The countdown is on...

I can't believe that it's been 3 weeks since I last blogged, but time can easily pass you by when you are focused on family, training, work, training and even more training. The only thing more difficult than all this walking is actually blogging about it!

So the nights are now lighter and the weather is (marginally) better, so I've been out quite a bit, trying to do between 10 and 14 miles twice a week and about 20 miles at the weekend. The problem I find is that I'm doing the same routes and they are getting a bit repetitive. Last weekend, I decided to walk the first part of the course to Rushen, the first time I've done so since the 2011 Parish Walk... Lets just say that the roads seemed longer and the hills seemed steeper this time round! I tracked my mileage/time and I think I may have been walking slower that I did in 2011, but you always walk quicker on the day with the competition element and the atmosphere created by of the participants and supporters. I got to Santon and was called by my wife to remind me that the Billown course was closing for the Pre TT racing, so I walked to Malew Church and carried on into Castletown (to get off the course before it shut) and wandered back towards the airport and into Ballasalla where I was picked up by my wife and daughters. I was tired, a bit thirsty and sunburnt (note to self: buy sun block before that race), but my legs and feet felt fine. I'm still not sure if I've trained enough for this years Parish Walk, but I can only do what I'm able to and if that's not enough, then so be it... It's more mental than physical anyway!

We have a nice family holiday coming up and although I will be relaxing (probably not the right word to use as my 1 year old and 4 year old daughter's will keep me on my feet and busy), I'll probably feel guilty that I should be training... Scrap that, I'll be sitting in the sun with a beer, so the guilt should be short lived!

I hope to get back to the blogging more frequently as the 22nd June gets closer and I start to taper my  training, the trouble is finding enough things that people will find interesting, I mean, I'm not even sure how many people actually read this?

You can't go wrong with a nice picture in a blog, so this was my view 10 miles into my walk the other week (just before I turned round to walk back home)... Watch out for the pavement from here to Laxey, it's terrible... but the view out to sea is amazing!