Physical wreck

Reckon I've pulled of torn a muscle in my leg, its inside my thigh and really hurts when I stretch. I did it playing TT last thursday right at the end of the match, we were playing the doubles and only 3 points from finishing when I stretched for a ball and felt it. It wasn't too bad, I actually thought it was a bit of cramp so was able to finish.
Anyway at the weekend I've been away playing for Yorkshire Veterans and it went again in my first match. Maybe I should have packed in but to be honest while I was warmed up it was manageble but I could feel a sharp pain evertime I stretched for a forhand shot.
I managed to play all the team matches and we did well in our division which was expected to be tough. We won one, lost one & drew two of our team matches. Individually I managed to win 5 out of 8 singles (two of my defeats in a tight 5 set games) and 3 out of 4 doubles.
By the end of the weekend my leg was really sore partly due to the injury but partly due to normal wear and tear of a hard weekends play.
This morning I'm walking ok but if I have to stretch its quite bad, it was really painfull putting on my socks.
I have two more TT matches this week then thats it while after Christmas, they are on Wednesday & Thursday this week. They are nowhere near as tough as the county matches and hopfully I should get through without extending myself too much.

On top of that I've got a cold coming on, not too bad at present so I hope it clears quickly.

Bring it On

Yes the big match is on, the mighty whites are off to play "The Scum" on Jan 3rd.

We eventually saw off Kettering 5-1 after extra time, totally dominated the match and could easily scored double figures but still went in 1-1 after 90 minutes. In fact as the teams entered the last 15 minute period it was still level and looked like going to the dreaded lottery of penalties. However our substitutes came up trumps with two goals from American Mike Grella and one from the man from Congo Tresor Kandol. Our top striker Jermaine Beckford sealed it with a 5th.

So now its the match of hate, Manchester United on their own turf, really can't wait. Sure they are two divisions above us and are clear favorites but miracles can happen and we live in hope. Even if it goes to the form book I'm sure we'll give them a good run for their money. Putting it into perspective their top earners are on more money than our entire squad but who cares this is going to be our day.

The fans hate each other with a passion, the atmosphere will be electric and I expect a sell out crowd of around 80,000. They are supposed to give us 15% of the capacity so should be around 12,000 Leeds fans making the trip across the hills plus a few that get tickets in the home section (done that before myself, gotta keep your gob shut though and sit on the hands, lol).

Although it would be great to beat them on their own turf it would be just as good to draw and bring them back to our place, even their manager reckons its one of the most hostile atmospheres he has been to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_A.F.C._and_Manchester_United_F.C._rivalry

The "Wars of the Roses" will never end.

England versus USA

Well my American friends I've just watched the World Cup draw and our countries will be playing each other in next years finals in South Africa, I'm talking Football (thats Soccer to you).

We were both placed in group "C" along with Algeria and Slovenia. Actually with two going through to the knock out stages I reckon we could both make it with England top of course.

The big match takes place on June 12th in Rustenburg (Wherever that is).

Other groups put some fancied teams together such as Brazil, Ivory Coast & Portugal in group G which is already been called the group of death.

And not forgetting my Aussie friends I see you are in group G with Germany, Serbia & Ghana. Reckon you have a shout in that one especially with possibly two Leeds players in your squad Patrick Kisnorbo & Neil Kilkenny. In fact if you are runners up and England win ours we would meet in the last 16.

What an incentive

Well Leeds drew down at Kettering despite dominating the match and it'll now go to a replay at Elland Road.
What an incentive to win though, the winner is to play away to "The Scum" (Manchester United), we hate them almost as much as we love our own team (think the feeling is mutual).
Ok we are 2 leagues below them following our well publicised fall from grace but this is a great opportunity to show what our new players can do on the big stage. We would have nothing to lose, they would be clear favorites but this is the FA Cup and anything can happen.

It had to be tomorrow

My football team Leeds United are hardly ever on TV since their fall from grace through mismanagement and going bankrupt. Well you guessed it they are on tomorrow and I'm not about to watch it. I'll be in Hull playing TT in the Yorkshire league, maybe they'll have a TV at the venue.
I know their only on because most of the country want to see them have another disaster against a non league team in the FA Cup but I don't think that will happen so two fingers up to the rest.
In fact this season we've had plenty to cheer we are run away leaders of our division although still a long way to go.

On another note does any of you use Yahoo Messenger, I've just started using it today so if you do please add me.

Things really do happen in 3's

Well I hope its only 3's.

1. Sunday the flourescent light failed in the kitchen so that was my first repair of the week.

2. My Computor crashed, couldn't get in at all so had to revert back to factory settings. Lost everthing on there but luckily I had a lot backed up on a hard drive. Still downloading some software as I go.
To be honest its about on its last legs so reckon I'm gonna treat myself to a lap top for christmass.

3. Got up this morning and the central heating boiler was locking out, had a play around and eventually got it going without blowing the house up. Not sure how long it will last if it happens again I'll have to call the engineer out.


Ok thats enough about disasters on the good news front I've been looking at holidays for next year. I know my first trip will be back to Chicago, my two TT team mates want to go so the 3 of us are off at easter for a long weekend. We actually booked this week, got a really good hotel/flight deal for 6 nights.

Normally I've sorted my own travel plans out but I'm seriously thinking about going on a singles holiday, I've been checking out a few sites. Before my Aussie friends chelp up I'll admit I'm looking at coming to that part of the world either this year or early next year. I've actually looked at a organised trip 22 days, its expensive at around £4,000 but it includes a lot of extras and visits Perth (yes San you may regret the TT challenge, lol), Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Cairns, Sydney, Canberra & Melbourne. Seriously thinking about this, need to save though. - http://www.justyou.co.uk/australasia/australia/australia.aspx

Recharging Batteries

By this weekend I was exhausted, I'd had such a busy and hectic week,. So I've been taking it easy to recharge my batteries.

Last Friday I went to Blackpool, stayed over a couple of nights it was really busy as it was the last weekend of the illuminations. That wasn't the reason I was there, I was playing TT in the Veterans National league, we had 5 team matches winning two but losing three. I suppose it wasn't too bad as we got promoted last season and we look like avoiding relegation which was always the priority.

In fact its ben a big week of TT, tuesday we played in the York League and got a good 9-1 victory, its still early days but we are sat proudly top of the league. - http://sites.google.com/site/yorktabletennis/home/s09to10/div1

Another match on Wednesday this time against a team from Doncaster in the Yorkshire Clubs Championship and again a good 9-1 victory. Wasn't two hard to be honest but we know we have two much harder matches coming up against teams from Dewsbury and Hull, last seasons finalists.

And yet another match Thursday, this time in the Selby league, I was tired for this because I'd spent all day at hospital with my Dad who was having some tests. He was fine which was good but it was so long winded I got to the match late but still won all my singles in a 8-2 victory.

It wasn't all TT Monday I went to a wedding, it was one of my cousins who decided to tie the knot after living together for over 20 years. Then again it was a quick change and out to my Pool match, it was our last league game of the season which we won 5-4, got my singles but went down in the doubles.

Yep reckon I've earned a easy weekend.

Getting Wet

Since my last post I haven't had chance to do my Speed Walk/Jog so this morning I had a couple of hours to kill so decided to do a 6 mile walk.

It was breezy but quite sunny with a few light clouds so I just put a little jacket on. Well you've probably guessed about half way round it came really dark and the heavens opened. Of course I was at the part of the walk with virtually no shelter so I just carried on and got drenched. Eventually got into town where I sheltered until it cleared before walking home very wet.

Improving fitness

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned actually timing my short power walk/jog to make me work harder on getting fitter. To be honest I'm concentrating on fitness rather than weight loss, reckon eventually one will take care of the other.

Anyway when I first did this walk my time was 22 minutes 10 secs, I've improved each time and now its down to 20 minutes 40 secs. Ok I'm a long way from running the route but well on my way to breaking the 20 minute barrier (eventually I'll be running it in under 15 minutes I hope). I don't think I've run for runnings sake since I left school, ok chasing, kicking and hitting balls is different, I just need to make things competitive.

These are my results so far :-
12/10 - 22min 10sec
15/10 - 21min 54sec
20/10 - 21min 32sec
24/10 - 21min 25sec
28/10 - 20min 40sec

On another note I've noticed my rested pulse rate is slower recently, can't really think why. Its always been slightly over the normal 70bpm, between 72 & 76. Well for the last month the highest I've recorded it is 70bpm but I've took it as low as 62bpm but in general found it between 65 & 68bpm.

Played TT last night in the York league, doing good so far this season my team is unbeaten and I've won 16 out of 18 sets played. I have another match tomoz but in Selby League its our first league game.

Walking the Walls

Last thursday I had to take my Dad through to York hospital for an appointment and some tests. Anyway I had a few hours to kill so decided to walk the "City Walls".

Despite only living 12 miles from York I've never actually walked the full route around the City so I took my camera along to get some snaps of the route. The weather wasn't ideal because it was a wet and dull day but the photos are ok.

I reckon its somewhere between 2 & 3 miles in distance but I was in no rush so I'm not sure.

For those not up on our local history, York is a very ancient City and some of the walls date back to Roman times. The walls don't totally circle the City but cover a lot of it, one part now along the River Fosse was marshland so defences weren't required. Around the walls are a number of gateways caled "Bars", the main four been Micklegate Bar, Bootham Bar, Monk Bar & Walmgate Bar two of which house small museums. If anyone is interested in history Wikipedia can tell you more than me :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_city_walls

I took 60 photos in total you can check them out as a slideshow on my Flickr site :-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8308363@N02/sets/72157622645479252/detail/