Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

Let's start with a hypothetical scenario: If a marathon runner is the first person to cross the finish line and is given both a chip and gun time of 2 hours 45, and another runner of the same gender crosses the line as the 10th person but with a gun time of 2 hours 47, but a chip time of 2 hours 43, who is the winner? IAAF rules of competition say that the official time is the gun time, and that awards or prizes are given on that basis. I was once informed that the gun time is used as this ensures everybody in the race has the same conditions and therefore nobody has an advantage - rumour or not, the use of gun or chip time is certainly a contentious issue when it comes to winners and losers, and one that no doubt causes a great deal of debate. I've been a runner for well over 30 years now, and yet today was the first time I have experienced losing out on a podium position because 2 people that did not pass me in a race made the choice to start further back in the ...

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy again, and there is even more to come! Firstly, we had news that whilst Andy had been successful in the job interview which would take us to North Carolina, visas to enter and work in the USA are extremely difficult to get hold of nowadays and it could potentially have taken up to 12 months before he was granted a work visa. Needless to say, whilst this was disappointing in some respects, it was also a relief as it now means that we are staying put in Calgary with no intentions of going anywhere - that is unless our permanent residency application to stay in Canada is refused! With knowing that relocation in the next couple of months is no longer a possibility, I've been scouting around for events to compete in, which for me is often risky business as I usually end up entering things on a whim. The good news is that I have managed more self-control this time and the only thing I have actually signed up for is the Blitz...