Since we last met, I’ve chalked up 3 more runs and another gym session. I’ve avoided detailing the trips to the gym. On a superficial level at least, they’re not interesting, and nor should they be. The aims of this concentrated 60 minutes of cardio-vascular cross-training are to take some strain off my knee, to help build up under-used leg muscles, and to accelerate the delarding process.… READ MORE.... …
Month: October 2008
A couple of weeks ago, I received a small parcel, postmarked Ireland. I didn’t recognise the handwriting, but assumed it was from my sister, who lives in Tipperary. I don’t know anyone else over there who’s likely to send me anything. I made a cup of tea and retreated to my small office to open the package. Inside was a book of Leonard Cohen poetry, and a card.… READ MORE.... …
It was clear some weeks ago that autumn was here, but today still came as a surprise. It was a blustery, empty afternoon. The sky was deep grey. I don’t mind running in the rain; indeed I enjoy it, as a sort of expression of defiance. But I still used the threat of its arrival as a spur to get out there.… READ MORE.... …
Another small step for man late yesterday afternoon, as I chased the remains of the sunshine up the canal towpath for 4 unbroken miles. A trivial distance for most runners, and indeed for me in the past, but this is now. It’s a new world. A tabula rasa. The run went pretty smoothly, though at the precise moment I realised I wasn’t struggling, with a half mile to go, it went and got all uncomfortable on me, and I had to fight a little to keep going.… READ MORE.... …
So, 17 days into the new regime, and it’s 9 gym sessions and 3 runs under the slightly loosening belt. Good progress: I’m pleased and excited again. The third 3 mile run was yesterday lunchtime, a relaxed but unbroken trot along the towpath. Maybe I’ve been too hard on the canal in recent times. The only dull aspect is that runs here are normally out-and-back.… READ MORE.... …
Are we there yet? No one knows for certain, but it’s sure beginning to smell like Armageddon. Forgive the typos; it’s dark in this bunker. So the much-predicted, much-derided day of financial meltdown may, we think, have finally appeared. It’s like the ghastly fiend whose threat invisibly haunts the first two thirds of a horror film. We don’t want the ghoul to appear, but we know it’s there, and when it does finally step from the shadows, darting a deathly hand towards the jugular, it’s almost a relief.… READ MORE.... …
The party to celebrate my neighbour’s fortieth birthday went on late. I drank so much wine that I was persuaded to totter round the dance floor waving my arms in the air to Dancing Queen. Yep, that bad. I went to bed drunk, at 3:30 a.m., regaining consciousness around 4 hours later to be reminded that we had a long drive down to East Sussex ahead of us.… READ MORE.... …