It's like those bags you get from fancy shops featuring the names of their glamorous locations. The roll call of Postal Trips around the country and a bit further afield in some cases. We came, we saw, we conquered.
Plenty of eyes will be on Paris later this Summer once the Olympics gets under way. For now they had to make do with our own Olympians as Mark Fenton and Louise Boaz set off our marathon season in style with a run around the streets of the French capital.
Then it was Donna Gold's turn to put in an impressive performance on t'other side of the Pennines in Manchester. And then after what felt like weeks of waiting it was the Postal fivesome taking on the streets of London last Sunday.
Judging by the smiling faces it was success all round as Amy Johnson, Sophie & Elliot Cole, Hannah Holmes & Simon Middleton managed their way safely round the course amongst 50,000 others.
I'm not sure what I can say about London that hasn't already been said going back to 1981 when it all started. It's stating the obvious but it's a mammoth event. How they make it all happen without seemingly anything going wrong is impressive in the extreme. I think I had more go wrong in one weekend than ever before but it didn't spoil the occasion. First our accommodation was cancelled on the Saturday morning. Thankfully it improved from there but I feared we wouldn't find somewhere at such short notice. We did indeed find somewhere, that then took two hours to check into due to an IT fault that left them not knowing who was in a room and who wasn't. Hotel room bingo. Take a key and take your chance. You might end up with your wife or you might end up with someone else's!!
Despite our flirtation with Fawlty Towers, there were loads of positives. The atmosphere was out of this world, the weather was significantly better than it's been during our ongoing period of wondering if you'd be better buying an ark and we all got to the finish.
Good luck to everyone who has entered the ballot for next year. The odds are stacked against us but someone's got to win a place. Failing that you can always apply for the club place. See our recent post on the rules for applying and watch this space for it opening up for applications later this year.
To finish off marathon season, kind of, we've got Alex Davis, Marc Pearson and Adam Love heading down to Lincolnshire for the Boston Marathon this Sunday. A very flat, Brass Monkey type course is as much as I remember so if the wind stays away watch out for good things from our guys.
Two days after London saw the start of the Summer League. I'm not sure what's harder, 42K of endurance or 10K on your limit. It was fabulous to see a huge turnout in Postal colours and we were rewarded with Dom Carter finishing in an impressive 4th place overall. Check out the race report here and watch out for a mention of a top 3 age category finish by Di Campbell.
Looking forward to more of the same in Pocklington for the next race. Historically the weather takes a turn for the worse on the streets of Pock so bring wellies. And raincoats. And maybe even your sledge.
I did comment above that Boston kind of finishes off marathon season. Not really. In three week's time we've got six of us taking on the Hardmoors 200 mile relay. Starting with the Wolds Way and finishing with the Cleveland Way, the team have 60 hours to get the 200 miles done. Emily Cox, Simon Middleton, Adam Love, Lou Mamalis, Natty Hodson and Marc Pearson are tasked with the challenge of getting the miles done. There will be a live tracker available nearer the time so you can follow their progress and maybe even get out on the course and treat us to an ice cream!
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