Of sticks and triangulation

You are enough

Not an awful lot of activity this week. However, the stuff I did was fun. The folks I did stuff with were pretty awesome too. Continued to celebrate a little after my big birthday last week - why wouldn't I when the presents kept coming in. Thank you Phantom for the steaks and cheers Gill for the bubbly stuff.

Birthday Steaks

Completed a nice on/off road run in and around the village where I live. It’s always nice to see things being built and developed as the years go by and this run saw some new fencing around a common trail. Running past a church and heading back to my home I saw a rather lovely stone with a positive message painted on it. Let me repeat the message to all who may be reading this blog - you are enough! (In some cases, more than enough, I’m sure).

Vicar Water Country Park ParkRun

Saturday saw me complete my 83rd ParkRun. This was the first time I had visited Vicar Water Country Park ParkRun. I ran in a time of 25:43 and I finished 41/189. Surprised so few had rocked up, as average attendance was 348 runners and walkers (YTD). Something that was ultra awesome was the fact that my buddy ‘the Phantom’ had joined me on this run. This was the Phantoms first ever ParkRun and he finished in a respectable time of 30 mins something! Equally awesome was the fact I had now knocked off the letter V from my Alphabeteer ParkRun challenge. Just the letters J and Z to go to now to complete this challenge.

The Bearded Bimblers aka Mr and Mrs Beard aka Mike and Kerry

In a weird kind of coincidence, the Phantom was the link to me meeting up with the Bearded Bimblers on this particular today too. A short while back Mr Beard set up a competition asking people to send in their most awesome photo to his Facebook page. The 2 winning photo’s would win a rather funky beanie. I entered a photo I took of the Phantom some years ago when we were cycling a Black Sheep audax event in Tewkesbury. The roads were completely flooded and were more like waterways. Anyways, my photo won!

The winning photo

Mr Beard had rocked up today to drop off my beanie (plus sticker, patch and car air freshener) and had brought along Mrs Beard too. Years ago (more than 12) Kerry and I worked together in a Home Treatment and Crisis Intervention Team. Was so awesome catching up and sharing many stories of old. On the subject of stories and tales, Mr Beards awesome Facebook page ‘Bearded Bimbler’ is worth a visit, especially if you’d like to read about ‘roaming the UK with adventure dog, exploring its myths, legends and curiosities’. Who knows, you might even win a beanie. (I entered a competition or something similar years ago and won a Bearded Bimbler mug. The mug broke, so am super pleased I’ve now got a rather funky beanie - thanks Bimblers).

My winnings

Thought I'd end this post by sharing something about me that you might not know. I have a love of sticks. As crazy as this might sound, it's true. At age 9 I would often pinch my nans walking stick and offer her my arm to support her instead. (Have a lovely pic somewhere, just can't find it). I like to pinch my mothers stick now. I'm kinda coveting the Phantoms walking sticks and hoping he replaces them soon (and gifts me the old ones). I was once asked 'what's brown and sticky' and of course, I knew, it was a stick. Hope you all stick with me and continue reading my blog. The final picture on this post is a rather good poem that I found on Instagram. Hope you enjoy!