Month: June 2014

by

Aliveandrunning June 30 Juneathon Day 30

WP_20140408_004

Rupert was very reluctant to walk over this section of the  path today. He muttered something about about a ghostly barcode and not wanting to provoke the woodland sprites.  “Pardon moi,”I said smoothly,”but are you referring to the legendary, supernatural creatures who are reputed to exist in this category of habitat?”  “Too right,” he replied,”and if cross this, they’ll rearrange my spots or remove them altogether.” He can’t be reasoned with when he’s in this mood. Best to play along with him.

Juneathon is over. Long live Julyathon! No, I don’t think so. I’ll have some rest time before I launch an assault on Cambridge parkrun and storm to a new personal best. I’ve managed to run and blog every day but it’s increased my appetite and I think I’ve put on some weight. I ran approximately 114 miles and walked around 70 miles. I’ve never felt physically better and I’m running faster and more efficiently than before I had a heart attack 5 years ago. Yippee!

 

by

Aliveandrunning June 29 2014 Juneathon Day 29

10368872_848061585222960_2431709949713094713_o

I really had no idea that Rupert was an avid Brazil fan. Or was capable of hiding behind his paws during the penalty shootout yesterday. Or drank lager. Clearly he’s very much into World Cup football. He even ordered a hot dog to eat at half time! I heard him whisper to Isobelle  that Suarez’s bite is worse than his bark.Normally he has no interest in TV (apart from watching a certain Disney film) and as for supporting Andy Murray at Wimbledon, forget it.

I have only ever taken Rupert running on two occasions and today was the third. Running with Rupert is a mixed blessing. He is a highly skilled wee and poo merchant. He can’t trot more than  100 metres without stopping either to pee half a pint or leave a marker. He’s also a three poo a day dog. I suppose I have to count myself lucky I only had to pick up one. He’s got no road sense, randomly changes from left to right side and vice versa and is constantly on the lookout for something discarded to eat. Nevertheless, I enjoyed running with him. We ran around 9.5k which was enough for us both.

Today was the trial run for Cambridge junior parkrun and it went off with flying colours. Unless you are actively involved in the nuts and bolts of parkrun, it’s difficult to appreciate the time, effort and worry that goes into making it happen safely and successfully. 52 children participated, along with many parents and 25 volunteers. The inaugural run will take place in a fortnight and at least 100 children are expected to take part.

10477566_10152189342892742_1942595244102210532_o

10498266_10152189339637742_3686353892342580718_o (1)

10454215_10152189364117742_3545322469329987432_o

This young girl smiled and giggled her way around the 2k course. Not surprising, really, since she is a veteran of the adult parkrun. Her father has whizzed her along in an off road buggy since she was a baby! She was accompanied by her dad and pictured here with  tail runner Julie.

10498141_10152189365317742_3606063713654771540_o

Finally, the first girl to the line and the first and second boy. A very enjoyable and uplifting morning. The weather just held until everything was packed away and everyone went home. The weather has been pants, as they say, for the last 2 days. But hold on while I place my gardening hat on my cranium. Wow, I just love this weather. I can hear the garden squeaking with delight at the amount of rain that’s fallen, helta skelta, out of a leaden sky. Thank you, rain gods.

 

 

by

Aliveandrunning June 28 2014 Juneathon Day 28

WP_20140628_020 

Wimpole Estate parkrun this morning. I felt tired initially but I finished  only 13 seconds off my personal best. I decided to walk up the short, steep hill rather than jog up and feel all in at the top. After a flat 400 metres, there’s a lovely rough grass downhill stretch towards the  lake. It’s a great course and, as an added bonus, cows with remarkably pointy horns are strewn liberally around the running line to keep us alert.

We had coffee with friends and then I was compelled by my personal genetic imperative to visit Wimpole’s excellent second hand bookshop where I bought the above treasures (of course they didn’t provide me with a large bowl of steaming porridge. I added that for creative interest). Will I read them in their entirety? Probably not. But I will read them in part and that’s good enough. It’s wonderful to turn to pages at random and become immediately absorbed in the content. You can easily do that with non fiction. I still can’t get my head around the concept of abandoning books,( particularly non fiction), to a “shop” or online, where they wait to be loved again. Anyway, their loss is my gain. I’ve reassured them they are safe with me and can (figuratively) put down roots.

And talking about roots, I bought this substantially discounted Solanum laxum “Album” at their plant shop.

WP_20140628_024

Various people congratulated me on my shrewd book and plant purchasing decisions and even though Lorna didn’t verbally heap praise upon me, I could see the glint in her eyes revealed full approval and a sneaking pride. I think I detected a challenge along the lines “just see if you can repeat your success next time we visit Wimpole.” Yes, mam!

Tomorrow is Cambridge junior parkrun trial run. The inaugural run is in a fortnight.

by

Aliveandrunning June 27 2014 Juneathon Day 27

WP_20140627_002

The madness of the off road runner. I was drawn to the on coming tornado like an iron filing to a magnet. I ran across uncharted fields, untrodden since medieval times. I felt an urge to embrace the tornado like some people hug trees and then to enter the centre of the funnel where Iwould experience a transcendent peace. As I raced ever nearer, I spied cows and pigs swirling around the vortex 50 metres off the ground. I sang Follow the Yellow Brick Road in my head. I was a few seconds away from being sucked in but at the last moment, it abruptly changed direction and at such a speed I was unable to follow. The heavens opened up and I got thoroughly soaked. I took it easy on the homeward journey but still got jogger’s nipple. It could have been a lot worse!

About 5.5k in all. The paths were very overgrown in parts. There was no-one around. The loneliness of the short distance runner.

Tomorrow we’ll go to Wimpole Estate parkrun as Cambridge parkrun is not happening.

Very interesting and thought provoking headlines in the Daily Star about a prediction by scientists that a new generation of rats will be the size of cows. The same paper tempted you with the front page description of another story inside : “Evil Savile Sicko Sex.” This is the level of a lot of discussion about Jimmy Savile’s decades long sexual abuse of men and women, adolescents and young children. It leaves you with absolutely no appreciation or understanding of how or why this behaviour might have come about, how a person might develop such proclivities. http://bit.ly/1mEcx8E This link to The Guardian’s Oliver James assists a more grown up view of what may be going on in this man’s head. Such a pity there is very little discussion at this level.

 

by

Aliveandrunning June 26 2014 Juneathon Day 26

 

 

WP_20140615_013

Straight down the M XI to the outskirts of Londinium to see my mater and deliver this lava lamp to my daughter Shanti. It seems to be a Seventies original. It’s larger,more  heavier and more rocket like than new ones I’ve seen recently. I like it. I’ll look out for another similar lamp for Lorna.

I’m not being county-ist or anyfink but the standard of driving improved noticeably beyond Stanstead (out of Essex and into Cambridgeshire). On the positive side, you could say that the breathtaking swerving from lane to lane in fast moving traffic to gain a few metres is creative, courageous and visually stunning. Perhaps driving safely is ridiculously over rated and  boring. Perhaps driving in Essex should be kept to a minimum.

Anyway, having survived trial by boy racer I was glad to get back to Cambridge where we still drive cars preceded by a walking person waving a red flag. Mildly traumatised, I restricted myself to a 2 mile run accompanied by my pet butterflies fluttering in a subdued manner over my head and perfectly reflecting my jangled nerves.

Lorna is heavily involved in setting up a new junior parkrun in Milton Country Park where the adult parkrun is held. This Sunday a trial junior parkrun will take place followed by the first official run a fortnight later. A great deal of time and effort goes into getting a parkrun set up and staged, particularly when the participants are predominantly children. Well done. I’m sure it will be a great success.

by

Aliveandrunning June 25 2014 Juneathon Day 25

WP_20140625_020

I cooked a few noodles with plenty of vegetables this evening. There’s various stuff in it but it’s noodle light. This was put together after I went for a late afternoon run along Akeman Street, a section of the old Roman road which stretches from Ermine Street (near Wimpole Hall where a parkrun is held) to Cambridge, Ely and beyond.

WP_20140625_012      WP_20140625_015    WP_20140625_017

These short sections are recognisable as roads (or remnants of roads). Large parts of it are under cultivated fields and the existence of Akeman Street is often only traceable by consulting a map.

I went for a leisurely 5.5k run which took 32 minutes. I saw 3 people briefly on the old road. It’s a lonely run with only the ghosts of Roman soldiers for company. Being composed of mist and vapour, they didn’t have any trouble jogging beside me in full armour. They chatted  amiably in Latin and seemed very sociable. I mentioned (in broken Latin) that I was travelling to Londinium in the morning to see my mater. I think they asked me how many horses were pulling my chariot.

Lots of butterflies in the field where I exercise Rupert. All little Meadow Browns. Unlike the Roman soldiers, they had no conversation.

by

Aliveandrunning June 24 2014 Juneathon Day 24

 

WP_20140624_004

This water lily is part-time! It comes out late in the morning and shuts up in the mid afternoon when it’s still warm and sunny. I bought it under the impression that it was a hard working, full time lily. I concede it’s rather lovely but it needs to put more effort into flowering time.

Out with the club tonight. We did a time trial 1k followed by 4 further kilometres. With warm up jog and getting to the run site we covered around 4.5 miles in all. The weather was odd – cool and clammy. I even put the heater on in the car on the way back.

Professor Sue Bailey, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said in an interview this morning that mental health services in England are “a car crash.” She said the services were in crisis and that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is not taking the problems seriously. I didn’t catch it. Was this an interview on Radio 4’s Today? I also managed to miss a feature on Woman’s Hour criticising anti depressants which asserted that they are as effective as placebo.

by

Aliveandrunning June 23 2014 Juneathon Day 23

DSC_0507

Oh look!  An Anglais urticae has alighted on my verbena bonariensis. I’m not surprised because its larvae feeds on the common stinging nettle which thrives without embarrassment in our garden and in the adjacent field. In fact there are so many nettles they could easily support a swarm of these Small Tortoiseshell butterflies, blackening the sky like myriads of locust. In the meanwhile, a dozen or so flit around the verbena which is good this year.

I’ve trained 6 of them to fly above my head when I’m running locally ( they are not good at travelling in the car so I didn’t take them to yesterday’s Hatfield Forest 10k). The truth is I’ve become a butterfly whisperer. A noble calling but without much call for it.

Felix Dennis has died, aged 67. An extremely successful publisher in later years, he will always be remembered by a certain section of my generation as one of the co-founders of OZ, the 60’s counterculture magazine which was the subject of a high profile obscenity trial in 1971. Oz can be bought on ebay, should you be so minded, and I can recommend Tony Palmer’s The Trials of Oz, first published in August 1971 with drawings by Felix Topolski. John Mortimer was the defence QC and there were many famous witnesses speaking up for them. A still fascinating clash between culture and generations.

WP_20140623_005

 

A warm day in Cambridge. I felt  a bit lackadaisical after yesterday’s 10k and put off running until I had a heavy evening meal, a hot chocolate and it had started raining hard. Just over 2 miles; the second mile was easier and I could have continued but time was moving on. I got soaked through. I didn’t take the butterflies with me. They get in such a flap when it rains. They are prone to water logging and can’t flutter correctly. I gave them the day off.

by

Aliveandrunning June 22 2014 Juneathon Day 22

DSC_0724

Who is this hopelessly ice cool dude? Why, it’s me of course. I’m wearing my uber fashionable Hoohaah hoodie allocated to me by the Hoohaah organisers of a series of 10k, 10 miles and half marathons for taking part in 3 of their races. This is my first ever hoodie and it won’t be my last. I might even get myself some shades to wear rather than borrow Lorna’s pair.

I picked it up at the Hoohaah Hatfield Forest 10k this morning. The weather was glorious, albeit a tad hot for running. The course was slightly undulating, over grass and shady forest paths. I stopped at the drink station and walked for half a minute which I think was sensible (I was in sensible mode). Despite being appropriately hydrated I still felt more tired than I expected at the eighth kilometre. I ploughed on, jumping nimbly over the runners laying on their backs gasping, having succumbed  to  the heat. Given that I’ve been cruelly  forced to run every day to satisfy the bloody Juneathon criteria, I was happy with my time. But then controversy broke out big time and I wasn’t the only one sent reeling by the disclosure that the 10k course was actually 10.3k. Not having a GPS device I was unaware of this but various people with Garmins confirmed it. Several of us fainted at this news and others found solace by hiding in their hoodies and  weeping. For myself, I took it like a man and assumed a sardonic smile.

The Hoohaah series is a great addition to the increasing number of paid for runs. Well organised, well marshaled, lovely courses and friendly people putting it on.

DSC_0746

 

This is what I looked like during the run (I ran with unfolded arms, obviously). Why do I look as if I’m wearing a skirt? (I’m not). You see I have that air of quiet determination and understated strength which allowed me to storm across the finish line after 71 runners who got there first.

 

by

Aliveandrunning June 21 2014 Juneathon Day 21

WP_20140621_003

A lovely, leafy, sun dappled long straight path in Milton Country Park, the venue for Cambridge parkrun. On the immediate left (out of shot) is a large lake, so useful for nudging arch rivals into. We have around 400 doing Cambridge parkrun now but by the time this point is reached, we’re reasonably spaced out. I had a good run today and finished only 23 seconds outside my personal best. I think getting below 23 minutes is possible after Juneathon, after I’ve had a few days rest, if  it’s not too hot, if I start nearer to the front, if I do some distance training, if I can fortify myself with lashings of Brussels sprouts, if any of the Greek goddesses are smiling at me from above, and if I’m feeling invincible. So, if all this criteria is satisfied, I’m suited and booted. If only!

We have two timers at Cambridge and Lorna was one of them today. It’s always a slightly anxiety producing job because of the sheer number of runners coming through in bunches, overtaking on the line (and funnel), being joined by children who may or may not have run, pressing buttons hard enough to register as a result and being distracted by the crowds around you. I collected the signage around the course after the run which allows me to take part in the race and volunteer. I came back to the cafe just in time to have a delicious coffee with friends in the sunshine. No matter what time you do, parkrun is such a feel-good experience. Tomorrow is the Hatfield Forest 10k. There should be plenty of shade, at least at intervals. It starts at 10. I’ll have to make a decision about when and how much porridge to eat in the morning. Probably a large bowl around 7 am.

DSC_0537

Here is a fine bed of nettles I’ve cultivated over several years. The key to such an impressive display is to leave them to set seed annually and also to cut them down but leave the roots. They thrive on the challenge to recover their strength.

I can usually pull the young ones up successfully. The older, much more experienced nettles that have been around the block and attended the school of hard knocks are a different matter. They find novel and ingenious ways to sting me, I try to grasp them with gloves and they duck out of the way so I clutch thin air, they hiss and murmur insults. This time , it’s personal. I’m going to apply a lot of time , effort and cunning to make you history, a small footnote in my illustrious gardening career. Anyone for nettle soup?