Swine 'flu two

Bloody irritating pig disease. I am amazed that I managed to run last weekend given the horrible events of this week - a temperature that's been as high as 40.6C, my first rigors (which lasted 40 minutes), some truly disgusting night sweats, intense boredom and a variety of other disgusting features. It's been 9 days since my first symptoms and there seems to have been fairly minimal improvement. Having said that, today's been OK so maybe there is a glimmer of light at the end of this long, painful and, frankly, mind-numbingly boring tunnel.

Anyway, I've three pics from previous events to show, which were purchased from truly extortionate official photo guys: the BUPA 10k, the half-marathon in Pembrokeshire and the first Vertical Rush (entries are open for 2010 by the way - I'm running at 10.30am if you want to join me).

Swine 'flu

I've had an odd few days. I got back from a work day in France on Thursday night and was suddenly overcome with chills, muscle aches and generally feeling like crap. I had the day off on Friday and my temperature went down from 38.4C to normal, which seemed reassuring, so I went out for a couple of pints on Friday night only to wake up at 5am-ish feeling like shit again. Same thing happened yesterday. Similarly, today has been OK apart from the profuse 5am sweats. I don't really deal well with being ill - the last time I can remember having a multi-day sickness was in my second year as an undergrad, when I had glandular fever, so this has come as something of a shock to the system. I just did the NHS online swine 'flu check for a laugh and apparently I qualify for anti-virals. As if I'm going to take those.

I managed to go out for a quick run yesterday. I'd been planning to take in the fireworks at the Lord Mayor's Show but there weren't any - checking the interweb now reveals they were cancelled due to high winds. That explains the fairly obvious lack of pyrotechnics then. I did manage to get a great shot of a 60-foot pissing man though, which was part of some kind of diabetes awareness campaign...

Hopefully I'll be up and running properly next week sometime.

Busy

I occasionally feel a little overly busy and the last week has certainly been that way. I've also considered giving up my ridiculous obsession with food. In the last week, quite apart from cooking Sunday lunch for a few mates, I've managed to attend ham school (yes really) and also another Dos Hermanos dinner. I ended up getting the invitation at the last minute - someone must have dropped out on the Friday - and suddenly my relentless pursuit of eating experiences started to seem a little OTT. By Monday afternoon, I really didn't feel like going after a very fun but tiring weekend and a really shitty day at work. In the end I'm glad I did, as the food (at Bentley's, which I love) was great and the people at the dinner were as entertaining as ever, really taking my mind off things.

I ran back to my folks' on Saturday but my camera ran out of batteries so you're spared a shot from then. I ran again tonight so here's a shot of the South Bank instead, just coming up to Gabriel's Wharf from the Oxo Tower. Bit of a crappy shot - it's not easy in the dark - but I love the lights.

Reluctant indeed

It's not properly cold yet but this weekend has seen some runs that really were a bit of a trial. Yesterday's reluctance stemmed from Friday night, spent out in the recently opened Pinchito WC1. The cocktails are as good as the EC1 version near my flat and proved my downfall, but I still managed a quick 7 miles in the morning before a thoroughly enjoyable North London Derby, made all the more sweet by the pre-match build-up. Eat your words Robbie Keane.

I woke up late this morning, after George and Caleb's fancy dress party afforded me the opportunity to get the gorilla suit out for a second outing. I wasn't able to run back to my parents' house for lunch owing to the fact that I was bringing the pudding and cheese, so today's sortie was delayed until this evening. The 8 miles spent burping along the South Bank left me regretting today's over-consumption. Still, at least I seem to be back in reasonable shape again and hopefully ready to embark on some longer runs soon.