Hey folks, sorry its been a while. I have written four blogs now for this entry but for some reason all four were erased when i clicked submit...never mind, its good typing practice. So a lot has happened since I last blogged, there was a two week soild block of training, a race and a bit of other stuff in between. Pretty much got an idea now of what races im planning to do in the summer, just a case of seeing how things go early on then organising distances accordingly.

Training is going great at the moment. I starting to feel fit and having a bit of time off work helped greatly with putting in more miles and getting the rest in...now on that note im gonna have a bit of a rant. Having just wasted 10 minutes of my time reading a thread on eightlane saying something about "british lads dont train hard enough", Im kinda pissed off to say the least. Now dont get me wrong- i like the person in question and having chatted to him at worlds and other events we get on well- so im hoping this is just another case of poor editing on behalf of the paper.....but this idea has been kicking around amongst the "oldies" for a while. So as i sit here knackered after another day of work...i ask the question.. "what is gonna be done about it?". I dont have the luxury of being able to run full time, instead I work full time and train hard around it. For example this week I have run every morning at 6 AM, driven 50 mins to work, worked all day on my feet outside on an athletics coaching course/ teaching kids and then driven 50 mins back to get home at 5, then out the door at half 5 for  the second run or session--after which im tired to say the least. Im not moaning about my situation- it is what it is...but i do get pissed off when someone challenges my dedication to the sport.... I do 95 to 105 miles a week-- yea i could get that up to 110/120 but will that suddenly make me able to compete with the best in the world?---No. What will is more constructive help. We are great in the UK at throwing money at one individual, or the top of the bunch athlete- but what about trickling some of that down to those lower down on the ladder.... Again im not saying i deserve anything from the sport- but the chance to get the best out of myself would be nice.  

Another bee i have in my bonnet goes back to world cross and a comment i heard that a certain well known bbc commentator was "ashamed" of us Brits. Ashamed?.... It has been nice though getting his advice on training and workouts, ideas for bettering myself and guidance though---OH WAIT....he's never spoken to me has he? or isnt even bothered to get involved in helping our lads out? In fact when he commentates he doesnt even know the names of the bloody lads in the team. So my point is this... Get down off the antique pedostal, get involved with the lads you are bashing and then maybe put something back into the sport and work with us guys....I like a good slating- but face to face where we can decide what is going wrong and put things right.

Anyways, rant over. So yea its been back to work for me this week. Training has still been good though. Managed to run every morning and despite tired legs do a reasonable session on tuesday on the track. Mileage should be good for this week, and the plan at the moment is to run the mancheter 10km road race, then start looking at the euro challenge 10km on the track. Legs have held together well after the race on saturday, so fingers crossed the "training camp" miles will have helped build a small base from which to move things forward again. Big weekend this weekend for one of my training partners, Martin Williams. Hes doing london and looking to go sub 2.19 for the commonwealth games. Ill be down there screaming at him and hope he runs well. He deserves it. Goes back to the above about training hard-- this guy trains his nuts off. Works full time and yet regularly runs 145-150 mile weeks-- legend. Come on mart!!!

So coming towards the end of a good week for me now. Wolves got promotion!!! come on!!, Tipton won medals at the national 12 stage and weather is great- tan is coming along nicely, although working outside all week i have developed the "teachers tan" line on my arms--bad times! Will need some strategic outdoor garden tanning sessions now to get back to optimum coverage-- might give training a miss for next few days and concentrate on that. :-)

Thanks for reading, will hopefully blog more often now. Keep up the hard training, working or tan regime and good luck to those lads doing london...im sure you will get a bashing either way from the commentary box but hey....welcome to athletics in Britain!