It's been a funny old month. It took me seven days to get a run in at all, and not many since, thought two of those have been consecutive ParkRun PBs at Bevendean. Work has kicked in with a vengeance and shows no sign of letting up, so the long runs will have to wait
Today, 16th April, is a poignant day. A day for looking back, for catching up.
Ten years ago, not exactly to the day (the 2017 event Ran today), four friends set off on an epic journey that became the Tale of The Two Oceans. It's well known in these parts, mostly for the time required to wade through one of the longest race reports in RC history.
Eight years ago, my good friend and running partner, Moyleman, left us. That these annivesaries should coincide today, on Easter Sunday, seemed like a good excuse for modest commemoration, so I marked the day with a suitably solo Twitten Run. CC5 and OATR were Oop Narth visiting family. James McCauley was crocked, having torn his calf, skiing, Tom Roper similarly incapacitated after bring dragged over the hills by Mr Le Chat on Good Friday.
Off I went, draped in my Two Oceans shirt, under bright and breezy skies. Ordinarily, being alone, I'd have taken it easy, chugged around the 12 ups and downs at a leisurely pace. But this one was for The Man, so I pushed it, hard, barely resting at the tops. I heaved myself up those steep, narrow streets, sweating, puffing, pumping my arms, grinning as I imagined Chris's 'encouragement' as I felt like easing up.
James joined me at Ground Coffee, where I learned of his suffering on the Piste. I told him strories about Chris, he smiled and listened. It was a good day.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(02-05-2017, 11:02 AM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote:
(16-04-2017, 10:27 PM)Sweder Wrote:
(16-04-2017, 09:51 PM)Bierzo Baggie Wrote: Nicely remembered, must read that Two Oceans tale again!
I edited it last year it's much* shorter
*still far too bloody long
Ahem, unlike this April thread ... wassup, Sweder? Wotcha bin up to?
He's buried in work... that I do know. And he has been doing a little running. He managed to make it to the pub on Friday evening where he proceeded to take me to the very brink of the Abyss.
(02-05-2017, 11:02 AM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote:
(16-04-2017, 10:27 PM)Sweder Wrote:
(16-04-2017, 09:51 PM)Bierzo Baggie Wrote: Nicely remembered, must read that Two Oceans tale again!
I edited it last year it's much* shorter
*still far too bloody long
Ahem, unlike this April thread ... wassup, Sweder? Wotcha bin up to?
He's buried in work... that I do know. And he has been doing a little running. He managed to make it to the pub on Friday evening where he proceeded to take me to the very brink of the Abyss.
Oh CC5, I'll never be mean to you again. i know what that's like. Are you OK?
(02-05-2017, 11:38 AM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote:
(02-05-2017, 11:34 AM)Charliecat5 Wrote:
(02-05-2017, 11:02 AM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote:
(16-04-2017, 10:27 PM)Sweder Wrote:
(16-04-2017, 09:51 PM)Bierzo Baggie Wrote: Nicely remembered, must read that Two Oceans tale again!
I edited it last year it's much* shorter
*still far too bloody long
Ahem, unlike this April thread ... wassup, Sweder? Wotcha bin up to?
He's buried in work... that I do know. And he has been doing a little running. He managed to make it to the pub on Friday evening where he proceeded to take me to the very brink of the Abyss.
Oh CC5, I'll never be mean to you again. i know what that's like. Are you OK?
He gave it to me in a schooner MLCMM, a SCHOONER! All eight* of them at 7% a pop.
*rough estimate... actually lost count at around four.
(02-05-2017, 11:38 AM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote:
(02-05-2017, 11:34 AM)Charliecat5 Wrote:
(02-05-2017, 11:02 AM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote:
(16-04-2017, 10:27 PM)Sweder Wrote: I edited it last year it's much* shorter
*still far too bloody long
Ahem, unlike this April thread ... wassup, Sweder? Wotcha bin up to?
He's buried in work... that I do know. And he has been doing a little running. He managed to make it to the pub on Friday evening where he proceeded to take me to the very brink of the Abyss.
Oh CC5, I'll never be mean to you again. i know what that's like. Are you OK?
He gave it to me in a schooner MLCMM, a SCHOONER! All eight* of them at 7% a pop.
*rough estimate... actually lost count at around four.
Short update: little running of note due to pulled groin playing football (I know, I know), ludicrous workload and general knackerdness.
I did manage a plod on Tuesday, a quiet, gentle affair, around the old Chalk Pits/ Woodland circuit.
It was as much to clear my head of the atrocities tumbling from my bedside radio as anything else.
4.5 kilometres, slowly rinsing imagined horrors of metal shards, edged with hate, cutting down young, happy lives, from my mind.
The sun shone, defiant, bright as ever, helping the sweat roll freely, like tears, down my vest.
Running is a useful tool to help process the unimaginable. Unusually, though, there were no answers.
There are no answers to the questions asked in Manchester on Monday night.
None that I could find, not even in those blessed, peaceful hills.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(26-05-2017, 09:54 AM)Sweder Wrote: There are no answers to the questions asked in Manchester on Monday night.
None that I could find, not even in those blessed, peaceful hills.
I've been struggling to find words or actions to explain this as well, and similarly can find no answers, nor solutions. I think this Cathy Wilcox cartoon sums up the futility of it all...
