Feet, elegance and bikes...

Oh, and before we even start, the 'elegance' doesn't in any way refer to me...

So, the plan from last week was to try out new feet, run with Beagle Nic and try a MTB (which we now know is a MounTain Bike, even though I think it should be MB...)

Feet first. So to speak... I tried running with the new feet on Wednesday, and it was weirdly OK - both knees were fine, the feet felt fine for the first 2k and then the left one developed a spectacular blister... Heeding the advice of Gareth the Foot to 'listen to your body' obviously I stopped. Nah, of course I didn't. Blister - pah!

This morning Beagle Nic came to try out mud running. YAY! Ice Cream Sian couldn't join us so the two of us set off to find some proper mud - Beagle Nic normally trains on the polite pavements of Cardiff. Hah! Proper slippy stuff duly obliged and it really all went very well, but I have to confess to being a little disappointed.... No falling over (despite the promise of 'accident prone'), no wheezing (apart from me), no shrieking in the muddy slippy bits (Ice Cream Sian where are you when I need you?), and very elegant running, even in the slidey bits. I hope I haven't put Beagle Nic off completely with the mud, but I can see Ice Cream Sian and I are going to have to raise our game if she comes back for another go...

I did take some photos of Beagle Nic's inaugural run... I took them on my 'slightly wonky but it sort of works and I don't mind if I sit on it in the mud' Blackberry and now I can't find how to get the photos out of it... So, I'll describe them instead: Clean shoes at start, muddy shoes at finish, rubbish photo of Beagle Nic running through a deep puddle which was rubbish because I forgot about the two second delay on photos on the wonky Blackberry so what I actually got was a photo of a puddle and an arm going past me at some speed...

And then the bike... Fit Mark kindly said he would talk 'all things MTB' with me and Guy so off we toddled to his garage. Which is full of bikes and bits of bikes. I got to ride a very pretty PINK bike. Honestly, it's wasted on him, really it is...

This is Fit Mark in action:

And this is the sort of speed I'm thinking of:

Yes, you're right - stationary. Soooooo much safer, don't you think?? Note the pink top, pink helmet, pink socks, pink trainers and matching PINK BIKE.

I rode up and down the flat tarmac, then I got really adventurous and rode up and down our lane. Sorted! 20k Ice Breaker in February? Bring it on!!

So Guy and I came home and ordered mountain bikes following extensive advice from both Fit Mark and my nephew Charly who found us a stonking deal. We ordered bikes online. Never having sat on them. And - get this - they come WITHOUT PEDALS!! How can they call that a bicycle??? Bonkers. Completely bonkers.

And finally: Fit Mark is still training hard for the 20 mile Brecon Sleepwalker and this morning ran 18 miles. Yes, but did he sweep leaves and wash cars like some of us? Huh? Huh?