Exhausted

A 4am start today. No one was on the streets when I left Rosemary's. I saw one car all the way up to Waverley. As soon as I was on the train, I settled down to watch a Horizon, the populist science programme, which was about meteors. I fell asleep quite quickly though.

Waking up, there was a tiny golden ball in the sky. There was a deep frost and the air was misty but translucent. Absolutely stunning, but an absolute swine to get a good picture from the moving train.

The weekend had been a good one. On Friday I was the emergency replacement coach for two year 5 classes in Rossendale. Now I love kids and am comfortable with them but I soon found myself out my comfort zone. One kid was so lacking confidence, despite being quite good, two others couldn't work their gears, one was an attention seeker. I was relieved to be able to pass them back to their teacher especially when everyone said they had fun....bully for them ha ha.

Typical. Rosemary was in Yorkshire for a race when I was working in Edinburgh. I was assessing a coach at Ingliston. Lucky, I had just enough time to do the Edinburgh Parkrun at Crammond. It's a 5km 'race' held every Saturday morning and at different locations throughout the country. 380 souls started in this one and I was pleased to finish 70th or so. A PB too (albeit about 3 mins slower than I could do 10 years ago.

Then I rode out to Ingliston, did my assessing and then helped as a lap counter for some junior racing that was going on. Then it was back home. Whilst riding alongside the canal, some chav pedalled past the other way, only for me to discover he had just robbed a kid of his phone. I turned round to give chase but a foreign lady pointed me in the wrong direction and he was gone. The poor kid and His girlfriend were badly shaken but ok. They didn't need me to wait until the police arrived.

On getting home, I collapsed on the sofa, pretty exhausted as I hadn't sat down since 8am, done a race and cycled about 50km. Going to the shops wasn't an option so I ordered a calzone from la favorita and only moved to answer the door to the delivery man and then to go to bed.

My legs were dead as I headed out on Sunday morning for a club bike ride. It's all uphill to the meeting point. I didn't know anyone although a few knew me. A mix of middle aged men in lycra.....I ended up taking the lead as no one else was willing to take charge. I ended up beside a wobbly man on a brand new bike. He was upset when I suggested his position (dreadful) was creating the wobble. I spend the next hour between the front and the back of the group, either controlling the pace or pulling back dropped riders. We split in Peebles, with the light weights stopping for cake and a small group including me headed off for The Granites. I was dropped as we past the golf course in Innerleithen. Still, I found a 2nd wind and dug in all the way home.

After a brief rest and a Brie n leek pie, it was off to Ola's for dinner. Great to see her and a great feed! I was exhausted by the time I went to meet Rosemary at the train station just after 10pm. She and and her team-mate Lucy had won their race which was cool.

We were both shattered yesterday. A lunch at Broughton deli helped but I had lost the will to live by 7pm.

So back to today. I managed 40 mins in the pool but a full session was beyond me. I am officially exhausted so can't wait for bed!