Wimpole Hall Estate

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Aliveandrunning October 20 2014

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A Porter cake made with Guinness and a banana cake with dates and nuts. I baked these for my 200th parkrun on Saturday at Cambridge. I’m the first Cambridge person to get to 200 and fellow runners finally had incontrovertible evidence that they had a senior running god among their number When my milestone was announced at the address by the run director, a huge cheer went up, men avoided direct eye contact out of deference and women fainted with excitement. The crowd appeared dazed and unfocussed. Luckily for them I kept my head and led them, stunned, to the start line. As soon as the air horn started the race they snapped out of it. Outrageously, 135 people reached the finish line before me thus creating a huge disrespect issue. Consequently, none of my cake passed their lips! All the more for runners who were able to persuade me they came in after position 137.

The  woodland path course was muddy in places and the going was soft. It was also surprisingly warm for October. All these factors ensured I didn’t dip below 24 minutes as I did last week. I also suspect that my forward progress was impeded by the celestial breath of a mischievous Greek god but it’s notoriously difficult to prove. Still, the cake went down well and people said kind things. Onwards and upwards to parkrun 250 when I will receive a hoodie and tee shirt and further adulation.

In the afternoon I went for a walk, with friends and others, on the National Trust Wimpole Hall Estate. Very enjoyable and it gave me an opportunity to rescue a few books languishing in the Courtyard second hand bookshop. I don’t take this level of responsibility lightly. Someone has to step up to the plate. These books were heavily traumatised and are currently undergoing debriefing. It’ll be sometime before they can sit on my bookshelf, feeling at home and relaxed.

 

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Started half marathon training yesterday. I ran for 1 hour 2 minutes in the afternoon when I thought my big bowl of porridge was sufficiently digested but my stomach still felt a bit queasy at times. St. Neots half in 4 weeks and a 10k Bonfire Burn in 2 weeks.

I’ve just sent off a request for pre-application advice for planning permission concerning my proposed therapeutic gardening project. This should result in an allocation of a named person to guide me through the process and determine whether or not I will will require planning permission. I’m arranging to visit a horticultural project in Saffron Walden (not too far from the excellent Oxfam bookshop) and I’m wading through the requirements to set up a charity. This means I will have to up my level of focus and concentration.

Could rant about the latest human rights violations perpetrated by the Catholic Church (recent small payments for abused boys attending a seminary decades ago and the cardinals watering down a more accepting text on recognising and welcoming gay people into the church). But I won’t at the moment. I’ll save it

 

 

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Aliveandrunning October 8 2014

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Hoohaah half marathon at Wimpole Estate last Sunday with young Jonathan leading for Cambridge and Coleridge (he eventually came second). I had a place in this race but my family felt running 3 half marathons in relatively quick succession was excessive given my heart disease. They threw research at me and I acquiesced! However, I went over to Wimpole with chum Kerry, watched the race and took a couple of hundred of pics.

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Unfortunately, the lure of this bookshop in the courtyard of Wimpole House resulted in me returning to the finish line late and failing to see the first three runners come in. Just out of camera shot, to the right , in the pool of sunlight, sits an old woman in period dress weaving yarn on a spinning wheel. Very evocative of a lost, bygone culture. This nostalgic cameo was only slightly undermined when, last year, faced by a large crowd of parkrunners blocking the entrance to the court yard, the spinning lady reversed her Mercedes estate more than a tad too fast, scattering said parkrunners in fear of their lives. She wasn’t a happy bunny.

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These are my running pals from Fen Edge running club. Mike and Kerry have only been running for a couple of years but they are during parkrun in 21-22 minutes. Over a longer distance like a half marathon, I can get within 2-3 minutes of them but incredibly they are still improving.

Parkrun went OK the day before but I couldn’t drop under 24 minutes. I collected the signage after the run. This volunteering task is enjoyable and relaxing. It’s very pleasant to walk around the deserted course. I sometimes see Peter who is in his mid 80s, walking the 5k  course but in the reverse direction. Not seen him recently, though. I do hope he’s well.

I went to Addenbrookes Hospital yesterday and felt mildly murderous when I smelt cigarette smoke from someone walking behind us as we approached the entrance. Stupid or what? Of course there’s more stupidity inside the hospital and this time it’s sponsored by the management. Burger King and other fast food outlets in the Food Court. So empowering to facilitate obese people to ignore dietary and health advice and conveniently enable them to gorge on high fat, high carbohydrate and high salt food to their hearts’ content.

We sought advice at the Inquiry Desk.

“How may I help you, my dears?” smiled the volunteer receptionist.

“Firstly, by desisting from addressing us as “my dears”, I replied.”Secondly, by appreciating I have a fear of split infinitives unless their utterance is Star Trek related. Thirdly, I want that person disappearing down the corridor to be arrested and charged with causing  environmental damage by smoking on hospital premises. Are you able to accommodate me?”

Of course there was no response because this little encounter happened in my imagination but it was a close run thing.

 

 

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Aliveandrunning October 3 2014

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I really must stop taking pictures of huge fish on the front cover of angling magazines in Tesco. No sooner had I snapped this when the security guard suddenly appeared at my side.

“At it again are we,sir? It’s not normal y’know. Move along now and don’t dawdle in front of the Krispy Kremes’ cabinet.”

I am doubtful of the  actual existence of these mega fish. The three or four monthly magazines which feature them always depict grinning men casually holding a very heavy weight with no apparent effort. There’s something fishy about this! I suspect Photoshop can turn a goldfish into anything.

At the beginning of the week I went for my last long run before the half marathon at Wimpole Estate this weekend. I ran for about 75 minutes. It started raining as I set out and it didn’t stop until I returned. As a result, I suffered the excruciating pain known as Jogger’s Nipples and had to undergo the humiliation of applying Sudocrem to them  before going to sleep. Very rock’n roll.

I’ll be doing Cambridge parkrun tomorrow  but I won’t be running the half marathon after all. My family feel that it’s a half marathon too far (I had planned to do 3 halves in 9 weeks). I’ve done one and Wimpole was the second). They instanced this research http://heart.bmj.com/content/99/8/516.extract (O’Keefe and Lavie) which addresses the impact of excessive or more prolonged running on the heart. It describes the possible cardiac damage that running over longer distances and over longer periods may incur. I read the paper rather than the extract and I also read an article on this research in Runners’ World some months ago. The training and the half itself would fall into the category of “extreme running” if it occurs more than very occasionally. The paper gives clear guidelines regarding duration. It doesn’t discuss excessive running in the context of people like me who have had a heart attack or heart disease. So I will err on the side of caution. I’ll miss Wimpole but do the St. Neots half in November. My next half will be Cambridge in March.

I will still go to Wimpole, though. I’m giving my arch rival Kerry a lift and another arch rival, Mike, is also taking part. It’ll give me a chance to take a zillion pictures and spend a longer time in Wimpole second hand bookshop.

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Aliveandrunning September 28 2014

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I went to Wimpole Estate parkrun yesterday expecting to have social intercourse with normal people, and run with same but I was treated to this! The under dressed chap on the left is doing his 100th parkrun and also fundraising for MIND. I caught up with them at the finishing line and by that time the all terrain buggy was predictably busted. Good running weather; I ran up the short but steep hill instead of walking it; felt fine running. My two arch rivals both got PBs! Very well done. In the absence of mandatory drug testing/steward’s inquiry/ lie detector tests I utterly accept their times. I’m sure there’s a rational explanation for them continuing to run on the spot for 30 minutes after the race and laughing hysterically.

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Here’s me snapped by a discerning photographer and demonstrating the much under rated “running with open mouth”  style. We were requested to wear club vests in recognition of a club runner, aged 46, who died suddenly during a Round Norfolk Relay a short while ago. A very sad occurrence and thankfully very rare.

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Wimpole Hall, a stately house which is the backdrop to the parkrun, has a good second hand bookshop in their stately Courtyard. I picked up (or rather rescued) these iconic Penguin paperback editions which were inexplicably languishing on the 50p tables outside. I am now highly skilled in recognising Penguins from their spines, embedded in rows of non Penguin paperbacks. Do I have them already? Only a crazy person would buy the same books several times over with an eventual intention to redistribute said books to people who appreciate them! The top books were bought at Emmaus, a homeless charity which has a large shop of donated items and is only half a mile away. A good running and reading day!

Lastly, Cambridge junior parkrun this morning went very well. We equalled our 125 record attendance achieved last week. Ms Alive and Running was volunteer coordinator and I was timer. Always fascinating and enjoyable and a lovely coffee with chums afterwards.

 

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Aliveandrunning September 22 2014

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Weather fine today so we had lunch on the lawn. Mine was cold and consisted of left overs from yesterday’s  meal – chicken in Thai Green curry sauce, a few Brussels sprouts, runner beans, lemon rice, Mediterranean vegetable mix (originally frozen) and a radish, cucumber and red onion salad with cashew nuts, mint and honey.

Should have gone for a run today but didn’t get around to it. Just under two weeks to the next half marathon on Wimpole Hall Estate and I need to be running longer distances more frequently. If I don’t do this, I’ll run a mediocre time (by my own personal standards) but not so poor that spectators will boo and throw rotten fruit at me.

Saturday’s Cambridge parkrun went OK. I ran another sub 24 minutes but still more than 30 seconds off my personal best. If I don’t improve I’ll start wearing a hair shirt (at this point I looked up “hair shirt” and found a forum thread concerning a man asking advice about wearing a cilice (or hair shirt ) for spiritual/religious reasons. Very interesting! I think I’ll forget the hair shirt and cut down on my daily consumption of Brussels sprouts as a penance instead.

The proposed gardening therapy project took a step forward last Friday when I met a manager at Cambridge MIND, the mental health charity. She liked the idea and didn’t think making referrals or encouraging volunteers to get involved would be problematic. I’m now in the process of making an on line planning application to the District Council. I’ve also emailed  someone who has a remit to identify and develop green spaces which would have a beneficial impact on the health and well being of local communities. Might my project fit into this criteria? Who knows. I’ll have to look at funding and how to set up a charity shortly but this can only go ahead if planning permission is not an issue.

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Aliveandrunning September 6 2014

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No Cambridge junior parkrun at Milton Country Park today because one of the series of Spartan obstacle races took place instead. I’ve not seen any of the mud run/obstacle events before and didn’t think they would appeal to me. But I was completely won over. The people taking part had a great time and it’s a very entertaining to watch.

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Despite an initial impression of lots of men in macho posturing mode, this quickly changed when I saw the effort required to negotiate the course and the number of women taking part. By the time the runners hauled themselves up this ramp, they were very wet, muddy and slippery. Not everyone could do it but they all tried it. They weren’t worried by looking undignified and they got a lot of cheers and encouragement.

 

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This a small pond I run past when I do Cambridge parkrun. It’s stagnant, smelly and looks like a swamp. It is a swamp! It looks filthy and vile. As I watched dozens wade, swim and stagger across, I confirmed  it was all these things. A big Cambridge triathalon  has just been cancelled because of the degradation  of the water quality in the Cam. Well, the Cam is like crystal clear mineral water compared to this mud bath.

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No Cambridge parkrun at Milton Country Park yesterday because today’s Spartan race. Ms Alive and Running not able to accompany me to Wimpole Estate parkrun because she has joined a cult and is away for the weekend. But I wasn’t alone in the car. I gave my pal Kerry a lift despite his track record of being 2-3 minutes faster than me over 5k. This clearly demonstrates my current altruism, so different to last week when I had a nice collection of little dolls (which had surprisingly similar features to some of my faster friends) and a selection of needles. I’ve recycled all that paraphernalia now and turned to the mild side. I fully accept that I will be  frequently beaten by chums  and my mind is at peace (or piss as a European accent might have it).

They had a record 362 runners at Wimpole yesterday and I came in at 125th. Kerry ran a good race but his personal barcode didn’t scan which meant that he was regarded as an unknown when the results went online. There were quite a few unknowns sprinkled throughout the 356 and Kerry didn’t know his position number or his approximate time . He wasn’t an unknown unknown but a known unknown. Possibly he regarded himself as an unknown known. Who knows?Anyway, there’s a campaign afoot to change his status to to known known which I have contributed to. But wait! The text I received from parkrun central tells me I am second in my age range. If Kerry becomes promoted to known known, I am demoted to third in my age category (behind Kerry). This is a test of my integrity. My integrity remains intact. I spend most of the night tirelessly working on Kerry’s behalf to get him the justice he deserves.

 

 

 

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Aliveandrunning June 28 2014 Juneathon Day 28

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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.

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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.

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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!