Another weekend in Manchester...who said running was a cheap sport! Once again I trolled through the Virgin trains website which I find the easiest to work out the cheapest price which was once again £30 but with a Saturday night race I went up for the whole weekend to have some time with my brother this time.

My brother has no interest in running whatsoever and never has, he once said to me "so you essentially run in circles", much like my best friend (Aaron) it is good as I don't talk about it then which is a nice change. Spencer (that's his name) is the best animator I know, I can still the hear the faint noise of a computer in the room next to me as I would go to sleep at nights as he worked away on his animation and in the morning the thing he was working on would move about an inch....unless you see how its done you can't imagine how long animation takes!

Anyway he lives in Manchester now right in the city, which is handy when you catch the train up and he has recently returned from his graduation in San Fransisco, USA (two days before I arrived). He has worked on adverts but is trying to get into the film world which from what I can see is bloody hard! Below is his latest show reel which you can enjoy...

The brotherly bonding was done on the Playstation doing special operations on the game 'Modern Warfare' and watched a few films. We did take a short walk in to town but I soon got bored so it was back to more Modern Warfare.

Of course I did pop out on Saturday to race but made it back in time for pizza and salad made by his lovely girlfriend 'Karen'....I bought coke for drinks and even picked up a few curley wurleys for desert.

I quite like Manchester really as everything seems easy to get to, granted there are some weird people knocking about up there (saw a few on the way too and from the station) but you get them with all big cities. The only real problem with being in the city is there doesn't seem to be anywhere good to run....If anyone out there knows where I should be heading please let me know for my next trip up there.

It is also the first time I have been to the Stretford track and can see why people love it. It is hidden away in a nice park not far from a metro station (easy access) and is covered by trees. Also I think there was only 5/6 lanes so it seemed smaller and more intimate. I look forward to going back soon.....I also forgot to say well done to the two Welsh boys who ran well in the same race, Adam Bitchell and Chris Discombe who were just ahead of me.

That is all, now be gone.

Simx