After a few non-training days, it was time to get my kit on again and go for a lunchtime run. Thankfully I managed to miss the squally April showers and trotted out a 27 minutes 7 second run along the foreshore of Swansea bay.It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the view is from the foreshore, especially when the sun beats down across the sea and beach. It certainly helps take my mind off the sweaty, panting, plodding that I call running!
DDWT Junior continues to be a bit of a grizzly bear this week and is complaining about having pains in his knees and arms – usually a sign of a growth spurt (or at least it has been on past occasions).
So as a result, we decided to measure how tall he was. He now stands at 109cm and he’s 3 days short (no pun intended) of being 4 years and 3 months old. So he’s grown 1.5cm since November 2007.
We’re now on our way home after watching the Swans earn a point with a dominant performance at 2nd in the table Carlisle and in doing so take a step nearer the Championship.
Our 680 odd mile round trip to Brunton Park (Carlisle’s ground) started at 10:30 this morning and we quickly made time up the M4 before having a quick pop and crisps stop at Frankley services on the M5 (after deciding to give the Jack Army’s usual stop at Stensham a miss!). Nevertheless we still managed to bump into a few other Jacks making the long journey north! In fact we saw quite a few other Jacks on tour as we made our way along the M5 and M6 – all with flags or scarves fluttering in the wind as they motored towards Carlisle.
After a relatively brief but expected hold up on the M6 we arrived at Carlisle at 15:30 and headed off in search of the ground. Once we acquainted ourselves with the locality, we decided on setting up camp at a Toby Carvery some 1/2 mile away from Brunton Park.
The £5 buffet option was too good to miss and we proceed to devour a voluptuous beef dinner, washed down with lashings of cider (well I did anyway, not the driver!). Somewhat ironically, we were soon joined by the same Jacks we had bumped into at Frankley services and our numbers began to swell even more nearer kick-off. The locals were in a jovial mood and the banter flowed until we decided to ground at 18:30.
The ground itself was rather dated – with the exception of the stand we were in, which was modern. The place felt more like a rugby union/league ground to be honest, rather than a football one – mainly because of the old type terracing which went the length of the pitch (a la Whaddon Road, Cheltenham).
By kick-off the Jack Army totalled in excess of 580 – a commendable effort for a Tuesday night fixture – and we certainly made ourselves heard in the 10,000 plus crowd. In fact the only noise the home fans appeared to make was the rather predictable chant of ‘United, United’.
As for the game itself, well after an iffy opening 15 minutes we settled and began to play our crisp passing game and we were unlucky not to go in at half-time 1 or 2 up with Robbo hitting the post (the 1st of 3!) and Pratley having one ruled out for playing it before the ref’s whistle.
We got even stronger in the 2nd half and we very professional in the way we disciplined ourselves in the face of some very tasty Carlisle tackling – I’m still amazed someone didn’t get sent off. I counted at least 3 scything lunging tackles. Anyway, it remained goalless and we were more than happy with our point. I think this video clip which I took pretty much sums it up to be honest.
A brisk walk back to the car meant we were homeward bound by 22:05 and we making sound progress on the journey home until junction 16-17 on the M6, where a 35 minute jam (due to overnight roadworks!) held us up somewhat – even if it was 00:30 in the morning!!! A brief toilet stop and some dense fog on the M5 saw us finally reach home at 03:10 – knackered but more than happy with the result.
Next up it’s Gillingham away on Saturday and it’s sure to be another long but hopefully productive day. The Jacks ARE going up!
Normal school service resumed today after the two week Easter break and in fairness DDWT Junior was in a relatively co-operative mood when it came to getting ready.
We anticipated a rougher ride as it was a very restless night all round – as always seems to be the case before going back to school. Still he went along happy enough and seemed to enjoy his first day back – telling everyone about Legoland and beetle castles no doubt!
The lack of a decent night’s sleep also affected my memory, as upon getting to work I remembered that the gang were going to the Oriental Garden – Chinese restaurant on Swansea Marina – for lunch. Trouble was I was already armed with my full-to-the-brim lunchbox and didn’t have any cash. Bah humbug.
So what did I do, go and ride my bike instead! It was cold to say the least and I was glad to get back to the office after the 9.73 mile ride – which took 39 minutes 45 seconds, 18.9 mph max and 14.6 mph average speed).
Like most of Wales, we awoke this morning to find a 1cm covering of snow outside – which was totally unexpected as the forecast had been for ‘light snow showers’.
Having been up since around 7am DDWT Junior and I got to see most of the snow and the snow showers, as by the time Mrs DDWT surfaced from bed (around 9am) most of it had started to melt away in the warm ‘ish spring sunshine. Come mid-morning and you’d never have said it had snowed at all!
With the afternoon sunshine, I decided to take the family down to Swansea’s new central library – which they hadn’t yet seen. Having been before I was in little doubt that they’d be impressed and I was proved correct as we spent the best part of an hour and a half in the children’s area alone!
It really is a super library and if you are ever in Swansea, then I’d recommend a visit. You can even grab a bite to eat or have a nice cuppa in the coffee shop adjacent to it in Swansea City Council’s civic centre.
I suppose it goes without saying that we couldn’t leave without DDWT Junior borrowing a couple of dinosaur books and Mrs DDWT picking up her usual batch of autobiography’s – Marie Helvin and Leslie Grantham in this case. Me well I went for my usual techy stuff, “Going to Bed With Google”!
No visit to Swansea is complete without a visit to the beach, so we took the short cut from County Hall straight onto the beach. At this point I thought it would be a good time to take a snap of the progress being made on Swansea’s highest (to be) building – Meridian Quay – since the last time I took a picture.
It’s grown quite considerably as you can see!
After last week’s weight horror show, I decided not to put added pressure on myself by weighing this week, especially as I have been exercising and watching what I’ve eaten. I couldn’t have handled the disappointment of not losing any weight this week.
Anyway, yesterday I did a 30 minute stint on the elliptical worker (10.8KM) and I did another 30 minutes today (11KM) and burnt 302 calories in the process. So I’m getting there, albeit slowly.
It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the view is from the foreshore, especially when the sun beats down across the sea and beach. It certainly helps take my mind off the sweaty, panting, plodding that I call running!
