FLM 2005: Maturites and team 3 meet at expo

Redhead quaffs her coffee

I really felt the buzz of FLM 2005 when I got to Bank and saw all the runners with their registration bags, then walking towards expo with all the posters up. I headed for the RW stand and got hopelessly lost, so walked back for the entrance and asked, in a demented fashion, 'Have you got a thing?' The kindly attendant instantly handed me a map, which I peered at long-sightedly and finally located my destination. Crash Hamster had dropped off Knackered Knee's beautifully printed signs, although the woman behind the RW stand was a bit bemused when I announced myself as meerkat. 'Ah,' said her colleague, 'It's the forum.' 

I left the signs for later, and headed for the Mizuno stand. 'Have you got any Wave Mavericks?' I said, and the Mizuno man said no, they got all the shoes from Sweatshop who hadn't got any. Most strange. But saved me some money. But I did fall victim to a lovely Pearl Izumi top, and a much-reduced Nike ACG fleece.

Then Redhead rang; it was lovely to meet up with her. We met up with Swiss Bobby and Dog Walker, then dived out of expo for coffee and I made a Hi Jim sign. Soon JJ and little steph arrived, and we went back to the RWstand...and met Little (not so) Fat Welshman for the first time. Lots of hugs and greetings. Martin was looking fine in his Welsh rugby polo shirt: he was there in Cardiff on the great day. 

I whipped out my Hi Jim sign and it was time for a pic...

little steph, Redhead, Martin and JJ

Jim - there didn't seem to be a Marine Corps marathan stall this time, so a kind RW peep took this one inside their stand...

Martin, JJ, meerkat, Redhead, little steph

We then had a lovely wander round expo, stopping off to sample Lucozade drinks so I could buy the nicest for Ripped Dap and Nrg-b. Then we veered off to Sweatshop to try and locate K2.

K2, alias Jan, hard at work selling kit

More hugs, then another circuit which took us to an impressive sock stand.

Redhead inspects a potential spare leg

JJ asked lots of questions, and seemed taken with a sock that had both go-faster stripes and a strange ankle flap. I suspect there's a 5k pb in the offing.

JJ planning for the next Serpie 5k

JJ left the stand 3 pairs of socks heavier. Next it was time for the Maturite traditional visit to the stick stand...and Martin got the full treatment.

Evil JJ applies a stick to Martin's head

It didn't take long for Martin to be begging for mercy. Off to another kit stand, where Martin bought an orange hat, and I failed to get the right size of bright orange Fila shoes. We headed off for a cup of tea, and tinygirl joined us, with Mr tinygirl.

Cymru Corner: Martin, tinygirl and Mr tinygirl

It was great to meet another team 3 runner. Mr tinygirl is due to take up running soon...all the best with that. Martin revealed that his next ultra is the Yukon 500 miles, and he'll aim for 50 miles a day. Amazing. He told wonderful tales of hallucinating when he got really tired on ultra runs.

Other highlights: Redhead brilliantly blagging JJ and me a goody bag and an FLM towel; JJ and little steph giving me a near heart attack when they were convinced we should be on the right hand side of the road at mile 17...until Martin dug out his route map.

Then it was time to go. I bumped into MikeFrog, who'd just hot footed it over from King's Cross...then joined little steph to take my load home. Only a day to go!