Cambridge

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Daffodils barred from leaving the flower bed

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It’s Day 6 following poisoning by cheese cake and my forced withdrawal from Cambridge half marathon. I haven’t run since then until today when I jogged a couple of miles. I can recommend food poisoning (in my case) for first class nausea and vomiting, an over riding urge to lie very still, weird fluctuations in temperature,subsequently knocking back my appetite, occasional mild nauseous feelings and loss of interest in sweet foods. It’s around 359 days to go before the next Cambridge half but I’m guaranteed to remember not to eat New York vanilla cheese cake the night before.

Good news on the two runners who went into cardiac arrest near the finish line. They received very prompt treatment and are now said to be recovering well in Addenbrookes hospital.

The weather looks cold and wet tomorrow for Cambridge parkrun. I won’t have any problem doing 3 miles and I’m volunteering afterwards by collecting the course signage. I don’t find this task onerous. It’s very pleasant walking around the deserted woodland trail path and only takes 17-18 minutes.

Very interesting article in yesterday’s Guardian on narcissism It’s surprisingly difficult for people to disguise or hide narcissistic traits on social media although most are not motivated to do so. It seems to be deliciously tempting to reveal you’ve been for a cup of coffee, or a restaurant and so easy to become adept at making inane comments and compliments with the intention of having them returned. I blame ourselves, the facilitating social media platforms, cultural dumbing down, lack of emotional and psychological awareness and, as usual, the Evil Tories (although I haven’t refined their particular responsibility yet but I’m working on it).

 

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“Cambridge half marathon almost imminent,” he blubbed tautologically

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In two full days and two bits of days, the Cambridge half marathon will happen (or ‘appen, depending on your accent). Am I ready? Ask any quarter serious runner and stereotypically you’ll get a similar response – inadequate preparation centred around lack of training, particularly mileage. The usual culprits are family and work commitments, diminished motivation due to poor weather, cold weather, excessive wind, dark nights, colds, flu, injuries (cue runners taking it in turns to describe their dodgy calves, Achilles, ham strings, quads, black toe nails, sore bits, weird knee aches and pains in the butt). If they haven’t pulled out, the traditional response is to confirm they’ll take it easy and hope they finish the race.

So, am I ready? No! (see reasons above) I’ll just take it at a gentle pace etc etc. In fact I’ve deliberately done fewer miles than intended because I think less is more! I’m taking it very easy this week but I’ll still do parkrun the day before.

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Family wise, it’s just myself and son Dan running this year. I suppose I will finally have to accept he will finish before I do. The facts unfortunately support this prediction. His last local parkrun place was 5th out of 247 and mine was 174th out of 478.I know there’s only a slight discrepancy but it’s time to hand my crown over to him. He’ll run off with it!

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Cambridge half marathon a fortnight away, walking along the cam and those evil Tories again.

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A cold, sunny Sunday in Cambridge yesterday. Plenty of eights on the river powered by the gilded youth, loads of runners and cyclists to knock you flying, hordes of couples mooning  around (St. Valentine’s Day) and shoals of tourists shimmying from one photogenic setting to another (it can be such uphill work getting people to believe you’ve actually visited somewhere unless you are able to show evidence of yourself in a snap with relevant backdrop).

I’m a creature of habit when I go into Cambridge. I always go into WH Smith to look at the magazines and usually buy one or two, I often go into Heffers bookshop or Waterstones, walk around the market square and visit the second hand book stall and take photos on a particular bridge over the Cam. Out of preference, I like to have a nice coffee and a tuna and cucumber baguette in the marvelously anonymous Eat cafe and possibly wander around John Lewis, a rather civilised department store. I like to trip through the extensive cosmetics area in a vain attempt to identify any of the sales operatives who have abstained from caking themselves in their own products. They are always immaculately turned out and attractive but wearing no or minimal makeup doesn’t appear to be an option. Are they contractually obliged to over do it?

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These grand and beautiful trees are on Jesus Green. How lucky are we?

Cambridge half marathon is only two weeks away. I haven’t done the training I would like to do because other things have got in the way. Nevertheless, it’s good to know that despite not having put the mileage in, my overall level of fitness enables me to step up quickly to do 13 miles. It’s speed that suffers, of course, but if speed is your objective you are following a false god! The very shallowness of the concept of speed! Does anyone really care about this over valued aspect of running? I rather like these fall back arguments when you’re getting slower and slower.

Anyway, I did 13 miles today and 9 miles a week ago plus a 5 miler and a parkrun since the beginning of the month. I might do two more parkruns and a couple of long runs up to 10 miles and that will be that.

A government task force has published a report, A Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, which is very critical of the state of Engand’s mental health services, click here to read Observer article Today’s Guardian headline is NHS vows to transform mental health services  with extra £1bn a year. The report talks about a sharp increase in the number of suicides, estimates three quarters of people with a psychiatric condition do not receive help and documents that children are being sent all over the country to an available bed that may be hundreds of miles from their families.

The Tories and the coalition government have presided over savage cuts to bed availability, support services, staffing levels and overall funding of mental health facilities. Cameron in his ever so reasonable, we have learnt lessons, we must all pull together and defeat stigma, senior Tory style is presenting the spending announcement as an innovation and Tory triumph. David Cameron and his mates are duplicitous, fraudulent, own class supporting, unfeeling,  and lacking in basic humanity. They appeal to the voters who share their values – the cruel, the selfish, the self centred. May God help decent and vulnerable people.

 

 

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Janathon Day 28 The future? Possibly less running

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I had to go into Cambridge this morning and I decided to do a second Janthaon walking day. It may be the cold weather, it may be listening to medics speaking about the risks of running excessively (Trust Me, I’m a Doctor BBC 2 yesterday, with the excellent Michael Mosley) or it may be I’m a little tired. Unfortunately for me, there’s a current body of opinion which asserts that after a certain level of physical exercise, you may be jeopardising your health by stressing your heart and damaging your circulatory system.

I recovered very well from my heart attack six years ago and I still feel I could run as long and as far as I want. But I don’t think medical opinion would support that approach. In future, I’ll continue to focus on parkrun and probably do fewer 10k races and perhaps just one or two half marathons at a slower pace. And more walking

The Tory government stance, and particularly Cameron’s pronouncements, on very conditional requirements for accepting lone children caught up in the migrant/refugee crisis, is sickening. Clearly, Cameron wants to keep them at arms length and despite his ever so rational explanations about the sensible Tory approach, it reeks of an intrinsic absence of empathy and compassion. Goodwill and sensitivity towards vulnerable children, who have no family to care for them and who are at terrible risk, should be a no brainer, even for the Tories. Their current policy reveals the emotional deadness within.

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Janathon Day 27 A walking day

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Sun coming up over Wort’s Meadow a few days ago when it was frosty.

Didn’t manage a daytime run today and unusually I didn’t feel like running in the evening. but I did fancy a walk and listened to BBC Radio 4 podcasts. It was pleasant walking in the dark. I became aware of the Cambridge lights around 4-5 miles away. The red lights at the top of the tall new constructions were particularly prominent . Distance walked : two miles .

I’ll be doing Cambridge parkrun on Saturday. It’s their 6th birthday. I intended to volunteer as a marshal but the rota is now full so it’s deferred until the following weekend. That’s good because parkrun will be my penultimate Janathon jog.

 

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Janathon Day 19 Something like winter

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Hard frost this morning, around -5C or -6C. Brrrrrrrrrr!

 

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No, this isn’t Siberia or the frozen Alaskan wastes, it’s Worts Meadow in rural Cambridgeshire but there are undeniable similarities. All three locations are pretty chilly and require the correct standard of clothing and protection to survive the hazardous environment. Luckily I made it home unscathed, accompanied by Rupert the dalmatian (he didn’t fare so well. The intense cold caused a couple of his spots to fall off).

I had previously decided not to run with the club tonight (a planned fartlek around Cambridge) and instead do a long run by the river. The temperature was one or two degrees above zero and I wore my heaviest cycling jacket to keep the cold at bay. In the end I ran a bit further than I anticipated and did just over 10 miles. I came across surprising number of runners of all ages( and the obligatory walkers cluttering up the tow path).

Janathon total so far around 69 miles (running).

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Janathon Day 18 Everyone’s gawping at everyone else

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I took this picture of Trinity College’s Jerwood Library, on the bank of the Cam, yesterday. The light was poor, I was cold and it was taken with the wrong lens. To make matters worse, I was just able to lip read one of the gilded youths inside the warm library. He turned towards another chap, who was probably clutching a teddy bear, and said “Look at that twit, standing in the cold, trying to take photo of us with his silly telephoto lens.”

Another cold day, today. The temperature didn’t go much above zero centigrade and tomorrow morning it will be more like -3 or -4c. I went for an afternoon run, starting in an adjacent village and running along the Cam in the opposite direction to usual, that is towards Ely rather than Cambridge, There’s no clay cycle path going this way and it proved to be very muddy. I did around 3 miles which felt enough.

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Janathon Day 14 Life imitates art in Cambridge

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Compare and contrast my image of urban alienation and ennui with Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks (1942) (courtesy of Wikipedia). I think Edward has the edge.

I battled the elements (bitter wind, biting rain, threatening snow and, worst of all, dull, grey light, to triumphantly enter Cambridge city centre, aided only by my bus pass and a steely sense of purpose. I transacted my business, got freezing cold and then repaired to Eat, the sandwich shop chain where I hunkered down and ate an up market tuna and cucumber baguette. It was rather squidgy (Lorna wasn’t there to throw up her hands in horror) and I made a mess but no-one noticed (obviously because they are wallowing in urban alienation etc and that kind of thing goes over their heads).

I do like Eat. It’s anonymous, unpretentious, not expensive, reasonably comfortable and I can concentrate to read, eat and drink coffee.

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I then went to Cambridge Central library and saw this on display. Reader, I borrowed it! I can only fantasise about fell running locally. Cambridge is flatter than the flattest pancake.

I am managing to run each day for Janathon although 4-5 days in the week are just 2 milers. The mild winter in Eastern England has now got appreciably colder and I’m now running in trackster bottoms and a mid cold protection running jacket. It’s about 2-4c at the moment but minus centigrade temperatures will soon be upon us and I’ll wear a heavier duty cycling jacket which I keep on even when I’ve warmed up.

Alan Rickman’s death was announced today. Another very sad event. A great and entertaining actor, gone at 69.

 

 

 

 

 

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Janathon Day 4

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Impressively, Lorna chose not to utilise her new culinary skills accrued through watching The Great British Bake Off, Master Chef, Delia and Nigella stuff and all the cookery shows which comprise every other programme on all channels. The tray bake clearly turned against her! It tasted good but I had to severely mark it down for presentation. Thank God for Waitrose (or was it Tesco) who saved the day and provided some cakes to celebrate my 250th parkrun some while ago.

Just another two mile run today. The weather remains spookily mild in Cambridge and I ran in shorts and a short sleeved top. I felt more energetic than yesterday and covered the same distance in a minute less.

My new head torch should arrive tomorrow although I won’t wear it if I go running with the club in the evening. I’m bound to feel self conscious because I’ve never used one before. Will people crowd around me and steal my light?  If I’m a source of illumination, will I be regarded as wise? Should I wear it in the daylight to avoid these problems? Should I go to sleep now? Definitely.

 

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Janathon Day 2 Into the gloop. Again!

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Vanity, vanity. All is vanity. Here’s yet another picture of me. This time I am running in today’s Cambridge parkrun. I’m just behind another open mouthed runner. It was very muddy but unlike yesterday, relatively warm so I made the right decision to run in a short sleeved top and shorts.

The gloop made for a slow time. I couldn’t convince myself I was sprinting like a gazelle. Nevertheless, I usually feel I am running faster than I am. I’ve done quite a bit of running in the last five days and although the speed isn’t there, the stamina is. I don’t feel tired or achy so that’s a good result.

After being completely splattered in mud, I showered the equivalent of several kilos of mire down the plug hole and then repaired, with Lorna, to a friend’s house where we had a delicious breakfast with a group of like minded running chums. And very relaxing and enjoyable it was, too!  We were invited to join a newly forming mid week evening 10k running group which sounded great. I’ll almost certainly take it up. Of course, I’ll need a head lamp, a very bright one to turn the Cambridge night into daylight. And if Lorna asks nicely, I’ll let her borrow it!

Cambridge half marathon in 8 weeks. Gotta get training.