Marshalling 18 youngsters

When I was at the Pentir fun run, Arwel approached me. He said he had a race that Sunday. He still needed people to help him out. Was I available? Neil was going to go into the mountains with a friend, so I said yes. It turned out that the race was the Junior mountain running championships in y Fron. I thought this was the same event as one I had marshalled with Neil the year before, but I wasn't sure, as that had been in September, and championships don't tend to move around the year too much.

It wouldn't be a big commitment! There were three races initially planned, but they had decided to combine two of them. So there was one race starting at 12:00 and one at 12:30, and neither of them would be more than 7 km long.

He had suggested I explore the course before it would start, but time moved faster then I could keep up with, so by the time I got to race HQ, it was too late for such shenanigans. Oh well. 

Ann teamed me up with a local lady called Sheila. When she appeared we headed into the hills together. Along the way we chatted a bit. She was almost 80 and a fell runner. She had been an Eryri Harrier in the past. Her partner would also be marshalling, but he would appear later.

We would be a bit spaced out as marshals. I suppose I would have preferred to have a three people where there was only me. There was some ambiguity in the route on both sides of me. I figured I would have to be a bit dynamic. Make sure I was in full sight of the runners when they started to run away from Sheila, so they knew they would have to run towards me. I also had my Siabod cowbell, which would help.  That would sort the ambiguity before they would get to me. But then I could run up a bit with them, and also point them the way just after my station. There was a steep hill and a sharp turn straight behind, so you couldn't really see what was ahead from my marshalling station. And once the first one was pointed in the right direction, the rest could just follow.

The first race, which was for 12 and 13-year-olds, only had six runners. Would parents have withdrawn their child because of the weather? We were still in the heat wave, even though this day it was quite breezy, so I wasn't overheating. My marshalling strategy worked. And the kids, who were in club shirts (not national shirts), looked as grumpy as last year. I have marshalled several junior races now, and you don't actually see a lot of smiles! I do look very happy than I'm racing. Probably because I am.

View from my station

Soon after these six were gone we got the second race. This one only had 12 runners. This was the combined race of the 14 and 15-year-olds, the 16 and 17-year-olds and 18 and 19-year-olds. I was a bit confused when I saw 13 people running. The 13th wasn't a junior, though. I understood from Sheila that this was a Welsh Athletics official who just got carried away cheering the kids on. And the kids were still in club shirts. So probably regional championships, unlike last year's national championships in September. And still few smiles.

With all the 18 runners of the championships having gone past we could take the markers down and return to headquarters. Unfortunately, we did have to walk past one of the runners who hadn't made it to finish. One of the youngsters had collapsed in the heat. By the time we got to him, he was surrounded by people looking after him, and we heard him say he was feeling ok again. I have faith he would be fine.

We put the markers and hi viz vests and whatnot in Ann’s car and that was us done. A nicely brief marshalling experience!

Trying to un-sag the kitchen cabinet doors

When I was working on the kitchen cabinets anyway, I decided I should really do something about the fact that several of them are sagging. I had tried to deal with it before, but with no success. But I had another look at a YouTube video about how to deal with a situation like that, and gave it another try. And this time I figure I made real improvements.

It is a bit of a dark art! But I am quite happy with how it has turned out. Maybe Neil will give me a hand making it even better. He is a perfectionist, after all. And more experienced with this sort of matter. But I am not in a hurry anymore. The way it is now something I can totally cope with!

Before

After

Giving two kitchen cabinets a new look

When I bought my house, the kitchen was in a relatively good shape. I turned most of the rest of the house into a building site. In the kitchen, I basically only did painting. It was not as if there was nothing else to do, but at least everything else functional. But I didn't like the fitted kitchen. The big gripe were the kitchen cabinet doors. They were basically made of MDF with a plastic liner over the top, in an ugly non-colour. And the handles were dull. And to make things worse; the plastic lining of the two cabinets underneath the sink had split. And there was minor damage to the lining of some other cabinets.

I have been dreaming of redoing the whole kitchen. But that is quite a thing! And I know that I don't have mainstream taste. I would really love to have it custom-made from reclaimed wood. Where do you find someone who can do that? And how expensive would it be? If I would try to do it myself, it would take forever.

I had also been dreaming of somehow getting the liner off, and then just painting what would come out from underneath. But I was worried that it would only be easy to remove the plastic where it was already coming off. And that you would end up with the edges refusing. A bit like trying to get a sticker off. It's hard to get the whole thing clean off! And if you don't, you've made the situation worse. 

The big change came when I saw online someone taking a heat gun to a cabinet just like that, and taking the plastic off without any effort. Would it really be that easy? It was worth finding out! It turned out that heat guns are actually quite inexpensive, and also not overly big. It was well worth trying.

After its inaugural task of getting my bicycle mirror fitted again, it was time to be deployed for what it was really bought for. I took off the handles cabinets to get ready.

The original state of the cabinets (except that I had already removed one handle)

It really was as easy as I had seen it online! Point that heat gun at the plastic and it comes off just like that. 

With the plastic off

I then had a rummage in the garage for some paint. I had thought about what colour I would do. The colours already there are white, yellow, and green. I first thought of green on the outside and yellow in the middle, but then I thought it might be a bit dark. Maybe yellow on the outside and white in the middle? But I first needed to put a coat of primer on anyway, so I had some time to think.

With primer

I had some indoor wood primer but it was old and quite lumpy. I put one layer on, which obviously wasn’t very tidy, and then I decided I probably should chuck that stuff away. And then improvised with some outdoor primer.

I had some white eggshell for the inside, but that turned out to have dried up. The yellow paint I had used elsewhere in the kitchen was still ok. So I painted the outsides, and bought some new white paint for the insides.

Finished! 

Two coats of yellow and three of white later, and the handles reinstated, and I could put my new design to the test. Would the paint be able to cope with the kitchen environment? If not, I might sand them down again, and buy some more hardy paint. Once I have decided I have something reasonably sustainable I might do all the other cabinet doors as well. I don't like any of them! I might even do a bit of green somewhere because I can. We'll see! But I am quite chuffed with that I don't have to look at these split sheets of plastic anymore. They were an eyesore!

Heat gun

I have a new toy! A heat gun, obviously. I bought it because I had seen a video of someone very easily stripping the plastic lining off the doors of cheap kitchen cabinets. And I have cheap, plastic-lined kitchen cabinets. And I had been thinking of getting the plastic off. But until I saw that video, I wasn't sure if that was feasible, and if so, how. 

New toy

The first task I made it do was not kitchen-related, though. Many months ago, Neil bought me a little present: a little rearview mirror for my bike. It is really handy! And it is mounted on some sort of ball-and-socket joint. So you can aim it precisely how you want it.

One day my bike fell over, onto the little mirror. It popped out of its joint. I didn't manage to push it back. And when I got home and tried it with less distraction, I still didn't manage. Neil couldn't do it either. I suppose the ball has to fit quite snugly into the socket for it all to work.

It came off

As the construction is made of plastic, I then tried heat. Surely that would make the plastic softer? (Yes I know, not all plastics work that way, but I suspected these would.) Maybe then I could fit the mirror over the ball socket? I dipped the little mirror in boiling water and then tried again. Still no success. 

But now I had a heat gun.

I laid the mirror reflective side down on my oven plate. And then aimed the heat gun at it. I had my oven glove nearby so I could pick the mirror up and try to whack it back over the ball socket when I thought it might be hot enough. Lo and behold, in two or three attempts I managed it! The mirror is back where it belongs! I already like this heat gun thing! And I barely got started…

No trail 10k

Last year it was hot when the trail 10k was run. So hot they cancelled the marathon and ultra that ran on the same day. And it looked like this year would be hot again. There had been emails about that way were required to carry a leader of water with us, and that they would do the race briefing under a roof.

I wasn’t worried about it. I'm happy to run with water, and after you finish, you can go straight into the lake. It's only 10 k! It might be different for the longer distances though. 

At 19:51 the night before an email came in. All the races are cancelled! It was a bit of a bummer. I was looking forward to it. And I personally was a bit sceptical. I didn't think the weather forecast had changed meaningfully for quite a while. If they now thought it was too hot to run, surely they knew that as well at 3 pm? Or noon? You wouldn't think they had been sitting there, waiting for the forecast to suddenly say something much cooler. I thought they left it a bit late. But well, they did what they did.

Social media announcement

 

I could easily imagine the race organisers will steer clear of the summer in the near future. I don't think it has been good for the financial situation of the organiser to have to cancel so many races in two consecutive years. Who is to say they will not have to do it again next year, if they stick to the same weekend? I have no idea if they have long-running contracts with the council or the timing company or anyone like that.

I also wonder if there will be a problem with the rest of my races this year. I have two more in the diary this month. One in the evening and one in the morning. And one in August. Only one way to find out! But I could imagine the ones to last longest are the small local races. Something like the Bethel 5k wouldn't lose so much if they have to cancel. Registration is only on the day so they wouldn't have to refund anyone. The timing is done by volunteers with stopwatches and clipboards, so there is no problem with having to pay TDL timing or someone like that, in spite of of not having a race. And these are actually really nice little races. So I think the summer will still be fun from a racing point of view. But things will clearly change!

First TNH with dip in lake

We are already in the third heatwave of the year. But I hadn’t gone for a dip yet. In my first year, I already ended up in the water on my third trip. It happened more often after that. I'm not even sure I ended up in the water at all last year.

This week we would have another demo event; this time of Nnormal shoes. I already have a pair, but that doesn't have to stop me. I got to the shop straight from graduation, and the people there immediately noticed I was already wearing one of the models that we could try. I could have worn something else, but I wanted to have the Nnormals in case graduation would make me late, I wouldn't have time to borrow shoes. The shop had three different models there, so I borrowed a pair that was a bit more hybrid than fell, in a size 5.5. Nnormal sizes are a bit small.

Off we were! Up the zigzags. And northwest, to Deiniolen. I wasn't feeling it at all. I had to drag myself along the route. That wasn't promising much for the race I would have, in the very same area, in two days’ time. But a lot can happen in two days. The shoes were fine, by the way. We were doing a route that really suited hybrids! 

A picture I nicked from the Strava of fellow runner Trevor

It was warm but quite doable! I did try to stand in the shade every time we were waiting for stragglers. Only after having run some 7 km did I start to vaguely feel like running. I wasn't the only one not feeling it that night; Trevor was really complaining when after these 7 km we still weren't done with going uphill. But we got back to the shop. And there were soft drinks there, and pizza.

What I feared would happen had indeed happened: my Nnormals had ended up lumped with the demonstration models. Luckily, the latter all have their size written in permanent marker on the back, so I just scouted for the only pair that didn't have that. And these were indeed mine! Success.

After some pizza one of the ladies suggested going to the lake and having a dip. I thought it was a brilliant idea! It was easily hot enough, and I hadn't been yet. I was the first one to get there. I took my top off and went in in the rest of my running clothes.

The other people were really prepared: they got into their actual swimming outfits, and had towels for afterwards. No such thing for me! We had a nice swim with five people and a dog (Tinka’s dog Moos quite likes swimming too). And when we got out I just put on a dry T-shirt, and put a plastic bag on the car seat. Good enough! It had been really refreshing…

Pentir Fun Run 2026

The race in Pentir is one of those I can just squeeze into my commute home. It is only 4.5 km, and I only have to make a 3.5 km detour on the bike to get to it.

This year, like last year, it was going to be a hot edition. Which I actually, in this case, prefer to the rain version we had two years ago. In a long race I travel to by car I would prefer the rain! But not here.

Race HQ

I got there and saw many friendly faces. And when I was parking my bike I was approached by Arwel. His business with me was twofold: firstly, he had a trophy for me. I had been the second fastest 45+ female (age at the start of the league counts) in the Borders League. Great! I had no idea. BL is very competitive. 

He also asked me if I could help him out that Sunday. He was organising the youth mountain running championships in y Fron again. Could I marshal? I could. 

I got my number, went to the loo, did a little warmup. I also introduced myself to a hiking friend of Neil’s that I knew would be running. And then I went to the start. 

The startline

In this race, it pays off to set off quite fast. There are many gates on the route! And if you end up in a queue you have to wait. So I wasn’t being conservative this time. 

I saw Emma, who won it last year, get ahead of me. and Llio, another Cybi who is faster than me on the short distance. And a while later, too young-looking ladies were coming past. I wondered if they might be setting off too fast. Maybe I could overtake them later on? 

We ran over the road, into the first field. By the time we reached the first gate I could check if my start had been good enough. It hadn't! I actually was in a little queue. That cost time. We did several more gates, and that spread the field out a bit, and then we got onto the terrain of Moel y Ci farm. No gates for a while!

Two things happened. One was that I realised that Louise was right behind me. The other was that one of the young ladies was in sight. I overtook her. The other ladies were so far ahead I never saw them.

I think Louise is absolutely lovely but I still wanted to finish before her! So I kept my speed up. And it must have been good enough because she didn't come past. I seemed to even increase the gap. These gates provide a good opportunity to have a look at what’s behind you. 

The last 500m. Spot the very vague Louise behind me.

A quick look at my watch revealed that I might or might not manage to beat my time of the year before. I tried to keep my speed up and then I finished. I was quite out of breath! And then I saw Louise finish.

We went to get a drink and a piece of cake. The cake is a Pentir fun run tradition. Louise's daughter, who had not run, was also welcome to participate. She appreciated that.

The cakes

After some general catching up in the finish area we went back to the village square where the results were displayed, and where the presentation would be. As I thought, I had come forth, behind Emma, Llio, and the young girl. And I had a category win! And surprisingly, I had run it in the exact same time as last year: 21:36. 

The young girl turned out to be running in the under 16s category. She is fast! She may very well be an elite runner in a few years.

I won a little bag with biscuits and sweets in. After last week’s Toblerone I was really stocking up on sugary foods! 

Presentation. Pic by Louise.

After the presentation everyone went home. And biking home was not onerous at all. Next week there wouldn't actually be a Wednesday evening race. Almost an exception at this time of year!