So I arrived at about 11pm in the hope of finding some seats to sleep on, but to my luck they where all taken by professional airport sleepers. After doing a full lap of the airport I decided to go into Spar and buy some cider and monster munch, after purchasing these essential items I sat down on the floor next to the seats just waiting for someone to move. As I sat down drinking my cider and eating my monster munch I thought back to last year when I was doing this race for England and how I hadn't drunk in nearly 2 months in preparation for this race, here I am 1 year on a bloody lad!
So after a uncomfortable 14 hours in the airport I board the plane and make my way to Slovenia, 3 hours on and I arrive at my hotel which has kindly been paid for by the race organisers including free pick up and all you can eat food!!
Soon as I arrived I went out for a 40 minute run where I waved and said HIYA to the locals and avoided tripping over cabbages.
Soon as I arrived at the hotel, Emma clayton Accompanied by her Dad Phil and her boyfriend Ste + Adam Osborne and Nat White. After they had unpacked and done their runs we sat down for dinner and us lot being proper lads we had a beer.
The next day was pretty good as we decided to head into Ljublijana to conquer some castles and taste some Slovenian COCK, after about 2 hours of walking round the city in the hot Slovenian sun I decided it would be best to hydrate myself so I ended up having some COCK drink which did the trick and put a smile upon my face.
After hours of fun in the city we got a taxi back to the hotel, me Adam and Nat went for a 20 minute easy run followed by some strides and I decided to do some dance drills. Soon as I finished my run to good timing the England team had arrived at the hotel consisting of the boss man Greg Hull also known as great egg, Tom and Mark Addison who are like my brothers from another mothers, Joe Morwood Freddie Slemeck and Dionne Allen + Ali lavender. The team was also accompanied by Sharron Woods and Emma Bayliss from Wales + not to forget Lauren the big cat Jeska who is just a salting brilliant person.
After I had greeted the England team we headed up to another hotel where the opening ceremony thing was taking place. Pretty much all of the team turned to me on the way to the hotel and said " Josh I'm really glad your doing this race as your a really nice person and it would be rubbish without you" I could only agree with them.
Because we arrived quite early to the ceremony we had to wait outside, as we stood outside this gave us plenty of time to talk, most of us stood up in a circle and chatted to Lauren the big cat Jeska listening to how the other night she had a 15 incher. To mine and the rest of the group stood around we where all shocked because she doesn't seem the type of person who would have a 15 incher, like maybe a 9 incher but definitely not a 15 incher. I explained to her how it's weird that having a 9 incher in each hand is obviously more than a 15 incher but seems more manageable.(pizza)
So the opening ceremony started with a meal that consisted of pasta salad pasta and more pasta followed by cake. Soon as the cake was being served me and Dionne raced up like as fast as Eugene Bulk and Asolph Trowell, it seemed at this point that this trip would be competitive between the both of us but as you will find out in like 12 hours after reading the rest of this we sort of became a team like Laurel and Hardy. After Dionne had sampled each cake and put them back on the table as if they haven't been slightly eaten she decided that the cakes didn't match her high standards.
When the eating had been finished the race organiser Tomo Sarf went through the race and handed out the numbers to the other competitors which included some Swiss Italian Austrian Turkish wardrobes and the Hungary people who where in fact very Hungary all weekend as they spent most of the time around the food table ( Dionne can back this one up )
Race day
I woke up around 6 am to do my stretches for my hip which has pretty much been a problem since Kenya which has had a big affect on my year and made me run like a little girl, to add to this after months of physio on the hip and in the last few weeks getting in some decentish races I went out after the Northern road relays for the big dance and injured my back throwing shapes on the dance floor. As of last Monday I wasn't going to come to Slovenia as I couldn't barely walk without being in agony, but lucky for me I have a good physio ( Duncan Mason ) he's pretty well good and you should see him if you have any problems.
After the stretching I head down for breakfast to join Phil Adam Ali Greg and Dionne for the free food. I sat across from Ali and Dionne and they both couldn't believe how big my banana was.
I arrived to the race with Emmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaa Ste Phil, Adam and Nat. Soon as I arrive the Slovenian music is pumping out beside the track, I sit down for around 20 minutes and start to think about the big dance and what moves I'm going to pull off.
20 mins later and team England arrive with the boss man Greg, I went for a warm up with the Addisons, as we warmed up I through in a bit of dancing as we passed the opposition trying to physce them out ( pretty much well did )
So 10 minutes till it all kicks off, I remove my pants and top so I'm just down to my shorts and my brilliant purple Northumberland fell runners vest, then the final piece of my dance outfit my orange Salomon speedcross 2 which are an essential piece of kit if you want to dance with the big boys. I suggest to anyone who hasn't got these that they should go out and buy some because they're pretty well good, I went from being last picked in the team to the captain, thanks Salomon for making my life better.
So I'm stood on the start line in the middle of the pack not wanting to get caught in a fast start, I'm stood next to Ali who's looking pretty cool in her England kit and of course some Salomon speed cross 2. As I stand there waiting for the gun to go off I notice what I can only describe as a man wearing speedos, not wanting to keep this to myself I point it out to Ali. She looked as shocked as I did!
The gun goes off and I'm pretty chilled out like somebody sunbathing, after about 70 seconds I pass Lauren the big cat Jeska and because I wanted her to do well I slapped myself in the head and screamed go on LOZZA. About 20 minutes into the race in order Adam Tom Joe Mark some italian and me are closely bunched together. As we went up the first main climb I shouted up to them " come on England work together this is beautiful" when we get to the top and descend this is when they opened a bigger gap on me as my lower back started to hurt and slowed me down. On the second descent where Nat White was watching I got to the bottom and nearly flew off the edge but luckily a bounded off the tree like a super action movie hero. Back to the climbing and I was closing down the gap on the lads who where closely bunnched together.
I finished strongly on the last hill to take 14th with Mark just behind me then Adam and Joe 1 place infront and Tom a further 2 places infront then the smoothest guy I know Orlando Edwards finished 9th, Freddie finished in 21st which is a solid debut to say he's new to mountain running! I was pleased with my race as it was a better time than last year and I feel like I can improve lots next season if I stay injury free and hopefully top 5 and get closer to the wardrobe.
Emmmmmmmmaaaa Clayton finished 7th which meant she finished 3rd in the overall series which is pretty well good( I'm proud of you ) Dionne finished 9th after falling but luckily this didn't affect her good dancing on the night out, in 10th place was Ali who had a good run despite being stuck behind a man in speedos at the start of the race.
Keeping to my tradition of the race I drank 3 beers pretty much straight afterwards and watched the ceremony where Orlando Tom and Joe collected some prize money and not to forget Emmmmmmmmaaaaaa Clayton.
I made my way back the mountain hand in hand with Tom who I felt really safe with, when we got to the bottom we waited for the hotel to pick us up. To make the time pass I played some basketball with Ste Tom and Ali.
I was getting loads of basketball goal shots just like the legendary basketballer Michael Jackson. The basketball prematurely ended for me as my back was killing so I went and sat down with the others.
Presentation time= free wine
All of us went to the hotel looking really fashionable and ready to drink free wine and beer, when we arrived we pretty much did that. As usual the Hungary team was hanging around the food table living up to there name ( Dionne will agree with me )
After hours of drinking eating rose petals and watching Emmaaaaaa receiving her medal we headed into town
I handed my phone to Tom and said ring the hotel and ask them to take us into town. As I'm walking down with Ste Emmmaaaa Mark Nat and Dionne I heard Tom saying " Hiya it's Tom Addison I've just done a mountain race, I was wondering if you can take is into town? " I'm not sure what hotel where staying at but your going to take us" I was in stitches and literally doing one of them ROFLS, I did tell him that it was our hotel his ringing.
To all of our shock the hotel Taxi picks us up out of nowhere and takes us into town and the night out begins.
The first bar we went in Seemed to be full of Slovenian gangsters and working girls, not to be bothered about this we sat down and fueled up for the big dance. Dionne downed her drink closely followed by me then trailing slowly behind was Tom. Mark and Emmmmmaaaa decided to play a drinking game which consisted of flipping a coin a drinking your alcoholical drink if you picked the wrong side, I decided to play my own game of 1 2 3 get f****d in which you repeatedly down your drink after 3 at any time of saying it.
Bar number two was a little, quiet pub and after ordering our drinks we began dancing after back to back good songs came on like The fine young cannibals and Survivor to name a few, looking around the bar I noticed that we where the only ones dancing and having a good time. I think that all of our good moves intimidated the locals who just store on in amazement.
So it was job done in this bar and it was onto the Elevator club to show off our good moves to a larger crowd, wasting no time me and Dionne fueled ourselves at the bar and began to pull out some pretty amazing moves. In all my years as a good dancer when I'm out not many people I know can match my moves but me and Dionne gelled just like Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke did, people looked on in amazement as we finished off on our signature the teacup which for legal reasons I cannot tell you how to do the move because it takes 2 good dancers and if you try it you WILL get hurt. Job done in this place.
We headed back to the second pub for more dancing but after we left the place the locals had heard all about us and had packed the place out. We took our dancing to the street as each and everyone of us needed space to create our dance shapes. 30 Minutes on and we decided that we wanted to head back home as racing and dancing made us very tired eggs.
Sunday/Funday
I managed to survive all of the dancing without any major injuries and had a brilliant night out which I'm sure everyone else will agree on. Boss man Greg had planned a trip to Lake Bohinj with the English team and the welsh ladies which I went along to because it probably wouldn't be the same without me. Emmmmmmaaaa Ste Phil Nat and Adam + Lauren the big cat Jeska went to Lake bled because they where flying home later that day, we dropped them off on the way to Lake Bohinj because it was on the way so we said our goodbyes and did a bit of waving and I threw a few thumbs up and that.
This was a brilliant day, when we arrived I felt really tired and hungover and wanting to throw a boat at my head. I decided not to throw a boat at my head because I ended up going on a run with Tom Mark Joe Freddie and Dionne with Greg Sharon Ali and Emma setting off in front.
As I ran down the road for the 1st 15 minutes waving to people driving by I thought to myself this run is pretty boring I wish I was eating olive oil with salt, but then as we merged off into a trail we where surrounded by some pretty awesome mountains and lakes that where so clear that if you threw a pebble in you would almost certainly see it.
It was probably one of the best runs I have ever done in terms of scenery and running with some good people. When we completed the running we headed to a restaraunt for some pizza, I think the waiter that was serving us had just been told that he was to work 2 years for free or that his racing pigeons had all died.
I was just shocked out how you can come up to a bunch of nice people like us and not be happy. Dick.
My pizza was actually nice but sadly it was overshadowed by a dick, after this we headed into the freezing cold lake for a swim which was pretty cool. I'm more of a dancer than a swimmer but as I got my swim on and looked around at the mountains I thought I'm pretty much winning in life.
After our swim the girls sunbathed along with Greg and his nice umbrella, us lads had a left hand skimming contest on the lake which was pretty good. As we all threw our pebbles with our left hand we all looked really really special! this was followed by a game of not clay but big rock not pigeon shooting of a rock, this also added to the graph of fun.
We finished our day off at Lake Bohinj with some ice creams and headed back to the hotel where we would have another drink and listen to Tom do a scouse accent and tell us about how half a bird hit his mate which had me laughing out loud. Just before we all went to bed me and Dionne took a statue of Laurel and Hardy up the stairs and placed it outside Sharron and Emma's room in which a note was placed on top that said " Hey babes I used to be all laurel but now I'm hardy, Greg xxxxx"
Monday was the last day for everyone apart from me so after our morning run me Tom Mark Sharron Ali Emma and Dionne headed into Ljuilbana before the flew out in the evening.
After a few hours of wandering around I decided to get a 6 scoop ice cream which was pretty big, in England you would need planning permission but in Slovenia you make your own rules. After eating the 6 scoop I really felt like I could go onto achieve great things in life like eat a 7 scoop or even handle 15 inches of ice cream. We only had about 1 hour left in town so we made the most of it by looking in a sports shop and waiting for the idiot taxi driver to turn up. As we waited Dionne told me how she wanted a ice cream and after a little wander around and not finding any ice cream stalls I went on a little mission to get her an ice cream.
I think I ran like a 3.17 minute mile to get to a ice cream shop to get a strawberry cornetto for her, I then ran back at a steadier pace in 3.18 minute mile hoping that she would be dead happy that I got her ice cream but then she told me that she only liked vanilla. I then stood at the side of the road disappointed with myself eating my seventh scoop of ice cream. I am pretty sure though that I'm still her hero so it wasn't such a bad thing.
We arrived back at the hotel 30 minutes before the taxi was going to take everyone away from me, I could see that everyone looked emotional at the thought of leaving me behind. Dionne wasted no time In getting the last bit of sun and topping her tan up by sitting on a chair in the middle of the road as cars swerved past her like a action movie film, I must also mention how fashionable she has been this trip and wore a smart outfit for every occasion.
Time was up and everyone got into the minibus and waved goodbye to me, I could see and smell the tears in the air as they said goodbye to a really nice person ME! I did the usual thing when you say goodbye like rub your hand on the window to Tom and Dionne and I also chased down the minibus waving shouting noooooo!
I then walked back to the hotel where I sat down with a beer and reminisced about the good times.
About 2 hours later I had tea and comfort eated over the loss of all them good eggs, I did pretty well because I had about 3 plates full followed by lying on my bed feeling really ill watching Eraser starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
The last day
So it was down to me to finish this mission off, I felt like Jack Bourne or Geoff Bond a lone action hero. I started the day off with some breakfast as per usual, after 2 hours I did a session on the road which consisted of 12x 1 minute off a minute.
The session was complete and I had my final Slovenian shower before checkout time, now it was time to fill up 5 hours before I fly, I decided to walk into the next town for a supermarket which took about 70 minutes.
I arrived at the supermarket and bought some jagermeister cola and some fish chips for my dinner.
After having all of these I headed to another supermarket 30 minutes further away and spent my last euro's on some beer. I walked back to the hotel drinking beer and listening to WHAM looking pretty fashionable and thinking I'm pretty much winning in life. I arrived back to the hotel in time and got took to the airport to end a pretty well good trip in Slovenia.
This trip wouldn't of been as good if all of the people mentioned didn't come, so thanks for turning up.
I've learnt a lot of stuff and feel like I have got clevererar
JT
