Running

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Aliveandrunning June 19 2014 Juneathon Day 19

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A little bit of garden I tend. In the picture, it looks  busy and densely planted but it’s full of weeds including the delicate plants with white flowers. No matter. I do like the stipa gigantica, the tall grass seed heads just right of the conifer in the middle background. Couldn’t do much gardening today because I was placed in the unfortunate position of having to destroy  the homes of small spiders. They love our very old creaky cottage and want to live in harmony with us. All they ask is to be able to create a fine network of webs over everything. Why, you can hardly see them unless you’re really determined to wrong foot the little creatures, bless their little arachnid hearts. Anyway,  their finely spun abodes have been swept away and they surely want revenge. They’ll attack, on mass, in the small hours and we’ll just be relegated to a comic headline in the Daily Star “Spider Hordes Eat Family : Police Looking For Motive”.

Day 19 of Juneathon and my run was restricted to 2 miles. Short, sweet and unproblematic. May go running in Cambridge City centre tomorrow. Saturday it’s Cambridge parkrun and Sunday Hatfield Forest 10k. On June 28 there is a trial outing for Cambridge Children’s Parkrun (age 4-14) and the inaugural run is  on July 13. Lorna is one of the race directors and is assisting in setting it up.

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Aliveandrunning June 18 2014 Juneathon Day 18

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Just over half way through Juneathon and I feel I’ve got my energy back. I just ran my default distance 2 miles and I ran it faster and felt stronger than I have done in months. Perhaps I should continue and do a Julyathon and maybe an Augustathon!

So far I’ve run around 70 miles this month plus about 35 miles dog walking. My expectation is that after June, I will have a rest for a few days and then get a PB at parkrun. This is what happened last year. Why not this year!

I enjoyed a large Americano coffee at Costa this morning. They served it in a medium sized potty which I could only raise to my lips by using both of my hands. I drank all  of it. On the way home , I regretted not having an available medium sized potty.

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Aliveandrunning June 17 2014 Juneathon Day 17

 
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Into Cambridge city centre today. I took  the opportunity, as anyone would, to snap some bookshops because in 25 years or perhaps 5 years, they will have disappeared into history. “Books” will be downloaded directly into our heads as we sleep and we will awake with the full memory of the pleasure of the contents. Physical books will be regarded as unnecessary fire hazards which attract contaminating, throat choking dust, and the broad coalition government of the Daily Mail party, UKIP and Best Do AS You Are Told Alliance will ban them. The American Psychiatric Association  will categorise physical book reading as an unhealthy fetish and advise psychosurgery if the patient persists with his/her deviant behaviour. We follow suit in the UK.

Anyway, that’s the future. Let the unreconstructed enjoy today. I have included T.K. Max because this was where Borders had a three floor store before it went bust. I liked this large shop.It had a fantastic range of magazines, a good coffee shop, a wide range of books, comfy chairs and a relaxed atmosphere. After my heart attack 5 years ago, I couldn’t reach the second floor  because it was only accessible by stairs which I wasn’t permitted to use. I was disproportionately put out despite the relatively short ban.

I seldom go into the Cambridge University Press bookshop. Too many titles I would like to own, and expensive.

Heffers is Cambridge’s premier shop for bibliophiles, both for the general reader, the specialist  and students. A lovely, big, sprawling store with very knowledgeable staff.

Out road running with Cambridge and Coleridge this evening. We did 6 x 3 minutes with decreasing recovery from 5 mins to 1 minute. We stopped to a loud whistle so all speeds were catered for. We then returned to the position  from where we started, or where we reached at the 3 minute whistle. Then back home for fish and chips, baked beans and salad, accompanied by delicious flat bread. Alas, no Brussels sprouts!

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Aliveandrunning June 15 2014 Juneathon Day 15

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  May Bumps, always held in June, on the River Cam, Cambridge. Teams of eight, plus a cox, row to catch the crew in front and “bump” them. The two boats then retire to the side as others race past them, intent on bumping the boat in front of them.

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It was good, upper middle class, English fun. Everyone who participated or spectated were hard working tax payers (or will be) and everyone believed in solid British values. No-one was selling Socialist Worker. No drones buzzed overhead and blew anyone to smithereens.

To satisfy Juneathon’s  exacting requirements, I ran just 2 miles today. I see from my running record that last June I was up to a minute faster than this year for the same distance. No matter, it’s the run that counts, not the time.

The BBC should know better than to allow that sanctimonious and unctuous Tony Blair airtime to pontificate on the current crisis in Iraq. He showed utter determination to go to war with Bush and not allow any argument or opposing views or facts to impede him. His body language at the time illustrated his desire to ingratiate himself with the Bush team. Bush came across as a no nonsense, macho avenger. Blair revealed himself to be poodle and faithful lapdog. Both men are professed Christians, of course. As if!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Aliveandrunning June 14 2014 Juneathon Day 14

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Ms Alive and Running (right) with her Fen Edge Runners Club pals (and mine) at Wimpole Estate parkrun today. Fen Edge Runners take their running seriously but are very friendly and informal. They allow me into their inner circle despite my belonging to a rival club.

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Ms Alive and Running showing good form as she approaches the finish line and Wimpole Hall in all its understated modesty (is this tautology?)

The undulating course and a particularly vicious hill meant that I run it almost 2 minutes slower than the flat and winding Cambridge parkrun. We had rain on the way to Wimpole which was dry on arrival but started after the finish so I didn’t get any photos of their second hand, pre-owned, formerly cherished but now callously discarded book shop. I did venture in, however. After establishing they couldn’t provide a second hand e-book download of my chosen titles, I was forced  to buy the hard copies.

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I resisted explaining that I’m buying these books for a friend and not for myself. The George Orwell essays include the Art of Donald McGill, the saucy seaside postcard artist in which he explores the prevailing humour and assumptions underpinning it. This Penguin copy is old and looks like someone has urinated on it ( one of worst book crimes imaginable, second only to setting it alight). It possesses that lovely old paperback aroma (not faintly like urine) which e-books strangely lack.

In the afternoon, I went to the May Bumps which are a series of rowing races along the Cam. Very enjoyable and interesting. Took loads of pics. Very white, very upper middle class, very traditional. They set up road blocks along the tow path and you were only allowed admission to that section of the path if you could converse in Latin or Ancient Greek, attended a Cambridge college or had an air of smug insouciance. Am I being unfair? Yes!

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Aliveandrunning June 13 2014 Day 13

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An oblique view of Kings College, Cambridge. WARNING : if you visit Cambridge , DO NOT walk on the grass. Kings College groundsmen and groundswomen are licenced to kill anyone who transgresses this rule. Anyone caught dropping litter onto the sward is led away to an inner court yard and placed in the stocks. The gilded youth attending Kings are then invited to pelt the hapless person with stale asparagus tips, rotten foie gras and guinea fowl, uneaten caviar and the like. This is the risky under belly of tourism. Beware (but have a good day).

Another warm day for running. Various chores got in the way so I didn’t pound the mean streets of my village until 5 pm and ran an easy 2 miles.

Tomorrow we are going to Wimpole Estate parkrun. It’s predominately over grass and undulating. It features  a short but steep hill which in the past I have walked up because I find it so exhausting. Wimpole is one of the loveliest courses in a beautiful stately house parkland setting. The cows might also be out in force as well as the runners so there will be an extra frisson of excitement (or terror).

The cafe is excellent and, to top it all, there is a good second hand bookshop staffed by the usual idiosyncratic and helpful National Trust volunteers. This is beginning to sound like a review for SAGA magazine!

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Aliveandrunning June 12 2014 Juneathon Day 12

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We runners have urges and today I had a strong desire to run through the centre of Cambridge. We live around 4.5 miles from the City centre and it doesn’t take long to drive to the edge and run in from the suburban road where I parked. It  took 6 minutes to run to Jesus Green then along the river to Magdalene College and Magdalene Street and St. Johns Street, past the wonderful Heffers bookshop and into Trinity Street and Kings Parade and then turning into Market Square.

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I experienced inexplicable icy chill as I ran past the Haunted Bookshop and clearly the man outside G. David wearing the cream suit is no ordinary browser. I ran around the Market Square a couple of times, weaving in and out of the crowd and then past Kings College. I passed so many groups of Chinese tourists I’m almost fluent in Mandarin.

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In all I ran 8.51k in 53 minutes which included stopping a dozen times to take photos. Just outside the Market Square I came across a man consulting a map and smoking a pipe (simultaneously). I thought I had slipped through a hole in the  time/space continuum and found myself in the 1950’s. I regret not asking him if I could take a picture. Pipes are so evocative of the past when there was no emphasis on the dangers of smoking and a pipe represented dependability and  thoughtfulness. This man is an endangered species. Smoking has killed them all off.

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I really enjoyed running in crowded streets of Cambridge. Even in the most congested places it’s always easy to deviate down a side street or alley and break away from the seething masses. I admit to feeling a tad superior to the slow moving tourists and shoppers as I dodge past them with panache and energy. I didn’t run fast and I didn’t exhaust myself. I did feel I saw a different aspect of the city as if I was running through one piece of a jigsaw into another. Can’t wait to do it again, hopefully with Lorna next time.

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Aliveandrunning June 11 2014 Juneathon Day 11

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Ye old windy path that is troddeth by me nearly all days of the year accompanied by my faithful canine, Rupert. I particularly like this part of the woods. It has a mystical feel, as if  you could meet a country person from the Victorian age or the Middle ages or a wandering Greek god seeking a diversion from mythical responsibilities. I don’t run in this wood. Sometimes I meet other dog walkers but most often I’m listening to BBC Radio 4 podcasts. We are so lucky to have the BBC and to have such a range of high quality broadcasts. Today I listened to All in the Mind which featured a very affecting interview with an anorexic 22 year old woman and her carer mother followed by a discussion on current research on the role of the hormone oxytocin in mitigating some of the features of anorexic symptoms.I’m spoilt for choice. Woman’s Hour, The Life Scientific, In Our Time, Start the Week, the dramas, Beyond Belief, Open Book, Thinking Aloud and many more. Who needs music? Tip : Radio Times essential reading.

I felt fine after the late evening run with the club yesterday. We ran up and down a a short hill six times and covered over 7 miles. Today, I ran my usual default, just ticking over, 2 mile run. I run to an Indian restaurant formerly known as the Slap Up and now renamed the Bollywood Spice, salivate in response to any wafting Indian cooking aromas and return home along the same route. Might go for a longer run tomorrow. The world awaits my decision.

 

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Aliveandrunning June 10 2014 Juneathon Day 10

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This is my little friend, Sidney and he lives on the rockery beside the new pond. He’s not a great conversationalist but he’s reliable and has a god heart. He has assured me that the mushroom he’s acquired is not “magic” and that everything is just fine in Fairyland.

Out with the club tonight. We ran just over a couple of miles to the foot of a hill, a Cambridge hill, which means some people might dispute whether or not it met the criteria for a hill. A wise person said it rose 23 metres. It looked like  a gentle incline from the bottom. We split into groups of 5 and chased up to the  top the top as fast as possible, a distance of around 400 metres. Not far, really and we did that 5 times.  A small group of runners, including me, went up a sixth time. And then we trotted back to the University Track. A highly technical person revealed we ran 7.3 miles. We warmed down , congratulated each other on our fine performances and went home to a nice cup of tea.

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Aliveandrunning June 8 2014 Juneathon Day 8

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Meet my two long legged friends, Ethel and Reginald. As befits literate spiders, they can’t wait to scamper over the book shelves. They have oodles of fun, they tell me. They are voracious readers but tend to confine  themselves to the text on the book spines because, obviously, they can’t turn the pages. Additionally, the font size is large  and it takes time to scan, so progress is slow. They are terrible copycats! Every Saturday at 9 am, they have bookrun while I’m at parkrun so I never get to see them in any great number. So far, no pics on Facebook. I still live in hope. I like spiders running over my books.

 

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Rather warm today. I intended to go for a short run (around 2 miles) because I’m still feeling tired. I ended up doing 1o k. I parked in the country park where we do parkrun, pootled around there for a bit then headed for the river. Plenty of people walking along the riverbank, some runners (avoiding eye contact with me), and cyclists, including trainers on bikes, coaching the rowing eights as they move at speed in the water.

In the above pic, an eight and a narrow boat pass in opposite directions. Next week the May Bumps begin and culminate on Saturday when the successful eights race against each other. The tow path will be full of people spectating and picnicking  on the banks and coaches will be whizzing along the path shouting out instructions to their own crews.

A number of eights wait in staggered positions and, at the firing of a small cannon, set off and attempt to catch up with the boat in front, “bumping them”, that is making contact with their boat or oar. Both eights then pull over. It’s not permitted  to sink another competitor or swipe at them with cutlasses. The crews are mainly Cambridge University colleges with a few affiliated clubs taking part (I think). What do class warriors think of this? Do they move seamlessly among the wicker hampers, jugs of Pyms and bottles of champers cluttering the banks, furiously stroking their chins in wonderment? Or shrug their shoulders? Or kick the picnics into the water? Or, like us, sit on the fence? We’ll enjoy the races but drink fair trade tea, brewed on a portable gas cooking stove, using water drawn straight from the river.

Anyway, no such dilemmas today. Just a lovely run along the river bank. I felt less tired following the run. Only my jaw muscle still ached, a consequence of excessive social intercourse yesterday at parkrun and elsewhere.