Worth the licence fee alone.............

Hi.

I have just watched a fascinating programme on BBC 4 (no, I didn't know it existed either) called "Everest - Journey to the bottom of the Mountain".  I have just returned back from running a small 5km evening race and am eating my pie and chips (actually a pretty ropey stir-fry edible only by the generous dolloping on Encona chilli sauce) and I have been riveted for an hour by this programme.

If my fellow trekkers get the chance I would recommend tracking it down on the various Plus 1 or iView doo-dahs that satellite TV now offers. It is a great insight into the history of the mountain. From a climbing perspective, it interviews many "household" mountaineers including Bonnington, Doug Scott, Reinhold Messner (who pretty much said bollocks to the established way of climbing when he did the ascent without oxygen..or clothes..and drinking a pint of Bavarian face-melter).  It also charted the history of climbing the mountain from Mallory, Hillary, Tenzing, and everything else all the way to the tragedies of the 10th May 1996.

It also followed various groups of trekkers from landing at Lukla, which looks hairy to say the least, and followed them all the way through to Base Camp; taking in Namche Bazaar, Tengboche, etc.  It was fascinating to see the landscape, the terrain, the clothing people wear for such a trip and as well as taking interest in the Sherpa people; the people that actually live and work in the shadow of such imposing landscape.  A piece filming one of the Sherpa guides breaking down at the memorials at base camp was genuinely moving.  

Gorak Shep was also briefly highlighted and the pitch looks good.  The groundsman were on the rollers drinking their coffee and smoking their roll-ups, the score-box was nearly completed and the second bar in the grandstand was nearly finished and it seems preparations are well on the way for next April.  If I get offered the cherry it's definitely the down hill end. Seriously, it was compelling and hugely useful to see what happens when one treks to Everest. 

They broached the environmental question and how places like Lukla are now "boom" settlements were the farmers are compelled to leave the slopes to earn more cash hiring themselves out as freelance porters to the 20,000 trekkers that land and take on this route every year. There seems to have been an explosion of bars, bakeries, internet cafes in Lukla and that Tengboche, being a monastery settlement, is stuck between the ancient past and the future; the monks all wear North Face gear and now have coke drinking races with the trekkers. A stark contrast with the clip they showed on Bonnington and his huge team in reverential praise to the Head Monk on their way to lay siege to Everest in 1971.

It is a programme that simply whetted my appetite and inspired me even more and it raised simple questions about why am I doing this and what I hoped to get out of it.  Every one interviewed said the trek was tough and that the secret is slowly, slowly, catchy monkey and the personal rewards, outside of the camaraderie and money raising aspects of our particular trip, are there to be seen all around you.  No-one said that it would be easy to get there.

It was just a good programme to watch from many aspects and I hope other inexperienced enthusiasts got to catch it...................................................Pink Floyd's also on the soundtrack.

I didn't realise little old ladies were as fast as that...

Morning,

Just a quick update. Completed my first of three 5km evening meets in Stevenage last night. I was typically late and I parked the car and greased myself into my spandex, skintight, poodle munching leggings and put on my Hi-Vis, "As Seen From The Moon" Lumo Top and pinned my number to my front, skewering my fleshy bits in the process. Number 251, hhhhhmmmm, I thought, a bad Omen. Having asked the parking attendant where there start was he took some satisfaction in telling me it was 1/2 a mile away. So on top of everything else I had to run to get the start just as the ffking klaxon went off to start the race. I was near the back of course and that seemed to be way for much of the race. I never realised little old ladies, all hunched over with their woolly running gloves, were quite so quick. I had a few tussles with a particular old lady who kept getting me on the downhills and I kept clawing back on the uphills. However, I won in the end by pushing her over into a hedge. OK but it did cross my mind but I managed to overtake a fair few in the last Km to come home in the 170's. The time was somewhere about 25 / 30 mins which I was quite happy about. I followed that up this morning with a usual Thursday morning X-country run. A few tumbles this morning into puddles and other sh*t as both myself and Barnesy struggled with wintery footings. The Whitwell Water Tower run is a nasty one and I will get it done.

April is not going to be easy. I realise that Tenzing is split between those in London and those outside; logistics of coming into London are unfortunately difficult and expensive too and it is a shame that weekly contact is unachievable helping each other on Trim Trails, etc which is why it is important to keep in regular contact - email, etc. I intend to meet up as often as can and I am looking forward to a beer or two on the 22nd November. I am sure efforts are being made by those of us who don't see the rest as often on the fitness and personally I am working hard. I know I can run these courses and races but I do struggle with demons in my head that basically tell my legs to go to the pub. Some days are better than others and a lot of it is purely in my head. Some days I can nail a long run and others, usually cold and frosty mornings, I find it hard. My body / stamina is much better its just the bastard in my head telling me to stop. My fitness schedule now is getting me out 3 to 4 to, sometimes, 5 mornings a week now - apart from anything else I have proved I can stick to this regime and actually enjoy it, sometimes. I am also looking into Spinning Classes alongside my regular circuits morning - which may add a little variety. Being in a gym environment, I may have to put something down the front of my spandex though - everyone else seems to. my local gym is s you would expect in November; pretty empty, apart from the guys with "small man syndrome", you know, those guys that wear clothing that's too tight, coat themselves in some sort of fencing creosote and forearm lift vein-poppingly heavy weights and kissing their biceps as they do it into a mirror, smirking at the poor fatso in the circuits class. When you stand next to them they come up to your waist. YouTube has a few videos of Spin classes and it looks as though it could do some damage but I think I will give it a go. Every week I am trying to build up the running distance and the frequency. April will be hard going but I owe it to the trip, my wallet and now sponsors to give it what I can. I prefer the me now to when I started my fitness in July - I am sure I will continue with my running after Everest has long passed; I hope so.

Rain, Marathon's and Bogies..........

Morning Ritchie, Morning All......
Another fine day in Gotham City.

I don't know why anyone wants to live in this bloody country - the weather today is quite simply, shite.

Anyway, to horse.

Reading around the Blogs over the last few days it seems that a fair bit has been going on with the trip and it has been a shame to read about the guys that have had to pull out for one reason or another. Some of them I hadn't really met yet and some I definitely hadn't. It must be a sad but sometimes inevitable part of these types of trips, I would thought - people's circumstances do change , things do crop up and often tough calls have to made for the greater good in every direction. I wish everyone well that had had to pull out recently.

Fundraising has been great with quite a few phone calls coming in to me last week asking to get a better understanding of the trip and some personal contacts who are keen to show their support for the expedition. People are genuinely taken by this trip and what it's core aims are and are happy to help me and the trip reach the goals. I hope to build on this and do them proud next April. I also sat with a young journalist /cricket mate of mine who is hoping to get a piece about the trip and my preparations for it in the local press. I will know more soon.

I have signed up for the Bath Half Marathon next March - my Brother and his wife are running and I think a few of the Everest Lads are too - and more immediate than that I have 3 evening running meets - only 5kms - but something "official" to get under my belt on top of my weekly running and circuits schedule. The anti is being upped all the time and my "cake eating demons" are constantly being fought. I won last week. I even went out in public for the first time in my Ron Hill package-munching, spandex, lycra, spiderman leggings. My wife had given me "you look fine" looks for the last few weeks , chewing her fists, as I have been growing the spuds to be able to wear them in public. She has promptly excused herself to go and explode with laughter elsewhere in the house. I don't mind, Ron Hill wore them. Whoever he is.

Watching my little family getting bigger since Lexie was born has, on several occasions, made my stomach do a little "loop-the-loop", recently. Gut-pangs that mean, come April, I think I am going to find it very hard to leave for the two weeks or so for the trip. I will miss bath times and the other small things that (when you are actually doing them means getting wet, screamed at and little noses being wiped on you) I take for granted a little. I am not overtly emotional like this and I promise I'm not going to sing or anything but I think it's going to be hard, that's all. I know the trip will be an experience that will never be repeated and one that I fully intend to get as much out of as I can and help get off the ground and reach the goals that it is so deserving of. It will also go like a flash too, so although I think I will miss my Girls, I will back with them soon, so I can be splashed and get bogies wiped on me again soon enough. And that's just the wife.

.......................Magic.