A bit better...

The results are in, out of 244:
Swim 61st
Bike 174th
Run 115th

Overall 140th

(The winner finished in 1 hr 5 mins 4 secs and the last finisher in 2hrs 41 mins 20 secs - question: who made the greatest effort, eh?)

Now, I must learn how my bike shoes do up and undo...

Very happy...

Yes, it is over and I finished well! Total time 1 hr 34 min and a bit. It's a fascinating head journey, I find, when doing these things. You're up, you're down, you believe, you lose faith in yourself one minute, you regain it the next...

The swim was good, under 7 mins, but I clambered out feeling exhausted - oh dear, what have I done? I've still got the bike and the run to go! I've only just started and I'm done for...but then I got to have a slight rest as I couldn't remember how my bike shoes undid! Ha, ha! Anyway, this has to be one of the most beautiful bike routes - through the New Forest, avoiding ponies (cattlegrids are a bit scary on a bike in the rain I can tell you...). Onto the bike and it was fine (flat course, this one) - I kept my cadence up which may have helped. Also I knew where I was in the ride by checking my time, at Salisbury I felt all over the place and thought it would never end. Just over 1 hour and I was back at the transition area, this time trying to figure how to get the shoes off! Starting the run felt bad, really hard and I decided that I would just keep going, NO stopping. As it progressed, though, it got easier and easier ending up in me being surprised that the finish came so quickly :-)

The two pictures are the same Triathlon, one in 1995 and today.

13 years difference! 13 years! Wow, you know you're getting older when you can say that ;-)

Southampton Triathlon...

...is in the morning! Can't wait :-)
I'll be in the water at 9:25 and should be well finished by Monday.

Pascal's Prayer

“Lord, help me to do great things as though they were little,
since I do them with Your power;
and little things as though they were great,
since I do them in Your name.”

So...

Frederick Beuchner wrote:
"Intellectually we all know that we will die, but we do not really know it in the sense that the knowledge becomes a part of us. We do not really know it in the sense of living as though it were true. On the contrary, we tend to live as though our lives would go on forever."

Francis Chan, "Crazy Love, Overwhelmed by a relentless God."

You shall go to the ball...

I believe my knee is better, hurray! This being the case I'll be hurting myself again this Sunday morning taking part in the Southampton Fast Twitch Triathlon. Love the name, eh? Fast Twitch, referring to muscle fibres that make you go fast. Hmm... I'm nervous even thinking about it! Well, nervous and excited at the same time...

400m swim, 18 mile bike, 3.5 mile run, no problem. Oh, unless there's any sort of hill on the bike in which case I nearly grind to a halt, or the organisers fail to put up CORRECT SIGNAGE ON THE RUN SECTION AND SEND ME THE WRONG WAY EVENTUALLY HAVING TO ASK A RANDOM OLD LADY HAVE YOU SEEN A LEISURE CENTRE AROUND HERE ANYWHERE WHITE OAK I SHALL SAY NO MORE.

And relax.

Nerves are funny things, they make you visit the bathroom before the race with a particular sense of urgency, and in this I am not alone. It's the only time I see a queue for the gents!

Nowadays we associate emotions with the heart but the Greeks, I think, held that the liver was where it's at feelings-wise. This makes much more sense, it's in the intestines if you ask me (proof is in the previous paragraph!). After all, we talk about having the "guts" to do something or not, don't we?*

Anyway, enough wibble for now, I need to go and, erm, pay a visit...

Oh, still no sign of Boots the cat and the sighting was another cat that looked a bit like him :-(

*It's just occurred to me that St Valentine's Day cards possibly wouldn't carry the same appeal with images of intestines on them, would they??

And here we go again...

A while back I posted here about exam grades and golf clubs. And here we go again, this time with A levels. In light of Universities having to reject record numbers of students with three A grades there will be, wait for it, an A* grade. So now the grades chunk down one step as with GCSEs.

I actually heard someone on Radio 4 in support of this saying that those who in future got A grades wouldn't feel as though they'd done any worse than those who got A*. Eh? What are you talking about?? The current A will become a de facto B. There can only be one top grade! Let's count it: one.

It seems to me that the examination process serves two main purposes:
a) Students achieve something tangible. Good for them.
b) We differentiate between students according to their attainment. Good for us.

Problems come when we want all the students to not only achieve something, but achieve everything. When I was a Secondary School Maths Teacher I saw a continuum of ability in my pupils. No really, I did. You may not like it but some were very bright, some were very, erm, challenged and most were in the middle. It's just the way it is.

Why are we trying to pretend that we're all the same? So you got a B, that's because you didn't do well enough to get an A. Tough? Probably, but the alternative is what we have each year as the results come out: more and more bunching at the top leading to the inability to differentiate between the best.

I see the sense in criterion referenced testing for some sort of entrance or medical exam where a definitive standard needs to be achieved, but what's the point with GCSEs and A levels?

I don't suppose there'd be any point suggesting a return to normative assessment? No, didn't think so, it just wouldn't be fair...

Where's he gone?

And while we were away Boots has done a runner. I hope. Socks is here but no Boots. I asked at some houses in our road and may have a sighting, I'll investigate.

I do hope we find him :-(

Back en Engleterre...

Ah yes, to be back in Blighty is great. The holiday was however, also, great! Two Gites (I think that's French for Cottages...) with a swimming pool and Jacuzzi, well you can't complain can you? I have a very nice tan now, although I fear it may fall off some time soon, although even my shins are far more presentable now than before I went. The highlights? Well. the final visit at the end of the French adventure to St Michel's Mount took my breath away! Even from afar as we approached I just needed to keep looking at it. Once atop this great edifice I was nearly overcome with vertigo, however, and just wanted to get back to terra firma - it was soooooo high up!

Also, a Chateau we visited was simply amazing - built just to show off!

I enjoyed being able to speak a little French: "Avez vous Wifi?" and "Pardon" and "Merci" etc...

There were too many flies and little or no web access - Mark and I had to drive to a "weefee" equipped bar and then nag them to get it working - we got there in the end, however, and managed to Send and Receive eventually.

For me, it was very good to feel a measure of detachment from what I do each day/week and take stock of things. To return with an invigorated vision and reassessment of the tasks in hand.

We shall see what fruit this produces forthwith.