It’s good to be back in the groove. Worked from home today, so had the chance to get out his afternoon for 6.44 miles in the rain. I left home with no idea where I was headed, or how long I was going to be. I needed some sort of boundary, so before I left, I trapped a huge potato and manhandled it into the oven.… READ MORE.... …
Blog Posts
No running on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Overdid the cheeky nebbiolo on the first evenings. Naughty I know, but be reasonable — I needed something to wash down the Himalayan plates of cheese, nuts and olives. High-fat Heaven. I chomped and glugged for England, and wondered whether to blame or thank my scarlet toe. Then yesterday came, as it always must, and it was time to act.… READ MORE.... …
From the previous entry: Sometimes you get away with it, but usually you don’t. This time, I seem to have got away with it. I spoke too soon. I wasn’t the victim of an immediate collapse in resolve, more a victim of the Curse of Niguel. A couple of days after writing the above, I met up with the celebrated Nigel of this parish.… READ MORE.... …
Sometimes you get away with it, but usually you don’t. This time, I seem to have got away with it. I’d always intended a spell of R’n’R after the Oxford 10K. Not because the race was especially taxing, but because it marked the end of a solid spell of running. For the first time in well over a year I’d done three successive weeks of 20+ miles.… READ MORE.... …
Writing a race report on the Oxford 10K without using the phrase "city of dreaming spires", or even less resistible, Frederick Raphael’s "city of perspiring dreams", is probably tougher than the race itself. But I’ll give it a go. This is the race, mentioned here, to which I’d challenged my athletic Moriarty, Mark. Getting out of bed at seven in the morning on a Sunday, isn’t much fun, particularly after a late night.… READ MORE.... …
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Apart from global celebrity, there aren’t too many benefits that come with the maintenance of this website. The friendships I’ve made and the encouragement harvested from them stand out as the biggest plus points. However, the occasional freebie doesn’t go amiss. I’ve had a few offers and limp inducements over the years but the only two useful ones that come to mind are 1) a free subscription to the excellent WeightLossResources which has helped me shed some surplus lard, and 2) a wireless headset that recently came my way.… READ MORE.... …
Dress disposably… This invaluable piece of advice appeared while I was searching for information on the Boston Marathon. I call it “searching” but you don’t have to look too hard. Boston is massive. We don’t normally associate running races with tradition, but Boston has it oozing from every orifice. Much more of this over the next few months, I’m afraid. I mentioned a few weeks ago (see April 9), a strange experience I had, waking in the middle of the night to hear a voice coming through the radio, telling me what my running plans were to be for the coming year.… READ MORE.... …
Another race, another deluge. Was there a time when I ran races in dry weather? I fancy there must have been, but it seems like a very long time ago now. I have distant recollections of finishing a race feeling rather warm. I can recall a towel being used to wipe sweat, and not rain, from my face. Like last week at Shinfield, the Woodley 10K is a cordial, community event.… READ MORE.... …
As the great EJ Thribb (17½) might have said: So. Farewell then Tony Blair. The Churchill of The modern era. Never was so much Promised to so many by So… few. Now you’re gone, So… phew. I’d be slightly more charitable than Private Eye‘s redoubtable wordsmith and obituarist, but an expectant universe will have to await my assessment — partly because, despite today’s announcement, he’ll still be PM for another seven weeks, and partly because it’s late, and I have the rare need to be up early in the morning to catch the London train.… READ MORE.... …