Bingley Harriers and ...... Athletic Club

Dear Blog,

Are we both singing from the same hymn sheet I have to ask myself ........? And what would you do if I sang out of tune .... would you walk out on me? Don’t worry, I’ll sing you a song and I’ll try not to sing out of key ....

It was fifty years ago today,

That Peter Dyer taught his group speed play*,

They were doing repetition quarter miles

With gritted teeth and not a single smile,

So may I come and join with you,

The club I’ve known for all these years,

Bingley’s only Harrier Club and .....

They’re Geoff Garnett’s only H. Club and .....

In training you should see them go.

Bingley’s only athletic club and ......

Sets back and forth the sessions go

Billy Humphries’ only, John Waterhouse’s only,

Bingley’s only Harrier Club and .......

Was wonderful to be there

Training on the hill,

Amid such lovely scenery,

They’d loved to drop me off for dead,

They’d love to drop me off.

I don’t really want to stop the flow,

But I thought you might like to know,

That the runner’s going to run a race,

And he wants you all to keep up the pace,

So let me introduce to you,

The one and only Stevie Binns

And Dennis Quinlan’s unbeatable Harrier Club band. [of runners!]

................................................................................................

Wednesday morning at six o’clock as the day begins,

Silently closing our bedroom door

Leaving my clothes in a pile on the floor,

I creep downstairs to the kitchen clutching my running kit.

Quietly turning the backdoor key,

Stepping outside for a pee.

I (jogging one of my favourite fives)

Am training (running one of my favourite fives)

Hard (trying to do a long steady run).

I’m leaving home, after training alone

For so many years. Why? Why?

Children snore as my wife gets into her

dressing gown

Picks up my note that’s been lying there

Telling her the route that I’m running out there

She slides down the stairs on the banister rail

Catching her toe in the door

Why did he leave it so thoughtlessly?

How could he do this to me?  

I (freezing, out in the bitter cold)

Am training (falling down flat on the frozen road)

Hard (I struggled hard to keep the pace high)

I’m heading home after training alone

For so many times. Why? Why?

Friday morning at nine o’clock, I am far away,

Waiting to keep the appointment I made

Racing along in a marathon cavalcade.

Me. What do I do to win a gold gong?

Am having. The pace judgement’s all wrong

A run. Winning is one thing that money can’t buy.

Training aside, the sheer pleasure derided

From so many wins gets you high. High

I’m going home. Bye Bye.

Yes Blog, it is really 50 years ago today that I went down and joined Bingley Harriers for the first run. Would I lie to you or would I lie to you?? Fifty years, that’s like half a century, or five decades. Cool.

                         Colin

P.s. * speed play is the old fashion name for fartlek, in case you didn’t know Blog.