I have to face facts, I have slowed down, the reasons could be varied, too much recently?, too much slow stuff?, age?, wine?………….. the list goes on but despite this I am enjoying myself & this was proved once again last week which saw two races in 3 days.

First up (Sunday before last) was the 2 Lakes race around Llyn Brenig & Llyn Alwyn under glorious skies & quite a lot of heat. Placed O.K. but was 7 minutes down on last year but what a lovely route this is when the sun shines, worth a walk or a run at a more ‘leisurely’ pace to really take in the full splendour of the scenery.

Next was my first ever Joe Brown’s Mid-week Series race, this is where the co-incidences start but first the race. I had specifically chosen Moel y Guest for two reasons, firstly I had never been on Moel y Guest despite living at Borth y Guest with Dorina for a year back in 2011 & having it recommended to us by our then neighbours. Secondly, it is the nearest race in the series to my home & would allow me to race & still be home for an evening meal at something like a reasonable time (still well after 9:00 pm by the time we’d sat down). My decision was rewarded by a great feeling of camaraderie, a lovely route (bit technical for my skill set but no falls) & the feeling that I have been away from my local fell races for too long, must correct this after Stockholm. My lack of Facebook means I still don’t know the results but the joy of taking part makes that almost meaningless, I know I didn’t set the world alight but more than ever that’s not the point. Thanks to Mike Blake & Gonks Hughes for putting it on.

Now those co-incidences, arriving at registration I joined a queue of one behind a woman I thought I recognised but surely it couldn’t be, Mike Blake asked her where she was from, ‘Keswick’ she replied, that’s it as I asked ‘are you Julie Carter’, yes she replied! Now this may not mean much to us Snowdonia folk except in my case on a recent visit to Keswick I had bought a copy of Julie’s new book ‘Running The Red Line’ & promptly read it in a couple of days as motivation for my Y3p’s race the following week. After a chat it transpired that Julie was holidaying in Snowdonia & after two years out of racing due to a bad back was using the Moel y Guest as her first race back, the same race as I’d chosen as my introduction to the Mid-week series, what were the chances of that! But it didn’t end there, next day whilst typing away on my computer at the Cafe three women walked in for lunch & made a beeline for our Sofa’s one of whom was the very same Julie Carter, of all the cafe’s in Snowdonia what were the chances of that? I couldn’t resist re-introducing myself & soon we had reached an agreement for us to stock & sell her book which I’ll cover in more detail in a separate blog. As I write this I still find this sequence of events most peculiar in the nicest possible way.

Before ending I must say a big thank you to all those who have been asking how ‘our’ Nick is. Despite being released from hospital yesterday Nick had to call an ambulance in the early hours of this morning & is waiting to be allocated onto a ward, he has Quincy, a severe complication to Tonsillitis. Nick we are all thinking of you so try to use that to put just the hint of a smile on your face, we & customers are missing & thinking of you. I’ll see you later once you confirm the Ward.