The Wheel, Naphill - 27 August 2008

Run Report by Amanda

A new pub had been selected for our run last Wednesday. Of the usual gang ,the following turned up: Kate,John, Duds,Pete,Presso,Jules and me. Dales also strolled in to accompany Heather on a shortened route. The route had been complied by John and at first we ran along the edge of Naphill Common,came out at Clappins Lane and Presso, Brett and Pete left us at the first junction in the woods. We then ran on footpaths towards Speen and North Dean. Quite a few hills but no stingers or fallers so I coped (having recently done some high altitude training in the Pyrenees) and in fact did not complain or swear once - a first. Along the route Duds showed us the location near Speen of a previous conquest many years ago and he assured Kate and I that it was probably over in a matter of seconds - mmm. It was a warm, close evening so we did cut a few corners off John's original route. We ended up in Stocking Lane where we met up with Dales and Heather.
The run was 4.6 miles and 54 minutes - sorry I cannot provide any other climb/calories burned/anorak information because I did not set my tic tac machine to record that information. A really nice run route with varied terrain and quite a lot of hills but no absolute killers. The pub should be added to our list of acceptable running venues.
At the pub the conversation was very diverse and covered:
GB teams success at Beijing - Pete noted that the cycling team had won more golds than I had predicted the whole GB team would win:
private parts piercings being known as a Prince Albert (according to Duds) - for the life of me I cannot recall how we got on to this subject so I cannot elaborate.
those with birthdays in January - Pete,Jules, Brett, Duds, Presso which obviously confirms the fact that the vast majority of supreme athletes are born in winter and are old in their school years. More importantly this also means that they avoid ever buying a round of drinks on a Wednesday to celebrate their birthdays.
On the above subject, Kate very kindly bought us all drinks as it was her birthday a few days before - thanks Kate.
It is starting to get quite dark by 8pm so I suggest that we meet at the Royal Oak, Bovingdon Green (I know we did our first run from there but we can do a different route) and depart at 6.45pm.
see you there
Amanda

Fox and Hounds, Christmas Common - 20th August 2008

Run Report by Kate

Dear all
I’m taking the easy option and following on from Dud’s email of last week for this weeks report.
With numbers severely down on last week, and raining threatening, myself, Duds, John and David set off from the Fox & Hound. Prior to setting off we were all informed by David that he would have to leave by 8.20pm or he would not get any food and he wanted a pint as well before leaving. (Good to hear that Diana has a firm hand, no doubt it’s needed!!) With instructions issued we set off down the hill towards Watlington, no map, on to the Ridgeway, fairly sure we knew the route and certain of a short cut for David is needed. As you can imagine the runners were well spread out with John in the lead, David bringing up the rear and Duds and I somewhere in the middle engaging in polite conversation. Upon reaching David’s much requested short cut, we all decided to keep him company, not that we achieved this, the home straight involving a particularly nasty hill up to Christmas Common. At one point Duds was walking as fast as I was running, something to do with his stride? John obviously reached the top first, did 20 press-ups and proceeded run back down, (too busy breathing to be impressed!) Once at the top Duds and I had a welcome break whilst we waited for David and discussed how much weight we needed to loose, especially John!
On arriving back at the pub, (at different times of course), we were informed by a delighted David that we had achieved his goal and he would now join us for a pint, in fact he was now a head of schedule and was able to leave at 8.10pm. Conversation in the pub centred round the Olympics and what medals the day’s events had brought. David told a disturbing story about identity theft that had recently happened to him, (be on the look out of David Abbot look alikes!) Steve Sutton later joined us as he had the kitty, where upon the discussion changed and a debate ensued as to who was ‘nicer’ Gaby Logan and Kirsty Gallagher? The latter winning it for Steve! Duds mentioned the Secret Millionaire programme he likes, ways to entice a millionaire on a Wednesday run were mentioned, a few thousand for running gear or the Bartlett emergency fund surely wouldn’t be missed?
We all left the pub promptly at 9pm as the music was about to start and we were sitting at the table where a very large man and his double base was about to play! Not sure he was any good we didn’t hang around to find out.
Next week’s run is causing some concern, I’m going to suggest the Three Feathers nr Cliveden and then a 40min run around the grounds, know the route as I do it with my running club. However, happy to consider other suggestions, as this may be considered too far out?? Response required.
See you all next week.
Kate

The Chequers at Wheeler End - Wed 13th August 2008

Run Report by Duds

A hardy bunch of runners met in squalid conditions at the above mentioned venue.
With the Peking (that one's for Kate) Olympics in full swing at the moment it would be fitting to present a Gold medal to the pub owners (Larry and Barry - sorry but I can't remember their names) for the free chilli con carne [it was the landlord's birthday], a Silver medal to the weather gods {every cloud has a ...... lining} and a Bronze medal to Jules for his map reading (not up to his usual standards last night I might add). More about all that later...
For those "in the know", the route was the usual one with the high point being the free view of the Wycombe Wanderers v Birmingham City game [or at least the warm up] and hearing the quiet rendition of "we love you Wycombe we do" by the hardy 300 or so loyal supporters packed into the top of the stands to avoid the horizontal rain [WW lost 0-4 by the way]. It was probably also the muddiest run that we have been on in a long while and the amount of stinging nettles / thorns and running off in the wrong direction at one point being the low points (I can still feel the tingling on my shins even as I type today) for the 5 "fitties (?)" at least [Selwyn, David and Jerome having taken an easier route which apparently avoided anything remotely uncomfortable; apart from the actual running that is....].
After an hour and twenty minutes (and hour and five for the fatties apparently] we all met in the bar for the usual enjoyable part of the evening. The thing I particularly remember from the run was the amusing semi-hump that Mrs Hucks had because of all the sh*te we were constantly wading / slipping through. Poor Jules naturally copped most of the blame for this and the rest of the "fitties" all backed off from criticising Jules in any way knowing full well that he was going to get it in the neck later anyway from his better half. I also distinctly remember sticking my nose in on the home leg and strongly advising Amanda to withdraw all conjugal rights on their holiday for at least.....a day or so. It will be interesting to hear how long this sexual famine lasted {we look forward to full report when you return from the Pyrenees please Jules and Amanda}....
Anyway, the banter in the pub ranged from talk of windsurfing to cycling (which position is better for hill climbing - standing up on the pedals or sitting down and pumping the legs like a madman/woman) to how the Chilli con carne tasted a bit like Spaghetti Bolognese gone wrong [a bit more spice landlady next time please otherwise the dish would just be called "a teaspoonful of rice, kidney beans and grated cheese con carne" wouldn't it !?] to how robotic and scary all the Chinese divers/gymnasts/etc. are to Jerome's weird/naughty dreams induced by those please-stop-me-smoking arm patches and how they should really invent a please-stop-me-eating arm patch to put on the other arm to counteract the inevitable weight gain caused by giving up smoking [Jerome reckons he could well be 20 stone by the time he next visits The Chequers] to the fairly brutal ways by which one can stop ones kids sucking their thumb to the need for a new method to stop ones kids biting their nails [by the way, Juliette wore a pair of silk Disney-character elbow length gold gloves in bed last night....did the trick apparently].
There was some debate as to where we should run from next week (20th) but after a long discussion we decided to run from the Fox and Hounds at Christmas Common as we haven't done that one for a while.
See as many of you as possible there for 7pm.
Duds.