I feel terrible. Streaming cold. One blocked nostril. Deaf in one ear. Head filled with cotton wool. Constantly sleepy. Can’t think straight. Wow — this is what George Bush must feel like all the time. But apart from that interesting insight, the landscape is pretty grim from where I sit. At least it’s a reminder that I’m rarely unwell. I usually run on a Tuesday, but thought better of it today. A nuisance, as this is supposed to be a week of good hard training before the mini-taper next week preceding the three half marathons. Ate loads of chocolate instead.… …
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Last night, I tossed the influenza coin in the air before turning in, not knowing how it had landed till I opened my eyes at 7am. The news was reasonably good. Throat still a bit sore, head fuzzy but after some dry toast and Lem-Sip I passed a late fitness test and was on my way. Only eight miles to Goring, but it was my first visit. And what a charming village it is. You can see why Boris Johnson was elected the MP. He actually looks like the place. The similarity between him and a thatched cottage is quite uncanny. Spot the difference: Boris Johnson MP Ye Olde Inne The tiny High Street was jammed with race traffic when … …
Latest Medical bulletin: It’s about twelve hours to the start of the Goring 10K, and my mild flu is still evident. It’s annoyingly indecisive. Does it disappear altogether, as it’s threatened to a couple of times? Or should it explode into full-blown, life-rattling, bed-ridden influenza? It hasn’t yet decided. At the moment I feel I could probably run it, but I’ll have to see how I feel when — indeed if — I wake tomorrow.… …
Two days before the Goring 10K, and it’s touch and go whether I’ll make it. I’ve got flu symptoms – a rare experience for me. I’ve been snorting paracetemol all evening (that is what you do with it I presume?), which is gradually closing down my senses. The race looks like a well-organised, friendly affair. And it’s local, so I really don’t want to miss it. I worked from home today, so took the opportunity of a lunchtime run. It was cold – two or three degrees – but the sun was strong. In other words, a wonderful day for a run. Given the race in two days time, I decided to just have an easy jog for a couple … …
Even my cat would be depressed at the moment — if I had a cat. Iraq, the stock market, the Zimbabwe fiasco, England losing at home to Australia in the football, the washing-up still to do. At least the running is going reasonably well again, and it was a lovely day for it too. Seven hard miles at lunchtime today. Four steep hills meant a slow, but character-building run in the sunshine, and gave me a brief respite from the sense of doom that is descending over the nation. One dead fox, one dead hen and one living rabbit observed. More evidence of Spring today. The bulbs are coming up, and the grass verges are looking a brighter green at … …
I like a good link. I heard this exchange on Radio Four’s Start The Week yesterday morning: Andrew Marr: Well, it’s not often we can bring you breaking news on this programme, but I can confirm that Andrew Roberts has at last arrived in the studio. Andrew Roberts: And it’s all due to the sterling work of Geoff, my taxi driver, and his skill in dealing with the London traffic, for which I strongly commend him. Andrew Marr: And it’s precisely that kind of magnanimity towards one’s… subordinates (for want of a better word) that you say, in your new book on Leadership, was not one of Winston Churchill’s greatest skills. How do you think this affected….… …
Once you’ve drifted past the age of 27½, things cease to be much of a surprise. Not the sort of surprise I had yesterday evening, anyway. We went to see the remarkable Bodyworlds exhibition in east-central London. It was staggering. It’s the exhibition of ‘plastinated’ corpses, assembled by Professor Gunther von Hagens (the man who conducted the notorious televised post-mortem on British TV a few months ago). The exhibition is ending this Sunday, so this was our last chance to see it. Advance booking was a good idea. When we arrived at 6pm, there was a queue several hundred yards long, many of whom I’m sure wouldn’t have got in at all, despite the exhibition staying open till 11pm. Here … …
The moment I’ve been dreading finally arrived this evening. An email from James, my old college mate. He lives in Hong Kong, and visits every two or three years. He’s here. Oh Lord. Trouble is, whenever he’s around, I feel obliged to drink gallons of strong ale, and consume furnace-like curries, just to humour him. To twist the distastefully Bohemian dagger further, he will insist on taking in a match or two as well. Last time it was England v Germany, Kevin Keegan’s and Wembley’s final international. The time before it was Liverpool v Chelsea at Anfield. I also remember an FA Cup tie at Hillsborough, and a fierce local derby between Bradford and Huddersfield. And there was that Arsenal … …
Sometimes people ask me what I think about when I’m running. Well, tonight I was thinking about ‘serious runners’ who can’t hide their disdain for… people like me. People like me will never win a race, will never even know what it feels like to try to win a race. Will never run a marathon in under four and a half hours. Many serious competitive runners are helpful and supportive towards the new runner. But others feel threatened and irritated by the presence of this large rump attaching itself to their sport, devaluing the events they want to keep for themselves. How vexatious we are. The trouble with people like us is that we’ve not paid our dues. We are … …
It was only three and a half miles, but after nine runless days, it represented something much bigger. Even at my level – or perhaps particularly at my level – it’s frightening how quickly you can lose that feeling of familiarity with something as simple as running along a road. After just a week or so of idleness, I felt even more awkward and unco-ordinated than normal. The underworked muscles were grumpy, and after only three miles I was feeling the start of little strains all over my legs and lower back. The first ten minutes were quite horrible. It was very cold and windy, and one of those occasions when I wondered what the hell I was doing, running … …