Stitched Up!!!!!!

So this week was meant to be an easyish week with the lead up to Race the Sun next Saturday!  It started on Monday with a 5 mile run around the block which to be honest went well and felt OK.  My leg next week is the second leg from The Cronk to Point of Ayre a 10.5 mile stretch, We'll see how I get on next week!!!!!

On the Tuesday I went out for a 8.5 mile loop around Andreas, I was determined to keep the pace high and wanted to be at a fairly consistent Mph.  It felt great I was on it, nothing to report during the walk other than my average speed was 5mph with a top speed of 5.4mph, I was impressed with that.

So to date my Endomondo site says I have reached 530 miles in 61 workouts with an average speed of 4.66mph, I have burned 61913 calories with equates to 114 burgers apparently.  All that reached since January 3rd this year, again not bad happy with and still on target for challenge 5 of the year of 2012 miles in 2012.

On Friday it was arranged to meet Simon my brother and we were going to tackle the Ballakillowey & the Slock!  Leaving a car at the top of Eary Cushlin we headed back south to Castletown leaving the other at Bridge Road.  It was cold and raining as we started off with quite a nip in the air, nice steady pace as we headed out towards Brown Cow Hill and Gansey, it was still raining, in fact it did start to hail!!!!! in May!!!!

We were making great progress till we were nearing the railway lines near the island at Port Erin, I could hear a toot of a train whistle and to be honest did not give it a second thought, we must have been no more than thirty feet away from the train line when there was a sound of the bell and the gates started to drop, unbelievable!!! stuck on one side of the road for ages, well it felt like ages, i have no patience at the best of times but I just wanted to get going, the Sloc awaited!!!!!  Simon was actually toying with the idea of running as he heard the bell sound and saw the gate coming down! and for that reason please look at the following clips below!

                                                                (WHAT A TOOL!!!!)

                                                              (These arent much better!!!!)

These are my pics!!

So after that little bit of excitement we headed for Ballakillowey and upwards and upwards and upwards!!! That was the worst bit of the climb up the Sloc but a steady pace kept us going and before we knew it we were well up the Sloc.  A very enjoyable walk, just hope that its as enjoyable in 6 Weeks Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was decided as well this week that four of us should join forces and enter a team for the Parish, Calling ourselves The Newbies!!! For obvious reasons we are all Parish virgins and we all have the desire and determination to finish it first time!!!!! Team Consists of Me, Simon my brother, Mark Newey and  Dave Baker.

So you maybe wondering why the title of this entry is called Stitched Up!!!!! Well theres another story this week which has to be honest made me look like a right muppet literally!!!  I was last night on a late PM shift starting at 6 and finishing at 2 with on call after that for the remainder of the night.  Everything was going swimmingly finished around 230am which is par for the course (Another Golf related quote!!) Awoken just after 630am for a call out!!! The weather this morning was lovely, sunny and dry more like May!!!!  As I got into Douglas I saw some of our Elite Island Walkers on North Quay heading towards the Sea Terminal obviously taking full advantage of the weather and getting out early for some more Parish Miles!
I managed to have a little accident and to cut a long story short have banged my noggin causing a cut, I was shaken but where theres no sense theres no feeling I continued with the task at hand and then headed home, As I walked through the door my wifey nearly had a canary and said "How the bloody hell did that happen?" I told her I had knocked my head and asked if she could just mop the blood up so I could head off to bed for some ZZZ's, She wasn't having any of it and said "I cant repair that it needs stitches!!!" My wifey works at Ramsey Cottage Hospital in the Wound Clinic and to be fair as soon as she said that I needed to go to hospital I realised it was more serious!
So back in the car and off to the Hospital we went, I thought it would just be a mop / clean up and at worst a tetanus jab and a bit of surgical glue, I was horrified to hear the nurse say I needed staples!!! 4 infact!!!! Now I look like a complete idiot, it looks like I have been attacked with a staple gun and yup I could in fact be used in a hook a duck game!!!! Wifey said it reminded her of Pin Head from Hellraiser (Thanks!!!) My thanks goes out to the nurse who tended to my injury.  So I have to walk around now for the next few days with these bloody staples in the top of my head, lets hope theres no lightening storms forecast!!!!

                                           


So thats my week in a nutshell, productive,tiring, enjoyable at times, few laughs on the way and sore bonce!!! I am liking the endless cups of tea being served at the moment by Wifey and my eldest.  I will keep you all informed of my progress over the coming week as we head towards Race the Sun (Challenge 2) 
Can you believe that the first practice for TT is only 2 weeks today!!!!!!! (Its all happening!)




Only look below if your not squeamish!!!!!!!!