As we come to the end of Lockdown 2, some words of wisdom from Gavin:

Last Friday evening I was getting a bit bored with lockdown so thought I would treat myself with some traditional Friday food. I’m fortunate that my local chippy is only three minutes walk 😊. Togged up and mask in hand I wandered along. Mask on before entering the premises, I then preceded to order my Cod & Chips. “Would you like the special” the young lady behind the counter asked. Ahh thought I, recognised as being special at last. “What is the special I asked”. Back came the reply: “It’s a smaller, cheaper portion for Pensioners”. Talk about deflating!

Time marches on and we all get older. Some ‘youngsters’ improving their running speed but one immutable fact is that at some point, physically, due to the aging process, you won’t be able to run as fast as you used to. I was late coming to ‘proper’ running and all bar one of my road PB’s were done in my 40’s. Those heady times are now well in the past. This had me thinking about this declination (not sure if you can use that word in that sense but you get the gist): Last week Becca had roped me into a virtual 10k race she was undertaking.  We toed the line together and after a false start from Becca (GPS failing to register!) shot along Canford Cliffs Road, Banks Road, around Sandbanks (which is surprisingly hilly!), Shore Road and onto the Prom until the watch showed 10k. I managed a creditable sub 43mins. All well and good but is that now the fastest I will ever now run 10k? Will I ever again break 43 minutes for 10k? – depressing or perhaps motivating? It does reinforce, as covid has, that you must make the very most of every day. Orienteering, in a limited way, is now back on the agenda. Make sure you enter those events. Never done a night event? Try one this Monday evening at Friar’s Cliff! Things are looking brighter for 2021. Let’s hope so.

Don’t forget there is still the Winter Maprun season. Results after West Moors can be found here. Well done to Roger for coming first and team WSX taking the top six places. It’s over to Child Okeford and a new map from Dick Keighley. See you all soon