2005 - October

[El Gordo]

This is the October 2005 thread.

http://www.runningcommentary.net

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[Sweder]

. . . I'll be first in your book.
Sorry, childish but comforting. It reminded me of my first leaving card, when I left Lovelace Primary to attend Southborough Boys, Aged 11.

Actually I wanted to post in response to the comment on the intellectual and the tea cosy. I have it on good authority that this test was once applied to Prof. Stephen Hawkins. Apparently the celebrated genius re-arranged the knitted pot warmer to create a scale model of the Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy.








After putting it on his head first, of course.

[Tim]

Good grief! I've just been called "gorgeous". Do you really think such blatent flattery is going to generate more posts on your site Andy?

Tell you what, if you're really desperate, I could tell you about my "Paula" moment this morning (or, to be more specific, London, April 2005, mile 22).

Avoid the willow tree on Ayr seafront. ;-)

[El Gordo]

I'd be interested in COMPARING Paula moments as it happens Tim, yes......

Avoid the willow tree on Ayr seafront

Now that's what I call an enigmatic instruction.

Did you work for MI6 by any chance? Leave the answer in that hollow oak tree on Wandsworth Common.....

[glaconman]

I presume you're referring to Paula Radcliffe, the British long-distance runner?

Inclusion of quotes partly excuses you Tim. But Andy, this isn't the first time. She's not your sister, or your best friend.

[Tim]

I'd be interested in COMPARING Paula moments as it happens Tim, yes......

Well, you asked for it.... ;-)

I've lost count of the number of "Paula" moments I've had over the years. I think my guts have always been prone a little bit of irritability and through trial and error I found that eating *anything* before a morning run is asking for trouble. I've tried taking Imodium before runs but that doesn't seem to make any difference. On my long runs in the countryside I've ceased to worry about it. I've become quite adept at the "bush cr*p".

In the past though I've always made it home, to a public convenience or a secluded spot. Yesterday was the first time that I've been caught out with precious little cover. Fortunately it was a rather damp morning and there were few folk about.

[El Gordo]

Ah.

The wrong sort of Paula moment....

[Tim]

Ah.

The wrong sort of Paula moment....

I feel guilty now. ;-)

What sort of "Paula" moment did you have in mind?

How's this for a tenuous link to Paula by the way? The chap who sang at our wedding in Haverfordwest (and now lives 1 mile away from us in Ayr) has a sister who's married to a bloke who is Paula's uncle (or cousin several times removed or something like that).

[El Gordo]

What sort of "Paula" moment did you have in mind?

The sort of Paula moment when you stride up to her at the post-marathon party in Chicago, 2002, shake her hand and say "Well done on the new world record".

[El Gordo]

I presume you're referring to Paula Radcliffe, the British long-distance runner?

If Pelé and Nayim and Jeremy can get away with it, so can Paula.

OK, so Jeremy was made up.

[Tim]

The sort of Paula moment when you stride up to her at the post-marathon party in Chicago, 2002, shake her hand and say "Well done on the new world record".

I'm afraid I don't move in such exalted circles.

BTW, one wag on uk.rec.running suggested that I needed "motion control" shoes. Made me laugh. :-))

[glaconman]

Pele was a nickname; he was born Edson Arantes Do Nascimento. btw his first nickname was 'Dico'. Good PR move to Pele methinks.

I dunno Andy, the whole Radcliffe nomenclature fiasco leaves me feeling cold. You're just an innocent victim in all this, of course.

If she was Brazilian, then it might not be so bad. Poww-la. (like the scorchio weathergirl on the FastShow.)

[Tim]

Can't say I look for good places to hide bodies (although I do occasionally plot the perfect murder of anyone who's slighted me trivially ) but I do sometimes worry about if anyone would find MY body if I collapsed or got hit by a car when I'm running in some of my more remote places.

I know I ought to run with some form of ID but short of getting my mum to sew name tags in to my running clothes, fate will decree that I won't have any ID on the day I do collapse.

Actually thinking about this has made me do a bit of googling and I've found this: http://www.coco.org.uk/index.php?p=cramtag.

I don't see me fixing it to my shoes (I hate things flapping around) but I might well hang it round my neck.

[stillwaddler]

I feel duty bound to defend poor Paula, it was only - to use the Sctottish - a "wee" stop

[johnb]

I feel duty bound to defend poor Paula, it was only - to use the Sctottish - a "wee" stop

Is this true? I never saw the famous incident, since it wasn't broadcast here in Spain. Such was the furore that I assumed it was something more than a sly piss. After all tour de france riders do this all the time, squirting their wee over anyone and everyone. And I'm sure I once read that Bernard Hinault or some similarly superhuman cyclist continued in one mountain stage with runny number twos squirting out his shorts.

On Tim's confessional note, I have from time to time been caught short - on longer runs into the hills I carry paper (after one unfortunate incident with a leaf). Anywhere near a car pulling in point in the Sierra Nevada contains a large selection of human output, incidentally.

The question is, if you are in the middle of nowhere what do you do with it? I used to stow it beneath a rock, but apparently this slows down the natural breakdown - my old turds could live longer than me. Should I start carrying a trowel?

[Seafront Plodder]

Andy will you please add another diary entry soon to push that inane grinning twit down the page.

[Tim]

Hi John,

I've pondered this question too. Ideally of course one ought to dig a hole but sometimes the urgency or the terrain makes this very difficult.

Do tell us about the unfortunate leaf incident, I'm sure we all want to know. ;-)

(I always use local materials but I acknowledge that that might be difficult in some areas).

[Nigel]

I like this juxtaposition of posts very much.

And I agree with SP that a deep hole might well be the best place for consigning that particular mugshot. Along with some of that other stuff perhaps ....

[Sweder]

I thought SP had been to Specsavers.
That or Harry Hill's gone for a new look . . .

[El Gordo]

Not much chance of an update for at least a day or two. I'm just off out for a day of carousing in Shepherds Bush, taking in QPR v Norwich while I'm at it. Tomorrow we're hunting another sort of big game - the Gunnera Manicata.

I'm not making much sense, so I'll leave you with a couple more GD pics instead.