It’s been a weekend of rediscovering old pleasures. Like sleeping bags. I awoke in one yesterday morning for the first time in a couple of decades. Comfort and snugness aside, it struck me that a sleeping bag makes a very effective contraceptive. Why not make them available from machines in public lavatories? And just as our centenarian citizens get a telegram from the Queen, why not a Prince Charles celebratory sleeping bag on our thirteenth birthdays?… READ MORE.... …
Month: February 2004
Mysterious thought for the week: But at my back I always hear Tranmere Rovers hurrying near. In the meantime, we must follow our duties to the frozen north, and will have no internet access. Having just seen the weather forecast (icy blizzards and a few inches of snow), I may be gone some time…… READ MORE.... …
The first race of the year may arrive sooner than expected. Yorkshire beckons this weekend, and I’ve spied a handy local 10K that could fill a hole rather nicely. I’ll say nothing more at this stage: there are some choppy domestic waters to negotiate. Know what I mean, chaps? A chilly 3½ miles this morning. I was out by about 6:30, amazed at how light it is at this time now.… READ MORE.... …
Blimey, two runs in one weekend. Just 3½ miles on a cheerless, astringent afternoon in rural England. Cold, bleak and blustery, but it’s another one in the bin, taking me up to 26 miles for the week. The last time I ran that much in a non-race week was more than a year ago. This no-beer diet is having some pretty undesirable side-effects.… READ MORE.... …
That envelope must be quite a long way off by now, because I keep pushing it – albeit in my own, unremarkable, way. I wonder if it’s heading for the moon? Most of us are, according to David Hays and his otherwise useful running spreadsheet. It has a page called “Around The World” which has a couple of graphics showing how far we’ve run in our lives, and how much further we have to go before we, er, reach the moon.… READ MORE.... …
There’s a new name in the world of running today: Andy Commentary. That’s what it says on the front of the envelope that arrived this morning from the organisers of the Adidas Half Marathon at Silverstone. Quite a bizarre coincidence that it should arrive at my house, as I’ve also entered this event. With just 2½ weeks to go, it seems churlish to defer my excitement any longer about this, the first race of the season.… READ MORE.... …
Have I ever talked about the Running Spiral? That’s just what I call it, but it’s a well-known phenomenon, and you probably know it as something else. The slippery slope. Thin end of the wedge. It’s the tendency for running to create a momentum in either direction. Getting into a regular running routine becomes a self-fuelling conveyance, and one that gets better and faster and stronger.… READ MORE.... …
It’s good to be reminded that running makes a difference to the world. Today saw a spectacular illustration of this. The running week hasn’t been trouble-free. It was good to get that first ‘revival’ jog on the board on Monday. The rest of the week though has been hit-and-miss. I’ve managed another couple, but both were shorter than planned. Work has been encroaching on my life again, squeezing my running time.… READ MORE.... …
Well, it may be “easy to start”, but that first mile is still tough. It’s all about incongruity really: a good yardstick of fitness. It seems that the fitter you are, the more sort of natural you feel when you’re running round the streets. Adonis-like youths with rippling biceps stand aside in silent admiration. Pouting, sighing housewives ogle you as you pass.… READ MORE.... …
Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It is five days since my last confession. A very bad week to relate. I even considered inventing a life-threatening condition to let me off the hook, but thought better of it — but only because I might need to use that ploy on another occasion, and I suspect it’s a joker that I can’t play too often.… READ MORE.... …
Feeling much saner than I was yesterday, but… but I find myself in that tragic no-mans-land where I’m probably fit enough to return to work tomorrow, but still not quite up to running, or going to the pub, or eating furnace-like curries. Despite being on the up, I sense that this week may be something of a write-off. M is away in Edinburgh with her job, so from tomorrow, I fear I may find myself plunged into the kind of lonely, hollow despair that will drive me into the local taverns for the sort of fragile, momentary solace that only other middle-aged men and attractive young barmaids (I’m told) can truly understand.… READ MORE.... …