December updates- Santamania and 2009-Here I come!

December did not quite start as I had anticipated. Firstly I was away in Bristol for the weekend of the 7th, and then came down with a heavy cold just a few days before the Sion Corn run at LLandisilio. I had been looking forward so much to my very first run in full Santa regalia that I decided to run anyway.

So the 14th December dawned, nice and dry, and I made my way up to LLandisilio for the main event. I was greeted by a wonderful scene with countless Santas wandering around clad in running shoes. The Milford Haven Brass Band were warmly kitted out and got the crowd in the mood with their repertoire of Christmas music. Huw kept spirits up with a wonderful ‘running’ commentary and encouraged all Santas right up to the finish line. The run was held to raise money for three worthwhile causes: Ty Hafan Children's Hospice in Wales, Neyland's Hope Center and the Llandisilio hall redevelopment fund. There were even some doggy ‘Rudolphs’ kitted out in their best festive outfits!

I had planned to take it nice and easy in view of my cold but the inevitable happened. I started slowly but as the race developed my competitive edge got the better of me and I worked hard up the hill at the outer edge of the course, maintaining the pace to the finish. I was surprised to find that I finished in 21:35, 26th out of the 198 Santas, so it turned out to be a very useful and enjoyable run. A wonderful event, superbly organised, and I also met Becky from the Western Telegraph who had braved the weather to report on the event and take numerous photos- my apologies for being distracted when you took the photo Becky! At least I had managed to hang on to my Santa trousers and avoid being a Santadisgrace!

My cold limited training in mid December- a cold is one of the runners’ worst enemies- but I did manage a long run of 12 miles on the 21st December and 14 miles on the 28th, feeling better by then. So although I hadn’t clocked up the mileage I had hoped for I did finish the year on 14 miles which was on schedule for London next April. Meanwhile I had a lovely Christmas with a great combined Christmas/ 50th birthday present of a garmin satellite watch. This means I will not be restricted to measured circuits around the country lanes. Now I can run freely anywhere and the watch will tell me how far I have run, my time and my pace per mile. This could be a little disconcerting as I can no longer kid myself that I am running faster than my true pace! Nevertheless a new toy to play with can be motivating at just the right time.

So we enter 2009, the year of the marathon, and I know that the time between now and London in April will fly so I have two major tasks. Firstly I want to raise a further £1000 for ‘Action for Children’ so fundraising is a priority. Just before Christmas the room in which I am based in County Hall ran a ‘True or False’ competition in which we gave three statements only two of which were true. We had to guess the false statement. The prize was £40 which Marc promptly donated to my marathon appeal- so sincere thanks to Marc and to Helen for organizing the competition. I would also ask any readers- please take the trouble to go to my ‘Justgiving’ site and make any donation, no matter how small, for ‘Action for Children’. There is an office in Haverfordwest which helps children locally.

Secondly I have to increase both my mileage and my long weekend run to improve my stamina. This will be tough in the winter weather but there is no short cut to achieve this. At least I have my ‘personal training adviser’ Penny (There we are- you got a mention-must be worth a fiver!) and the rest of the TROTS to keep me going!

So my very best wishes for a happy 2009 and if you are able then please make a donation- you can make a difference!

For the record the three statements about me were:

1. I played a darts world champion, losing by just one leg.

2. I featured as a northern soul dancer of 1976 in the BBC3 documentary 'Soul Deep'.

3. I played the role of 'Teen Angel' in the musical 'Grease', backed by a member of Oasis.

Which one is false??? Correct answer next time!