It’s Mid March and spring is definitely in the air as the Snowdrops die back and make way for the bright yellow of the Daffodils which seem to cover every road side verge at this time of year.

We managed to get out for a walk over Birkdale dunes which was great and it certainly blew away any lingering cobwebs left over from the Winter. It’s odd but when I lived in Southport I never thought to visit the dunes even though I could quite easily have walked there.

The Maddog 10k Race on Southport was success with lots of our friends from Chorley Sweatshop Running Community joining us and all of them surprising me with an excellent birthday cake in the shape of a dog.

We spent a couple of Saturday’s in Southport as I was due an eye test and hence needed a couple of pairs of glasses. My eye sight hadn’t changed much which was good but my old glasses were starting to look a bit big as my face is a little leaner now I run a lot, although it’s not going to stay leaner for long if we keep going back to our latest discovery for lunch.

A new restaurant / bar has opened in Cambridge Arcade called The Hungry Monk and we had the most amazing chilli burger one Weekend then an equally great Spanish omelette the following one. Service was excellent and the all important cake selection seemed great although after the size of the main course I didn’t actually have room for cake… It was a shock to me as well! We’ll definitely be back!

Last weekend Wendy completed the Parbold Duathlon (her first duathlon) which consisted of a 5k undulating (translate as hilly) run followed by cycling a loop 3 times which included Parbold Hill then another 5k run. The organisation was excellent and she had a great time and is currently looking for more Duathlons to enter.

It was interesting from a spectator point of view as the ‘loops’ went past the start/finish and the transition area so there always something to watch or a competitor to cheer. As seems to be our local race tradition we had our post race lunch at the Chocolate Rooms in Tarleton where the cakes are amazing.

Weekend long-run training starts soon with the distances gradually creeping up on alternate weekends in preparation once more for Trail Marathon Wales in June and then, after a bit of a rest the training ramps up another level as I’ve entered the St Begas Ultra, a 35 mile run from Bassenthwaite Lake, just north of Keswick in the Lake District to St Bees on the coast at the end of August.

Maybe I’m finally having a mid-life crisis, if I am it’s obviously try to do me in…