this years medal

Another year is upon us and a fresh start to a year of challenges for myself. This year i have 6 planned that i’m doing for Ty-Hafan hospice. London Marathon, Cardiff Ultra marathon, and 4 Ironman events over the UK & Ireland.

This Saturday i head to London for the first of my challenges the Virgin London Marathon. I arrive at Alex Symonds house in Slough park up my van and we head into London so i can register at the Virgin running trade show that is held at the Excel building down at the docklands. As we enter the building the place is packed with everything you can imaging running related, trainers, gels, energy drink, clothing etc you name it it was all here for you to look at or buy. I hand in my piece of paper and in return i get my number and time chip then went for a little look around. It was good to bump into Iwan Thomas who was doing a talk on stage about his previous London marathon races something which is quite handy for the person entering his or hers first marathon. Doing your first marathon can be very daunting and nerve wracking so having people up on stage talking about what you can expect is a great help as its no easy task. I remember 2 years ago when i came to London to do my first full marathon and being really nervous so these little tips really do help to settle the nerves.

After having a look around we decided to hit Olympia in central london as they have a tattoo convention being held there so after numerous tube changes and a clueless bunch of welsh men in London we arrive at our destination, grab a beer and take a walk round gaping at the weird & wonderful people that frequent a tattoo show. I love it as there are so many colorful characters at a tattoo show and never a dull moment as there’s so much to see. Not the kind of place for your average suited and booted types or the faint hearted. We grab a beer at the bar and i bump into Arabella D who i haven’t seen in a good while, on the 2009 Gumball to be exact when we traveled coast to coast from LA to Miami which was so much fun. As you all know Arabella has done really well for herself over the last few years and now can be seen in all the top lads mags magazines like Front, Nuts, zoo etc which is good to see. 5 pints in and my brain starts telling me i better make my way back as i have to be up early to run a marathon and the last thing i want to do is get to that start line with a hangover. If you’ve read my blogs in the past you will know that on many occasion i have gone straight to that start line from a house party still pissed as a fart but for once i wanted to run the thing sober and get a decent time along with enjoying the actual marathon rather than hating life the whole way round in agony dehydrated to hell and back and on the brink of collapse. A few train journeys later i arrived at Symonds house in Slough (this is the house he’s lived in for winter months whilst he played ice hockey for the Slough Jets and its his last night living there as the season is over and is coming back home. Fair play to him and his team they had a slamming season and won the league so is in high spirits. It’s now his turn to party the summer away and he’ll do it in style on the lovely island of Ibiza) at around 11pm and went straight to bed as my alarm clock goes off at 7am.

with Arabella D

I wake at 2am for a piss then at 4am then my brother is partying so phones me at 6am to wish me luck the numpty so my pre marathon sleep wasn’t the best but hey ho it was time to get up and get ready. This year i have decided to do it in a mankini as i have done quite a few marathons now so i wanted to add a little twist. I told the charity i was running for that i was doing it in a Mankini and they didn’t mind so long as the boys didn’t fall out of the barracks if you catch my drift ;-) so i wore a leopard print thong underneath just incase. The only problem i would face though was some serious chaffing on my undercarriage but i thought it would be fine…………………i was wrong, more on the chaffing later. I got to the start point in my Onesie rocking my mankini underneath then took it off to the surprise of everyone around. I took a few pics with people then went to start my 26.2 mile run around London. We were so lucky with the weather as we had perfect conditions for running, lovely blue skies and sunny for the whole way round……bliss. I dread to have thought what it would have been like if it was raining and cold when running it in a mankini, it would have been horrible.

Due to getting there late i was right at the back of the Que so it took a while before i get a jog on but had a bit of a laugh and a chat with the other runners as we were waiting to head off. I said my goodbye’s and best wishes to all and made my way. As soon as the spectators saw what i was wearing there was laughter everywhere and everyone shouting “Mankini man” haha and it would be this way for the whole 26.2 miles which was great fun. Every time i overtook a woman they would either wolf whistle me or slap my arse cheeks but every time i overtook a man they would utter the words “oh my god, do you mind running a bit faster” haha.

half way round

My aim today was to beat my personal best which is 4 hours and 10 mins so i really needed to get my skates on which is hard when there are so many people in the way slowing you down but thats just the way it goes unfortunately and if you run marathons you’ll know what i mean. A mile into my run i was busting for a piss so had to run into the mens portaloos which slowed me down and then into my third mile the dreaded happened and i could feel my mankini slicing away at my arse and gooch and it was getting raw in the downstairs apartment. Luckily i spotted a st John’s Ambulance dude in the distance holding up some vaseline so i grabbed a load and started rubbing it all around my arse and gooch area to the delights of all watching. All was going well and i was really enjoying the run and the crowds along with the great atmosphere the London marathon brings, if you have ran the London marathon you’ll know what i mean. It really is a boost when your starting to hit that wall and there are a load of people cheering you on along with bands, drummers and people throwing garden parties for all the runners. You will never feel alone in your challenge when doing the London marathon. As i was approaching the 18 mile mark i could feel that wall hitting me which was quite daunting as it normally happens at the 21 mile mark, luckily i was just entering canary Wharf and the atmosphere and noise there was something else so that picked me right up and i felt good again. I’ve hit the wall on so many occasions over the years but its all in the mind and you just have to battle through it.

I could feel the finish coming up and i was at the 23 mile mark so i decided to open a can of whoop arse and sprint the last 3 miles to the finish. Every stride was painful but at the same time very pleasant in a weird kind of way and i was loving it, my body was pumping adrenalin and i was buzzing, the crowd cheering and still shouting Mankini Man and all of a sudden i saw Buckingham Palace in the distance and i knew that was the finish. Im sure i saw the Queen drinking Gin in the window waving at me but later on released it was a mirage and before i knew it i ran over the finish line to compleate my second London Marathon in a time of 4 hours and 3 mins which i was very happy about and knocked 7 mins off my Personal Best. I grabbed my medal, put my foil sheet over my body to keep warm and went to find Symonds in the crowds and made my way home.

Congrats to all the runners on the day i hope you all had a good one. On a sad note it was horrible to hear that a 30 year old woman lost her life a mile before the finish line. I send my condolences her friends and family. On a good note its amazing to see that the people of the UK and beyond have donated so much to her chosen charity which is currently at around the £250,000 mark………..amazing.

Thank you to all of you that donated to my chosen charity Ty-hafan, you have helped make a diffrence to life limited children and their family’s. you can still donate via this web site www.justgiving.com/6challenges thank you.

My next challenge is the Cardiff 50 mile Ultra marathon on may 20th. It’s my first ever Ultra marathon and i’m really looking forward to it. As soon as these legs of mine heal i will be training again.

Pritchard

S.W.Y.D (Sleep when you’re Dead)

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our route down from Snowdon, Cader Idris, Pen-y-Fan and back to Cardiff

Last year i decided out of the blue to run up and down the sugar loaf mountain in Abergavenny for fun and obviously to keep fit. After running up and down the mountain i enjoyed it that much that on my way home it got me thinking, “what other mountains can i climb/run?”. As i got home i grabbed my computer and started doing research on mountains in Wales and the best ones to climb etc. I knew that snowdon was the highest peak in wales but i wanted something a bit closer to home and easier to climb and in my search Pen-y-Fan came up. Now, Pen-yFan is the third highest peak in Wales and is situated on the Brecon Beacons which is only about a 45 min drive from Cardiff so this was perfect for me. It was summer time so the days were warm and the weather was perfect for climbing mountains so i decided that when i woke up i would drive up to the car park at Story Arms and run up and down as quickly as possible. I was a little stiff after yesterdays climb but i was fine and managed to get up and down with no problem at all. Don’t get me wrong, it was far harder than the Sugar Loaf and was very high up but once again i drove home feeling great and happy with myself at achieving something i’ve never done before. While i was running up and down i thought “fuck it, i’m gonna drive to Snowdon tomorrow and run Wales biggest mountain which i did and loved every min of it. Typically of myself i wasn’t happy just running the 3 mountains in 3 days i wanted more of a challenge.

Trigg half way up Snowdon

I’ve always been the same in whatever i do i always have to take it as far as i can possibly go and i’m never happy with just completing something when i know there is BIGGER and BETTER. For instance, when i started running i was happy running a few miles but then i wanted to do a half marathon which is normal i suppose and from there you go and do a full marathon but i wasn’t happy with just that i then wanted to run the country from John O’Groats to Lands End and now i’ve entered a 50 mile Ultra Marathon which i’ll attempt in May this year. I’m not really that competitive when its against other people i’m just extremely competitive against myself and my body. When i get something in my head i ‘HAVE’ to do it or it will bug me until i do. There is obviously a reason to why i’m like the way i am and i’m sure a psychologist would be able to tell me the reason but i’m very happy being like it as it keeps me fit and mentally strong. As soon as you start these big challenges and putting your body through extremes it changes you as a person. I spoke to John (team Atlantic Dash who rowed the Atlantic in 45 days) when he came back from rowing the Atlantic and after putting his body and mind through such pressures/extremes he now finds sitting in his house watching tv impossible. He’s now already setting himself a new challenge and goal…….brilliant. The body is there to be pushed so push it, if we didn’t we would never know what we are capable of.

Snowdon summit

After running up and down the Sugar Loaf, Pen-y-Fan and Snowdon i’ve always wanted to do the Welsh 3 peaks challenge. I had the opportunity last year to do it as a team for Ty-Hafan but i think i was away working so missed out. Last week however i went for a run and as i was running it came into my head about doing the 3 peaks next week in half term with my brother as part of training for this years Ironman events. I asked him if he was up for it and he agreed so we set a date for thursday as the weather was looking good. Keep in mind that the 3 peaks is normally done in the summer for obvious reasons but we just thought it would be more fun to do it this time of year, we found out a bit later we were very very far from wrong.

I announced via twitter that myself and my brother were going to do the 3 peaks challenge (Snowdon, Cader Idris & Pen-y-Fan) on thursday and that we were looking forward to it. All i had back were tweets of “you need ice picks & crampons for this time of year” and “be careful up Snowdon mind”. We weren’t that ignorant because we i tweeted Snowdons twitter with no reply and my brother (trigger) e mailed the relevant web sites and he also got ‘NO’ reply. I then got tweets off certain people saying that his mate etc had been up a few days ago and they were fine so we decided that we were going to go for it. If we received a mail back off any of the ‘official’ snowdon web sites saying do not go up then we would have listened. I know i’m not the sharpest tool in the box, i know i’m stupid enough to put my own life at risk but i’m not that stupid enough to put other people’s life’s in the same situation.

Anyway, the day came wednesday night, i packed my van with everything i needed and headed to pick Trigg up ready for our mission up to Snowdon. We left Cardiff at about 8.30pm and arrived at the bottom of Llanberis Pass in Snowdon at 12am. I flipped the bed out in the back of my van and put our heads down. This is the first time i’ve used my van for sleeping purposes and to tell you the truth it was fucking freezing. We kept waking up every hour and all i wanted to do was get some sleep as tomorrow we were gonna climb 3 peaks and needed all the energy we could get.

6.30am and the alarm goes off. We get changed into our running shoes and gear have some food and begin our run up snowdon. The Llanberis Pass is a 9 mile trip to the summit and back so we would be gone for at least 2 hours. The run began really well and as you can imaging the views were stunning and scenery beautiful and very peaceful, although up towards the peak there was large cloud cover. There was no one in sight apart from the odd sheep. As we got closer to the top the mist came in and the wind picked up along with a dramatic drop in temperature. Trigg was a way ahead of me but i couldn’t see him as visibility was about 2 meters. The further we kept going the worse the weather got and if i’m honest i started to question what we were doing up the highest point in Wales in the middle of winter in just a pair of running trainers, running leggings, a hooded top and a light jacket. At this point we needed crampons and ice picks as we were walking on sheet ice and snow then all of a sudden i heard my brother screaming “MATHEW THIS IS FUCKED UP WE CANT GO ANY FURTHER” as i got closer to his screams all of a sudden a constant gust of wind so powerful coming at me from my side threatening to push me over the edge to my death (i know this sounds a bit over the top but trust me i aint exaggerating) then i saw Trigg on all 4’s holding on for dear life………fuck. I told him to move to the right and keep walking towards the summit just to get away from the sheer drop and as we did the wind calmed a little and we kept trucking slipping and sliding our way to the summit until the weather got even worse. I headed to the summit battling the weather and got my phone out and quickly took a photo of myself smiling, if only a photo could come to life. I also grabbed my Veho camera and grabbed a little bit of footage (video diary coming soon) then made my way down. Next thing i know i’ve lost Trigg, i’m shouting his name but no reply, thats when i really shit myself. I’ve lost my brother up here in this mess plus i’m lost and to add to my worries im beginning to get worryingly very cold. I found the snowdon light railway tracks so it made sense to follow these down, doing this i bumped into Trigg thank god. The 2 of us have lost our path down so we both agreed to follow the tracks until we hit our next problem………the tracks were snowed in and there was another sheer drop to our left so it was a no go. We had no choice but to go all the way back up the mountain and start again, a decision that most probably saved our lives as we found our original path and made our way down as quickly as possible. As soon as we got below cloud cover the feeling of joy and relief was immense so we carried on running and managed to complete the 9 miles and 3,000ft in 2 and a half hours. We sat in the van happy knowing that we were still alive and that tonights news headlines weren’t going to be “2 brothers found dead in running gear on Snowdon”.

One mountain done and 2 more to go, lets just hope the next one (Cader Idris) isn’t as bad as Snowdon. The sat nav is telling me that it’s an hour and a half drive to Cader Idris and it was more or less right. We found the car park after a bit of getting lost and jumped out in our sweat ridden clothes and it was quite cold but we knew as soon as we started climbing we would warm up, this time however i put my Onesie on over all my running clothes as i didnt want to get caught out at the top……big mistake. Within about 10 min’s of climbing i was soaking in sweat and really hot hahahaha what a bell end, anyway too late now just get on with it head down one foot in front of the other and climb the 5.4 miles to the top and back. This mountain was far harder to climb as it was far steeper and it wasn’t long before we lost our path again but this time quickly found it and started heading up. Once again we couldn’t see the summit because of cloud but we kept on climbing the very loose rocky surface until we reached cloud cover. As we got higher the winds once again picked up and the rain started but it was nothing like Snowdon so we were all good. We reached the summit and started our descent down back to the van a little slower than Snowdon thanks to the very steep rocky surface. The last thing you need when your that far up with no reception is to break and ankle or leg. Our legs by this point especially mine as trigg said he wasn’t too bad but i started getting the shakes so when we arrived back into the van after completing the mountain in one hour 45 min i shoved a load of pasta and lucazade down my neck and i could slowly feel myself coming back to life. When putting your body through such intense exercise you must feed your muscles and hydrate at every given opportunity it’s extremely important. Your body is like a car and constantly needs fueling.

2 Peaks done and it was a long drive through country roads to our next destination Pen-y-Fan on the Brecon Beacons. Were both very familiar with this mountain as we’ve climbed it before. It may be the smaller of the 3 but its quite an unforgiving bugger at times hence why the SAS train on it. The sat nav said it was a good 3 hours before we were to reach our destination which meant we would be there for 4.30pm which left us just the right amount of time to climb it and get down before it got dark. Driving these country roads is a gamble and we seemed to be loosing it big time due to being behind tractors, lorrys and sunday (it wasnt even sunday) drivers most of the way Grrrrrrrr. To top it off the sat nav only took us to the other side of the mountain loosing more valuable time. In the end we arrived at Pen-y-Fan at 5pm which isnt enough time really but we gave it a go, anything is better than nothing i suppose. We managed to get 3 quarters of the way up then darkness settled in and all i could see in front of us was more snow & ice along with lo cloud so we weren’t gonna risk our lives once again and decided to go back to the van and call it a day.

Considering this challenge is done in the summer i think we did well to do as much as we did with the time we had. It was an amazing adventure and although we almost said the words ‘GAME OVER’ on Snowdon we can look back with a good story to tell and in the process learnt a valuable lesson in life……never underestimate the power of the elements and mountains. You must challenge yourself in life and plan adventures because not only are they exiting but i think these are the things that make you feel alive. Yes, we were foolish but we all make mistakes and its not as if we didn’t try by E mailing for safety information before leaving in which we never received any reply. It was an intense workout and great training and came home shattered and ecstatic with a great sense of achievement. If you haven’t tried it give it a go. Cant wait to do it again in the summer.

PRITCHARD

S.W.Y.D

Finally the day arrived January 2nd 2012 and i get to go to Thailand for a whole month to chill and re-charge my batteries. I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time now but something always turns up and i’m then unable to go. When you fly all this way to somewhere so beautiful and as cheap as Thailand then you really have to make the most of it and stay for a good month. There’s so much to see and do that coming for just 2 weeks just isn’t enough and if i’m honest neither is a month but thats all i’ve got so i’m gonna try and see and do as much as possible.

I arrive at a freezing cold Heathrow airport 6 hours early just incase of crashes or delays on motorways something which i obviously could have done without. I enjoy getting to an airport early anyway as you can check in early, choose your preferred seat then sit down for a nice meal and a few beers and go look at the shops. You’re on holiday so why rush, argue or panic??? no need although 6 hours is a bit extreme but hey ho thats just me. I had to wait over an hour for Buttsy to turn up. When he did we headed straight to the bar for a few pints then decided to go and check in for our Thai airways flight to Bangkok. Turning up at the airport 6 hours early all went out the window, we turned up to check in and the cue was huge……….fucking great. When it comes to flights i’m very anal when it comes to chosing my seat, i always want a window and today even after the massive cue i managed to get what i wanted so i was stoked. I’ve spent most of my life petrified of flying but now it really doesn’t bother me at all, if your gonna die then so be it.

We walk onto the plane turning right and not the left that i’ve always wanted to do (one day) and went to find our seats. On sitting down i realize we have no tv in front of us Grrrrrrrr what!!!!!!!! 2012 and ‘NO’ tv for 10 hours, jesus. The horror of no tv put behind me we hit the skies and sat awaiting my Tomato juice, i don’t know why but when im on planes i get this sudden urge for a Tomato Juice like the craving of a pregnant woman. Another thing i enjoy about planes is the food yep, i know a lot of people hate airplane food but i love it and wont go to sleep till i’ve had it. Because it was a Thai flight we had a thai green curry or something like that. Food done and now due to no tv it was time to sleep and because it was a night flight it was easy to nod off with the helping hand of an industrial sleeping tablet off Buttsy. 9 hours later i get woken up for my breakfast, another hour and we will be landing in Bangkok, excitement and butterflies enter my stomach.

Landed and walking down the long clean corridors of Suvarnabhumi International Airport to collect our bags and we hit outside and feel the heat and the smells of Bangkok. I love that feeling especially if you’ve been to that place before as that smell just floods your mind with memories of previous trips. My last trip to Thailand was when we filmed the Sanchez movie so as you can imaging my mind was racing with pictures of good times indeed. We jumped into our taxi and headed of to our hotel in the centre of Bangokok ready for 2 days of carnage, something which Bangkok has an abundance of. We jumped into our hotel roof pool to chill out and as i was laying there i just kept thinking to myself i had a whole month of this but don’t forget Pritchard to use your time wisely as it’ll be gone before you know it. As the saying goes “time flies when your having fun” and that is so true.

We planned to go and meet up with a Gumballer called Gary for the night and he was going to take us out and show us the site’s but before all of that Buttsy spotted an Irish pub 2 mins from our hotel. Wherever you go in the world Irish pubs are everywhere and Buttsy’s head is like a radar for them. We went for a few beers in there then went and met Gary at our hotel. Gary owns a huge telecomunications company out here so as you can imaging is doing well for himself so we jumped into his gleaming white Mercedes (just to let you know, to buy a luxury car over here costs you big time as they have a luxury car tax of 300%. so if you had a £100,000 car it would cost you £3000,000) and went racing round the streets of Bangkok. If you’ve never been to Bangkok before it really is a mental city and completely alive 24 hours a day. The hustle and bustle of the place is insane and every part of the street is used up by a street food vendor, scooters etc it just looks like every part of the city is used up with something or other. We arrived at a party part of town called side Cowboy (the area on the movie Hangover 2) which i’ve never been to before and it was exactly what it said on the tin………..MENTAL. Screams from Thai women/men/Ladyboys “come in here darling”, “free drink for you” “love you long time” and gestures of blow jobs and all manner of things, just fucking crazy. We walk into our first bar and there is a square dance floor in the middle which is surrounded by tables and chairs and on this dance floor are about 40 topless Thai women all with a number on their knickers (if you fancied one you tell the waitress the number and she comes over. you then decide if you just want a chat or you pay a bar fine and you can take her home) and then Gary say’s “look above you” and it was the same deal upstairs but with a see through dance floor and all the women had no knickers on, bloody nora. At this point i look over at Buttsy and his face was like a glowing beacon, if he smiled anymore he would have looked like a cartoon character. The words “in his Element” is an understatement, brilliant. Lets just say that night was a blur and we awoke feeling like monkey shit.

Just to let you all know that i came to Thailand for one reason only and that was to ‘re-charge my batteries, relax and train for all my Ironman challenges this year’ it was a holiday to get away from the Party scene for a while as thats what i’ve done all year. Don’t get me wrong i loved every min of my year partying but there comes a time when your body needs a little rest ready to do it all again when your home. So far, from the moment we’ve landed till now we’ve been smashed (laughter). 2 nights of partying in Bangkok is cool though as when we get to Koh Samui then we can chill as the island is know for it’s detoxin etc.

We peeled our heads off our beds and decided to go and check out this shopping centre Buttsy was telling me about. He told me it was the biggest shopping centre he had ever seen (i’ve forgotten the name of it) and i was like “yeh, yeh” . How many time’s do people say that to you??? and you walk in and, ok it’s big but nothing special. This time however Buttsy wasn’t bullshitting at all he was 100% bang on the nail, jesus christ this place is big. Just to let you know how big this place is, you can buy anything that you ever needed in life in one building, houses, cars, food blah blah blah you name it and it has it. It even has an aquarium downstairs with sharks in it plus you can go diving in it too, You have to see it to believe it. We spent all day in there and still didn’t see it all, mental. We headed back to our hotel stopping off for a foot massage (every street has a massage shop, they are everywhere and cost around £3 for an hours foot massage. if your that way inclined then a happy ending will cost you a tad more) before heading off out for our second night.

Tonight another Gumballer Kiki was taking us out and about so he sent for one of his drivers to pick us up at our hotel and take us to a club that he owns just on the outskirts of Bangkok. We turned up and were greeted with this huge club, a live bands room in one part and a nightclub in another. Kiki turned up with his drift team so we all headed to watch a live Thai rock band whilst drinking red label whisky and water. the place was full of Thai’s which was nice to go somewhere local where it wasn’t full of fat ugly Brits or Yanks dribbling over young Thai women. After watching the band we headed into the club part which had an amazing sound system playing some quality dance music, if i closed my eye’s i could have quite easily been in Ibiza. A good sound system and music it wasn’t long before John Travolta here was dancing his pants off to the Thai’s amusement plus that whisky was hitting the right spot. Kiki took us to an after hours penthouse over looking bangkok for more whisky, karaoke and a chill in a hot tub before myself and Butts headed off back to our hotel. Tomorrow we were off to Koh Samui.

Day 2 in Bangkok and we awake the same as the day before, feeling like shit but worth every penny of it. Today however we fly to Koh Samui for relax time and i’m exited. My brother went traveling many years ago and he’s told me story’s of Koh Samui along with story’s of Koh Panghan and the full moon party’s (that was our next party stop) and many other things Thailand so this is why i was so exited, i was going to get to witness all this over the next month. We jumped on the plane in Bangkok for our hour flight to Samui with Bangkok airlines. We were about 10 mins from landing and from the sky i was looking down at Koh Panghan trying to get a glimps of Had Rin beach (full moon party beach) but with no luck then all of a sudden we were over Koh Samui landing, i never realized these islands were so close together. We jumped into our taxi and headed to the Tango resort where we were staying for the week until my mate Nat from Cardiff turned up. All in all it was a lovely hotel with a decent swimming pool and a wooden corridor taking you to the restaurant, bar and beach. It was evening time so a lot of people were just on their way out for dinner so myself and Butts decided to go and check out the place so went for a walk down the beach which was quite quiet then someone directed us to the main road which was ‘alive’ shall we say. restaurants, bars, cars, music etc it was all happening so we had a few beers to take it all in. Slowly but surely my idea of coming to Thailand to get away from the party and relax was starting to ring bells in my head. Have i picked the wrong island??? we met quite a few people and when we told them we came to detox they looked at us stupid and laughed. Dick head here only went and booked us into party central of Koh Samui, oops. The next 2 nights were spent going fucking mental at beach party’s and clubs drinking god knows how many buckets and smashing down Chang beer at 6.4% dancing on sun loungers etc it was bedlam but so so fucking good. The 2 of us acting like we’ve never seen a party before, from the moment we touched down in Bangkok we haven’t stopped drinking and partying and to top it off Zack from Magaluf is over here too so he’s joining in on the chaos. There is no such thing as Health & Safety over here, they don’t know the meaning of the word which i love. You can do whatever you want within reason of course as long as your having fun that is, although i did find out on my last night that they don’t take to kindly to Mankinis. When a police man comes up to you with a gun screaming at you to put your clothes back on you don’t argue, he’s lucky he didn’t get covered in my plop cause i was close to shitting it.

4 days of Mayhem and i’m screwed but were soon to hit the icing on the cake when it comes to party’s and thats the world renowned ‘FULL MOON PARTY’ on Had Rin beach Koh Panghan. Before leaving for Thailand i did a load of research on this party and it has to be said it looked mental and i was really looking forward to it. I’d heard so many story’s and all were good apart from the very few horror story’s but they were most prob down to the individual acting like some kind of drunken idiot. we bought our tickets to the full moon party 2 days before and we were going via speed boat to get us there quicker, the last thing i want to be is stuck on a ferry for 2 hours being inpatient to get there. The speed boat was about £20 anyway so no big deal. We went over with Zack and 2 girls from Magaluf and we were meeting the rest of the Maga boys at a pub over there. The sheer excitement on me when i got on the island was mental, i’d finally got here after years of wanting to come, along with a mind full of story’s off my brother of how good it is. Buckets were being sold everywhere so we bought a few and started making our way down towards Had Rin beach to check it out. As we got closer i could hear the noise of it all and the competing sound systems at every bar. We hit the beach and i looked right & left and all you could see was a sea of people (around 30,000) dancing on the beach. For a moment your mouth drops and you utter the words “FUCKING HELL” it really is bonkers. First stop Mushroom mountain just to fry my head enough ready for the party, 2 shakes later and we make our way to the beach until i stop and tell buttsy “my beer bottle’s turned to clay” yep, i’ve started tripping. Ah well, lets get stuck in so we headed off to the ‘shark energy’ drink slide which was bloody mental, it’s literally on the roof of a bar and you just chuck yourself down the thing and basically go flying into the crowd below taking out a load of party heads in the process. The words once again hit my mind ‘health & safety’ yeeeeeh haaaaaaa ‘NO’ such thing over here, you know the dangers before you do it so its your own fault. From the slide we went to another death trap which was the huge skipping rope which was burning in flames and anyone could go and try and skip it. From what i could see there weren’t many skipping but a lot were getting taken out and burnt all over their bodies……..ace. We then headed over to a platform and proceeded to dance for about an hour before heading to the main bar which was packed to the rafters with party heads dancing so we stayed there for a bit until we decided to go back to Samui. All in all it was a bit of a let down for me, maybe i expected to much from it and it didn’t deliver but the moral of the story here was the place was full to the brim with dick heads. They would get as pissed as humanly possible and then disrespect everyone there with their arrogance. You go to a party to have a good time and share your experiences with strangers you meet along the way but most of the strangers i met were nobs hence the reason for leaving early. I’m sure that when the full moon party’s started on Had Rin beach many years ago they were rocking but like anything that gets massive and commercial it attracts the dick heads who in turn ruin what was once a great party. Don’t let me put you off though as it really is worth going to check for the sheer mentalness of it.

Arrive back on Samui and wait for the arrival of Nat who has just flown out of Heathrow ready to come and meet us. Our time at the Tango resort was almost coming to an end, we made a few friends whilst staying there and by the sounds of things kept them entertained as they were gutted we were leaving for another hotel. Apparently we were their source of entertainment. Now that Nat had turned up we could go off and do all the tourist things together so we went and booked ourselves some day outs. We then moved into the same apartments as the Magaluf boys which worked out to be £180 between the 3 of us for the week which was good. By now the Party had slowed down and i was settling into what i came here for to train, read and chill and i was loving it. We would have one big party at least once a week at the Ark bar on Chaweng beach plus we would go and hang out with Paddy at the Thairish bar for a few games of pool in the week nights.

All in all i was starting to settle in quite nicely on Koh Samui, i had my £2 a day scooter which is all you need and would take me where i needed to go. I sussed out the best places to eat, i knew where the gym was and i also had a decent pool to swim in along with a lovely clear sea. It was all starting to fit in just right but i was still craving a bit more peace and quiet so we booked a boat trip to Koh Tao which i’ve been told is amazing for snorkeling/diving and is really peaceful. we booked a £10 room between the 3 of us which was on a cliff overlooking the sea which looked lovely on the internet, fingers crossed it would be the same in real life. We jumped on the 3 hour boat ride and arrived on the island in time to catch our 4×4 which would take us to our hotel. We checked inn and our room was amazing, it was very basic but i didn’t give a shit as we had an amazing view and the place was so quiet it was perfect. We stayed here for 3 days of eating the best food, best fruit, swimming above reef which was alive with wildlife and fish of all colours, chilling and reading it was heaven. I did a lot of thinking on that island, it did me a lot of good. I was in a very happy place far away from the arse holes of this world, surrounded by polite, respectful and very friendly Thai’s who cannot do enough for you. It’s moments like these you take a look at what you have back home and the things we take for granted. You don’t really need that 60”inch HD tv, Brand new car etc i could go on and on. When your on an island like this in Thailand i was happy with my little hut, a shit scooter, cold shower, a book, the sea to swim, a gym to train and a lovely bar on the beach with hammocks selling 50 pence beers, what else do you need??? i certainly didn’t miss the TV (well, maybe master chef) and defiantly the news and shelfs of crap magazines with news of so and so’s new breast implants and so and so has cheated on him or her. Pointless negative rubbish which is shoved in our faces on a daily basis. When your stuck on an island it all seems a million miles away and i loved it.

3 days later and it was time to catch the boat back to Samui for our final 3 days before we were set to jump on the plane back home after 30 days of heaven. Instead of going back to Chaweng beach we decided to go and get a classic Thai beach hut each at again £10 a pop. Triangular shaped, with a bed, mosquito net, plug, fan what else do you need??? and when you open the door you are greeted with the sea……….amazing. Just down the road was on of the worlds 50 top restaurants called ‘Radiance’ which is based in the Samui Spa complex and i can most probably say it was thee best restaurant i’ve been to. Being a chef by trade i appreciate good food and yes, i’ve been to many a posh restaurant and loved the food and i’ve been to michelin stared restaurants but this place had a little something that all the others didn’t. right, where do i start????…………..it’s on a beach, its dirt cheap, the view is breathtaking all this and we haven’t even got to the food yet, this is why i loved it. The menu consists of about 20 pages and its all healthy eating, raw foods, smoothies, juices etc and food for dieters/fasters & people on detox. You really could spend the afternoon studying their menu its so interesting it’s unreal. When the food came out it was what i expected……AMAZING. I read Brandon Blocks book whilst i was out here and it was one hell of a coincidence that whilst i was reading it i found out he comes to the exact place for a month of detoxing and was due here in Feb. On the subject of Brandons book go out and buy yourself a copy it seriously is good reading and i couldn’t put the thing down, that guy has had one crazy life. Ronnan Keating once said “life is a roller coaster you’ve just got to ride it” fucking hell Brandons must be the Blackpools Pepsi max one then.

Another one of my missions to tick off my bucket list when i came out here was to run the Koh Samui ring road (Samui’s answer to the M25 but obviously no where near as congested) which after doing my research on the internet before leaving was 31 miles long. The furthest i’ve ever ran in one go was 28 miles so this was going to be a first for me. I had been having little runs whilst i was on the island but finding it hard due to the humidity and heat along with very hilly roads ‘BUT’ when i tell myself im going to do something i ‘HAVE’ to do it or it will keep bugging me until i finally do it. I’ve been on this island for almost a month and believe you me this run was playing on my mind as it was nearly time to go home and i still hadn’t attempted it. I set a date, 2 days before we were due to fly home i would wake at 5am and start running. Buttsy would wake at 7.30am and would come and check on me to see if i was ok and to help with water and food etc so i could keep fueling my body. Setting off in the pitch black with my ipod on listening to some great music was amazing, i was in a happy place a place which i’m always in when running, swimming, cycling or generally anything which involves going on a mission/challenge. I’m in the zone and focused then all of a sudden a bloody stray dog (their all over the island) jumps out of a bush trying to attack me, the fucking git shit me right up and i must have looked like a penis trying to fight this dog with my water bottle. I really didn’t want to get bit as the last thing i wanted was rabies. I got rid of him but i found out on my travels that this would happen many times grrrrrrrrrr. Dogs gone and the sun came up and i was witnessing early morning in Samui with the locals getting ready for their day and the buddhist monks doing their rounds all waving to me as i ran, the feeling of forest Gump started to creep in (laughter). It is now so fucking hot and so fucking humid and i’m loosing a lot of water through sweat but Buttsy came to the rescue with red bull (he’s sponsored by monster but they dont sell it in thailand) bananas and plenty of water and stayed with me the whole time (thanks Butts) feeding me as i needed it. I could see the finish in the distance after attacking the mountains and my legs were ruined but there was no way i was giving up. 5 and a half hours later i made it to the finish line and took myself straight for a massage. this was great training for my up and coming first 50 mile ultra marathon on may 20th in Cardiff.

It was our last day on Koh Samui Thailand so we arranged a final leaving party with everyone we met on our travels. we were off to the Thairish bar first then we’d all go to the Ark bar for a beach party and on to wherever else it would take us. My memory is a bit shady from that night due to the amount of buckets i drank but it was good to see everyone and say our goodby’s. I will most prob see the Magaluf boys again this summer but it was good to meet them all, a good bunch of lads. I wake on our last day with a proper hangover made bigger at the thought of flying home to the rat race, the cold and reality.

All in all i had the time of my life, the best holiday i have ever been on. It was a mixture of many different things and many different experiences. I left for Thailand in a bit of a bad way mentally but came home feeling great, re-freshed, confident and brand new. If your thinking of going or havent been but want to then i highly recommend Thailand. it seriously is an amazing place. Just like Ibiza, i’ve fallen in love but this time with a few islands…… Koh Samui, Koh Panghan and Koh Tao.

photos of my trip are available via my instagram www.instagram.com/pritchardswyd

Happy days

pritchard

sleep when you’re dead

It’s November and these days that means one thing……..Movember. I remember 2 years ago when the boys at my local skate shop City Surf started growing moustaches and i thought “why the fuck are you all rocking ropey moustaches” to which they answered “were supporting Movember”. I remember thinking that sounds like fun so agreed to do it the following year with Dainton in 2010. It was a good laugh and at the same time we raised some cash for a good cause whilst the 2 of us looked like right dodgy geezers compleate with a furry top lip.

This year however myself and my brother Trigg decided to do it but add another challenge into the game. We decided to run 30 half marathons in the 30 days of Movember and on the last day we were to rock the 118-118 outfits and run round Cardiff City centre like it. Now, it all sounds like a good idea when you sit there over a pint talking of it but when you actually put it into practice of your daily lives you then utter the words “what have i said” and believe you me the two of us did it on a few occasions.

3 days before we were to start our mission i had to go to Ireland to enter the Dublin full marathon, something i booked a few months before and a marathon i didn’t want to pull out of as i wanted to visit friends i haven’t seen in a while plus we were hooking up with a load of the Ibiza Irish crew for a little reunion so i flew out on the Saturday with Swanseas finest Doyle. I flew on the Saturday so i could have my party that night with all the Irish peeps and rest on the Sunday ready for the marathon on the Monday……………but!!!!!!!!!!!. I was once again kidding myself as i knew that wasn’t going to happen at all. We did the usual and ended up going to Zulu tattoo to see Sean and when that happens its fucking fireworks all the way. Sean’s a south African Tattooist and a top top man who can out party anyone i know so it was danger hanging out with him when i knew i had a full marathon to run but i love hanging out with him man he’s a train wreck and i love it. I had our welsh train wreck with me Doyley along with all the Irish clan and the party went right off. One thing led to another and the lack of sleep was a major factor but everyone had fun.

Sunday night the night before the marathon and im trying to fill my body with pasta and drinking as much water as possible so i don’t collapse on mile 5 of dehydration, i’m surrounded by everyone glugging magners and bulmers so i decided to get some sleep as i was up at 6 ready to get to the start line in time. I made it and i’m ready to run although a bit tired but i’ve been worse and i was on my mission to beat my marathon time of 4 hours and 21 mins. I started well and i was feeling good considering but as i hit 20 miles i hit a brick wall and i was in agony but kept trucking. I managed at one point to catch up with the 4 hour pacemakers and got exited at the thought of finishing it in 4 hours, that lasted about 20 mins until i hit that brick wall, then i just watched those pacemaker balloons disappear into the distance. As i got about 2 miles away from the finish the heavens opened and when i say rain i mean a monsoon which soaked me from head to toe. I crossed the line in 4 hours and 10 mins beating my time by 11 mins which i was really happy about. the only problem was i then went into shock and started shaking uncontrollably with cold due to the weather but i couldn’t find Ciara & Sean. It was that moment in life when you just want the floor to swallow you up and be done with it, i was that bad. I managed to find Ciara and Sean (Buttsy & Doyle were boozing at a local pub) and they both took me to a skate shop (forgotten the name) and Sean bought me a whole new outfit i.e shoes, jeans, t’shirt, hoodie etc and i felt like a new man. thanks so much to Ciara, Sean and the skate shop for looking after me it means a lot. From the skate shop we then went to Zulu for some hot soup then i jumped into the taxi with Doyle and made our way to the airport and jumped onto the plane, destination Cardiff.

We land in Cardiff and my legs have gone as stiff as a board and i’m just wiped out with tiredness but i couldn’t rest yet as Daint, Aid and our dj Rob were on their way to pick me up from the airport to head to Bournemouth for a PvsD gig. To make matters worse the tour van was having a service so i had to squeeze 3 of us in the back of a car after running 26 miles and sleeping about 5 hours in 3 days hahaha “Sleep when you’re dead”. Arrive in Bournemouth feeling like a 60 year old, tip a litre of vodka down my neck, get on stage, go mental, sit in car and party in it for the journey home. As myself and Doyle get to my house at 7am we carried on drinking for a bit till my body shut down………BED.

I wake the next day to a phone call off Trigg reminding me that today we start our 30 half marathons in 30 days for Movember and i really didn’t want to entertain it as i was finding it hard to even walk down my stairs after the onslaught of Dublin but i said i would do it and thats what we set out to do so i stretched as much as i could and went running. Before hitting the road mind i went to the shop to buy a load of ice as i knew when i came in from my 13 miles i would definitely need an ice bath to rid my legs of the lactic acid build up in my legs, something i knew i would have to do for at least a week before my legs could get back to anything resembling normality. If there is anyone out there that enjoys running marathons you’ll understand and know what i’m talking about. I get in from my first half marathon and i’m in agony but then i jumped into the ice bath for 15 mins until my manhood looked something like a button mushroom.

I have to take my hat off to Trigg as he has a full time teaching job and a family so he had to fit in his runs in with his busy schedule every day, not an easy task at all. for the first week of running we were averaging just over 2 hours but as the weeks went by we got quicker and quicker and you would think it’d get easier but it didn’t. It’s quite a novelty to start with which makes it quite exiting but after 2 weeks of running half marathons every day it becomes quit hard dedicating at least 2 hours a day to running especially when your nike plus mileometer has packed in (this happened to Trigg) and you have to do the same course day in day out as you know that run adds up to 13 miles. I was lucky as my nike plus GPS watch worked apart from a few occasions when i forgot to charge it etc. As we counted down the days and logged in our miles then so our moustaches got bigger and bigger, Trigg going for the Handlebar and myself going for the bum fluff top lip one due to not being able to grow a manly beard. Some days were better than others but some days we just didn’t want to go out at all due to partying the night before and the lack of sleep but as soon as you get your arse off the sofa and started running then your adrenalin would kick in and you were off. Due to my gigging schedule i found myself running around roath park lake at silly times in the night and once i woke at 4am to get one run over and done with as i was off to skegness at 7am for a gig with a 2pm stage time. Seeing party heads walking home whilst i was running felt rather strange let me tell you and i’m sure they looked at me and thought “what the fuck is that weirdo doing at this time running”. Come the 29th of November we had ran 29 half marathons with a distance of 377 miles and quite a few pounds in weight lost but the next day was to be our last.

Day 30 and we had our 118-118 outfits ready and out we went on the streets of Cardiff to the sound of car horns beeping and tooting and shouts of “i’ve got your number”. We put a few smiles on peoples faces that day which was nice and we arrived back at Triggs house after running 390 miles in 30 days, mission compleate.

All in all we managed to raise close to £800 for mens health. thanks to all that donated and supported us it means a lot. If you haven’t donated but would like to you can here www.mobro.co/pritchards

the 2 of us are now working on our next challenge for 2012 so keep eye’s peeled as its a monster.

pritch

SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE DEAD

15 YEARS OF AGE, ROCKING MY SILVER SHADOWS HAHA

Over 15 years later and i decided to run the Cardiff half again getting a time of 1:42.00 which i was more than happy with considering it was my first time back after all those years. Ever since i’ve entered the marathon every year and for the last 3 of them i haven’t been sober for one. The problem is that the marathon always falls in the middle of the students freshers party’s so myself and Daint are booked for gigs. I remember we had a gig in Plymouth 3 years ago on the saturday night and after drinking a whole bottle of Jack Daniels and partying in the van all the way home by the time i got to bed i only had 2 hours sleep and had to go and run. 2 years ago we weren’t booked for a gig but did the mistake of going for a quiet beer in Cardiff which ended up being one big house party. I went straight from the party into my house to change and got to the start line humming of booze pissed as a fart with no sleep. My mother came down to support me and couldn’t believe the mess i was in so i had a clip across the head, in her words “your never to old for a slap”. 2 hours and 20 min’s later i could see the finish but like hell was i feeling well. I don’t know if it was the excitement of seeing the finish or just the pure fact i was marinated in booze but i puked all over the place just 20 meters from the finish line. Everyone thought i did it on purpose but believe me i didnt.

After 2 years of putting myself through hell doing the marathon you’d think i’d learn my lesson but ooooooooooh nooooooooo turnip features here decided that if i went out for a drink friday i could chill saturday night before the race………….WRONG. I went out then ended up at a house party in which i stayed at for the whole of friday night, saturday day and night until it was time to run the marathon on the sunday with not even a wink of sleep. I was in all manner of trouble and in one fucking state let me tell you. If i thought the clip around my ear hole off my mother was something last year then this year (2010) i had a right belt and in front of everyone. I started and surprisingly didn’t feel to bad but it went in waves, one min i’d be fine the next felt like shit. All in all it was a tough marathon so i didn’t half have a shock when i saw the finish line and my time was 1 hour 50 min, 8 mins from my best time ever at the Cardiff half. I think that was the point when i decided i was Batman haha.

Anyway, it’s 2011 and ive decided to do the Cardiff half once again and i promised myself this year that i wouldn’t go out which was a hard decision considering it was the Wales vs France rugby world cup match. For once i managed to stay which was a good bet really as this year i decided to do it in full fire man outfit. As some of you may know i’ve done a lot on the treadmill dressed in full fire kit compleate with oxogen tank over my shoulders for the Atlantic Dash boys and Ty-Hafan hospice but this time i decided to wear the steel toecap boots and not trainers. All in all the outfit came to about 40 kilos and as i arrived ready for the start i could really feel the weight. 5 minute’s before the gun goes and the clouds clear and the sun comes out, normally it would be welcome but for once with what i was wearing it wasn’t. 2 miles into the run and im in a state, my brother trigg who is running with me (if it wasn’t for my bro i don’t think i would have finished, he really did look after me and kept me hydrated as i was loosing a lot of fluid and over heating) took one look at me and said “your fucked aren’t you??” to which i replied “yes” and all he did was laugh. I saw the funny side too but all i could think about was “fuck, i have another 10 miles to go”. The boots made one hell of a difference and the blisters at the end proved it. Even though it took me by surprise i loved it. It really made crossing that line with a time of 3 hours and 29 minutes feel even better. I woke on monday and my legs felt foreign along with my hamstrings which still are screwed today. I better start my recovery as im off to Dublin next weekend to do the dublin full marathon for the first time and looking forward to it.

The Cardiff Half marathon will be on channel 4 at 7am on November 27th and S4C this saturday at 6.25pm

I’ve put myself in these traveling situations for about 8 years all to taste the fun, mayhem, carnage, chaos, party’s, sunsets, beaches, people, food (even if i only manage 1 spaghetti Bolognese a week) hedonism and a good taste of that rock’n’roll the island has to offer. It’s these things that bring me back to the island year in year out. Over those 8 years i have seen and done many things all having their own unique story. A lot of these story’s are based on excess but hey, thats why i go to ibiza……………to loose my mind and live life.

For years people have e mailed me, twitted me, facebooked me and told me “You should write a book”. Believe me i have thought the same for many years and have always wanted to, but to write a book properly i would need a good 4 months away from work and any distraction to get it done properly and in my job thats impossible.

last year one of “those” tweets came off a guy called stuart Griffiths (his twitter is @StuGriffstar follow him all) who told me i should write a book. He had already written a book called Ibiza Rocked of his experience on the island as a holiday rep. You can buy it via this web site www.ibizarocked.com he asked me if i would like a copy and if i would review it for him which i happily did. It’s a great book with a great story if very sad, buy it.

We hooked up and had a chat about writing a book together about my love for ibiza, how i always wanted to go to the island, my first visit up until the present day along with all the stories, parties and the excess that came with it along with loosing my mind on quite a few occasions, the women, the clubs, Dj’s, Dirty Sanchez & Pritchard vs Dainton gigs and even a run in with the Russian Mafia. A no holes barred book about my story of Ibiza with all the trimmings. To tell you the truth i’m finding it very hard remembering it all for obvious reasons but i’m slowly gathering info by hooking up with friends i have been with over the years to remind me. Do you have a story of me in Ibiza??? photos??? out of interest would you be interested in reading this kind of book??? if so, what format would you buy it in?? electronic i.e kindle/ipad or paper back???

myself and stuart are really interested in your feedback. if you would like to help towards this book or have any answers to the questions i’ve asked please e mail :

pritchardswyd@mac.com or stuart@ibizarocked.com

We will spend the whole winter writting this book and it will be ready for release late spring 2012 ready to kick off the new Ibiza season. Expect a banging launch party in the Uk and of course in Ibiza.

lets put pen to paper

PRITCHARD

S.W.Y.D

It’s been a long 9 months since i decided that i was going to do the IRONMAN challenge. Nov/Dec to be precise when my friend Buttsy e mailed me the youtube link about Rick & Dick hoyt. I’ve dreamt of doing the Ironman for many years but wasn’t in no fit state to do it really so it was just something that was put into the back of my mind but it was always there knocking. A lot of people have said why all this keep fit?? why marathons?? Why Ironman??. The answer to that is simple, i saw myself going down a road that was slowly fucking me up and i started bloating out, looking pale and generally looked ill from doing to much of everything. Don’t get me wrong, the reason i looked like that is because i was having the time of my life and grabbing life by the balls and draining it of what i could get, but at the same time it wasn’t doing me any favors. I was basically grabbing all the “bad” bits of life and not clutching some of the good. I remember seeing old footage from Sanchez and decided to do something about it so i joined a gym about 4 years ago. i’ve been a skateboarder all my life so have always been physically fit & looked healthy so when you see yourself in that state its a bit of a shock.

WITH MY GOODIE BAG

I’m a man who really loves a good party so i didn’t want to give that up completely so i found a balance in life where i could do the both train and party and it seems to work well. I did my second cardiff half marathon in 2007 (my first one was when i was 15 years old) and so i carried on doing them every year after that plus i will do it again this year but i’m thinking of running it backwards this year to make it more of a challenge for me. After doing 3 cardiff half marathons i really wanted to do a full 26.2 mile marathon and the samaritains helped me get a place in the virgin london marathon in 2010. In 2009 my friend matthew ryan said he was going to run the length of the country from john o’groats to lands end at the end of may 2010 so i asked if i could join him and he kindly agreed. To run 900 miles i had a lot of training to do so it was perfect timing for me to run the London marathon a month before we headed up to john o’groats to run the country. I found running the london marathon tough but i managed it with a time of 4 hours and 22 mins. Running John O’Groats to lands end took us 30 days with an average of 34 miles a day to compleate.

PARKING MY BIKE UP FOR THE NIGHT

After all that running i was now physically fit enough to do something bigger plus i wanted to set myself a challenge for 2011 and thats when Buttsy sent me that youtube vid of Dick & Rick Hoyt doing the Ironman and it inspired me that much i decided to sign up. If a father can swim, cycle and push his disabled son all that distance then there is hoe for me. The Ironman was now in my sights and i was exited. I literally picked up my computer and typed ironman into google and the first one to come up was the bolton ironman for july 31st so i clicked on the web site, out with my bank card and i booked it. After booking it i decided to call around to see if anyone was interested in joining me to put a SWYD team together and the following people said yes………my brother trigg, Alex Symonds and Nathan Allen. We decided to do it for Ty-Hafan hospice which is a great south Wales charity that looks after life limited children and their family’s. Myself and Alex went to visit the hospice a few weeks ago to see the work they do for these children and it really is amazing and not only do they help the children but they are there for the family too. It was nice to meet some of the children and have a chat to the familys to whilst we were at the hospice. It really hits home when you visit these places and realise how lucky you are and how much they rely on donations to keep this great work up hence doing such events like Ironman. Dont forget you can still donate at www.justgiving.com/swyd-ironman and you can visit Ty-Hafan’s web site here www.tyhafan.org

ME AND ALEX AT TY-HAFAN

Team sorted and all we had to do now was put the training in. We had 9 months to do as much as we could and i knew that the closer it got to the summer for me the less training i could put in due to work/gigs etc as its a busy time of year. I also had to get all the equipment to do this challenge but luckily i had a phone call of Olympic gold medalist Geraint Thomas’s agent Gayle saying that Geraint heard that i was doing the Ironman and he wanted to help being a Cardiff boy himself. All our worry’s were put aside as Gayle sorted everything out when it came to all things “bike”. Fair play she was absolutely brilliant and we are very grateful of her help. From having nothing to having the best of everything and it helped a great deal and to top it off we got to spend a day riding with Geraint Thomas and got to meet all the guy’s who sponsored us and had a great day.

THE 4 OF US THE NIGHT BEFORE

My weakest part of the Ironman would be the bike part as i haven’t really ridden bikes for long distances before. I was fine when it came to swimming and running but i really needed to put the hours in on the bike which is why i decided to ride from John O’Groats to Lands End with Alex. I don’t think i could have got better training than riding 1,125 miles from the top of the country to the bottom. With as much training under my belt as i could do the summer came and it was party/work/gig time for me so i spent the month before ironman in Ibiza, Magaluf, Kavos, Portugal and various nightclubs over the Uk. It’s not really a good idea to be drinking heavily staying up all night and all hours before doing an ironman but i had no choice. When i say that of course i had choice, i could have not drank did my work and gone to bed early but that just aint me and at the end of the day the event is called IRONMAN not playschool. Its the challenge i set myself and i was gonna do it properly. You will never know what your body/mind is capable of doing unless you push it as far as you can go, its there to be punished. Pain is temporay.

THE LAKE

July 30th and its the day before the big day, it was only 3 days ago that i was in Magaluf doing a PVSD gig with Daint in which i ended up at the BCM mansion naked pool party drinking like some kind of fool and missing my plane knowing in my mind i had a big task ahead of me but thats just typical of me, fun first worry second.

Myself and my brother drive up at 6am as we had to register by 1am. Nathan came up the day before and went to what they call the pasta party to meet up with a few people and check out the course in time for the big day. Alex was coming up with his mother the same day as myself and Trigg. We arrived at 9am checked into our hotel and headed down to sign in and set our bike up in the bike parking bit and put our running shoes up in the school ready for the marathon. If you have never done a triathlon before it can be very confusing trust me. If it wasn’t for nathan myself & Trigg would have been lost but then if it wasn’t for me and Trigg alex would have been lost, team effort right there. When you sign in you receive 3 colored bags, blue was for you bike stuff i.e bike shoes, socks, nutrition etc. Red is for your running gear and white is for the clothes you came in. You leave these bags in the designated areas so on the day its all set up and ready to rock. So as you can imaging if its your first triathlon it can get quite confusing but it does work like clockwork.

5pm and we all have to go to bolton Fc’s football ground for a de-brief of what was to happen on ironman day. 1,500 athlete’s more than half of us were first time ironman entrants so i goes to show how popular this event is getting. After hearing the rules it was time to head back to our hotel fill up with food, preferably pasta but myself and my Trigg had a huge mixed grill.  I was fast asleep by 8pm as we had to be up at 2.30am to get sorted before the lake start.

1,500 IRONMEN ATHLETES AWAITING DE-BRIEF

My alarm goes off and it just seems really weird to me being up at 2.30am on a sunday morning when normally i’m just getting stuck into clubbing at this time but i can tell you now that the thought of clubbing was far far away in my thoughts, i’ve spent 9 months thinking and training for this day and my stomach is doing summersaults with butterflies. I’ve got everything ready and i sit there on my bed eating some pasta filling up on carbs until Trigg knocks on the door and off we went to catch our bus to the lake and bike start. We arrive and its quite a chilly morning and all i can think about is bobbing up and down in that cold lake for half an hour before the start pistol goes. The place is full to the brim with Ironmen contestants getting last min things sorted, wetsuits getting put on and all walking in the direction of the lake. Myself, Trigg, alex and Nathan wait for as long as possible before we hit the water to save loosing energy treading water before the start and generally hold off from entering that lake till the last minute then all of a sudden we hear loud clapping off everyone and its team true spirit coming through the crowd. Team true spirit are a team made up of amputee soldiers who have been injured in duty fighting for our country in afghanistan. One of the team Joe is a double amputee and has lost his both legs and is being carried on the shoulders of one of his team mates. Seeing this puts me into quite an emotional state, fair play to him and his team all refusing to give up no matter what the situation and there’s us worrying about getting into a cold lake???? sort it out. After seeing this that lake and my attitude quickly changed and in i went, stop being a fart after all this is Ironman not a ballet class. It should be a lesson to all of you out there reading this and saying to yourselfs “i could never do ironman” if Joe can do it with his both legs missing im sure you could too. if you put your mind to anything you CAN do it. Our bodys are here to be pushed to their limits, if you never push your body you’ll never know what you are capable of.

GOT IT. OH YEH

Im in and quite surprised at how warmish the water is. There are now 1,500 people bobbing up and down in a lake waiting to go and BANG off we all went. It was swimming carnage, fighting for a decent place whilst a hand hits one foot another hits your other foot and the someones foot kicks you in the face its like a swimming rugby scrum. After about a mile of swimming it calms down a little but you still have to be careful and especially careful of the ones doing breast stroke because one of their feet in your face will break your nose or give you a shinning black eye. I’m really enjoying the swim and daydreaming away then i see the swim finish in the distance and get grabbed out of the pool ready for my bike. I’m a bit all over the shop after coming out of the lake hence the sheer amount of helpers making sure you don’t fall over fucking yourself on your way to the bike.

Wetsuit off and grab all my bike stuff from my blue bag and replace it with my wetsuit. I have my tri suit on underneath my wetsuit which was made for us by www.maxgear.co.uk so all i had to do was put my bike shoe’s on and helmet and grab my bike and hit the road for my 112 mile bike ride. Before i jump on my bike i hear this woman shouting and screaming at the top of her voice and i look up and its my mother who has come up with my father and little brother who i live with to give me some support. Talking of support i couldn’t believe how many Sanchez fans came and supported me it was unreal and very nice of you all, thank you it really did help.

DONT FORGET YOUR SUNCREAM NEXT TIME TRIGG

The bike started off really well but i knew deep down that once i put some miles in it was going to hurt. I’ve heard a lot about “the hill” and i was waiting to hit that thing up and before i knew it there it was in the distance this great big, steep juicy hill that i had to get to the top of. You have to do the bike course 3 times so i knew attacking the hill first time round would be fine but come second and definitely third time would be close to finishing me off and i wasn’t wrong. I hit the 80 mile mark pretty comfortably but i started slowing up and feeling every bit of this ironman, i’m in agony and in need of food. I’ve eaten so many bananas from the feeding stations i feel like a monkey and sipped energy drinks whilst keeping up my hydration with water but i’m feeling it all. I start eating raisins, flapjacks that i have on my bike, energy bars but i try to keep all my nutrition from natural sources as i cant be doing with shoving all that sweet shit into my system and feeling sick. The flapjacks work and i get a welcomed boost but it doesn’t last for long and i’m struggling again. My mind is racing with thoughts of “am i going to do this”, “what if i dont” “how am i gonna run 26 miles after this” blah blah blah then i hit “The Hill” for my 3rd lap and i almost never entertained it. Time for some kick arse shouting and talking to myself time because there is no way am i getting off my bike to walk “The Hill” the shouting works and i get to the top of that hill, before i know it i break down tears strolling down my face and pure adrenaline pumping around my body, reminders of why i’m doing this challenge racing through my mind, there are many personal reasons. The whole situation gave me a huge boost to finish those last few miles of the bike and into the school for the marathon.

Getting off a bike after 112 miles can be quite a comical scene, your legs have had it and as soon as you put your feet on the floor it becomes very alien and i wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people just collapsed. I waddle into the school gym hall resembling the walk of John Wayne whilst my arse looks like dale Wintons had a go on it, find my bag and slowly but surely put my trainers on and stretch whilst filling myself up with a mixture of seeds and nuts for energy. I hit the road and i’m not really running properly i’m just shuffling from side to side for about 4 miles until i then get a good pace on. Running through very affluent districts of Bolton admiring the lovely houses and getting some great support from the locals who are all out on their front lawns cheering us all along. I do like running it’s great and a perfect time for me to go into my own little world and daydream away which i’m very good at. There are no headphones allowed which i totally agree with as there are streets lined with supporters so why would you want music?? plus you get to chat to many of the contestants on your travels. All was going well then my arse/stomach started talking to me and gave me the nod that it wanted a great release but there was nowhere to go. I’m holding it in for as long as possible but its now painful and i’m close to shitting myself. I’m too scared to fart just incase but then in the distance i see some portaloos and i ran in and released, the feeling was great but there was no toilet paper so up with my tri suit and off i went.

Like the bike course the run is the same, you have to run the same circuit 3 times receiving a band at the top which you put on your wrist. As soon as you have 3 bands you can make your way to the finish line. 20 miles into the run and all i can tell myself is “one foot in front of the other and dont give up” i cant explain the pain i’m feeling by now but in a weird way its enjoyable. I received my 3rd band and i knew i was literally half an hour away from being crowned ironman and the excitement was unreal. All that training and i was almost there. I cant explain the feeling my body was going through but i was liking it a lot, i had a spring in my step a smile on my face that no one could have wiped off if they tried. I came into Bolton city centre and the closer i got to the city hall where the finish line was the more my adrenalin was pumping, i could see my Mam, Dad, 2 brothers Aled and Trigg (Trigg had finished with a great time of 12.43min which is amazing considering a few years ago he never did any form of exercise) nathan allen (finished in 10.17min and was 73rd which is unbelievable) all shouting for me then over the microphone i heard the words i’ve been waiting to hear when i first decided to do this challenge and they were “MATHEW PRITCHARD, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN” i went mental then crossed the line to receive my medal which now takes pride of place in my living room.

4 HAPPY IRONMEN

To sum up my ironman experience it was one of the most life challenging things i’ve ever done and something i’ll never forget. From start to finish i enjoyed every minute of it. will i be doing another??? of course i will, i cant wait to do it again.

thanks to the following people who made it possible. my brother Trigg, Alex Symonds, Nathan Allen, Gayle from seren pr, Geraint Thomas, Todays Cyclist, Maxgear, Dolan bikes. and anyone i forgot your all ace.

THE MEDAL

My next challenge is called ‘One man, one mission, one party’. starting in john o’groats i want to rollerskate to lands end, run from lands end to Dover, row the channel, Skateboard from Calais to Paris and then cycle from Paris to Barcelona and jump on the ferry to Ibiza and party.

Go and set yourself a goal next year and suprise yourself’s. it’s a lot of fun

Pritchard

Sleep when you’re dead