It’s been a good running week. Today’s a rest day – the first for 7 days.
The light at the end of the Dartford Tunnel, so to speak, keeps flickering on then going off again. I started here in May, my boss assuring me that “It will only be for a couple of weeks”. Blimey, that was nearly six months ago.
I don’t mind it, in truth. I get to stop at a nice hotel with a gym and steam room and pool and all that caper. I sampled the steam room for the first time this week. I wasn’t sure of the etiquette, and had to confide in a colleague whose discretion could be relied upon. Yes it’s unisex, no you don’t take all your clothes off, and no, it’s not the done thing to fart or invite people to reveal their life story.
Phew.
It reminded me a bit of how I felt when I first arrived in New Delhi all those years ago. Middle of August. Sweating so much that every time I leant forward, my cigarette would be extinguished by the torrent running down my face.
Anyway, I sat around in this steam room, trying to identify the gender of other people through the clouds of steam and my glasses-less myopia. There was no clock, so instead I counted to 200 very slowly and deliberately. This is what being George W Bush must be like, I thought.
Talking of which, I’ve booked next Wednesday off work. I need to stay up and witness the terrible sport. If Bush loses, there is hope for the world. If Bush wins, we are finished. The danger is the number of Americans who think it’s the other way round. I like most Americans I meet, but they revere their politicians too much. They still believe the bullshit that’s pumped out. In Europe we learnt to laugh at our guys a long time ago. Derision helps keep them on their toes. We are their bosses. Never let them think it’s the other way round. Over here, even if we support a particular party or politician, it’s only because we decide they are less bad than the other guy. We still know they’re lying to us most of the time. We tolerate them, but we never ever make the mistake of truly trusting them with our hopes. They are too valuable to give away to these people. I don’t think most Americans have sussed this yet.
I need to start thinking about a spring marathon soon. There are a couple of possibilities but no decision has been made yet. I’m planning on a few half marathons: Reading and (probably) Silverstone in March. Possibly Wokingham in February. But the only definite one so far is the Almeria half in Andalucia, Southern Spain, on January 30, 2005.
So far there are four members of the Running Commentary community taking part in the Almeria event. As well as me, there’s Nigel Platt and Andy Bishop (“Seafront Plodder”) and Antonio, our Spanish correspondent who lives in the town, and will help to organise us. This looks like a good trip, and I hope that others reading this may be tempted to join us. It won’t be hot exactly, but it will be a lot milder than the UK. The flights are dirt cheap – currently about £35 return** (including taxes) from London Stansted to Almeria on EasyJet. The race itself is very cheap to enter – 6 to 9 Euros, depending when and where you book. The route starts and finishes in the new athletics stadium, built for the Mediterranean Games to be staged in summer 2005. After the race, we plan to gorge ourselves on tapas, paella, cakes and decent Rioja. If you want to join us, mail me or call in at the forum and check out Antonio’s posting in his training diary.
** But have just gone up another tenner
