Month: December 2005

There’s a nasty bite to the weather as end of the year approaches, but even the wind and rain couldn’t hold me back this afternoon. It’s one of the great benefits of working close to home. An early lunch break, nip home, get changed and out for a 3½ mile dash round the block. Back home, quick shower, and back at my desk barely an hour after leaving it, glowing like a beacon and vibrating with feelings of “wellness”, as we have to say now.… READ MORE.... …

A frost so severe this morning that just stepping through the back door was to feel your dangly bits withering and dying on the vine. Standing there, quivering, in my leggings and three T-shirts, apprehensive sweat freezing on my temples, the temptation was to give up. But I need stuff to write about, and if I don’t run then this blog is buggered.… READ MORE.... …

I’ve lost my life. The implications cut deep. Even now, 24 hours later, I’m still being pulled around, dodging avalanches of warm despair over there, trying to stay beneath the waterfalls of ice-cold relief over here. Acceptance is gradual, but I’m nearly there. Getting through the shock phase now. It helps to be a positive thinker. Where did this character trait come from?… READ MORE.... …

Arrived at my hotel at 6pm, to find no non-smoking rooms left. Threw a few toys out of the pram — didn’t like them much anyway — and cancelled the reservation. Returned to the street with my bags. Took a look around. Slightly daunting. Dusseldorf is cold today. Surrounded by office blocks blazing in the darkness, but little else. Was I making a mistake?… READ MORE.... …

Hello, I use agency of acquaintances. It gave to me your email address in agency of acquaintances. I would like to find out you better. Write to me a little about itself. I shall answer for I the lonely girl. To me of 28 years. And I have no children. I with impatience shall wait for the letter of you. I’ve been getting a lot of this kind of stuff recently.… READ MORE.... …

Eight satisfying miles along the canal late this afternoon, starting in sunshine, through twilight, ending in darkness. I’ve been a bit concerned about not doing the distances recently, so was determined to get this one under my belt. I managed it by reminding myself what these weekenders are supposed to be about — long, slow distance, or LSD. They cultivate endurance.… READ MORE.... …

Crikey. A further sign of getting old — watching Steve Davis play Stephen Hendry in the UK Snooker Championships. Looking at Hendry’s cratered visage, I don’t think I could ever call him “fresh-faced”, but when I last saw them head-to-head, they could at least reach back to their teens without using a rest. No more. Now I see two rugged, middle-aged guys strutting their stuff.… READ MORE.... …

Two runs in three days that have yanked me out of my comfort zone. On Sunday afternoon I started with 3.6 miles. The greasy granite sky I found myself moving towards was the output of the Hemel Hempstead fire, but it might just as well have been a grim augury. I reached the gym, spent 40 disconsolate minutes bobbing up and down like a drowning man on various pieces of machinery, then set off to jog back home.… READ MORE.... …

It was the gloaming, when a man cannot make out if the nebulous figure he glimpses in the shadows is angel or demon, when the face of evening is stained by red clouds and wounded by lights. –Homero Aridjis, 1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile Fantastic plod through a Berkshire twilight. The sunset was sensational, in the way that winter sunsets can be.… READ MORE.... …

I’ve had my number through for the notoriously tough Cliveden 6 mile cross-country on December 28th, and was feeling pretty good about this as I know that the race is now full. But then I read a message from the race director on the Runners World messageboard, in which he consoles those who missed the boat. “Remember”, he said, “That people who don’t get a place are the lucky ones”.… READ MORE.... …