Bull and Butcher, Turville - 12th May 2010 (Run 7)

Run Report by John


The Bull and Butcher in Turville welcomed (in no order of preference) me, Duds, Jerome, Neil, Kate, Susie, Martin, Steve, Amanda, Fred, Chris, Jules and Lulu on a sunny, dry yet cool evening.

Having only been running once before this season, I had forgotten that Chris and Jules were always late but true to form they strolled in at two minutes past seven having run the six miles or so from Radnage. A poor effort indeed. Jerome and Duds just couldn't wait and dashed off without telling anyone. Susie didn't care and asked if anyone had noticed that as well as running like old men, they had even begun to talk like them! This was greeted with some mirth and was followed by even more names being placed into the same category. My inclination to moan about my knee problems was immediately extinguished and I felt absolutely fine all the way round. Chris on the other hand let himself down by letting us know that his mum had kept all her old tights for him just in case he needed them for his calf.

Fred had chosen a stunning route through glorious countryside and all the pre-run concerns about distance soon evaporated as we ran into the deer park and passed impressive Stonor House. Jules was in his element with his camera with the passing deer, plentiful bluebells and very colourful runners - Kate was sporting pink this week whilst Neil was trying out orange. I had a yellow waterproof top to keep me warm, sorry I mean to make me look like a good runner. There were two steep climbs which people dealt with well and the fitties kept the rest of the field moving pretty well. Martin was pretending he was not a fitty by running in the middle of the field - think we have yet to see his true potential. Mind you the the rear views do tend to be far nicer there and can take one's mind off the running. Each stop made was reasonably brief so the distance of over 6 miles did not feel quite such hard work. The last mile or so saw Jerome, Amanda, Duds and myself make a brake from the pack and nearly beat the fitties back to the pub and would have done had it not been for Jerome's inability to open a gate.

A virtually empty pub greeted us and excellent chips with mayo (its very worrying how much salt people like) were washed down with the usual assortment of beverages except for Neil's cloudy cider. I'm sure the conversation was excellent but I was sitting in the middle with Jules and Martin playing with their iphones so hope the rest of you had a good time. Hey maybe one day we can all sit round with our iphones and occasionally grunt at each other when a goal goes in or smile when Duds sends us something particularly interesting to view. Just kidding - Kate was telling me about her son at university who is being severely restricted in his movements by a girlfriend from home. The lesson for all our kids - dump the girlfriend / boyfriend before you go off to uni. Plenty of time for them later.

A quick warning to all you current non-runners. You will undoubtedly be picked on to do the run report when you return from your enforced absences as I was. Actually I think Steve was the primary instigator of that. Don't let that put you off though and look forward to seeing you all next week at The Gate, Bryants Bottom at 7pm.

Oh yes Lulu was very well behaved - there that's everyone mentioned (as Duds likes to say)

John