Sunday's race and fundraising success!

Warming up for the race

Hello out there!  I am pleased to report Sam and myself successfully completed Sundays Hoka One One 5km Trail Race! And it didn't rain on us!

It was super windy though and after hanging around for a good couple of hours till our race start at 1pm I was freezing!   The nerves and anticipation had built up and I was looking forward to crossing the start line and getting the blood pumping. 

The first mile or so I found the hardest, I had all kinds of stomach aches and pains and the first majorly steep hill took some serious fighting to get up.   Luckily there was plenty of words of encouragement from my fellow runners to keep me going.    

After that I started to get into a bit of a rhythm and the rest of the race seemed to breeze by in a series beautiful woods, fields, lake shores, and cascading hills in the distance, all punctuated by the sound of heavy breathing.

Me and Sam before the race

My favourite moment by far, was coming round the last corner, (which also happened to mark the top of the last hill), and putting in every speck of energy I had left in me to sprint to the finish. It was great to feel so energised by the support and encouragement of those standing at the sidelines.  I loved it!

I enjoyed it so much I'm raring to do another one! Such an amazing runner's high. Working up to a 10km will have to be the next goal.  

I'd like to thank Sam for running with me, and her two mothers (mother and mother in law)  for coming along to support us and take photos on the day.  I'd also like to say a big thank you to those of you who have generously donated to my charities.  The total for Safe Haven Children's Trust is £71.59 and for Piccadilly Garden Support Group we are up to £80 making a grand total of £151.59! An especially big thank you to my dad for his considerable contribution to the total.

The official race results page still looks like this:

but from my calculations it looks like I ran over the 5km collection of hills in just under 45 minutes, which I am pretty damn pleased with!

And the worn out, medal wearing after shot!

Pleased to say that's the first of the goals I've set myself since getting back from the States successfully achieved.  I look forward to sharing the news on the rest of those aspirations in the near feature.    

UK election day: Time for a political rant

2010 UK Election Map.  Less blue in 2015?

This years election has had me contemplating who to vote for up until the very end.   My ideology is most in line with the Greens or, shock horror, the Scottish National Party. (Moving to Scotland is an attractive idea.)  But in the first past the post system,  its not simply about voting for the party you believe in.   The system is all about winning the most seats in  per-determined constituencies across the country, and where constituencies have specific demographics voting becomes all about tactics.

Incidentally I am of the opinion that the constituency I am living in , which was created in the run up to the to 2010 election was the product of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering being when constituencies lines are redrawn in order to benefit one particular parties political agenda.  In this case merging the more left wing suburbs of a city with a large area of rural farm land.  There by attempting to dilute the impact of Labour votes in the area.

Living in the countryside, filled with farmers and OAPs I am pretty much stuck with the Conservatives representing  my constituency of Wyre & North Preston.  There are Vote Ben Wallace signs all over the place, which I would never dream of entertaining the prospect of.   This article covers a few of my major gripes with the Conservative agenda.  It seems obvious to me that austerity is damaging to society.  The volume of people receiving food parcels from food banks has increased by almost 1 million in the past 4 years under the Tory government.  (Figures taken from Trussel Trust website.)  Clearly Conservative policies are not benefiting ordinary people. Anyway I wasn't planning on turning this into a post to criticism of the Tories but rather express my frustration at the UK political process.  

I had thought about saying f*** you to the whole thing and spoiling my ballot paper, but in reality these spoiled votes just end up on the ignore pile.  No one will look at them and see it as a cry of disillusionment.

Voting Green, unless you live in Brighton is a wasted vote.  The Greens are too much of a minority party and too far removed from the centrist rhetoric, that dominates Parliament, to be able to get their ideas implemented on a national level.

Let's not kid ourselves come the end of the election the UK will have either Ed Miliband or David Cameron as the main representative of the UK.  Part of me feels I should be optimist and vote Green anyway, with the hope of a coalition government but this could also assist the Conservatives to victory.   By voting Green you are taking potential votes away from the Labour party, which could strengthen a Tory majority.  A second term under the Tories, is something I hope this country doesn't choose.   I do not agree with all of Labour's policies but they are leaning more towards the kind of country I want to live in than the Cons ever could. 

I wonder what difference electoral reform in the form of say proportional representation would make to how the country is run.   Although no doubt we will never find out as Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party,  pointed out in her interview with Russel Brand, "its like getting turkeys to vote for Christmas."

You might have noticed I haven't even mentioned the Liberal Democrats, as after their spectacular roll over on university fees, I can not even consider voting for them. It was one of the main policy objectives that helped them into government in the first place.  Their lack of back bone has pretty much turned them into an extension of the right wing government. 

Time to sit back and watch the results roll in this evening.   Whatever the result I feel like direct action and community based projects such as the work done by orgainsations like 38 Degrees are the way to really influence how our country is run.

 Here's a soundtrack to some political disillusionment: