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Amsterdam-Week 14

Amsterdam, red light spells danger
Week Fourteen

The week in numbers (so far)...

Miles ran: 39.95
Times I've been to the gym: 0 (must cancel my membership)
Alcohol drunk: 2 bottles of red, i think
Chocolate eaten: 1 bag white buttons
Diets maintained: 1, the Greek yoghurt diet, sort of.

Weight: 12 stone

Monday 29th September

18 miles yesterday and today I feel a bit drained but inury is holding up and apart from aching muscles all seems good.

A long day working today and then popping out later to buy a new kitchen table that I found on Facebook marketplace, these things either turn out to be absolute bargains or I'll turn up and it'll be a pile of chared wood on the shape of a table that they want £100 for.

As it turns out it was a bargain but needs a bit of sanding and staining to get it the colour I want, that's a job for another day.

Many years ago we got some bunkbeds for Lily and Sam, found them on marketplace and they wanted a fiver for them, we drove to Cramlington to get them and took Lily with us, she was about 6 or 7. The smell of dog shit in the house was so overpowering, there were piles of it all over the floor and Lily was pulling her jumper up over her mouth asking what the horrible smell was. We couldn't get out that house quick enough.

Went back a couple of days later to get the beds, they were a fiver, we were poor.

Gail insisted they were power washed in the garden with bleach.

Still a fivers a fiver.

Tuesday 30th September

Today is Poppy's birthday, that means she'll read this week's blog as she refuses to read it unless I write about her.

Yes she is that shallow.

Anyway it's Poppy's 17th birthday, she's at school so a normal day working and then in a couple of gaps between appointments I make a start sanding the new table.

Then, because I'm a lovely dad I sacrifice the Grand Prix to spend the night with my daughter and family to celebrate Poppy's birthday. I definitely didn't almost forget this and tell my GP team that I'd see them there. I would have probably won the GP as well, probably set a new course record but no, I sacrificed that all for Poppy.

Anyway...

I eat cake. Then later have some more cake and then just before bed take another slice of cake with me. I like cake. I'll probably have cake for breakfast tomorrow.

Wednesday 1st October

Due to not running yesterday, I shall go for a run today. Up at 7:30 and it's pissing it down and looks utterly grim outside, I have a coffee (and some cake) and get ready and need to stick my jacket on for a run which I haven't done for ages. I head up to Sluice with a tail wind and it's cold and wet but not too bad, I loop round and then turn into the headwind and run 6 miles from Sluice to Tynemouth into wind and rain and it's awful, it's cold, it's wet, it's just utterly shit.

Turn in Tynemouth and head back to Whitley and the pace picks up with a tail wind, don't even stop at co-op as I just want to get home.

Get home, have a shower and fall asleep on the bed for half an hour. I feel absolutely shattered this week, not sleeping great, running lots and still doing the kitchen in-between appointments. I'm really looking forward to going to Amsterdam just for a break from massaging and kitchen fitting, I'll ignore the fact I need to run a marathon.

A full days work with some kitchen table building and then 7pm and I'm done. I eat some cake for tea, I also had cake for breakfast and lunch and then I open a bottle of wine and pour a glass of two and lie on the settee with Murphy and we both promptly fall asleep.

Thursday 2nd October

Only one appointment today and then I'm planning a day of kitchen jobs.

Fit the wall panels, install the sliding baskets into the larder cupboard, put half the skirting boards back on and paint them, recess a plug socket, finish staining the kitchen table, build the two new stools and some other little jobs.

Then it's club in the evening and everyone's favourite ducks 'n'drakes.

When me and G did our coaching qualifications everyone was talking about sessions they do and we mentioned ducks and the whole room just stared at us and said they had never heard of it. We explained what it was and they all told us it was called 'Indians' and nobody else had ever heard of ducks 'n' drakes.

Well I googled this and 'Indians' does indeed bring up many results of this type of session whereas ducks 'n' drakes only yields a couple of results but Ron said it's ducks and I'm not arguing with Ron because he's the guv'nor and our group would not exist if not for him so if he says it's called ducks 'n' drakes then it's bloody ducks 'n' drakes.

For those that never ran with Ron, the man is a legend. You'll see him around the club still with his Masters track and field group. You weren't a true member of the group until you had a proper bollocking from him, it was a rights of passage and once you had it done your place was firmly established. I remember a track session once and we were doing 300's and he had stood on the 300 bend. My group came round the corner and made sure we are hit our watches bang on. We awaited the 'did you get it right?' question but it didn't come. Instead he stopped me and asked why I ran past the 300 line, I pointed to the line and said that's the line. Two problems here. Firstly, I pointed to the wrong line and secondly you dont argue with Ron.

It wasn't the 300 line, it was about a metre past it.

I got a proper bollocking, not the group, just me.

They walked away laughing, I tried to walk away and he called me back. I tried to argue and say it wasn't just me but this again was a mistake. I got the bollocking as the established person in the group and he was right.

And I've not missed that 300m line in a session ever since.

He also cornered me at a soirée once and put his arm round me and looked me in the eye and said 'you know what your problem is?'

My mind wondered.....

My diets awful?

I drink too much?

I need to lose some weight?

I need to train harder?
I dont know where the 300 metre mark is?

'You don't have enough faith in yourself' and with that he walked away.

Later on that night I queued up for the buffet and he shouted across the bar 'at least let the ladies go first you greedy sod'

As a said, tha man's a legend.

Friday 3rd October

Start work at 10 so planning to spend the morning fitting some wall panels behind the telly in the kitchen, up at 7:30 and that gives me two hours to sort them.

I get both done and it looks good, telly back up and then shoot upstairs for a shower, get dressed and then back to the day job. Working til 6pm and then it's tea and a bottle of wine.

Up early tomorrow for 7 miles before parkrun.

Saturday 4th October

It's parkrun day.

It's early, the wind howling outside wakes me up.

I get up and go and make a coffee and eat a satsuma for breakfast and look outside, it looks grim and I can't face 7 miles in this but I will still do parkrun.

It gets to about half 8 and I decide I'll head out and do a few miles before parkrun, heading to Cullercoats isn't too bad, the wind swings across from the west occasionally and knocks me sideways. After 10 mins or so I turn to head back and straight into a headwind that at times means I can't actually move forwards.

Arrive at parkrun and then 5 mins later we're off.

A steady pace run hiding behind anyone I can find that's taller than me, this is pretty easy to achieve as I'm not the biggest.

Back home for a shower and then back to the kitchen.

Today's job is I need to put something next to the larder cupboard, we hadn't planned anything here but not having something ruins the line of the finishing strip at the top so it needs something and it's a very small gap, approx 15cm so a cupboard won't fit. Gail then has the genius idea of a wine rack.

A wine rack you say? You don't have to say that twice. So I find offcuts of units and side panels I've cut up and spend the day building a wine rack in the gap, securing it and framing it and making sure it can take the weight of 20 bottles of red wine.

As has been pointed out on FaceBook, I no longer have 20 bottles of wine to fill it. I did, back in August have 48 bottle of wine but it's now October so naturally one or two of those have been drunk.

I have 12 bottles left.

It's 90% complete by about 3pm but I'm knackered so head out for a walk with Gail and a pint in the pub.

I'll finish it tomorrow.

Sunday 5th October

I'm tired.

Wake up at 7:45 and go downstairs to make a coffee and a bagel and can feel myself falling asleep but I need to do 15 miles today and got to finish the wine rack and the plinths and edging strip today. The wind has eased since yesterday so I get ready and head out.

Today's planned route is up to Sluice, loop round and to Tynemouth, back to Whitley, back almost to Tynemouth and then back to Whitley and buy some chocolate in co-op.

The run goes pretty well, up through Sluice and into Tynemouth and I feel pretty good. At the sealife centre Steve Mc catches up with me and we run together back to Whitley talking marathons, long runs, pacing and everything in-between.

At Spanish City Steve continues onto the prom and I need to head back to Tynemouth and then back home again. Again back into the wind and then my watch beeps for 14 miles and it's time to turn for home.

I spend the next mile and a bit thinking about the large bag of white chocolate maltesers I'm buying in co-op.

They have no white chocolate maltesers.

I settle for buttons. Yes they're white chocolate but not what I wanted. I walk home and then get changed and spend 20 mins sorting my wine bottles into the now fully finished wine rack.

The next few hours are spent completely finishing the microwave, oven, wine rack cupboards.

That's now half the kitchen fully finished.

I also treated myself to a new pair of trainers and these are delivered today, no, not running trainers. I get myself a beautifully packaged pair of Adidas Jabbar Lo Bruce Lee Game of Death in bright yellow suede.

They are a thing of beauty and i may never wear them and instead just look at them.

Sunday evening I sit at my new kitchen table and open a bottle of wine and eat some salad.

Gail joins me and opens a bottle of wine.

Lily joins us and opens a bottle of wine.

Lily's boyfriend Sam joins us, Poppy joins us.

Me and Gail polish off 2 bottles of red and the wine rack looks a little sad and empty but its a lovely impromptu music listening, wine drinking session into the late night.

2 weeks to Amsterdam and I'm going to have a hangover tomorrow.

Arse.

London 2023

Want to read all about my London adventure in 2023.

It's mostly about Ben, my sausage dog nemesis and wine.

LONDON CALLING

Yorkshire 2024

Enjoyed reading about London?

Now its time for York and reading about Bilbo, mushrooms and wine.

And Ben.

YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS

Manchester 2025

Well you've read the last two so may as well carry on.

Manchester, so much to answer for. Yeah Ben gets a mention or two

MANCHESTER - THE SECOND COMING