I did, as a token gesture, put the television on to watch the start. It was nice to see aerial shots of Harewood House, having been a frequent visitor when C&H were wee boys, but I have to confess to being a little bit disappointed with what I saw of the 'race'. The cyclists snaked through the grounds of Harwood and out onto the open roads, waiting for someone, whose name I can't remember, to stand up in the car in front and drop a flag thus inviting the attack to begin - or something like that! The build up was good and I was all ready for the cyclists to whoosh past a bit like at the start of the Grand National.Err no. Three riders came out in front and the rest of their team held everyone back at a cruising pace, which in fairness would be faster than my flat out pace, but I couldn't help feeling just a bit let down.
I do know enough to know that the race is extremely tactical and requires different members of the various teams to support each other and provide different functions as they go along, but really right from the word go?
Everything I read about running a marathon mentions the problems of starting too quickly, that it is imperative that you know what your starting pace should be and stick to it regardless of what everyone else around you is doing... but I don't run like this! I like to set off quick and find myself a gap to settle into. The thought of being able to suppress that initial surge of adrenalin and run a tactical race from the outset is going to take some mental training.
So I have made a tacit commitment to follow the Tour this year to watch the tactics playing out and see if I can move away from my need for speed!
Watching the race and the beautiful countryside I did begin to feel a little like we were missing out on something and that perhaps we should have made the effort to go and be part of it, what I hadn't realised, until they got back from their walk, was the importance of the absence of dogs to this daydream. Sid would have barked himself hoarse at all the excitement and Dougal (after a rather unfortunate incident which resulted in him knocking a cyclist over on the Greenway) would have sooner gone for a swim than see that many bikes in one place at the one time (and he's only recently put his paws in water!).
Cycling aside, it's been a good day, felt odd not running at parkrun, but volunteering when needed is part of what makes it the event that it is, and sisterofmarthongirl750 arrived this afternoon! Great as always to see her, and stayed up way past when we should have. Which is why this is a day overdue - much as I'm enjoying writing my blog and put it before things I should really be doing instead (on a daily basis), sitting writing about how nice it was to see her rather than actually spending the time with her was a step too far even for me!
M - 675
Total distance covered still 140 miles
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