Cambridge

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Aliveandrunning July 9 2014

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Those men in lycra descended upon my home town and caused mayhem on Monday. The lurid colours made me squint, no cars were allowed on any of the roads around Cambridge within a 50 mile radius (including farm tracks), people with French accents informed me I couldn’t walk on my own City pavements, some public safety announcements were made in French and Park and Ride  which they implored us to use to come in to town, threw us off their double deckers about 10 miles away from the town centre, forcing us to walk in. I had to carry a 103 year old woman on my back and deposit her in a convenient spot to watch the lads whizz by!

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However for most people it was a very enjoyable day. There was a great sense of anticipation and everyone was in a good mood. To offset the reality that the entire 200 cyclists would pass by in a few minutes (and because the stage started in Cambridge, they sauntered past us and gave us a few more seconds gawping and cheering time before starting to race outside the city centre), there were many dozens of support vehicles, camera motor bikes, sponsor cars, and cars bearing hundreds of spare bikes continually passing by and preceding the racers to thrill to. I was left with a nice warm fuzzy feeling and cancelled the UKIP membership I had taken out an hour earlier.

Not too much happening  on the running front. Two days off after parkrun on Saturday and went running with the club yesterday evening. Nothing today and possibly not tomorrow either. It doesn’t matter too much. A minor running god like myself can remain at peak fitness indefinitely (or at least until next week when I can start running in earnest again.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss to chair the historical child sex abuse review which will look into allegations of far reaching abuse perpetrated by politicians and  Establishment figures? I don’t think so! She is the sister of Sir Michael Havers, an Attorney General  in the 1980’s (now deceased) who made decisions about whether or not to undertake prosecutions of paedophiles. She herself is an Establishment figure who commands huge respect and confidence (by the Establishment) and also by her nephew, that nice Nigel Havers. Clearly a conflict of evidence . Is it likely that that the 80 year old ex-judge is going to to possibly trash her brother’s reputation?

 

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Aliveandrunning July 7 2014

DSC_0959 This is a picture from one of the bands at  the Cambridge Big Weekend held on Parker’s Piece and performing yesterday.Tomorrow, the Tour de France commences from Parker’s Piece and the city centre will be full of excited people wildly cheering them on as they depart for the London finish in the afternoon (minus the moody but brilliant Mark Cavendish who tried too hard and crashed out on the first day of the Tour, silly boy!).

I’ve now had some rest days since the end of Juneathon and I’ve only run two 5k races, one of which was a club race competing with four other clubs over five runs in all. I still feel ambivalent about being a club runner. I do take running seriously (up to a point), I do try to be competitive (up to a point), I do make an effort to talk about running and socialise with other runners (possibly for minutes at a time if the subject is not wholly running based), I do enjoy the company of runners and the variation of club training. And that’s why, if the club asks members to turn up to support particular races for the glory and overall victory of winning the trophy, I will take part if possible. I will drive 45-60 minutes each way for a whole point which is added on to the other points contributed by the rank and file runners. I’d probably be more inspired if they gave out sticky gold stars which could be stuck in a little booklet. I do enjoy the runs but I can’t wait to get home to have something sensible to eat. I have noticed that before the start,  the individual club members, in their club vests, tend to group together. My club tends to stand in multiple small groups or stand alone. Actually I quite like that. It’s a Cambridge thing. It shows what a disparate bunch we are and reflects the different tribes.

Yesterday was Cambridge parkrun. I thought I was running fast but I was still over half a minute outside my personal best. Still, I enjoyed it. I commented to a pal that we are probably within the top 1% of running fitness for our age group overall which renders any feelings of disappointment in performance as missing the point.

DSC_0926 This chap was one of a number of vintage bicycle riders showing off their machines at the Big Weekend. They were very friendly and deeply appreciative of the interest shown in their hobby. DSC_0899   DSC_0010   This ska band was really good. I’m not usually a fan but I was today. I may be dong them a massive disservice but their appearance gave the impression they may be a little to the right of UKIP. Nothing they said supported this, however, and it was a great set. I think someone needs to reconsider calories in and calories out, though. DSC_0004