Skip to main content

Breaking Point and a Break

Well, what didn’t the Llanelli half marathon throw at us? A severe weather warning, rain, freezing cold, hailstones and wind. By the six mile mark I was soaking wet and being pelted with hail and by the ten mile mark I felt as if I was running with someone else on my back. Then the sun came out and, for a moment, I thought it might be a fairly benign jog to the finish except that the wind picked up even more dramatically. A huge gust pushed me sideways off the track and sand, blowing up from the beach, scoured my face. By mile twelve I was finding it hard enough to stand up, let alone run. At this point a nasty little hill spikes the mix even further. I felt dizzy, disorientated and had visions of walking the rest of the course... and then I saw the finish!

Now, in my mind I’m flying at this point, although video footage shows Mrs Clumpy-clumpison hobbling towards the line. Anyway, I managed to find something in the tank and clocked up a chip time of 2:17:05, a personal best, (and 48th in my class, whoop! whoop!) before crying all over Tom!


Mrs Clumpy-clumpison attacks the line




Relief that it's all over!






Tomorrow we’re off on a short city break to celebrate our wedding anniversary. After years of holidaying on Veryan, our old wooden boat where the facilities were somewhat basic (sleeping bag, strip wash and sea sickness) I’m very excited about staying in a B&B!

Comments

Blimey, you look so relaxed and energetic crossing that finishing line. I'm so impressed.

Well done you, and hope you have a fab trip.x
Elizabethd said…
Oh well done Chris! what a triumph to get to your personal best too.
Enjoy your holiday.
Jenny Beattie said…
Oh deary me. That made me laugh so much "Mrs Clumpy-clumpison hobbling..."

However, when I viewed the video, I don't think Mrs Clumpy-Clumpison was in it!

Well done you.
Lane Mathias said…
You star! Well done Mrs Fleet of Foot - you are brilliant.

Have a sooper dooper trip away xx
Expat mum said…
Cor - very impressed I am. Well done.
Jude said…
Well done, I've just power walked 8kms and am knackered! Happy anniversary, how many years? Havea lovely time.
Edward said…
O boy, am I glad I didn't enter that race.

I missed Mrs Clumpy-clumpison but there was a runner who looked just like you in a blue windstopper who was going like a train! A PB in those conditions is truly remarkable.

Well done. Enjoy your break - you've earned it.
Suffolkmum said…
Hear hear to Edward's comment. I am in awe. I went out in high winds this morning and only managed a 5 mile limp. Great stuff. I think you deserve soft mattresses and carpets underfoot now!
Woozle1967 said…
Chris, you're amazing! Well done, not just for the run but for battling the elements too! Enjoy your romantic break!!xx
muddyboots said…
l am amazed, well done you!
Calico Kate said…
I couldn't see Mrs Clumpy-clumsion anywhere.
Am in awe, as no way I could do anything like that, and against that weather.
I think you deserve your break - enjoy.
CKx
Oh and a Happy Anniversary to you both too.
(Thanks for your note on my blog!)
Kitty said…
Just fab, so very very very impressed with you, Mrs! Happy Wedding anniversary, hope you had a lovely break.
Chris Stovell said…
Debs, that clip was closely followed by collapse of stout party!
Elizabeth, thank you very much m'dear.
JJ, turn the sound up louder - you'll hear the ground shaking!
Lane, thank you. A sooper dooper trip is just what I'm hoping for (fingers crossed!).
Expat mum, cheers me dear (let's raise a glass of black pudding in salute).
Jude, I'm not surprised, power walking IS knackering! Ten and counting, thank you!
Edward, I'm going to frame the 'going like a train' bit and make it my mantra. Thanks, race was hell on a stick. Do it again? Probably!
Suffolkmum, you will be fine - you have youth and beauty on your side!
Woozle, I certainly hope it is romantic, hehe!
Kate, thank you! But you do lots of handy things that I couldn't even begin to do.
Muddyboots, likewise - you get up to all kinds of amazing things.
Kitty, thank you, dear heart! Hope your girls are behaving now!
You are a marvel. Even reading about it made me feel tired, cold and out of breath.
have a great break for your anniversary.
Fantastically well done, Chris! You're amazing! And you even had the energy to blog about it later - there must be something in those jelly babies! Enjoy that city break - you deserve it.

xxx
Pondside said…
Way to go Chris!! I watched the clip and couldn't see any Mrs C-C, just a gal in a blue jacket hippity-hopping to the finish line.
Well done - now have a wonderful time in the luxury of a B&B
Flowerpot said…
Well done you Chris that's an incredible achievement! Enjoy yhour well earned break too!
Pat Posner said…
Well done, Chris! Really brilliant.

Have a great trip, you deserve it.

xxPat
Hats off to you I say! That and 40 lines of poetry the week before - I reckon you like working under pressure!!
Pipany said…
How do you look so flipping glam after all that Chris (or indeed ever, darn you!). Well done on that fantastic achievment which is the start of all the rest...book launch, etc cos it WILL happen soon xx
Un Peu Loufoque said…
Very well done and have a good break!
Exmoorjane said…
Heck, good on you girl.....Am always seriously overawed by anyone who can run (full stop) let along run half-marathons. Glad you're back in one piece and think you deserve a B&B!
Maggie Christie said…
Not Mrs Clumpsy Clumpsion at all! That was the finish? In those conditions crawling over the line on hands and knees, with tears and swearing would have been permissable at the very least. Totally well done and for looking so composed and glam at the end too. xx
PS: This weekend, of course, is benign spring sunshine. 'Snot fair is it?
Fennie said…
Gosh you look as though you've just been for a quiet stroll! How you do it I don't know. Your poor knees.
But you do tell it beautifully.
How about writing a thriller now in which the detective is a runner?
bradan said…
I love the casual way you write 'by mile twelve'......I would not even be alive by mile twelve, (or even mile two, probably) never mind finding it hard to stand up! I'm so pleased you achieved a PB, you did wonderfully well in such dreadful conditions. Hope you enjoyed your break, you certainly deserve it.
Chris Stovell said…
Elizabethm, Oh-woman-who-is-about-to-walk-177-miles,you are not doing so badly yourself!
LBD, yes, the jelly babies saw me through - five of them this time! (None of them got away!)
Pondside, B&B was fab... I could get used to it but probably won't be able to!
Fp, pleased to read that you are feeling better, too.
Pat, thank you!
SBS.. as Fennie said before, it's the deadline thing, it seems to be what I need to get off my bum.
Pip, really! Have you seen that awful juxtaposition of photos? Too many teeth flashing by half!
Mags, thanks but what you didn't hear was my language as I crossed the line or see me bursting into tears a second later!
Fennie,so far so good on the knees but must admit that the hips protested a bit this time! Hmm, it's an idea but wouldn't know where to start with detective fiction.
Bradan, not relaxed but delirious I think! The break was wonderful, thank you.

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Endings, New Beginnings

Blended families come with conflicting loyalties and at Christmas time nearly everyone has somewhere else they feel they ought to be. Throw partners into the equation and it gets even more complicated. Since Tom and I aren’t especially hung up about Christmas we’re happy to let our children go with the strongest flow, but I have to say it was a great delight to have the girls and their partners staying with us this year. When such moments are few and far between they become very precious. My stepsons weren’t far from our thoughts either, not least because we had the very happy news on Christmas Day that my elder stepson and his girlfriend had become engaged. Congratulations Dan and Gill, here’s wishing you every happiness together. Tom and I end a year that has seen the fruition of many years work, both of us crossing important thresholds within weeks of each other. I’m really looking forwards to seeing Turning the Tide published next year and it’s been so satisfying, after al

Reconnecting

I hadn't realised it until now , but it’s probably no coincidence that my last post was about our trip to Norwich, a city I’ve loved since studying at UEA. I wrote, then, that coming home was a hard landing, a feeling that took me completely by surprise as it’s been such a privilege to live in this beautiful, remote spot on the very edge of the west Wales coast. A trip to Skye at the end of October - Tom’s choice - with Ma, was a truly lovely holiday. The weather was kind, the colours of those breathtaking seascapes will stay with me, as will all the happy memories we made that week. And, because our small cottage had been so beautifully modernised and worked so well for the three of us, it was easy to imagine what it might be like to live somewhere different. If travel doesn’t broaden the mind, it certainly brings a new perspective. By the end of the year, Tom and I had decided that it was time for a change, time to move closer to a town (we are neither of us, as they say, getting

Fly Free, Dottie Do

‘How many days to my birthday?’ Ma asks. I do a quick calculation. ‘Eighteen,’ I reply. ‘Eighteen days until your ninetieth birthday.’ Ma pulls a face and shakes her head. Every sentence is hard work for her now, when each breath is a struggle. ‘You’ll have to write a book about this, you know,’ she says, with one of her quick, mischievous smiles. ‘“Carry On Dying”. Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry.’ The smile fades. ‘Who knew,’ she adds wearily, ‘that dying would be such a palaver?’  It’s only eleven days since Ma was diagnosed with a high-grade, aggressive lymphoma, four days since she was overwhelmed with pain and breathing difficulties and was admitted as an emergency to hospital. Until a few weeks ago, she lived completely independently; shopping, cooking, cleaning and tending her much-loved garden. The deterioration in her health is shockingly rapid. The eight days preceding her death are a living hell, a constant battle with the ward staff to get Ma the pain relief she’s been presc