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22-04-2014, 09:41 AM,
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RE:
Yes, please DO get this asthma sorted. It has been going on too long. See your doc!
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22-04-2014, 01:19 PM,
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RE:
Glad to see you yesterday (albeit briefly among the crowds). Those cows were threatening and skittish when I passed, but not at full charge. It's muddier and more off road than I remember it from last year (almost bone dry then so the mud/chalk tracks seemed more like roads). Lewes AC vest was very new - 2 days in my possession and its first ever outing. Hit my 50 minute goal (I believe by 16 seconds if provisional results are accurate). But you were rightly paying attention to and learning from the race organisation process way more than me! I have a one word lesson: "signs". But best wishes with the doc - indeed I know from twitter you are there as I type.
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22-04-2014, 02:15 PM,
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RE:
Good man. After my reading of FITC I take "light running" to mean anything less than 40 miles. Go for it, son.
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22-04-2014, 04:33 PM,
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RE:
Good news. I still quite like 10k! Next one is Liverpool (v on tarmac round Sefton park) but with my brother and two of my (grown up) nieces. So a family affair.
Are you (Sweder) entered in the Seaford Head half?
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23-04-2014, 07:19 AM,
(This post was last modified: 23-04-2014, 07:21 AM by Sweder.)
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Sweder
Twittenista
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Posts: 6,577
Threads: 420
Joined: Nov 2004
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Ten Years A Slave?
I've not entered Seaford Half yet. I'm not 100% sure I'll be in the country, should know by early May. At best it will be a walk-run for me unless things improve dramatically.
Nipped out, later than planned, for a half hour trot through the locale this morning. I'm determined to give this Free Running a good go, so socks, shorts, singlet, busted old Mizunos, three hounds and a good attitude were all I took out the door. Ten to seven is too late to enjoy the best of the morning, though the pastel pinks, blues and lilacs splashed across the sky were fair reward.
I'd intended a very short plod to run the Lewes 10k rust out of my joints. Distracted, first by a darting rabbit, then by a swooping rook, I veered off course, crashing through a heavily nettled shrub and into a hitherto unvisited thicket. What I found on the other side took my breath away. A chalky, flinty lane, sliding invitingly off the side of a tilted field. I took off, amazed. This is not 500 metres from my front door, in the shadow of the Moyleman's first mile, yet I'd not set eyes nor foot on it before today. My sore legs cried caution so I throttled back. It would be great to give this the full Chris Moyle descent, but not today. The trail lead away for 100 metres before dropping sharply. At the bottom I followed a bridleway leading vaguely in the direction of home. Another signpost and I was forced to stop. I was lost! A peek behind a house-sized, cloth-covered haystack revealed another trail, this one climbing through heavy woodland. So steep was it I had to take a break near the summit, gasping as the two lurchers crashed after some small furry beast that took refuge up a tree. Squirrel.
At the top I found another junction and recognised a path home. Thirty plus minutes, pulse raised, sweating like a racehorse. So, this is free running? I like it. As I pondered a title - ten years a slave - for an extended piece about shaking off the shackles of rigid routes and digital masters, it dawned on me that one amongst us has softly sung this song all along. Quietly going about his business, running trails, marking his time without obsession or decimal point, picking routes to suit the seasons and his mood, noting nature, characters, changing landscapes, detailing flora and fauna, the degradation of a makeshift bridge across a raging stream. All without fanfare or noisy declaration of independence.
Well played, Bierzo Baggie.
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24-04-2014, 06:58 AM,
(This post was last modified: 24-04-2014, 07:07 AM by Sweder.)
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Sweder
Twittenista
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Posts: 6,577
Threads: 420
Joined: Nov 2004
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RE: April 2014
(22-04-2014, 02:15 PM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote: Good man. After my reading of FITC I take "light running" to mean anything less than 40 miles. Go for it, son.
I missed this in the flurry of activity. How was it for you?
By the way, did you see that Scott Jurek completed the Bob Graham Round this month?
He made it home with minutes to spare.
That's THE Scott Jurek.
Oh, and it sounds like P2P may have some strong competition for that 'World's Toughest Half Marathon' tag.
Rogue Valley Runners report
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24-04-2014, 01:23 PM,
(This post was last modified: 24-04-2014, 03:09 PM by Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man.)
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RE: Feet In The Clouds
A fabulous book, perhaps made slightly more entertaining for me by its peculiarly English idiosyncrasies. I've written a full review over on my training blog. I enjoyed it so much I've also ordered "Running Free" and Boff Whalley's "Run Wild" ... should be a hoot.
As for the world's toughest half marathon tag, well that will always be contestable of course. There is at least one half in the Swiss alps that I found after only a very brief internet search which has far more ascending than the P2P and begins and ends at altitude, which in many respects would of course be tougher. But hey, P2P will always be unique and extremely tough, and if they used the "world's toughest half marathon" tag first, well good luck to them.
And man, if Scott Jurek took nearly 24 hours to complete the BG, how amazing must Billy Bland have been to do it ten hours quicker?!!! I mean, good God!
I feel so inadequate.
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24-04-2014, 10:39 PM,
(This post was last modified: 24-04-2014, 10:48 PM by Sweder.)
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Sweder
Twittenista
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Posts: 6,577
Threads: 420
Joined: Nov 2004
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RE: April 2014
(24-04-2014, 01:23 PM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote: And man, if Scott Jurek took nearly 24 hours to complete the BG, how amazing must Billy Bland have been to do it ten hours quicker?!!! I mean, good God!
I feel so inadequate.
May as well watch Orcas chase down a seal and bemoan your lack of prowess in the pool. These people are not like us. These are men hewn from flint and mud, weaned on pre-dawn mountain dew, sculpted by thundercloud rain. As we chase their shadows the hope in our hearts exceeds the reach of our weary limbs. Yet still we run, grinning like loons.
You'll love both those books.
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25-04-2014, 07:25 AM,
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Sweder
Twittenista
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Posts: 6,577
Threads: 420
Joined: Nov 2004
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Two For The Money
Why do apparently semi-intelligent people sit up half the night to watch a film they've never heard of hoping for an unexoected slice of something rare and tasty before hurrumphing off to bed having been dealt a rather unsatisfying slab of mild cheddar?
There's a reason I hadn't heard of Two For The Money, a movie featuring currently-hotter-than-the-sun Matthew McConnaughy (Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective) opposite the timeless tour-de-force that is Al Pacino. That reason is it's cheesy crap. I guess I'd hoped for a little more of the magic that Newman and Cruise conjoured in the Colour Of Money. They both have 'money' in the title, they both have bankable stars from past and present, they both feature a femme fatale (a delightfully sultry Rene Russo in this case) and they both circle around the shady world of gambling in sport. An hour before the inefitable end I sat, blinking against sleep, certain of what was going to unfold. When it did, delivered like a wet kipper slapped gently across my hagard face, I felt like I'd been mugged.
Anyway ... this explains today's tired, truncated slog through dew-heavy grass and mud-slick trails. Twenty five minutes of honest sweat along my 'new' up-down-up circuit. At least I kept going to the top of the long climb this time, albeit it gingerly on a slightly delicate right groin (nothing to do with Ms russo's sultriness, I assure you). I gave the earlier flinty drop due respect. I did start to drift off, thinking about the workday ahead, but snapped back into full focus when the trail drops off the world. You need all your senses pointed forward and fully awake just to stay upright, especially when the footing features mini-ravines and ubiquitous jags of part-submerged flint.
Late as I was setting off (it was well past seven) I assumed I'd missed the Great Nature Show, but I was wrong. On the climb onto the Downs I passed Landport Bottom, historical site of the soon-to-be-commemorated Battle of Lewes. Skylarks were making a proper racket, levitating out of the clumped grass, twittering their tiny heads off before darting across my path and into the hedgerows. Ah, home-builders. The shrubs and trees are Nature's Home Depot. The avian couples dashed back and forth, beaks stuffed with fallen flora, still managing to chirp away to each other.
'Ooh, that's a nice twig, dear. That'll look lovely in the incubation area'
Build on, little friends.
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01-05-2014, 07:22 AM,
(This post was last modified: 01-05-2014, 07:27 AM by Sweder.)
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Sweder
Twittenista
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Posts: 6,577
Threads: 420
Joined: Nov 2004
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Tribbles
An extended plod this morning, nudging the thick end of fifty minutes.
Like heavy revellers that descended on the town overnight the clouds seemed reluctant to leave. I set off through a light veil of cool droplets, feet (knees, hips, saggy bottom, wobbly belly and hunched shoulders) alll very much in the clouds.
I took the Moyleman track up past the stables, turning right at the top of the flint path to head home via the forest. This proved a treacherous trail, slick mizzle over firm mud and part-submerged stone. Small round balls of moss lay like Tribbles on the path. Normally seen clinging to trees, I wondered if they'd come down to frolick in the early light only to be disturbed by my heavy lumbering.
Further on a purple-pink edition of the bluebell - there will be, no doubt, a proper name for this delicate lady of the forest - shone, beautiful in the half-light. I could hear the patter of tiny droplets smacking into leaf, repeated a hundred times a second as the forest shared the rain.
A nice, gentle outing to wave adieu to April. Next stop: Geneva.
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