Wa hey! My moon fingerboard has turned up today .. just need to figure out where I’m going to hang the thing.
Reckopn I’ll mount the finger board on a rectangular sheet of wood, and then mount the sheet of wood on a wall somewhere. Means I can add holds and, importantly, rungs off which I can string bungey cord from - to help with the pull ups.
Ran on Monday: 6 hill climbs with much higher pace than previous runs esp. climbs 4-6 and the run back. Much faster 
Tuesday evening climbing for approx 2 hours at the link:
Top roped 5b, 6a, 6b, 6c, 6a, 6b, 6b+ (I think)
Led 5b (slight overhang), 5b (large overhang), 6a (corner), (6b meduim overhang failed), 5b (corner), 5c (slight overhang + downclimbed)
Wednesday morning = knackered.
Wednesday lunchtime -> 8 hill loops at fast pace (well till the last couple anyway .. by then it felt like a fast pace was probably a bit on the slow side).
Bouldering at the Link on Thursday evening. Spent most of the evening working the latter half of the yellow full traverse .. it’s a killer. Had to stop when it felt like all the skin on my hands was totally trashed.
Actually their trade name is mini rocks but there you go ..
Click image for more details
I got them as a birthday present and can’t wait to try em out.
Ran on Monday (8 hill loops) .. no running on Wednesday (Site visit in Belfast) or Friday (software release deadline issues).
Climbed at the link on Tuesday .. the best I’ve ever climbed there. Managed to cleanly climb one 6a overhanging route that I wasnt even able to get up last week, slapped to the top of another new 6a+(?) overhanging route too. Also top roped a 6c.
Climbed down at Symonds Yat last night .. another nightmare drive to the crag 
and it looked like it was going to chuck it down with rain (I drove through 3 patches of rain on the way in .. including a total downpour over towards Chippenham). But no .. it was sunny and dry on the routes as long as you stayed away from the vegetation.
We went there with the intention of looking to push the grades a bit and I liked the look of some short HVS routes in the upper part of the waterpipe area. So we had a go at Wondermash HVS 5a. Took about 4 attempts; 3 times I backed off, 1 fall on the crux and then finally did it. Followed the guys out of the crag via Dave’s Downfall.
BTW this is probably the first time in a long time where my arms feel knackered after being out and about trad climbing (even the morning after) .. don’t normally get quite so pumped trad leading.
I’m around 13st 3lbs this week .. hmmm strange .. do all this running and yet no weight loss. I suppose I’m drinking quite a bit of wine at the moment and the cakes/puddings don’t help.
Yep .. in a couple of weeks I’ll be 40 years old.
Other people always seem to place more empahsis on birthdays than me but even I can spot this one as being a bit different from all of the others that have preceeded it.
Thirty was no big deal .. to me ,sometime in my mid twenties was a watershed rather than the turning an arbitury thirty that others seem to get hung up on.
Before that seventeen was probably the next previous big change .. marked by me leaving home and going off to uni.
Physical
Not too many issues .. probably the biggest is that in the last couple of years I seem to have no stomach for spinning around at all eg swings, funfairs etc .. nowadays I just feel sick. From a running, climbing perpective it seems fine though - my fitness is more dependent on the amount of training rather than anything else.
Ohh I do seem to be growing hair out of me head all over the place! nose and ears a speciality .. that never used to happen.
Psychological
Loads of changes here .. probably best summed up by the general feeling of having a lot of emotional baggage around a lot of different areas. I “feel” much older than I ever did in my twenties/early thirties but I feel comfortable with it - The Grumpy Old Git mantle fits nicely
Ran on Monday (6 hill climbs) , Wednesday (7 hill climbs) and Friday (4 hill climbs).
Climbing at the link on Tuesday .. managed to lead (with a rest) the easist (5b) route through the biggest overhang. Led a bunch of other 6a routes through the easier overhang sections too.
Climbed down at Symonds Yat last night .. perfect conditions and we put up two good routes (approx 180ft of HS and VS) and then climbed out via Golden Fleece (must remember to take less stuff and a smaller rucksack .. I hate climbing with the extra weight). The last weeks worth of sun has really dried the whole of Symonds, from the footpaths to the faces and holds themselves.
Talking of weight, I’m around 13st 2lbs .. better than last week but need to keep it coming down.
Climbed at the link on Tuesday evening - led approx. 5 slightly overhanging routes graded mainly 5b. Good exercise for the shoulder and starting to build up my endurance too. Toproped and 2nd a couple of other routes too.
Running on Wednesday at lunch time .. managed 3 hill climbs.
Went climbing at Symonds Yat on Thursday evening - stuck in traffic for ages but got there after a 2 1/4 hour drive and managed 3 routes (see my logbook for details) .. including a good lead on Homeopath.
oh .. weight has gone back up again to around 13st 4lbs Due to too much good food on me hols and way too much drink.
Ho hum.
On a positive note though I discovered that my annual climbing trip to Spain has been moved from October to November - that’s great news as I wasn’t going to go this year becuase it was clashing with Yasmine’s birthday in October.
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