This morning started nice and sunny and spring-like. Then there was some torrential hail. No, really, torrential hail - rather interesting experience... And then there was more sun. All rather changeable and springlike, really. Not all that surprising...
Unless you're a newspaper, of course. Endless articles about how there is warmer and sunnier weather ahead, followed by rather shocked articles that there might be some colder and rainier days thereafter. Headlines abound about the "changeable spring weather continuing", with the inference that there should be a "strange" added in there somewhere. Uh, no. That's pretty much spring for you. It pretty much generally gets warmer and sunnier (as the days get longer) but not in a steady upwards climb. And, you know, it happens annually. Just like this. It's spring - look it up!
And since we're on the subject... A bit of sunshine and warm weather this week led to headlines along the lines of "summer's here at last!". Ah, no, it's not. Spring runs from the beginning of March to the end of May. What month are we in? That's right - April. So, still spring then, eh?! Every single year the same point has to be made... Particularly to really really annoying people who, when the weather turns cooler again after a bit of spring warmth, state "that'll be our summer, then". NO!!! It's yet to bloody well arrive! We get to 1st June and it's torrential rain and below freezing then, and only then, can you complain about the poor summer weather. And not a day before!!
In other news, after a week of just generally feeling tired, I attempted to overcome my apparent running phobia (currently managing one run every week and a half - not entirely sure that this is an approved training plan for a half-marathon...). Decided to take advantage of the spring evening sunshine and went out for a run as soon as I got home from work. After half a mile it started raining. After a further quarter of a mile the Traitor Toes started complaining. So here I sit: cold, wet, feet hurting, and generally a teensy bit grumpy. Oh, yes, running is the path to a healthier and happier lifestyle...
Pretty much my life all over, that.
:o}
Running time/distance: 37 mins, 3.39 miles (a rather soggy bit of jowalking)
Friday, 26 April 2013
Thursday, 18 April 2013
5x50: Out and about
Firstly I should say that the explosions at the Boston Marathon finish line were both shocking and outrageously wrong, and my sympathies are with the injured, the families of the injured or dead, and everyone having to deal with the aftermath. And my thoughts also go out to the "stragglers" (ha!) who ran all that way and did not get to finish the marathon after all their hard work.
Apart from that, I've been out and about this week. Actually had to do a run (boo!) which was hard work (should probably do that more often...). And then there was the flying.
Man next to me on the plane home had his mobile 'phone on and was playing with it before the air steward had time to deliver the "you must keep your mobile 'phones off until inside the terminal building speech". I gave him a Paddington stare (which he ignored, because, you know, he was really busy with Facebook!) and contemplated making an example of him. But could not work out which example precisely to choose and so he escaped...
However, one of my work colleagues was on the same flight and made the mistake of playing with his 'phone as we were standing on the shuttle bus to go from 'plane to terminal. Cue a long lecture from me (including hand-waving) about his inability to follow simple instructions and his lack of qualifications for disregarding safety briefings from the air/cabin crew. Eventually he put his mobile in his pocket (as he tried to slide further away from me on the bus). And eventually I ran out of steam...
The proof of the benefits of all my hard work to improve compliance with safety instructions and thus safety for us all was provided in the 2 gentlemen standing directly behind me. Who rather ostentatiously (if you ask me) were fiddling about with their mobiles (doubtless posting witty comments on Facebook) before during and after my lecture. *sigh*
Oh, the futility of it all!
:o}
Running time/distance: 37 mins, 3.31 miles (Tuesday night)
Apart from that, I've been out and about this week. Actually had to do a run (boo!) which was hard work (should probably do that more often...). And then there was the flying.
Man next to me on the plane home had his mobile 'phone on and was playing with it before the air steward had time to deliver the "you must keep your mobile 'phones off until inside the terminal building speech". I gave him a Paddington stare (which he ignored, because, you know, he was really busy with Facebook!) and contemplated making an example of him. But could not work out which example precisely to choose and so he escaped...
However, one of my work colleagues was on the same flight and made the mistake of playing with his 'phone as we were standing on the shuttle bus to go from 'plane to terminal. Cue a long lecture from me (including hand-waving) about his inability to follow simple instructions and his lack of qualifications for disregarding safety briefings from the air/cabin crew. Eventually he put his mobile in his pocket (as he tried to slide further away from me on the bus). And eventually I ran out of steam...
The proof of the benefits of all my hard work to improve compliance with safety instructions and thus safety for us all was provided in the 2 gentlemen standing directly behind me. Who rather ostentatiously (if you ask me) were fiddling about with their mobiles (doubtless posting witty comments on Facebook) before during and after my lecture. *sigh*
Oh, the futility of it all!
:o}
Running time/distance: 37 mins, 3.31 miles (Tuesday night)
Sunday, 14 April 2013
Half-marathon: Well, that didn't work out quite as expected...
So, all was prepared and in place for running a half-marathon this morning. Well, apart from having done any running recently... But still, training had been done, race number pinned to top, bag packed, feet pampered, the works.
Woke up at 7am to find that it was raining heavily, and horizontally. Because it was (and is) quite windy. Gave it some thought - 40 min walk to start line, hang around there for up to an hour, "run" for 2.5 hours, then 40 min walk home - all in heavy rain and driving wind? Erm... No. Returned to bed, and frankly had a much better morning for it.
Of course, it was all sunny and warm (if still windy) by the time lunchtime arrived, but still... I'd probably have caught pneumonia by then (plague still not entirely shifted, after all).
For those who think I'm exaggerating the conditions, I offer you the following round-up of some of this morning's events by the organisers/sponsors: "Due to the 37mph (60 kph) winds, both of our t-shirt marquees blew over 10 minutes before the start of the race. To quickly find a new solution we moved the t-shirt pick-up inside of the admin marquee. With health and safety officials opening and closing the baggage check marquee due to the possibility of that marquee blowing away as well, we had to halt baggage check distribution at multiple times throughout the day, thus causing long queues. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding."
Running a half-marathon - not only long, dull, and hard, but quite dangerous too! Who knew??!
Oh, and much respect to ZG who actually went out and ran the race, finishing with a PB. I am, quite frankly, not worthy...
:o)
Running time/distance: 0 mins, 0 miles (heavy horizontal driving rain, people - not for me!)
Woke up at 7am to find that it was raining heavily, and horizontally. Because it was (and is) quite windy. Gave it some thought - 40 min walk to start line, hang around there for up to an hour, "run" for 2.5 hours, then 40 min walk home - all in heavy rain and driving wind? Erm... No. Returned to bed, and frankly had a much better morning for it.
Of course, it was all sunny and warm (if still windy) by the time lunchtime arrived, but still... I'd probably have caught pneumonia by then (plague still not entirely shifted, after all).
For those who think I'm exaggerating the conditions, I offer you the following round-up of some of this morning's events by the organisers/sponsors: "Due to the 37mph (60 kph) winds, both of our t-shirt marquees blew over 10 minutes before the start of the race. To quickly find a new solution we moved the t-shirt pick-up inside of the admin marquee. With health and safety officials opening and closing the baggage check marquee due to the possibility of that marquee blowing away as well, we had to halt baggage check distribution at multiple times throughout the day, thus causing long queues. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding."
Running a half-marathon - not only long, dull, and hard, but quite dangerous too! Who knew??!
Oh, and much respect to ZG who actually went out and ran the race, finishing with a PB. I am, quite frankly, not worthy...
:o)
Running time/distance: 0 mins, 0 miles (heavy horizontal driving rain, people - not for me!)
Thursday, 11 April 2013
5x50: Good news and bad news
So there's good news and bad news. I generally like to go with bad news first (after all, there's no point getting excited about good news if the bad news is worse...). So that's how we'll play it.
Bad news: my "race packet" for Sunday's half-marathon has not arrived in the post as promised.
Bad news: I haven't done any running in a while, which is unlikely to appear anywhere as ideal race preparation.
Bad news: the half-marathon has a 09:10 start (and I'm out the night before!), the plague is still refusing to fully go away (great cough, continuing sniffles), and lots of other excuses for not doing the run (as ZG kindly pointed out).
Bad news: weather-watch has started, and as is traditional, the current forecast for Sunday has changed from rain in the afternoon to rain all day.
Good news: I went to pick up a replacement "race packet" and I've been moved forward 2 pens! Which won't change much, but will cut down the amount of time that I have to hang around at the start.
Good news: I haven't been sitting around doing nothing (see: http://fouterandskive.blogspot.co.uk/) and so hopefully that will carry me through...
Good news: I pretty much have to do the half-marathon - good comparison with last year, and counts as part of my prep fro the great cycling challenge. In a way that probably makes very little sense...
Good news: the forecasts have rarely been correct before - fingers crossed that track record continues!
All in all, it's a bit up and down. And at the same time up in the air. And, let's face it, utter madness.
Hey, ho...
:o)
Running time/distance: 0 mins, 0 miles (uh... Tapering?)
Bad news: my "race packet" for Sunday's half-marathon has not arrived in the post as promised.
Bad news: I haven't done any running in a while, which is unlikely to appear anywhere as ideal race preparation.
Bad news: the half-marathon has a 09:10 start (and I'm out the night before!), the plague is still refusing to fully go away (great cough, continuing sniffles), and lots of other excuses for not doing the run (as ZG kindly pointed out).
Bad news: weather-watch has started, and as is traditional, the current forecast for Sunday has changed from rain in the afternoon to rain all day.
Good news: I went to pick up a replacement "race packet" and I've been moved forward 2 pens! Which won't change much, but will cut down the amount of time that I have to hang around at the start.
Good news: I haven't been sitting around doing nothing (see: http://fouterandskive.blogspot.co.uk/) and so hopefully that will carry me through...
Good news: I pretty much have to do the half-marathon - good comparison with last year, and counts as part of my prep fro the great cycling challenge. In a way that probably makes very little sense...
Good news: the forecasts have rarely been correct before - fingers crossed that track record continues!
All in all, it's a bit up and down. And at the same time up in the air. And, let's face it, utter madness.
Hey, ho...
:o)
Running time/distance: 0 mins, 0 miles (uh... Tapering?)
Friday, 5 April 2013
5x50: From the beyond...
I'm still wrestling with the plague, and thus am weak before any option which involves me exercising but not actually not going for a run (outside or otherwise). Week 2 of the plague involves a bit of a stuffy nose and a truly impressive hacking cough. I take pride in the fact that I have not stinted in sharing this joy around: at least 2 other people at work are similarly afflicted. We have compared bottles of cough medicine and everything (Covonia is a hot favourite.).
Worryingly it is only just over a week to the April half-marathon... And I have just been kindly provided with an e-mail reminding me that it's only 7 weeks until the May half-marathon. Too kind. Phooey. Must go for a decent run on Sunday... Must, must, must...
But the kind e-mail did include some words of comfort/justification. As well as moments of pure comedy. And I quote:
"Runners seem to live by a creed that's stricter than the postman's: "Neither rain, nor snow, nor sniffle, nor fever shall keep me from my training schedule.""
Oh, how I laughed (until the coughing started up again).
"Symptoms below the neck (chest cold, bronchial infection, body ache) require time off, while symptoms above the neck (runny nose, stuffiness, sneezing) don't pose a risk to runners continuing workouts."
Ah-ha! See - I'm right not to do any of this running stuff! Scientific proof! If slightly disconcertingly put (I'm afraid "the neck" rule makes me automatically think of guillotines and the like - it's not right, but I feel it is an obvious connection). And, after 4 days straight of machine-based training in the gym, I have body aches to add to the chest cold...
Frankly, were I a doctor, I'd sentence myself to immediate and extended bed rest. Immediately!
:o}
Running time/distance: *cough* *cough* *cough*
Worryingly it is only just over a week to the April half-marathon... And I have just been kindly provided with an e-mail reminding me that it's only 7 weeks until the May half-marathon. Too kind. Phooey. Must go for a decent run on Sunday... Must, must, must...
But the kind e-mail did include some words of comfort/justification. As well as moments of pure comedy. And I quote:
"Runners seem to live by a creed that's stricter than the postman's: "Neither rain, nor snow, nor sniffle, nor fever shall keep me from my training schedule.""
Oh, how I laughed (until the coughing started up again).
"Symptoms below the neck (chest cold, bronchial infection, body ache) require time off, while symptoms above the neck (runny nose, stuffiness, sneezing) don't pose a risk to runners continuing workouts."
Ah-ha! See - I'm right not to do any of this running stuff! Scientific proof! If slightly disconcertingly put (I'm afraid "the neck" rule makes me automatically think of guillotines and the like - it's not right, but I feel it is an obvious connection). And, after 4 days straight of machine-based training in the gym, I have body aches to add to the chest cold...
Frankly, were I a doctor, I'd sentence myself to immediate and extended bed rest. Immediately!
:o}
Running time/distance: *cough* *cough* *cough*
Monday, 1 April 2013
Marchvellous: The end...
So the time has come... March is at an end, and the 3-month trauma of Marchvellous is at an end.
Thank the good Lord for that! I have achieved the embarrassingly weak overall Jantastic score of 59%... And did nothing at all in the final week (despite much hopefulness of a miraculous recovery at the end of the week). A weak and feeble attempt, particularly when compared to the triumphant 100% achieved by ZG (show-off!). Obviously, this is a report card with "must try harder" written all over it. Which I've never had before, and so intend to savour. My PE report cards came close, but said something along the lines of "always turns up and tries hard", merely indicating that the PE teacher had no earthly idea who I was... Not my forte, this exercise nonsense...
Still, I achieved a better score than G&T. If you remember, Jantastic was in fact G&T's idea. As part of the whole "I'm getting married and this means that you are now my slave and therefore must do everything that I say in order to be properly supportive" thing. Well, I was still Janastic-ing in March, while G&T abandoned ship some time in February (without a 100% week on record)...
This has blackmail material written all over it. Oh, yes, indeedy, this will not be forgotten. Much mileage will be made of this, you can be assured: I shall weak my wevenge in new and interesting ways. Once I think of something worthy of the effort... This is nearly as good as the blackmail material offered to me when I was forced to watch "Mama Mia" the film (loathe, loathe, loathe everything about it). Happy days...
Of course, my failure to finish Jantastic on a high (due to spending the day in bed) means that I also have already failed in my attempts to do 5x50 properly. Because, for those not paying attention, 5x50 started today! Joy... Still time to sign up if you haven't already: <http://5x50.co.uk/>. It's way more fun than stupid Jantastic - fact!
:o)
Running time/distance: oh, phooey. *cough*
Thank the good Lord for that! I have achieved the embarrassingly weak overall Jantastic score of 59%... And did nothing at all in the final week (despite much hopefulness of a miraculous recovery at the end of the week). A weak and feeble attempt, particularly when compared to the triumphant 100% achieved by ZG (show-off!). Obviously, this is a report card with "must try harder" written all over it. Which I've never had before, and so intend to savour. My PE report cards came close, but said something along the lines of "always turns up and tries hard", merely indicating that the PE teacher had no earthly idea who I was... Not my forte, this exercise nonsense...
Still, I achieved a better score than G&T. If you remember, Jantastic was in fact G&T's idea. As part of the whole "I'm getting married and this means that you are now my slave and therefore must do everything that I say in order to be properly supportive" thing. Well, I was still Janastic-ing in March, while G&T abandoned ship some time in February (without a 100% week on record)...
This has blackmail material written all over it. Oh, yes, indeedy, this will not be forgotten. Much mileage will be made of this, you can be assured: I shall weak my wevenge in new and interesting ways. Once I think of something worthy of the effort... This is nearly as good as the blackmail material offered to me when I was forced to watch "Mama Mia" the film (loathe, loathe, loathe everything about it). Happy days...
Of course, my failure to finish Jantastic on a high (due to spending the day in bed) means that I also have already failed in my attempts to do 5x50 properly. Because, for those not paying attention, 5x50 started today! Joy... Still time to sign up if you haven't already: <http://5x50.co.uk/>. It's way more fun than stupid Jantastic - fact!
:o)
Running time/distance: oh, phooey. *cough*
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