The indoor season ended for me on the 11th March, not through injury as you might first think, but because I was naffing off on holiday to Mexico, the home of Tequila. The trip coincided with the European Masters Indoor Championships in Madrid, which was originally my intended destination as I would have liked to "Do Madrid". However, that would have ended up with the wife performing surgery on me using a pair of rusty scissors, due to it being my wedding anniversary, and not just any anniversary, but my 30th. So sadly I wouldn't be "Doing Madrid", despite the dozens of my masters friends encouraging me to go.
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| Mayan temple complete with built in callendar |
I was able to follow my friends escapades over the live feed that I occasionally got access to due to the hotel having a decent WiFi. So I especially enjoyed seeing my old mate Glyn Sutton doing the double in the 60m and 200m sprints in between me visiting a Mayan Temple. It was there that we learnt that the Mayan's had invented a game similar to Quiditch without the brooms, the winner of which was awarded the dubious honour of being sacrificed to the gods. A few candidates jumped to mind at this point, but I satisfied myself with just using Facebook to wish my friends well and toasting their numerous successes with various local Tequilas.
Ahh , yes! Tequila. During one of our many shopping trips, I was fortunate enough to visit a Tequila "museum". What the Mexicans class as a museum I would class more of a Tequila shop, though in their defence, they did explain how they make the hundreds of different versions of Tequila. They have also cottoned on to the technique of ageing their spirit in second fill oak casks, in the same way as my other passion, single malts are. It's quite clear that the Mexicans have no patience, as the oldest I could find was a mere seven year old. So in order to test the similarities or otherwise between Tequila and whisky, I made the sacrifice and volunteered manfully to do some market comparison using the bottle of 12 year old Strathisla that I had brought with me from the UK.
It was hard work, and resulted in several hangovers that needed treatment involving lounging around pools drinking cocktails. I was eventually forced to have a break from this research as I also needed to complete some scuba diving in a sober state, apparently its quite dangerous to drink-dive.
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| The imfamous 7 year old Tequila |
We eventually had to return to reality, having spent our wedding anniversary watching the Caribbean sun rise to the clink of champagne flutes and the appropriate contents. We of course brought home several bottles of Tequila and the remnants of the single malt which was a challenge to our weight allowance - forced me to drink more of the whisky to get the cases under the limit, but we made it. A tough job but I had to do it.
Once back in the UK, I resolved to get back to fitness and targeted the World Masters Championships in September, specifically the decathlon. No pressure then, just 5 months to loose 1 stone and get fit and fast, baring in mind the winter of injuries. I had no doubt I would be re-acquainting myself with my friend the bear and his fridge.
My first session, a simple 4x200m speed endurance one, would surely be within my capability, especially as 35 seconds seemed ample allowance with 3 minutes recovery. I don't take too well to the track, usually ending up pulling one or more calf muscles, so I aimed to run on grass. Of course, this being Wales, grass means mud. Anyone tried sprinting on mud, cross country sprinting makes for entertaining running, add to that being chased by dogs and you can guess what might happen. Well, I completed the first session in one piece, just, nearly did the splits twice, and managed to put a dog in the bushes. How did I put a dog in the bushes I hear you ask! Well its the usual story, I was on the second rep when this Dalmatian spots me running and despite cries from its owner, the dog heads straight for me full of fun. I saw him coming and worked out where the daft beggar was going to intercept me, near the bushes as it happened. So just as we came together, I kicked, dog went behind me, hit the mud and slid into said bushes. The owner was last seen pissing himself laughing while re-attaching the lead and leaving the field of play. Turned out to be the fastest rep in 32.
This was all well and good but after 4 weeks of mud, track and road (yes road!) I had no idea how fitness was going, speed certainly wasn't going anywhere, so the first outdoor match of the season should tell me much. That would be the Welsh Senior League in Cardiff on the 22nd April then. Watch this space.
