Man, sometimes I think that I should just give up, crawl under a stone and hide until my luck changes. Your not going to believe this one. There I was Saturday afternoon, just about to head out in the van for Sundays Marathon (more of which later), when I jokingly said to “The Emma” I'll see you tomorrow afternoon or in a minute when the van breaks down again”.
So I wander over to the van, stick all my running stuff in the back and think to myself, “I might just check the oil level before I go”. Good idea, I hear you say, better to be safe than sorry and all that. Well, I've still got no idea if the oil levels correct, because the end 4 or 5 inches of the dipstick has snapped off at some point in the last 250 miles and I'm guessing fallen into the sump! I mean seriously, in the last few months I've fitted a new engine and all the consumables that go with that, clutch, slave cylinder, injector, injector bolts, glow plugs, track rod ends, earth leads, water pipe O ring seal, alternator and now the sumps going to have to come off to get the missing bit of dipstick back. “For Fu**s sake” it was only fitted a couple of weeks ago, but I can't just leave the loose bit laying loose and floating around in the sump. Knowing my luck it will either get caught in the oil suction pipe and starve the engine or get mashed to bits by the big end, and end up starving the turbo of oil when the bits block the pipes, either of which are a disaster. So I guess next weeks job is going to be dropping the sump off and hoping and preying that the loose bit stays safely in the bottom until then. I suppose that on the positive side it will give me a chance to have a look at the bottom end and the workmanship of the engine re-builders, although if previous things are anything to go by, I think that I'd probably be better of not knowing!
In other news and before I get onto Sunday's Marathon efforts, I actually had a leisurely day on Saturday. I had planned on getting out on my bike for a few miles in the morning, but I woke up and thought to myself “you know what I'm tired and really can't be arsed, lets just have another brew in bed and head up to the allotment instead”. Now that's an unusual one for me, but I have been pushing it quite hard recently (Sunday will see 3 marathon+ efforts in 4 weeks, plus my normal training schedule) and sometimes it's worth just listening to your body and taking head, so an extra brew it was!
You'll be pleased to know that I didn't spend the whole day just sat in bed supping brews though. Eventually I dragged myself up the allotment for a couple of hours, most of which was spent putting the world to rights with Kev on the plot opposite, but I did manage to get the important job that I actually went up there for done and pick the best part of half a bucket of Tomatoes and a few chilli's and herbs to make into Pizza and Pasta goo.
Back home, an afternoon of cooking provided sufficient tomato goo to fill 10 freezer bags, which should be more than enough to see us in home made Pizza's, Flans and a few Pasta dinners for the rest of the year once it's frozen down.
Whilst we are on the subject of cooking, 2 years ago my first ever blog post dealt with the problem of an overloaded Plum tree and the predicament of knowing what to do with a glut of Plums. Well, if I thought that 2 years ago I had a lot of Plums, that had nothing on this year. To be honest, I don't think that I've ever seen so much fruit on one tree, and it's only a little tree at that, the branches are literally bending under the weight of the fruit on it and unfortunately there's only so many Plums that one man can eat or give away.
Now, I've had a go at Plum jam previously as a way of dealing with excess fruit and it didn't come out too well, not only are they a pain to de-stone, but the skins are tough as old boots once they're cooked too. I'll grant you, that it's a lovely tasting breakfast type jam (Sharp and no too sweet) but the skins are a bit off putting.
As such, I thought I'd try a different approach this time around and mix the Plums up with a load of Snozberries (I don't actually know what these are, but they grow like mad on the allotment and taste lovely, but are too seedy to just eat). Half an hour spent cutting Plums in half followed by a quick boil, a mash and sieving through Muslin yielded nearly 2 litres of lovely fruity juice.
Mixed with an equal amount of Jam sugar and given a good boiling in my “Jam Pan” (Courtesy of the “Old Cheese”) it provided nearly 7Lb's of Jam. Unfortunately, I'd miscalculated slightly and only prepared 6 Jars, so one jar's not been sterilised and the remainder had to go into a spare ramekin. Obviously, these 2 won't keep, so are going to have to get eaten sharpish. Now, that's a shame isn't it. I'm sure it will taste lovely in my porridge on Monday morning and I'm sure that you'll be the first to know if it isn't!
While we are on the subject of Plums and as I mentioned above, this weekend marks the second anniversary of my little blog, and what a project it's become. Back in the mists of time when I first started this little endeavour, it was never going to be the epic tale that it seems to have become. I'd originally envisaged the odd post and maybe a bit of spiel about the Van plan and that was about it.
Over the months and weeks it's actually become quite therapeutic though. Putting your thoughts into words seems like quite a good way to sort them out and gives you a chance to think and reflect on what's gone before and if nothing else my spelling and grammar seems to have improved. I actually found out what a semi colon was the other day and when it should be used and “The Emma” explained “I before E except after C” too. Ok, I'm making the last bit up but it's not far off the truth. I often think that I've not been up too much and I spend too much time sat in front of the TV too, but looking back over the last couple of years it's surprising what I have been up too. I mean, there's been a new engine in the van for a starters, Project Patio has been started and finished, there's A Home Made Christmas, a new job, nearly 30 marathons and ultras, quite a few Audax's, the Coronovirus Kerfuffle, work trips to Brunei, Singapore and Cyprus, 2 years worth of Allotmenting, a couple of thousand miles of running, a bit of walking and a good few cycling miles and that's just for starters. Oh, and an almost weekly blog and the accompanying web pages too (and that takes a bit of work, I can tell you). Its certainly been worth it though and even now, I often flick back to see what I'd been up to in previous months. Maybe, when I'm old(er), Grey(er) and more decrepit than I am now, I'll be able to look back at these pages and think “Yeah, I did manage to cram a bit in, and maybe my time wasn't wasted after all”!
And finally we can get onto the whole point of this weeks missive, the Andover Trail Marathon, 26 miles of off road fun, with a mainly up hill first half, followed by a fast downhill run back to the start. After a good nights sleep in the van (actually it was rubbish with a church clock waking me up every hour and some Owls having a party, but we can't have everything can we), the day dawned overcast, still, and warm, possibly perfect running weather.
With an early start and straight into the uphill, the newly harvested and harrowed fields alongside the trail were still shrouded in the early morning mist, lending an eerie feel to the morning and limiting the visibility to a few hundred yards. A deer leapt from the hedgerow and proceeded in front for a few meters before heading back through the hedge and the narrow lanes were filled with Pheasant and Partridges awaiting their fate in the next few weeks. Through wooded glades and open farmland but ever upwards towards the high point and halfway mark at Combe Gibbet. No view of the surrounding countryside today though with the whole area shrouded in cold, damp mist.
Just under 2 hours to the half way point and that's allegedly the hard bit done, slightly faster than I expected but I'm feeling good so push on. It's not quite true that it's all down hill on the way back, more rolling for the first few miles, but the paths are good and as the morning progresses so the mist slowly burns off and the sun starts to make an appearance.
The running feels good today, just the steady beat of my footsteps hitting the trail and the gentle rhythm of my breathing for company, those that were running in close proximity on the way up, lost some way behind, as the second half progressed. Short road sections intersperse the trail as I pick my way back towards the start, they were right though and it's more downhill than up now, allowing a good turn of speed. At the 22 mile mark I pick up the first of the Half Marathon back markers and whilst they are just plodding along, it's a welcome morale boost to catch and pass them, knowing that I've covered twice the distance in pretty much the same time, is always a good feeling, maybe not so much for those being passed though. A couple more miles and then it really is all downhill to the finish (except for the last bit at the end). 3:37:20 for 26.2 miles, a time which surprisingly was good enough for first place from the 63 starters. I've got to be happy with that and more importantly it felt good too. Beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, a well planned and signposted route and some great people manning checkpoints and aid stations. As early Autumn fun goes, it doesn't get much better than that!
Oh, and having got back earlier than planned from my Sunday run. I managed to retrieve this piece of rubbish on Sunday afternoon. Granted I had to take the sump off to get it back, but at least it's not sloshing around the engine any more!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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