Fabruary 2014

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Fabruary? Who am I kidding?

Maybe we'll change
Offered the chance
To finally unlearn our lessons
And alter our stance. ("Machine Messiah" - Yes)

Yes, things are so grim I'm listening to prog rock again. A deadly cocktail of a bad back, insomnia and trouble at 'mill (i.e. work, which looks like going to court in the very near future) means I have not been running at all lately, have my biggest pot belly in many years and feel somewhat miffed with it all.

I need to run, I want to run but am so incredibly tired I am barely able to function at even a remotely normal level. Hence the fall-back position of immersing myself in the music of my formative years ... Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and ... Yes. Restorers of sanity, all of them, providing (as they do) a small dose of life-giving resilience with each track played.

I played Deep Purple's "Made in Japan" the other day and it was like playing it for the first time - a sense of amazement at the sheer quality of the thing and a burst of adrenaline and endorphins that got me through the next day or two of w*rk.

Not to worry - all this will come to pass, as George Harrison said so eloquently way back in 1970. I knew then, even at the tender age of 9 that George's solo double album was going to be immensely important to me throughout my life, and so it has proven to be (although I still can't abide "It's Johnny's Birthday").

Anyway, nothing is quite so gloomy as I'm making it sound. Soon enough my troubles will pass and I will once more with my Brooks Adrenalines run through the wilds of Sydney's north shore suburbia.

In the meantime, I'm maintaining my enthusiasm by reading of all your adventures in Almeria and beyond.

Best of luck, Almerites!

If you could see all the roads I have travelled
Towards some unusable last equilibrium
Run like an athlete and die like a dead beaten speed-freak
An answer to all of your answers to-yes ("Tempus Fugit" - Yes)


Ooooh, nearly forgot the TdJ ... reckon you'll love this one, Sweder, SP, suzie et al! A great Aussie self-deprecating punk band who never made any money but toured the world anyway and influenced bands far-and-wide who *did* make money (including Nirvana!) ... great fun.

[Antonio247]

Hope everything gets brighter so that your worries go very far away, MLCMM. As my teacher of philosophy used to say "La preocupación se va con la ocupación" ( Worries go away with occupation ). Going for a run will help you although it must be very hot over there now.

Thanks for your good wishes. We'll have you in mind here.

Best of luck!

[suzieq]

Hang in there MLCMM. As you say, this too will pass. It always does, but can be tough going through it. Wish you did have the energy and health to run as it would help. Do what you can. Hopefully things start to get better at work - which is probably the cause of all your ailments! Take care.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

OK so I have started a whole new spreadsheet - not just a new page or a new tab, but a completely new one.

Symbolic, it is.

I'm a little disbelieving of it myself, but I actually went for a run this morning. The joy of starting again with a whole new spreadsheet running log is that I don't have to see how long it has been since my last run. Too long is the short answer, and the only one I really need for now.

Of course, it was a very short run - just twenty minutes worth - but it was a run. And it was enjoyable. Fun, even. In another two days I'll run again and stretch it to thirty or more. Before I know, I'll be running half marathons again and will have lost this wobbly stuff that hangs over my belt. Gah, I hate that, I really do.

Two things finally blasted me out of my .... let's call it "lethargy", because that sounds much less hurtful than the more honest "lazy fat bastard" phrase that more immediately springs to mind.

One was the belly bulge which meant none of my clothes fitted any more, and the second was due to a bloke at work - a young, fit bloke who has a young family and is into his sports and a generally very pleasant chap to be around - always friendly and polite etc. The kind of bloke you wish you knew better. He not so long ago had four months off work due to a brain tumour, then slowly came back and worked his way up into a full work load until yesterday when he had to tell us the tumour is back and he has to take another four weeks off work for surgery. Apparently they can't use radiotherapy a second time, and so have to operate instead. Anyway, the point is that bad things seem to happen to really nice people, proving once again that life can be horribly unfair, and reminding me that many times i have promised myself and others that I would never take my generally good health for granted.

And so I'm back in the running gear again. And about bloody time too.

It was more than a little helped too by the fact that once again I'm sleeping quite well. A couple of weeks ago I suddenly, and without obvious reason, had my first really good sleep in nearly six months, and have slept quite well every night since. This has made a huge difference to my energy levels.

Also, my work troubles are reaching resolution. We've commenced legal action against our employer, and whether we win or not, at least we have made our point loud and clear; our boss won't try his shenanigans again without realising he's up for a hell of a fight; and we won't die wondering if we should have fought harder or not. That in itself is a huge relief - the actual outcome seems almost secondary.

Hence the reason for a new spreadsheet running log. A new start, with new aims. Well, just one aim really - to get healthy again and stay that way, with a secondary aim to not fuss nearly so much about pace and times ... in fact I'm just going to run to the clock and to hell with how fast or slow I go.

Let's go.

3.0 km, 20 minutes

Track du jour: Well, duh.

[suzieq]

Glad to hear you're starting to get your life back MLCMM. Being able to sleep is so crucial to everything - I can't imagine how you were feeling not being able to get a good nights sleep for months. But you're back! And very sorry to hear about your work colleague. Life isn't fair. It does make you realize what is important. I sure hope he comes through this next operation ok.