with various ailments - colds and squirty bum bugs mainly. Unfortunately with an asthmatic set of parents (mine still persists) she is hit heavily in the chest when she gets a cold. Apparently babies in their 2nd year get on average 24 colds. That's a lot of wheezing we've still to come.

Anyway I got the call to pick her up early from her childminders on Wednesday as her ventolin puffer was having no effect on her latest chesty cold. I took her immediately to the doctors as her last chesty cold was only 1.5 weeks ago - probably the same infection. He referred her immediately to the hospital. Que for a 4 hour wait in A&E after being really very quickly seen and Eilidh nebulised (an effective way of delivering the anti-wheezing drug salbutamol). Her blood oxygen levels were tested using a rather nifty infra red non-invasive device (I'd love to know how it works) and came out at 82% - pretty dangerously low. She was tranferred to the paedatric unit after 4 hours in A&E, put on oxygen and nebulised every hour until 09:00 when the nebulising went to every 2 then 3 hours. Eventually she was discharged today at 17:30, with some steroid to reduce lung inflammation and two very bleary eyed parents.

So, more blogging about being a father and not training, but heyho I wouldn't change a thing. I love her to bits.

My draining will

Training seems to be going according to my rather rough plan this year. Long run distance is up, speed and tempo sessions going well but I'm struggling to get my mileage up to the levels I want it up. There's no physical problem, just a motivational one. Eilidh is still teething. It's been pretty much 2.5 weeks of 05:00 - 05:15 rises every day and they are exacting a toll on me. My will to get out running after work at night is gradually being sapped. I'm still doing OK but I'm dropping 1 session per week just to try to get to bed before 22:00. I find it impossible to get back from work, play with Eilidh, help get her ready for bed, train, cook dinner and get into bed any earlier than 22:00. It's often 22:30 and I am an 8 hour a night sleep kind of a chap so the accumulated loss of 2 hours sleep a night is well, accumulating. 4-5 cups of coffee a day to function a work says it all.

She's great though. She knows and can repeat the sounds of elephants, cows, frogs, ducks, sheep, dogs, her grandad (who says a sort of high pitched yoo-hoo to her), tigers, cats, lions, birds and monkeys. She can point out some colours, loves drawing (on everything) and says what's that to everything, all the time. Very funny.

On the Imelda Marcos front I've just purchased myself a new pair of road trainers which I'll try out tonight. Adidas Supernova Sequences. Lovely white, red and silver. Hopefully be good for the MK half marathon, my first race of the year this weekend.