Juneathon

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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 9 2014 Juneathon Day 9

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I don’t read these books, of course. I just get them for their titles or cover design. Or, if they are published by Penguin, I get them because they are published by Penguin. Why? The answer to this question must lay deep in my psyche. A large team of psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists would have to work in shifts to explain this behaviour.

No, I’ve changed my mind. I will read them because they are clearly interesting. I’ll alarm myself with the Penguin and have a laugh with the short book on humour (except it won’t be funny).

Anyway, who buys hard copies of books these days. Surely only losers! They collect dust, attract spiders and clutter up the place. So last century. So much more convenient to download e-books onto the e-device of my choice. And as for buying hardbacks, that’s the equivalent of  acquiring a valve radiogramme  to listen to the World Service.

A short run this afternoon, simply to placate the Juneathon secret police who will surely persecute me if I fail to run everyday. It was hot, around 24c and I continue to feel tired running although this is mainly confined to the first 5 minutes. Tomorrow,  I’ll be running with the club in the evening. This requires a more sustained effort but we warm up properly and I find this more manageable.

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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.

 

 

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Aliveandrunning June 7 2014 Juneathon Day 7

 

 

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These landmine looking doughnuts were actually on sale at my local Tesco. I wouldn’t be surprised if people were actually buying them (using their hard earned money obtained by actually working hard}. It’s hard to imagine anything more over refined, food wise. But, then again, munching these may be just the thing to get you in the mood for the Footy to come. Just be careful not to swallow the football and choke yourself to death. Mmmm…..those food dyes look so scrumptious.

Thanks to certain people in Devon sending Cambridgeshire many buckets of rain, the parkrun course got a drenching but, thanks to my intervention by making sacrifices to the gods, the deluge didn’t happen until the last parkrunner came home. We repaired to the park cafe and drank coffee in the actual open air and then the Devon rain came down with a vengeance. Boy, did I do a lot of socialising today. I’m not a natural but I made a sustained effort and actually enjoyed chatting. The reason for this is that the vast majority of runners are very nice people and having now done 181 parkruns (mostly at Cambridge), I know a great many of them.

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Aliveandrunning June 6 Juneathon Day 6

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   Heaven has been restored. I have sourced some giant brussels sprouts which you see dwarfing, if not lording it over, the rest of the food on my plate. Unfortunately the air miles are not insignificant having been grown in Morocco. Never mind, I’ll do a bit of carbon off setting  and plant a couple of trees in the Autumn. I really should be growing brussels myself.

All this Juneathon running is increasing my appetite and I’ve increased my bread consumption which is not a good thing. On the hydration front, my sensible drinking continues to stave off excruciating night cramps. On my two long runs last month, I used a belt and a bottle, cunningly angled, for ease of withdrawal and drank all of it.

Today I ran to an adjacent village’s recreation ground and did 6 x 80m-100m sprints. Total distance around 6k. They have installed some impressive outdoor gym equipment on three locations around the playing field. It looks good quality but the individual pieces can’t be adjusted for resistance. They are all set for minimal resistance or none at all.

Tomorrow is Cambridge parkrun and substantial rain is predicted (in complete contrast to today which has been warm and sunny).

At the end of June, Cambridge junior parkrun is having its trial run before the inaugural run in July. All children between the ages of 4 to 14 will be eligible to run the 2k course in Milton Country Park. It’s a weekly event on Sundays. Lorna is involved with the organisation and will be one of the run directors.

 

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Aliveandrunning June 5 2014 Juneathon Day 5

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Oh no! I turn up to compete in the prestigious Kevin Henry 5K series of club runs (this particular one held at Newmarket, the horse racing town, 16 miles from Cambridge) and someone pointed out that I was still wearing my trusty, much loved and comfortable old slippers. How embarrassing. What a crazy, absent minded dude I am! What did I do ? I ran in my bare feet. Did I really run bare footed? No. Did I forget to wear my trainers? No. I made it all up. It’s called artistic licence.

But I did run at Newmarket, on the the Rowley mile where they they train race horses. Five clubs take part and probably around 220 runners came along this evening. The weather was fine and sunny and the course is over one big, flat perimeter circle. You can view the whole 5k with a slight sweep of the head. I ran it in 24 mins 27 secs which was OK for me (the going was soft to firm).

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I listened to Radio 4’s The Life Scientific where leading figures in the scientific community are interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili on podcast this morning. He spoke to Professor Sir Michael Rutter, the UK’s first ever child psychiatrist, about his lifelong specialisation in the field of child development, both as a practising psychiatrist and as an eminent researcher. This was very interesting in itself but I was particularly struck by his description of himself as a non-theist Quaker – that is he wasn’t required to believe in an infallible supernatural  entity and an afterlife. It sounds like a contradiction in terms- rather like UKIP or the BNP/English Defence League shrugging their metaphorical shoulders on hearing that sharia law is going to piloted throughout Essex and EU immigration to the UK is going to be encouraged and funded by the taxpayer. There is a non-theist Quaker website and an organisation for non-theist Christians. I think the emphasis is on the moral guidance and teaching provided by religious bodies rather than an all powerful supernatural being. That’s something those charming Bon Secours nuns in Tuam, Western Ireland, need to consider. A complete absence of feeling and humanity.

The Life Scientific on Radio 4, Tuesdays at 9 am and podcasted, Excellent. You don’t have to be scientifically literate, it’s not technical, it’s not hard or boring, just enjoyable. Listen to it.

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Aliveandrunning June 4 2014 Juneathon Day 4

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1. The sensible, go-through-immediately door (requiring the slightest degree of stooping) after it’s radical, no-nonsense haircut.

2. I am snapped assertively addressing a group of local residents and employing demonstrative body language to convey  I am in charge of the village. I am informing them that everyone is obliged to run 5k each day and eating chocolate products is forbidden.

3.This black hole spontaneously formed in the woods where I take Rupert the dalmatian for a walk. Spooky or what! What?

Juneathon Day 4. I took the risk of drawing the attention of the increasing number of zombies roaming around on the outskirts of our village and went for a lonely run down the course of an old Roman road called Akerman Street, now a wide grass track bounded by trees and bushes with cultivated fields behind them. The Roman gods were quiet today and I’ll attempt to commune with them on another occasion. It’s odd to consider this would have been a busy bye-way of transport, travel and commerce 1600 years ago. And now I run along it dressed like a banana. That’s progress for you!

Society in today’s Guardian has an article titled “Psychiatric support teams can save hospitals millions.” It describes how on-site psychiatric care in acute hospitals can greatly reduce, or much better manage, resources taken up by the estimated 25% of patients who have a mental illness in addition to their physical illness. Apparently, most acute hospitals are not equipped to deal with mental health disorders that come through their doors, according to a consultant psychiatrist. It was ever the same. Everyone working in general hospitals and psychiatric teams has practical experience of such problems and such a scenario will have been recognised for decades. This article seems to focus on the elderly but the same situation pertains to all ages. These well funded pilots and projects simply underline what can be achieved with appropriately applied services. No funding, no service country-wide but every so often a pilot gets some cash allocated and reinvents the wheel.   bit.ly/1ovTDiL

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Aliveandrunning June 3rd 2014 Juneathon Day 3

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I devised a competition “See how long you can tolerate fecund nature obstructing your front door before you can’t get in and have to cut back”.  Strangely, I was the only entrant. With much regret I have to inform blog readers that Lorna brushed aside the hanging rose, dislodged a sleepy bee which flew behind her specs and necessitated  her flinging them off. Neither Lorna or the bee were hurt and the specs were undamaged. I later spoke to the bee and apologised for Lorna’s reckless knocking of the rose to one side but agreed with the bee’s comment that perhaps it was time to suspend the competition on the grounds of health and safety. I duly did this and declared myself the winner.

The weather in Cambridge was cloudy, with some sunshine, and warm today. Of course, just as I set out to go running with the club, it started to rain and continued intermittently until we  finished. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable because it remained warm. We did various fartleks on pavements, paths and fields (no sniggering, please, non-runners) and covered around 6 miles+.

On my return home I ate my evening meal which included brussels sprouts. On this occasion they were frozen and then micro waved. I don’t understand why brussels are usually pretty awful when they have been frozen. Since I am an optimistic chap, I assume they will be delicious but sadly this is seldom the case. Roll on the British brussels season. I can hardly wait.