Nipple tape, Vaseline and jelly babies - I close in on #27

Nipple tape, Vaseline and jelly babies. Sounds like a deviant's shopping list reminiscent of my brother Alex's early career as a shop assistant in Ann Summers. But no - turns out these items are staple products of long distance runners - well, according to my mate Dave Crewe that it is.

I've just returned from a weekend away in Oldham and Rochdale. Quite frankly, not a sentence too many people are likely to say.

Now for the observant of you, you may remember that I've already blogged about #27 on my list. If you need a quick reminder you can read it here. If you can't be bothered the short version is: run two half marathons, one of which needs to be sub 1hr 55m.

Crewe and I before the race...

Well, this morning I completed one third of that target.

This story started two years in Cardiff with the foolish consumption of a Chinese buffet meal 24 hours prior to the Wolverhampton half-marathon. It's suffice to say the Chicken Satay took its revenge on two fronts; with the world seemingly dropping out of me prior to the race and the rest coming out the other way half way around. It's fair to conclude that feeling has stuck with me for sometime so I've been approaching today with an element of trepidation. This trepidation was of course heightened by my foolish decision to prepare for the 5th hilliest half marathon in the UK just two and half weeks ago.

I'd known it was coming since I agreed to take part back in March - and I've been hoping my mate 'Crewe' would forget about it ever since. He didn't.

For those of you who don't know Crewe - he's what most people would class as 'one of those characters in life'. He's a dry-witted Northerner who makes Karl Pilkington look positively cheery about life. He's a man who's definition of 'good' in life is 'the opening 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan'...and that's about it.

So it was he whom I chose to embark upon this madness with. As I awoke this morning, I went downstairs in Crewe's house to be greeted by the Chariots of Fire theme tune belting out before hearing a phrase I wasn't expecting: "Right, my nipple tape's on and I've Vaselined my ar*e - I'm ready". Ok then...

As a seasoned runner, Crewe tells me these are standard  - personally, what he and his wife do in the privacy of their own home is up to them. Crewe then prepared a bowl of porridge and got out the jelly babies - a source of much needed sugar to consume during the race to get you around the course. I nearly ended up with Vegan Haribo after his wife mistakenly thought I was vegetarian. The thought was there - but gagging on a gelatine-free fried egg after 9 miles didn't overly appeal.

Being the good friend that he is - Crewe abandoned me after the first three quarters of a mile. The following 13 miles it was just me and the Lowry-like mill town landscapes. And of course hills. The next time I saw him was at the finish line. That's right - the finish line...which I crossed...having not stopped for 13.2 miles. I'd conquered the hills and moors of Oldham - and came it an acceptable 2hrs and 1 minute. But that's not to say it didn't hurt. The 4 hill climbs were tough - the last one was bordering on excruciating. But I dug in deep and powered on.

Some seasoned Oldham runners told us that because of the gradient of the hills, you lose around 6 minutes compared to a flatter race. That puts me on course to achieve my sub-1 hour 55mins next time around. Watch out Stafford - I'm coming for you in March.

I couldn't think of a decent 'run' based outro without playing the Spencer Davis Group again so this is me tenuous link of the day.

I ran in Oldham...Oldham has hills and trees...there was an American teen drama called One Tree Hill...here's Gavin DeGraw...

Britpop rules - and I close in on #22

The mid-1990s were pretty good weren't they? There was a genuine feel-good factor. Euro '96 had the country on the edge of its seats, things could only get better as Labour swept the Tories aside in the '97 election and one of the greatest music rivalries in British history was in full-flow. Britpop was at its peak and the battle-lines had been drawn: Oasis vs Blur.

Britpop still rules

I remember watching the Big Breakfast on Channel 4 (with Gaby and Chris) and it was all about 'The Battle of Britpop'. Oasis' 'Roll With It' was directly up against Blur's 'Country House'. Blur eventually emerged triumphant after out-selling the boys from Madchester by 50,000+ copies. But it was Oasis' '(What's The Story) Morning Glory' which emerged as the seminal Britpop album. And after singing myself hoarse at the Slade Rooms last night, it's clear that Britpop is still alive and well (albeit in its early-40s, slightly greyer and with the kids being looked after at home). But the ingredients were all there. 'Definitely Might Be' were the tribute act and the audience was full of Adidas Samba trainers, boot-cut jeans and lots of people with their hands behind their backs, 'Liam Gallagher-esque', belting out hits like 'Live Forever', 'She's Electric' and 'Cigarettes & Alcohol'.

I had the privilege of seeing Oasis live. I've also seen Noel Gallagher and, next month, I'm set to see Liam's Oasis-reincarnation, Beady Eye. I caught the Britpop bug from my brother Ian. A student from the mid-90s - Britpop was at its height. Oasis, Blur, the 'Phonics, Cast, Pulp, Dodgy, Ocean Colour Scene - the list goes on.

I was a bit younger and probably the only Oasis 'top-mad-for-it' disciple in my year at school. I even made my way to HMV in town at 7am on a Monday morning to be the first one to buy the single 'Go Let It Out' . Unfortunately my efforts to grow a Liam-like mop-top were catastrophically unsuccessful and I've still never owned a pair of Adidas Sambas.

Ian missed out on ever seeing Oasis live - a painful regret no doubt as the Gallagher brother feud shows few signs of thawing any time soon. Hopefully last night went some small way to imagining what seeing them live in their heyday would have been like; sort of.

So the memories of the 1990s are good ones - although I suspect if we take off the rose-tinted specs and look a little closer; England lost on penalties after what was a pretty drab tournament, it gave us the Spice Girls and a plethora of manufactured boy bands and it turns out it wasn't the end of 'boom and bust'. Still, for a few hours last night, me, Ian, Alex  and lest we forget Mark Rogers (see previous blogs about Munich to appreciate this man) got to reminisce about the days when rock 'n' roll still had characters and they knew how to make a tune.

It also led to that age-old debate - your top 5 Oasis tracks? It's a great game because no-one will ever agree and can last for hours with no conclusion. For me; Fade Away, Champagne Supernova, Don't Look Back in Anger, Don't Go Away and Little by Little.

So number 22 on my list was to go to at least ten music/comedy gigs. Well, I'm 6 down; Beady Eye and Del Amitri booked in - only 2 more to go. This is one challenge I look set to complete ahead of schedule.

I'll leave you with the only single I've ever got up at 5am to go and buy...