We all need a break from time to time. My last real week off was September 2024. I know, it’s not great. I tried to take some time off recently, 2 weeks in fact. It didn’t go well.

This Sunday provided that rare opportunity. I’d made no plans, with the clocks nudging forward a few minutes, my recent poor sleep was under threat again, so I chose not to set an alarm. Jax had other ideas.

She was off to sell cakes. A shed load of them. Runners love cake it seems, and mud apparently. And of course if you’re selling cakes you need to start at 8:30am right? 🙄

So much for a lie in. If Jax is out, I normally do one thing, work. So actually getting out the house was a better option. But where would I go? Lydd of course. There were 5 of the team in action at the latest race on the Nice Work calendar.

Adam from Dover, who’s approaching the conclusion of his 3rd training plan, was rewarded for all his recent hard work with a fantastic PB of 1:22:48. I enjoyed his post race feedback, including “I came round the corner, and thought, I recognise that bloke”. It was me, camouflaged as always in my Orange coat and cap. For Adam and I, despite several attempts, have not met in person. But I like to think seeing his coach there, inspired him to achieve that new PB.

Michael who was completing his 4th half marathon of the spring, produced his best time this year, and second fastest ever in 1:36:50. It’s been an emotional time for Michael, but I know the running has really helped and he’s raised a fantastic amount for Cancer Research UK in a very short amount of time.

Jim was the third member of the Team to take on 13.1 miles. Having battled a niggly calf and had mumps, it was always going to be hard for Jim, but as always, he was there smiling and got to the finish line in 2:45:42.

Lydd is also a great opportunity for those training for a marathon to bank that all important 20 mile preparation run. Kevin who has return tickets to Boston in a few weeks time, ran a blinder, to produce a new PB over 20 miles, clocking 2:48:52.

Lucy who has a golden ticket to London Marathon in just 3 weeks, produced an incredibly consistent performance, to boost her confidence massively ahead of the big day, running 20 miles for the first time, in 3:57:44.

It was great to see all the runners go past at the 3 mile mark. Once they had, I dashed to my car, produced a sublime three point turn with limited room to manoeuvre and headed off to location number 2.

That being Pett, for the Hastings Runners Cross Country, the season finale. Trying to park close to the start was out of the question, so I gambled and crawled up one of those ridiculously narrow country lanes, praying at every turn, nothing was coming the other way. I survived.

With the car park for the woods full, I had to produce an even more skilled three point turn. Actually it was more like an 11 point turn. I’d seen two cars randomly parked in a field, 500 metres down the road, so I headed back in the hope I could join them. What did you know, it was Michelle and Jan, both of Team Orange🍊, giving up their days off to marshal.

I’ll also give Polly a shout out at this stage for her exuberance and pom pom skills that put a smile on my face. She kindly offered me some Haribo, twice, I politely just said “no thank you” rather than getting into a detailed conversation about how mummy’s coach doesn’t eat sugar, bread, cheese, milk, chocolate or anything else that is tasty. You can add cake to that list.

I didn’t have to wait long for the leading runners to reach us. Steve was in 2nd place and looked strong, a position he held to the finish, crossing the line in 26:46, hugely impressive around that challenging course. It was nice for Steve to return to the scene where 12 months earlier he had walked away as the series champion.

I decided to venture into the woods in search of some mud. I wasn’t disappointed. Sam came past soon afterwards producing another strong time in 31:26. I had some great fun filming the runners try and avoid one of the muddiest sections of the course. I’m not sure “run straight through the mud”, is the best piece of coaching advice I’ve even given, but I was having a ball.

Unannounced to me, Philippa was the next Team Orange🍊 to come past, despite having something completely different in her plan, but I was in a good mood now, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Shana, due to return to the team this week and Jo, glided past, with big smiles on their faces, or were they grimaces? Once the final group of runners had past, off I went, not home to rest but off to the gym. Jax was still selling cakes!

I did finally get some rest, a nice lunch with Jax and a relaxing afternoon, but it was a good way to finish a tiring week and supporting the team brings me great pleasure.

Well done to everyone who was part of organising the race for Hastings Runners, especially Sue Mann. It’s a tough task, but from my angle it seemed a roaring success, and with over £600 raised for charity from the cake and refreshment sale Jax helped with, including over £400 to be donated to Michael’s fundraising, it was a fantastic day.

I’m hoping to post a video from my day off later this week. Thank you if you’ve got this far!