RunningCommentary

Joint Statement. The problem is not having nothing to write about, but having far too much. So many majestic horses having bolted, why bother to contain the few that are left behind? Which reminds me. Did I dream it, or did I once hear some speaker somewhere say: “It’s no good bolting the stable door after the horse has…. er, itself bolted…” Maybe I’ve blocked out the metadata in sympathy.… READ MORE.... …

I wrote this on the forum a couple of weeks ago: After my great week last week, I’ve had a setback. Went for an excellent Sunday morning lope with the club in some glorious (and previously unknown to me) woods about 4 miles from home. The circuit was around 3 miles, and we were free to run 1, 2 or 3 laps depending on how we felt.… READ MORE.... …

With M on an awayday in Birmingham, I grasped the opportunity for a rare visit to the cinema. The alternative — continuing to work on the new pond — didn’t appeal quite so much. Last time I did this, I pleasantly surprised myself with George Clooney, and the brilliant Good Night, and Good Luck, which he wrote, directed, and starred in.… READ MORE.... …

I was lying in bed this morning, later than usual, listening to the 5 Live sports programme hosted by Gary Richardson. There’s something admirable about the way this grinning rotweiller elicits information from the unsuspecting. His line-up today included the insufferable GIles Clarke, who’s just been elected chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board. This ghastly fellow used to be one of my bosses when I worked in the wine business.… READ MORE.... …

Today is Respect For The Aged Day in Japan, so cut me a bit of slack, please. This is going to be brief, as I’ve resolved not to spend too much time in front of a computer on this holiday. I’ve got 30 minutes before my rendezvous with M, so here goes. First a couple of lip-service running notes. The Windsor Half (Sept 30) has been cancelled due to the royal park being shut — a foot and mouth casualty.… READ MORE.... …

I’m tapping this out on the Shinkansen Express, otherwise known as the bullet train, from Tokyo to its anagrammatical cousin in the west, Kyoto. Hard not to marvel at technology at any time, but Japan rises above all previous gasp marks by reaching into areas previously considered not just untouched by modern technology, but untouchable. Like lavatories. Sitting on the loo in the Tokyo hotel room was something akin to being strapped into the cockpit of a Formula One racing car.… READ MORE.... …

At 6:30 this morning, Tokyo was humid and bright, and about as exciting as a city can reasonably hope to be. The hotel receptionist, the concierge, and the line of expectant porters had been too polite to notice my ridiculous appearance as I strode past them. Instead, we all bowed to each other, and said nothing. It was the same outside.… READ MORE.... …

Of all the excuses for not running, “I’m too busy” seems the least convincing. It’s when things are at their most chaotic that an hour of solitude is worth most. Solitude isn’t the same as loneliness, and isn’t the same as isolation. For me, it’s a time of peaceful, almost meditative disconnection from the chaos of everyday life. Maybe it’s not a time at all, but something more akin to a place.… READ MORE.... …

select runner_name from race_entries re, races r where re.race_id = r.race_id and r.name = “Reading O2O 10K” and re.runner_desc = “fat bloke” Imagine the horror when my name popped up. When fessing up my race calendar yesterday, I didn’t fess quite hard enough. There was the little matter of the O2O 10K, scheduled for 9 o’clock this morning. A particularly painful moment in the 2004 Copenhagen Marathon (which is like saying “a particularly wet moment while swimming the English Channel”) came at around the 20 mile mark.… READ MORE.... …