Holding Blog!

I last updated my blog almost a month ago to the day. 

In the last month, very little has changed since my last post.  Well, actually, that isn't strictly true as so very much has changed but I think that's fairly symptomatic of me, my life, my family, my work and the dramas that I perhaps invite into my life!  Having said that, so many of the changes are just life experiences: half-term holiday (not that I actually felt the 'break' in anyway), 10 days of Shanghai experiences and the usual parenthood and being part of an extremely large family.  All good though!  :o)

... and there's the running!  So, I'm still under the care of the docs and not allowed to partake in any endurance running.  Now that I've got my head around it, I'm appreciating the fact that by ignoring the advice is not only ill-advised it's also incredibly selfish considering that I have two beautiful princesses at home.  So I am being good (ish), by not pounding the roads or treadmill for hours on end.  I am still running and probably pushing myself a little harder than what the doctor suggested but I've capped myself to 40 minutes (5 miles) but typically am working at 4 miles (30 minutes) sessions on the treadmill followed by low impact cross-training (stair master, rowing machines etc).  Basically, I think I'm maintaining a reasonable level of fitness although any modicum of marathon fitness definitely appears to have gone by the wayside!

It's now only 13 days until the Hereward relay that I have spent almost a year thinking about. Something fairly meaningless to perhaps so many people but it has been an incredible driving force for me.  An event that both filled me with utter dread but also instilled a sense of excitement, anticipation, pride and determination in me.  A challenge that amongst so many of my commitments, seemed nigh on impossible but was the one challenge that I was hoping to be able to tackle.  I can't say that there isn't an impending sadness that I will be reading results from perhaps 30-40 runners who have completed the 2012 event and thinking that perhaps it will be me one day.  Just not this year, it would seem.

My next tests are in 5 weeks from now (not that I'm counting).  I'm being so good with my vitamins, my diet and my medication... and desperately hoping that my red blood cell count, cell size and haemoglobin levels are all 'normal' (Not that I could ever claim to be normal!)  and that I can then begin planning my 'redemption' event.  I'm focusing on being able to plan for something else albeit from an unknown quantity.  I'm yet to start looking into events for next year as I don't want to pin my hopes onto something if my physical state and lack of training isn't conducive to marathon success - I need for my physical state to be a known quantity before I begin committing to anything.... frustrating but sensible!

In the meantime, bring on the gym and low impact training.  :o)

Shifting the Goal Posts!

Being forced to take a detour from the planned route!

So, I've avoided writing for the past couple of weeks.  My last blog, which whilst fairly brief, was so very upbeat.  It was the first time in a couple of months where I was actually enjoying my running again.  The legs had started to feel recovered and I was willing Leicester City Marathon on.  In what was always going to be a year of 'highs and lows' of my running, I had definitely found myself climbing back up the hill onto a high again.  Such a good feeling!

Then life and reality kicked in again, with a vengeance!  The difficult term, increased working hours and life pressures had started to take their toll.  I love my job, my children and my life and always knew that the marathon challenge given my circumstances was going to have its pitfalls and prove to be far more a challenge than what most people would anticipate.  I recall talking through my circumstances back in February when I first started blogging and felt that it was these very same reasons (demanding job, single mum, large family etc) that simply added more value to my running challenge for the year.  Perhaps I hadn't anticipated the severity and impact of such a personal task for the year. 

Today, I am 42 weeks into my 48 week training plan.  I should be sat here tonight simply beaming having completed marathon number 5 of the year.  I should have driven home tonight, sore and aching after running all 26.2 miles of the Leicester City Marathon.  I knew my running wasn't as strong as it was back in May but it was certainly stronger, or rather I felt stronger, than I had 6 weeks ago at Wolverhampton.  The past two weeks however have served to create a total about turn on the training and marathon front - if only for now.  Having experienced so many minor niggles on the health front over the past couple of weeks:  lethargy, pins and needles, breathlessness, nausea, dizziness, sore throat to name but a few, I finally conceded and visited the doctor.  (If the truth be known, I think I'd grown tolerant to almost all of the above over the past couple of months but facing a marathon today and a work trip to China next week meant that I wasn't prepared to leave my sore throat go unchecked any longer.)  A couple of blood tests later and I'm suddenly diagnosed with Chronic Anaemia.  That in itself isn't the end of the world rather than my lack of iron and B12 seems unexplained - it's certainly not due to a poor diet.  Given my lethargy and rapid heartbeat/breathlessness when walking up the stairs, the doc said that I shouldn't be running today.  I'm told that endurance athletes are more susceptible to anaemia although I thought I'd been careful in terms of nutrients and food intake this year.  Either way, I'm currently facing a road block and a diversion sign!

Three weeks ago, I was counting down the days until marathon number 5; today I'm counting my woes.  Actually, I'd spent the best part of the week resigning myself to the fact that I wouldn't be competing today so busied myself with my children instead.  To be fair, I've felt incredibly tired, aching and nauseous so the thought of running at all brought no hankering or sense of regret.  I did run 5 miles on Friday night which felt slow but good - I'm determined to not lose all of my fitness over the next couple of weeks whilst I'm in the recovery process but it's brought about a reassessment of my training plans and forced a shift in the goal posts.  Today was supposed to be marathon number 5 - a fairly gentle marathon with a short recovery and then counting down to the big one.  The target event of the Hereward Relay Challenge as a 40 mile ultra race is the one event that my year has been gearing towards.

I leave for China on Saturday with work so will be spending this week getting ahead in terms of work but also trying to reconfigure my running agenda - I shall wait outcomes of tests and appointments first so that I have a foundation on which to build.  As I sign off tonight, it is for the first time in 42 weeks that I no longer have a clear plan.  I'm now looking forward to getting better and deciding where exactly the goal posts will be moved to. 

I'm far from ready to finish... merely facing another hurdle in a long year!

Loving it!

Not enough hours to train but enjoying every session all the more for it!

Well, more than two weeks since my last update and I'm going to keep this one brief.  If it weren't for the fact that I'm in the throws of work which seems to be sapping every spare second of my time, I would have blogged before now or would be making the most of this update... alas.

Anyway, this is the first blog in quite some time where I'm not only an eager beaver in terms of wanting to train, I'm actually loving it - all over again!  After my lull over the summer where every step felt like a slog (worse than that, it actually hurt) to the point where I wasn't enjoying running and had to talk myself into training each day, I've now moved on.  Although my training opportunities are severely limited due to the commencement of a new term and having the girls at home with me - not to mention a new job (hours are even more demanding), I'm actually looking forward to my training sessions and enjoying them.  My legs are feeling good and my times are improving again.  In fact, I'm back to that stage that I know so many runners will identify with, whereby I'm actually getting itchy feet that are desperate to get out and run each day.  (Oh, how I've missed this feeling!)

I'm now more than 39 weeks into my 48 week plan (I know - where did these last few weeks suddenly disappear to?) and I'm enjoying the challenge in the same way that I did during those early weeks of enthusiastic running.  I still cannot quite get my head around the fact that in just a few weeks time, I'm going to be starting (and hopefully finishing) the Hereward Ultra race.  In fact, having just looked at the history of the finishing times, I get so nervous as I know I really cannot compete with the competitors finishing times to date... my coping mechanism, therefore, is to not think about it and to simply concentrate on each of my individual training runs and the next couple of weeks ahead. 

I've moved on from the early stages of training in that I can now look forward to the next marathon rather than the next training run and am actually looking forward to my next challenge.

Training since Wolverhampton has been varied and generally fairly pleasing. 
The week directly after was a slow, recovery week with a couple of 5km jogs but nothing more.  The following week saw me start to build up again, culminating with a 17 mile (very slow) run starting at Walsham and through the surrounding villages (was meant to be 16 miles but it would appear that both my friend Emma (bike support) and I have a dreadful sense of direction.  I really enjoyed this (despite the warm weather) and actually felt as if I could take on the world again. 
Last week saw me having the girls virtually every night so it was a case of stealing 30-45 minutes after work where possible.  On the plus side, the lack of long runs meant that I could focus on my speed work and even knocked out a 4 miler in 29.40 (slow for some but it's the fastest I've ran since May). 

My plans for the next week or so in terms of running:
Today - rest day (not by choice - work and family dictate this)
Tuesday - 10km (hard)
Weds - 5-6 miles (easy)
Thurs - rest day
Friday - 5km jog
Saturday - 20 mile slow training run.
Sunday - rest day.
The week thereafter will include a couple of 8 milers (I hope) but generally slowing down a little bit in preparation for Leicester on the 14th October.

I'm really hoping that I can work well over the next week/two weeks and benefit from some decent training.  First and foremost, I want to complete the Leicester marathon but more than that, whilst I may not be at the standard I was in April/May, I'd quite like to achieve something to be reasonably proud of. 

To finish - all is good in my running world today.  What a difference it makes to my life... the same works in return!  :o)

I am the Wolverhampton Wanderer! :)

Marathon 4 of the year - check!

To start...  I have recently read a couple of articles on the causes and symptoms of over-training which transpired to be a bit of an eye-opener for me...

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/overtraining/#axzz257uDWzZQ

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/overtraining/a/aa062499a.htm

Thankfully, without even reading the articles, I knew that I had been struggling with the running and had taken steps to cross-train when the running was proving difficult.  As per my last update, I genuinely felt that I had recovered from the over-training but was grappling with the simple fact that a marathon was fast descending upon me and the preparation was more a case of 'under-prepared'.  Having just read through my last post, it's clear that writing that particular update proved to be a real turning point for me.  After a definite period of over-training, I was on the verge of either reducing the event to a half-marathon or not competing at all.  Whilst actually writing the blog, my mindset changed.  What was very much a starting state of feeling defeatist, by the end of the post, I had regained some of my fight and optimism again.

I knew that I was not of the ability to complete the marathon with any amazing times or at a pace to be proud of but I also knew that my 2012 challenge was matter of completing the marathons.  By the time I'd finished my post, I was very much of the state of mind that I'd rather start and struggle with the marathon but complete it, however slowly, than to not even participate at all.  So complete it I did!

Last Saturday therefore saw me, my girls and my sister-in-law Tara head across to Wolverhampton.  A good feed up on the Saturday night, X-Factor in bed and chilling with my book was in order.  For the first time in years I wasn't at all nervous.  I think that the decision to take part and complete the event in the knowledge that I wasn't strong enough to achieve a time to be proud of, really took the pressure off me. 

So, I took it slowly!  What started off as a cloudy morning soon became a sunny and warm day but the early (9.15am) start time saw most of the race underway before the heat kicked in.  I ran the first 9.5 miles with a lovely man, Scott, who was struggling and eventually pulled out.  The pace was extremely slow and although it cost me more time, it also provided me with pleasant company and a gentle start to a long run.  Once Scott pulled out, I felt ready to up the pace and push myself a little more although I wasn't working at any kind of level that would have achieved a good time and I was genuinely OK with that.  My breathing was good, legs were feeling fine and I was enjoying myself.  The course was two laps that started from West Park in the centre of the city and worked its way further afield.  I had imagined that the second lap would feel rather deathly having to go through it all again but it was anything but.

During the 19th mile, my calf muscles ceased up so I had to power walk for a couple of minutes.  This became a bit of a pattern throughout the last 7 or so miles.  Walking for 1 minute, running for as many minutes as I could (sometimes 1, other times I completed almost a mile).  Strangely enough, when I was capable of running, my pace (9 minute miling) was the same as that during miles 10-18.  So even with walking, I was clocking sub 11 minute miles for the remainder of the event.  I somehow (not sure how) managed to hold and even improve my placing throughout these last miles.  I suspect that my incredibly slow start played a very large part in terms of the fellow competitors I was mixing with in the latter stages of the race.

I eventually finished in 4hr26 minutes.  I could perhaps have shaved 10 minutes off this if I hadn't ran with Scott BUT it still wouldn't have been a time to be proud of and it enabled me to enjoy the event that much more.

All in all despite the time which, although slow, was a time I had anticipated I completed it.  I even had surplus energy reserves, ending with a slight sprint finish and a smile upon my face.  My placing (not great, 150th finisher out of 260) was still amazingly showing me as the 16th female overall and the 4th finisher in my category.  My legs are recovering nicely since the weekend which is one of the few bonuses of having a 'lazy' marathon so I should be able to up the miles without too much stress. 

 

So, now here I am, more than 36 weeks into my training plan with fewer than 12 weeks to go until the ultra-race and I'm actually feeling positive.  I have 5 weeks and 3 days until the Leicester City Marathon and am looking forward to it.  Bring it on!

Downer!

Struggling to pull things around!

I haven't written a new post in this blog for almost 3 weeks and have been actively avoiding doing so.  This summer is proving to be a particularly low period for me on the endurance running front.  Lower than I had imagined and low for a whole myriad of reasons, not least of which is the battle with getting my head into the game.

It has been a tough few weeks aside of running (long story, lots of details but not worth boring the reader over) but the ultimate outcome has been a set back on an emotional, physical and psychological level.  After my last post, I had just received a massage and was looking forward to a 14 mile training run with Zoe M.  It turned out to be a hot day and one that reminded me that I simply do not cope with running in the heat.  At the end of mile 9, my back and right calf started playing up so the next couple of miles became intermittent with running, jogging and walking.  Zoe was her usual great self, so full of praise and encouragement but I simply slogged my way through running for the last 10 minutes and finally completed a 12.25 mile session in 2 hours.  Two days later however, I managed 11 treadmill miles without too much difficulty but was conscious that my right calf felt tight.

Other than that, I've been exercising at every opportunity but several factors have been limiting my training, my progress and my confidence.  Firstly, having the children at home with me over the holidays has meant that I'm not able to 'steal an hour here or an hour there' after work and when I have been able to find the time, I've been pretty much limited to an hour on most occasions so the distances aren't really happening.  The heat (even on those days that aren't actually that hot) seems to affect me as soon as the temperature reaches 20.  The last couple of weeks in particular seemed to feel so muggy (and an awful lot hotter in the gym) that even when my muscles and breathing are up to par, my head isn't.  I suspect that most of my lack of progress is mental although I certainly haven't been shying off training. 

Having had a week in Devon with my niece and daughters, I ran most mornings (5-6 miles) although the Brixham terrain is slightly different to that of Suffolk.  Hills galore and woodland were both welcomed and beautiful but extremely tough.  That said, my training time was limited to 50 minutes maximum and whilst maintaining a reasonable level of fitness, the progress isn't being made.  I had originally intended on running a longer distance this last weekend but well, after running on both Saturday and Sunday morning at 7am and literally melting whilst doing so, yet another weekend has gone by without any more than a 5 miler as a training run.  So, having ran a marathon almost 6 weeks ago, my longest distances since, were over 2 weeks ago and nowhere near long enough to give me the confidence in myself in this next impending challenge!

I've always prided myself on my fight and ability to grit my teeth and work through even the toughest of situations but I'm genuinely struggling to keep my head held high and believe in myself where training this summer has been concerned.  Each and every time I head out for a run with the best of intentions, I seem to find the whole session a bit torturous - give me a step machine or a bike however and it seems to be a different story.  Still, I'm trying and am really hoping to get 8 miles completed tomorrow evening.  I have a couple of opportunities this week to train although nothing more than an hour until this weekend.  I'm hoping that some rain at the weekend will enable me to get some miles in - from that point onwards, I'll be in a better position to determine just how I'm going to cope with Wolverhampton.  I'm so worried that I won't get around or that I'm so under prepared that it will be 5 hours of torture - or worse, that it'll knock every bit of confidence out of me where the running is concerned ahead of future events.  On the flip-side, by not even attempting it or by reducing it to a half-marathon training run in preparation for other events, I know that I'll be 'failing' in the challenge that I've set myself by my own volition.  Given that I set myself this challenge for my own personal reasons, I'm just not fully prepared to give up on Wolverhampton. 

So, from this point onward, I'm just going to (try to) remain positive and give it my best, although my best may just not be good enough on the day.  TRYING to keep some of my grit and determination about me (just worried, under prepared and terrified of the heat, the hurt and stuffing up)!

Holidays, Heat and Training

Trying To Stay Motivated!

It has now been almost 3 weeks since my last marathon and only a month until my next challenge.  I have, as planned, allowed my body to get some well needed rest and am now in a position where I can kick start the training back in again.  If I'm honest, allowing myself to rest came so much easier than I had thought - not only was I physically incapable of running (I hurt beyond belief in the days following the last venture), I was also extremely tired and, to boot, had also managed to lose the will to even 'want' to run! 

I had anticipated that the end of term tiredness and emotional state would kick in at some point and when factoring a marathon into the equation, I was even more tired than I had planned for.  The inevitable need for rest and anything other than running had, by mid July became too much to ignore.  Perfect timing!

So, in the days following the marathon, I ran very little but instead swam, walked and used the stepping machine.  For someone who has been a hobby runner for years, I'm surprised as to how much I had stopped enjoying the running and have really appreciated the lack of intensive training runs.  On the downside, my muscles have clearly suffered as a result of the marathon training: the constant fatigue, tightness and ache in them has not been fun.  To the point that even the gentlest of runs has been painfully hard and any real exertion has produced a much lower performance than I thought could ever be the case.  If nothing else, I've learnt that repeated training at this level actually lowers performance.  I suspect that a lack of stretching, recovery exercises and rest before setting the training in again has ultimately not served me well.

Note to self - RECOVERY is as important as the training:

http://www.howtobefit.com/marathon-recovery.htm

I knew when I actually ran the endurance event in July that I wasn't really prepared for it.  The over training between Edinburgh and the track event had knocked me back.  So, now I'm in a position where I've had to rest and am now trying to pick up the pieces and train for another event that is only 4.5 weeks away - Wolverhampton.  Having spoke to a few people, read several forums and actually applied some common sense, I've now put together a training plan that will, I hope, give me a chance of coping with the next marathon.  In reality, however, I've lost some of the enthusiasm that I had at the start of the year and the warm weather isn't doing me any favours... with this in mind, I'll happily take getting round unscathed!

My training over the last week (1.5 weeks after the marathon):
w/c 23rd July (start of school holidays, woo hoo)
Monday - around Nowton Park.  Hot, slow and very difficult but actually easier than I thought may be the case
Tuesday - 5 treadmill miles
Wednesday - 5km (slow and painful) followed by 20 minutes of cardio on the step machine (my right calf and Achilles were really not good!)
Friday - 10km on the treadmill and surprisingly easy!  Go figure.
Saturday - 10 miles in total but over two sittings (6 miles and 4 miles) before heading out on the hen night for the lovely Jess. 
Sunday - I had hoped for a few slow miles but too many Pimms and Wine on Saturday put pay to that.  (FYI, too many Pimms by my standards probably serves as little more than an aperitif for most hen party participants; I am officially dreadful at drinking.)

So, now well over two weeks since the last marathon, my legs should be feeling OK but yet the fatigue has still been prominent.  5 miles on Tuesday felt slow, painful and almost unbearable at times.  Until today that is when Sheryl worked her sports therapy magic on my legs.  This afternoon I actually feel as if someone has given me a new pair as an early Christmas present.  So today, Wednesday, I wanted to enjoy this feeling of happy legs a little longer so merely worked for half an hour on the stepping machine.  Tonight I plan on drinking plenty of water and am hoping to complete a slow 14 miler tomorrow, Thursday (hopefully with a cycling companion in Zoe).  I think my legs are ready and mentally, I'm ready to give it a go but I'm also nervous.  Ridiculous really given that I know I can do this but I've been shying away from any distances and hard miles of late so this really does feel like yet another challenge to overcome!  Rest day on Friday, a short run on Saturday and hopefully 10+ miles on Sunday with a few of the Pacers.  Bring it on!

I hope that tomorrow works well for me so that I can actually look forward to Wolverhampton in the way that I had originally set out to do almost 32 weeks ago!

Marathon Hurdle Number 3 - Done and Dusted! Woo hooooo! xxx

Who would have thought that running round an athletics track could be so rewarding?

Well, today, 15th July should have been marathon number 3 but my last minute decision to change the event to an endurance track run on Thursday instead was SO the right move.  If nothing else, having the freedom to lay in bed today having already completed a marathon this week felt REALLY good!  Although, my calves may have a different opinion of what 'really good' feels like for they, most certainly do not feel 'really good'.

However, my marathon number 3 of the year is now complete!  As of today, I have now ran for 29 of my scheduled 48 weeks and completed 3 of my marathons.  That's me being well and truly past the half way mark!  Woo hoo!

As planned a couple of weeks back, I'd made the decision to run on Thursday.  Very low key in many respects as it was me running during my school's annual sports festival.  Running round and round (and round and round) the West Suffolk athletics track.  As part of the festival's opening ceremony, my challenge for the day was announced to the students.  Where I have been casually raising sponsorship for Macmillan Cancer Support, I'd chosen that any funds raised that day would donated to Sports for Rwanda, in line with the basis on which our sports festivals are built.

The set up for the day is that the opening ceremony finishes at 10.20am whereby the 'games' begin which, with the lunch, the games continue until nearly 2.40.  Just in time for the closing ceremony.  Given that our closing ceremony included the welcoming of a couple of the Rwandan Olympic athletes, it was to be quite a big deal.  My running therefore was limited to a little over 4 hours. 

If the truth be known, this suited me to the very core!  As per my last updates, the past 6 or so weeks have been really tough in terms of maintaining the training and my recovery between runs (I wholly accept that running 21 miles TOO fast only 18 days after Edinburgh was more than a bit foolish... Oh, the beauty of hindsight).  With this in mind, anything I achieved on Thursday was going to be less than anything I am truly capable of and would, therefore, be an achievement in its own right.  I was set on completing a marathon but with the time allowance being a lot less than originally anticipated, I wasn't going to complete much more... although once I'd set off, I was still hoping that I could push for 120 laps (30 miles).

So, my first lap started at 10:25am, anti-clockwise around the track.  Before the end of my first lap, a sixth former joined me and the company began.  Sometimes I was joined by only 2-3 others (students and staff), others by entire tutor groups and more... I think (although I could have been slightly delirious) that there was in excess of 100 students/staff with me at one point.  I am especially grateful to Simon (teacher) who ran with me throughout what could have been a very lonely and quiet lunch hour; to Ali (teacher) who pushed himself harder than he had in years and completed 10 miles with me; to Brian (teacher)who has over the past few years lost 7 stone in weight and managed the last 9 miles with me.  More than this however, the many laps run by staff and students on and off.  Joe (Year 12) who also kept me company over lunch and beyond with nearly 10 miles of company and the Year 11 lads (Oli and Jordan) who completed the last 8 miles with me.  Over and above this was the overwhelming support by the many students and staff who kept me focused and positive with their many words of encouragement and cheers throughout the entire day.  The weather was far too hot for my liking (on the ONLY day of sunshine this week, it happened to be sun-burning hot - this transpires to be the day THE day that I ran a marathon).

I was slow, really slow and my calves hurt, really hurt!  My 'clicker-counter' for each lap became my new best friend.  Initially I counted in 20's up until 60 laps in.  I then counted to 70, to 80, to 85, to 90, to 92 and then stayed in 2's from thereon in.  I knew that 104 laps was 26 miles and once I'd reached 85 laps, I was just working towards the marathon or rather 105 laps to give me those important extra few hundred metres.

Once I'd reached 100 laps, it suddenly all felt easier.  Those last few laps seemed to fly by and I suspect that my mental state released chemicals that helped to kill the pain!  One or our students who had been selected as a torchbearer ran the last lap with me (this was meant to be the 105th lap) but being that I was part of a school event, things could never go quite to plan and at the end of this lap, the Year 6 Primary School dance was well underway... I was then told to run around again (actually, I think I was asked to stop but I didn't cotton on to the waving by other members of staff until too late) and then ran another lap... this felt amazingly easy!  So, I finished after 106 laps or 26.5miles.  Around 4hr 15 mins of very slow running but I loved it, really loved it.  (Apart from the times where it felt really hard and I kept snivelling to myself.  Oh, and the time that my left calf seemed to cramp up.  And the time that I bent down to get my sports drink and felt a sharp pain in my back when standing up again.)

I'd originally intended to change direction at various points throughout the day but I can't bear running clockwise around the track.  Psychologically, stopping to do an about turn was more than what I could handle.  This was absolutely fine on the day but my goodness, I felt the inner/outer abs on my left hand side come Friday!

So today, my abs feel fine.  My quads and hamstrings are amazingly fine but my calves are stinging like you wouldn't believe.  A gentle swim yesterday, a gentle walk today and lots of sleep has and continues to do me the power of good. 

Next steps - another week or so without any real runs and then a sensible training plan to build me up to Wolverhampton which is 7 weeks from now.  I think I'll walk, swim and use the rower over the next few days although my training this week is severely limited on the basis that I'm working, hosting tea-parties and have the girls everyday/night with the exception of Thursday.  Me, being me, thinks that this constraint is probably a good thing right now.  Recovery most certainly aides improved results... advice I really need to pay heed to!

So, 19 weeks to go and Wolverhampton is my next hurdle on the horizon.  Bring it on.  :o)