Chim chimeny, chim chimeny, chim chim, cheree...

Well I've done some daft things in my time but it's been a while since I've done something quite as silly as this.

When I heard that Lee (the Clyde Stride race organiser) was in need of some sweepers (the folk who jog along at the back making sure that all the stragglers are accounted for) I thought it would be fun to bring my chimney sweeping brush for the photos at the start of the race.

Well, as you might imagine it caused a wee bit of a stir and folk were asking if I planned to carry it the whole way. I must confess I had thought about it and I decided that I would indeed find out what it was like to carry a chimney brush for 40 miles.

As it turned out, it was in in fact easy to run with (it's pretty light) and by the time I'd reached the first checkpoint I'd decided that it was going the whole way. Of course, when I say "run", I actually mean "a wee bit of running and an awful lot of walking". This suited me okay as I've done very little running in the last few months due to my chronic sciatica, which incidentally, is getting a bit better if you're interested. I'd been out on my bike for 4 rides in the week before the race (2x17 miles and 2x40 miles). Hard to be sure but I think they've helped me physically a bit. Whitout doubt thought they've helped me psychologically a LOT!

Today I had a really enjoyable 40 miler on my bike with no embarrassing walking breaks and plan to go out again tomorrow.



It been a very frustrating few months struggling to train in almost constant pain and having made the decision to forget the running for a while and just cycle, I'm really enjoying being able to get some decent exercise again. I'm now really looking forward to the Devil of the Highlands race which I was dreading before the Clyde Stride. I now feel confident of finishing at least.