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Flash Gordon and the Skye Ultra Trail. Come say hello? @RealSamJJones @brianblessed #Run #FlashGordon #Ultra #Skye

May 14, 2016

adventure racing, endurance, endurance running, events, Hillsborough to Anfield Run, Isle of Skye, marathon ultra, medal, Mental, Mental Strength, momentum, race run, Racing, running, Running mojo, Scotland, Skye Ultra Trail, Trail, Trail running, Twitter, Twitterverse, UK ultra chat, Ukrunchat, ultra, ultra marathon, Ultra Run, Ultra runner, Ultra running, ultraboy, ultraboyruns, Ultrachat, ultras, Uncategorized, Walking

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One of the guiltiest pleasures of my life is my love of the classic 1980 masterpiece ‘Flash Gordon’ starring the outrageously blonde Sam Jones, the tempting Melody Anderson, the debonair Timothy Dalton and of course Brian Blessed stealing the screen with his huge presence.

For God’s sake! Strap yourselves down! Quick!
One of the things I have recently discovered is that the film was part shot on location in the Isle of Skye – yes that’s right the runway scene at the beginning just before we discover that Flash hasn’t learnt to land a plane.

Gordon’s Alive
The good news is that the runway is still there and although I understand its fallen into disuse you can still get on there and grab a photo while wearing your ‘fan favourite’ Flash Gordon’ T-shirt. Trust me – I’m filled with a deep sense of glee knowing that in just a couple of weeks I’ll be grabbing that photograph.

Flying blind on a hawkman rocketcycle! Over to homing beam!
Now why is my running blog going on about my favourite movie? Ah well that’s pretty simple, as some of you know I’ll be running the 74 miles from the top of Skye to the bottom during the Skye Ultra Trail running event at the end of May and I had this amazing dream last night where Sam Jones, Brian Blessed and other cast members presented the runners with their medals for running from one end of the island to the other. I think it also had Brian May giving it riz on guitar in the background as I crossed the line – what a dream.

Forget it Ming, Dale’s with me
So here’s the thing, just if any of the cast/crew read this, if you happen to be passing Skye on May 28th/29th and wanted to eat some cake and say hi, if you happened to want to leave a message of good luck for the runners then that would be an awesome lift to those who will be battling (not Ming) the challenges of the Skye Trail and I imagine we would all jump up and down in joy.

Vultan: That must be one hell of a planet you men come from. Flash: Not half bad
I realise I’m probably abusing my own blog but putting this out there but if you don’t ask you don’t get. The Skye Trail Ultra will be one of the hardest races I have ever committed to and especially as it takes place just five days after I will have completed the incredibly tough 80 mile Hillsborough to Anfield Run in memory of the 96 people who died at the Hillsborough Tragedy.

I suppose Ming put it best when he said;

Pathetic Earthlings! Hurling your bodies out into the void without the slighest inkling of who or what is out here. If you knew anything about the true nature of the universe, anything at all, you would have hidden from it in terror.

Well I’ll be hurling my body into the void and while I might not know what I’ll be facing I’ll be hoping to invoke the spirit of Flash Gordon and make sure I save the day.

Diary: Tales of a London City Cyclist – was it attempted murder?

January 28, 2015

cycling, ultraboy

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‘Morning your madge…’ I thought as I cycled gently past Buckingham Palace.
‘Morning armed police officers, pigeons and fellow traffic users…’ It’d just a series of simple thoughts I use to keep me tranquil as I cycle. Occasionally I’ll notice the lycra clad arse of an attractive lady and might put a bit of effort into keeping up with her but generally I’m just bimbling along.

Having gone through my usual ritual I dropped down through the gears as I approached the Hyde Park Corner roundabout and particularly the crossing from Green Park towards the war memorials. This is one of those places that even if the road is clear you don’t risk trying to get across – it’s dangerous and full of unknowns.

It was about 7.43am and the lights had turned red for the traffic and the green man was blazing at the cyclists and pedestrians – beckoning us across the road. It was a surprisingly thin smattering of traffic and the 10 or so cyclists and the 5 runners headed over the road – as we were about halfway a courier van came thundering towards us, in particular 3 runners were in his line of sight. Each of them stepped back despite being more than halfway across the road and rather than hit his breaks the van driver sped up, missing commuters of all shapes and sizes by inches.

Several of the only just missed cyclists and runners looked shocked by the drivers actions – it wasn’t just that the van raced through the red light, it wasn’t just that the van raced between people and cyclists it was the fact that he sped up that shocked most people who witnessed it.

In true British form we all did the sensible thing and simply carried on with our journey but several of us spoke as we prepared to cross the second set of lights and we were all a little shaken.

‘Inches.. that’s all it was’ said one
‘He ACTUALLY sped up’ said another
‘Cunt’ was the response of the third

I asked if they were okay and then went about my business but I was nervous that day and since it happened about a fortnight ago I’ve been much more conscious of the traffic lights, the flow of traffic and annoyingly I’ve even been cycling more slowly.

I suppose the lesson is that commuting in London is a dangerous game whatever your mode of transport and that you must be constantly vigilant as not everyone follows the laws of the land.

Safe commuting everyone.

#SDW50 – an unexpected playlist

April 3, 2014

fun, marathon ultra, momentum, Racing, running, ultra, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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I enjoy music when I’m running but very rarely when I’m running ultras, this has been very much the case since I started the longer distances but I’m going to give it a go at the SDW50 because if my performance is going to be as poor as I think it is then I might well just need that bit of tunefulness to get me through to the finish.

However, it came to me last night that we, as runners, will write about all sorts of things from shitting in the woods to the bargains we picked up in the latest Sweatshop shoe sale but we don’t talk about music. It also more than once been brought to my attention that given my grumpy appearance my choices of running music are almost wholly surprising.

So here is the list I shall be running with this weekend. A surprising list for those that know me and a shit list for those that don’t 🙂

Skyfall – Adele
Maggie May – Rod Stewart
Threshold – Beck
Under my Thumb – The Rolling Stones
River Deep, Mountain High – Glee Cast
Stop in the Name of Love – The Supremes
William Tell Overture – Hans Zimmer
Paint it Black – The Rolling Stones
Everything is Awesome – The Lego Cast
Lovin’ Machine – Paulo Nutini and Jools Holland
Born to Hand Jive – Glee Cast
Barroom Blitz – The Bilge Pumps
The Jean Genie – David Bowie
Paradise by the Dashboard Light – Meat Loaf
Aphrodite – Kylie Minogue
Le Freak – Chic
Shake Señora – The Hit Crew
Delight – Jamie Berry featuring Octavia Rose
Gold Gun Girls – Metric
Reet Petite – Cee Lo Green and Jools Holland
Footloose – Kenny Loggins
Another One Bites the Dust – Queen
Paradise City – Tom Cruise
Black Sheep – Metric
Katayanagi Twins v Sex Bob-Omb – Cornelius and Beck
Dancing Queen – ABBA
I Know Him So Well – Melanie C
Going Down – Melanie C
Amnesty is Granted – Meat Loaf
Defying Gravity – Idina Mendzl
Mamma Mia – ABBA
You Can’t Stop the Beat – Hairspray Cast
Bad Romance – Glee Cast
Moses Supposes – Adam Cooper
There Must Be an Angel – Eurythmics
This is a Call – Foo Fighters

The perception attached to my musical taste is that it’s all Nine Inch Nails or Van Morrison or some form of miserable, aggressive or meaningful music – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I love and need show tunes, lots of ABBA and a healthy dose of MoTown combined with a smattering of my favourite Glee tracks. Further down the list are some quality Michael Jackson tunes and a lot more from Queen. But what about you? What will you listening to this weekend as you burn some calories off?

—UltraBoyRuns

Saving the world one run at a time

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Tag Archives: queen

Flash Gordon and the Skye Ultra Trail. Come say hello? @RealSamJJones @brianblessed #Run #FlashGordon #Ultra #Skye

Diary: Tales of a London City Cyclist – was it attempted murder?

#SDW50 – an unexpected playlist