Cannonball

I thought I’d made a terrible mistake. I’d bought a ticket to see Man/Woman/Chainsaw the night before I was running the Cardiff Half marathon. I’d been feeling tired all week, and the thought of going to going to a gig made my heart sink, but if I will do these things...Sian and I told all our mates that we were just going to stay for three/four songs. We’d seen the band before at Greenman three years ago and they shambolic, then at Swn maybe last year when they were better, so expectations weren’t high, but man was I wrong. As soon as the vilonist bounded onto the stage they were electric! They just fizzled with good time energy. They gave shifted up a few gears in a very short space of time. I keep meaning to go back to the album. As if they weren’t good enough they also threw in a cover of ‘Cannonball’ by the Breeders. We stayed for the whole set and but a ton of merch, great to see a band stepping up a gear.

The next day I didn’t feel too bad and had a gradual start to the day. This year’s half was different becuase I was raising funds for Cardiff Food Bank. All the Food Bank runners met up on the Museum steps for a photo prior to the start. This was the first year that they’d introduced a ballott and much to my shock and disgust I didn’t get a place, me! I was happy to raise funds though for a charity close to my heart which is staffed by larvely human beings. I wasn’t super confident about the race as recently I’d been on the piss in Europe for three weeks, and I hadn’t done any special training for the run, so was hoping that I could get by on a foundation of fitness, and you know what? It was fine. I actually quite enjoyed it. Had to stop for my standard first mile piss, but it was pretty much plain sailing (or running). We got ‘Eye of the Tiger’ fairly early around mile 3, and this being my 19th Cardiff Half and the 8th(?) on this route I knew where the pain points were, like the hills towards the Bay at mile 4 and the Magic Roundabout at mile 7. Really enjoyed running across the Barrage. There was no Drag Queen on a truck at mile 10 which there has been for the pas few years, which was a shame. The route around Roath Park never seems to end, in reality it’s only a mile and half but feels double that.

Before I knew it I was running a sprint finish, I was collecting my medal and it was over for another year. Later after I’d cleaned myself up I met Sian for lunch who told me she’d managed to get me tickets for next year’s Glastonbuty. Love that girl.