November

[stillwaddler]

Saturdays run as part of the campaign to get me round the Stockport 10 miler next month went OK. I had planned just to go twice round my usual 3.4 mile circuit, but half way round the first circuit I decided to deviate so wondered off to tackle a few of Stockport’s many hills. Very pleasant on the down bits, had to resort to walking up the steps back through the local park...didn’t feel too badly about not running the whole way, mindful of Hal Higdon’s thoughts on just getting the miles under your feet. The weather was brisk, with a cold, stiffish wind, but the promised rain didn’t materialise. It was the first time in a while that I had run in my jacket, needlessly as it happens as I was downright hot when I finished.
Enjoyed some very dramatic skies with silver poplar leaves shining in the sunlight against dramatic deep grey clouds. I picked my way very carefully over the wet leaves, as I am still paranoid about falling again. In fact if it’s frosty on the morning of the race I will scratch. My friend in Colorado phoned me last week to see if I was going skiing in January. Sadly I think not, it just seems a little too reckless to risk breaking anything else. 6 months on from my wrist op I still don’t have full function, it’s stiff and painful and my fingers are too swollen to wear my wedding rings. I have to go for a liver scan next Monday too – have the Guinness and G & T’s finally got to me;-) ? Nothing for it but to keep on waddling

[marathondan]

Good work SW - the wise runner knows not to beat herself up over walking. It sounds like running is giving you some therapy at the moment. Autumn and Spring are the best seasons for running, n'est-ce pas?

Could you wear a skater-style wrist guard, for peace of mind about damaging the wrist again?

[Sweder]

Good to hear you're getting out there SW. And, dare I ask . . . the cello?
Still off limits? I'm guessing so if your wrist is still swollen.

Skiing is something I've avoided. I've always had an irrational fear of breaking my legs - nothing else, just me pins. So many people tell me it's terrific but I can't get past the idea of weeks in plaster . . .

I see our brave boys gave those horrible Queen's Park lot a terrible thrashing last night . . . :o As I said a few weeks back (and in the close season) I fear we'll win nowt this term.

[stillwaddler]

YesMD I really like running in the autumn, I don't like anything else about it...but the running is good. I have thought about using wrist guards for skiing, in fact I was wearing them just for walking not too long a go, but its the other bits and pieces I'm worried about breaking, especially my spine - eek!

Sweder, you should try skiing - I didnt' get around to it until I was fifty but absolutely love it...it had long been on my wish list and if I can harden up what is left of my bones I'll seriously consider giving it another go, trouble was, the last time I went to Colorado to ski, the weather was so cold it ended up more like skating, my friend who skis a lot lost her nerve, I found it really exciting, it but it really hurt when I fell:-( I need some nice guaranteed powder snow and a ski lift that stops before I try and get off:-)

Celloing is progressing a bit, its sore and I still don't have a good finger stretch so end up shifting my pinkies all over the place:-) Hope to be back to orchestra after Christmas, I can only play for about half an hour at a push at the moment...still, its all progress of sorts.

As for our Devil men, I don't really care if they don't win anything this year just as long as they continue to entertain and they have certainly been doing that!!! Haven't managed to get to a game yet this season 'though:-(

[El Gordo]

Good to see you getting back into it, SW. You've been in the wars this year. I hope Stockport is the start of a better stretch for you. One day, I'll come up and do a race with you. Annoying that the Wilmslow Half is on the same day as Reading next year. What are the other big ones?

[stillwaddler]

Saturday before last I had a good run in the company of Mr SW and the most junior son. Junior has only been running for a few months and never further than 3.5 miles and I did warn him that I was doing an eight (Mr SW went pale at the thought but carried on anyway.) We plodded along merrily, the youngster far outstripping us for the first three and then "waiting" for us claiming he didn't know the route we were going to take ;-) The tortoises had it sewn up...we pottered along at a steady 10 minute mile-ish pace and I finished feeling very comfortable indeed. The boy was still there at the death but admitted that he could never have run the distance by himself. Mr SW had a sprint finish - show off- but spent the rest of the day on the sofa :-)

No running at all this weekend, the winter vomiting bug struck, Mr SW succombed on Friday so couldn't go to the Jools Holland gig - I took daughter instead. I succombed Saturday night, felt lousy all night and all day Sunday, but have improved sufficiently to return to work this morning - typical.

Still hoping to get round the Stockport 10 miles of hilly hell on 7th December except if it is frosty under foot.

[El Gordo]

How was Jools Holland? I've heard he cooks up quite a storm live. I had hoped to see him in Reading last week, but it was the same night that we had tickets for the Mighty Boosh in Bournemouth.

[Sweder]

Another shipmate hits the 8 mile mark . . . great news!
Sorry to her about the bug though . . . think of it as enforced rest.
Saw Jools and his band at the Brighton Centre a few years back - Sam Brown on vocals - terrific, room-rocking entertainment.

Sorry EG, the Might Boosh is one of those modern anarchic comedy creations I'm simply not down with. I missed their radio show/ first TV appearances and feel perhaps some vital translatative component has passed me by Perhaps I should move to Eastbourne :o
Reeves and Mortimer were my kind of anarchists; them and the Young Ones . . .

[El Gordo]

Sorry EG, the Might Boosh is one of those modern anarchic comedy creations I'm simply not down with. I missed their radio show/ first TV appearances and feel perhaps some vital translatative component has passed me by Perhaps I should move to Eastbourne :o
Reeves and Mortimer were my kind of anarchists; them and the Young Ones . . .

Steady on, Sweder. I fear you have (understandably) leapt to a faulty assumption. Or leapt from a faulty assumption into a.... oh

The Boosh tix were a 2007 Christmas present (yes, they had to be bought a year in advance) for my wife. She is a bug-eyed Boosh zealot.

Like you, I am on the other side of the line. I've watched them on TV, without smiling. Then I saw that long TV documentary on them that made me understand where they're coming from, even if I wasn't converted into an unquestioning fan.

We were the oldest people there. There was widespread Beatle-type adulation going on all around us. It was remarkable, impressive, and slightly alarming.

Actually, they are good at what they do, even if we are now a bit beyond each other. They're profoundly inventive, energetic, and rude. Utterly understandable why they've made such cults of themselves.

And M? She's 3 months younger than me, so perhaps can be excused for falling under the Boosh spell.