A reluctant runner

2010 MdS on TV

2011-03-15T18:16:00.000Z

He may be a bit annoying but he did do bloody well. Cracknell's experience of my race airs on UK Discovery on 24 March 2011 at 9pm. Hopefully I'm in one of the background shots but it's frankly unlikely.

Kit and tips

2010-11-11T11:59:00.001Z

Here's a link to a page on this site about kit and tips of what to expect for those who're thinking of entering or are about to run the MdS.

London Marathon pics

2010-05-03T12:56:00.000+01:00

As promised...

Epilogue? The London marathon

2010-04-26T20:31:00.001+01:00

I entered London about 11 months ago and got on through the ballot. I had always assumed that I'd be so tired after the MdS that I'd just pull out and roll my place over to 2011 but - blisters aside - I felt pretty good after the big one. My feet had a couple of weeks to heal so I decided to give it a go yesterday and see how I went - it was a great opportunity to see if I could run sub-3:30 given I'll probably never be as fit again. In fact, my target was 3:20 and I wanted to start well enough over the first few miles to give myself the opportunity to run 3:10 if I could.

I never felt great to be honest. It p'ed it down for the half-hour before we started (I neglected to take a bin liner) and when we got going, it became fairly warm and humid. I don't think my immediate preparation was ideal - dinner in the awesome Iberica on Friday night, followed by a bbq and beer at my friend Gus' on Saturday.

However, I think the main problem was that I haven't trained much for this kind of race. My runs have mainly been pretty low intensity, with little in the way of quicker threshold runs. Basically, I wasn't really equipped to maintain a pace of a touch over 7 minute miles. The first half of the marathon went OK nevertheless - I got to 13.1m in 1:36 - but I knew that I couldn't keep it up. By the time I reached 19m, on the way back from Canary Wharf, I was really starting to feel it and the last hour or so wasn't the most fun I've ever had. I assume that at the end of an 'ideal' race you should feel as knackered as you ever have done if you're going for a good time, which I managed but which doesn't make for a lot of fun.

On the positive side, though, the crowd was as amazing as I remember and I eventually stumbled home in 3:21, which I'm very pleased with and is decent enough for me to think about calling it a day on marathon running. That latter feeling has stayed with me today given how stiff I am! I'll post a photo or two when they're released. This time I tried to smile, given how pained I looked in the ones in 2006...

By now, I am very much a "reluctant runner". 2009 is over and we're a good chunk into 2010. I've still a post or two to go - particularly some kit tips for the MdS itself, but I have a feeling that this might be it - the blog has served its original purpose of livening up my training and providing a chronicle of my training for the MdS. What should I do with it now? Suggestions in the comments box please!

Full MdS 2010 write-up with pics...

2010-04-15T08:22:00.002+01:00

...now on this site here.

Day 7 / loose ends

2010-04-11T08:44:00.001+01:00

Back in Ouarzazate now. Yesterday's half-marathon was tough, given the previous day's exertions and the state of my feet, but I made it through. By the end, my motivation had solely become to make it out of the desert and back to civilisation. The run was broadly flat apart from a couple of sandy sections at the start and finish. The latter were the dunes near Merzouga, which brought back memories of my visit there with Gus, 15 years ago. It was summertime and very hot indeed. Due to our (my) slight mis-budgeting, we ran out of cash and thus water in our final few hours there and spent the time immobile, nursing our final precious litre, waiting for the bus out and watching our pee gradually change colour in a slightly alarming way.

I also want to mention day 3. That blog update seems to have failed to appear here, which is both good and bad. Day 3 was my lowest ebb. It was a flat course but frighteningly hot at times (a competitor clocked about 50C on his watch), a bit humid and the scenery was stiflingly dull. All very oppressive and, after a decent run to checkpoint 1 (and an unscheduled Radcliffe break), I found it really hard going, walking most of the rest of the way. A couple of competitors - Sophie and Cranston (I think) - were kind enough to chat to me on the way and really helped me through. I was in a bit of a state when we got in to the bivi and I remember my email from day 3 being very flat indeed. Mabe it's good that it never appeared, in case its tone worried people back home, but I certainly want my feelings recorded - if for no other reason than otherwise it looks as though I had a great time every day of the race and this was certainly not the case!

I'll post a proper write-up with some photos on my return. For now, some final thoughts. My main memories will be both good and bad.

The MdS is brutal and attritional. The heat and dryness. Grime, sand and sweat. Frequent nosebleeds. A general feeling of being ill at ease. Much of day 3 and and the final stage of day 4 were horribly tough. On the other hand, there was so much support from other competitors - I have mentioned those on day 3 above, and another thank you has to go to Aussie Paul for his conversation and gel at the end of the long stage - they picked me up just at the right time. Tent 93 were a diverse bunch of guys, all very different but all great people. In order of appearance, a huge thank you to young Andy, Kris, Pete, Jeffrey, Ben, Rob and Frank. I made it to the end, which is great, with a couple of good(ish) runs on days 4 and 6.

What now? I've completed what I assumed would be the toughest thing I've ever attempted to do and it's been over 2 years in the planning. The reality of the experience was a bit different to my expectations and in some ways I found it easier than expected. Is answer to find an even harder challenge? Possibly. I'm wondering, though, more about whether I'm asking the right question.

0882--Day 6 - marathon day

2010-04-09T22:20:00.000+01:00

My last email from the camp tent - hopefully this remote blog updating thing is working out OK; sorry they're terse but we're space-constrained. Once again, thanks to all who've sent me messages - it's been great to hear everything (apart from the Arsenal score).

Yesterday was mainly spent lying down following a visit to the scalpel-jockeys, who did bad things to my feet. Off there again after this...

Marathon day today. There are a variety of reasons that I ran quite well today. One is that I just wanted to get it out the way - my feet hurt and I wanted to get off them. We've spent a while out here now and it's easier to judge what's possible given the experience I've gained. Finally, it was that bit cooler. I thought I'd run round in a pleasing 5h45 but I forgot what time we set off and apparently it was more like 5h15 - close to a miracle.

Anyone who can still move will finish tomorrow's half-marathon through the dunes, so I'm pretty much done now, which feels great!

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0882--Day 4/5 - could have been worse

2010-04-08T22:34:00.000+01:00

The first news is sad. Ben, a lovely guy in our tent, dropped out on day 3, due to illness/heat. It's a real shame and I feel for him a lot.

I was surprised not to feel too bad at the start line given what we'd done in the previous 3 days. 51mi awaited...

Stage 1 - ran with chipper Aussie tent-mate Kris. Felt good.
Stage 2 - mainly downhill through sand. A thorn went through the sole of my shoes into my foot. I turn my ankle slightly in the sand.
Stage 3 - put on iPod for the 1st time. It helps (thanks FF&D), or maybe it's the codeine. Run through the heat of the day.
Stage 4 - the first of the fast group overtakes. Walk through to 30mi.
Stage 5 - night falls as I enter the dunes. Cracknell overtakes.
Stage 6 - become a walking robot. Uphill through relentless dunes.
Stage 7 - the final 6mi is long. My feet are killing me - lots of blisters. Finish about 12.15am, better than I'd expected. Pass out.

Food ingested: oatmeal, 4x oat bars, 1x peanut M&Ms, 3 Pepperamis. Urgh.

0882--Day 2 - reality sets in

2010-04-05T22:45:00.000+01:00

First of all, thanks to those who emailed - your thoughts are (mostly) very much appreciated, though if you want to annoy me with stories of 9-course tasting menus, Easter eggs, roasts or steak, I'd probably wait until later in the event.

Next a kit update. Turns out that the ThermoRest NeoAir is indeed as fragile as they say. I ended up binning mine last night after it developed a very slow puncture and I was unwilling to use all my water to find it. Nights will be less comfortable. Also, my gaiters need a bit of extra superglue.

It turns out Day 1 was a gentle induction session. Today was hotter I think. I'm actually enjoying the running, but that's because running means I'm on flat rather terrain rather than stony ground, sand, steep hills etc. Today had not a lot of the former, and a lot of walking was required. The 'highlight' was the ascent of what looked like a massive sheer cliff, against which the wind had piled up a load of sand. Brutal, and still 5 days left.

0882--Tent 93 / day 1

2010-04-05T17:21:00.000+01:00

Firstly, I'm typing on a French keyboard so apologies for any unusual looking spelling or punctuation... Well, it's been a fun few days. Job 1 - to find 7 suitable tent partners - went pretty well. Ages range from 25 ("young Andy") to 44, we've got a hyperactive Aussie and a guy who bought his sleeping bag from Tesco (he went for the Finest rather than the Value range) etc. All-in-all, a good bunch. What followed thereafter was a lot of queuing - for food, water, check-in, food, water etc. The scale of this thing is huge - >1,000 runners plus all the support. Anyway, on to today.

It's pretty hot, though not as bad as it could have been. Today was a little bit of a confidence boost before the tougher times ahead - it went fine, no blisters, knee held up, kit all OK etc. No scorpions yet, which is good I guess. What's really amazing is quite how much the sand slows you - I wondered how the average speed on this event is as low as it is and basically: running in sand is very difficult.

All done

2010-03-29T22:31:00.004+01:00

I'm going to Morocco on Thursday. Frankly, I never expected to get this far. So many people injure themselves in the run-up to the event itself and my track record of soft tissue injuries made me reluctant to assume that I'd be travelling.

So. It started on a chair-lift in Courchevel in 2007, when I said to Rob and Hannah "Let's enter the MdS". They looked at me as though I was an idiot - it turned out I had to explain what MdS stood for (fair enough). They then continued their stares but, bless them, the three of us paid our deposits in late 2007. Neither are running with me but I'd never have entered if they hadn't. Thanks, guys.

In the intervening years, I started writing this blog, predominantly to make the running a bit more interesting and also to chronicle the last year-and-a-bit. I've run in New York, Pembrokshire, Orlando, the North Downs (twice), Farnham, Turkey, Castéra-Lectourois, Basel, Cologne, Epping Forest, Berkshire and Las Vegas - as well as (obviously) rather a lot in London. I've run dressed as a penguin in Pauillac and as a gorilla in the City. I've climbed 42 stories of tower block. I've seen riots, a woman's parts and the aftermath of one of London's larger fires - on my own street (above). I've had swine 'flu and pneumonia. I've seen monkeys and a grasshopper that my grandfather helped to make. I've applied surgical spirit to my soles and learned to tape my toes. Since this blog started, I've run 1,000 miles and burned over 120,000kcal. It's been (mostly) fun.

I have a lot of other thank yous to get through too.

Firstly and most importantly, to family, friends and colleagues - not just for all the generous sponsorship (but thanks for that too), but also for putting up with my dull chat and constant training. In particular, Gluckers, Al, Lotte, Refik and Freya deserve special mention for various reasons, but everyone's been very understanding.
My part-time medical team - thanks to Jonny, Refik (again), Andi, Amy and Jane for helping out with various swine 'flu/pneumonia/ankle/drug/fluid-related questions. You've been hugely patient and very helpful.
Sophie Cox, my podiatrist, sorted me out with the orthotics I've been using for the last few years and gave my plenty of foot-taping advice (and some tape). Thanks Sophie!
The guys at Aegis Training, particularly Greg and Zahid, have trained me for the past two years. I'm sure my introduction to free weights has helped keep my relatively injury-free. Thanks guys!
Tom Crisp, a sports doctor, sorted out my patellar tendinopathy with a few painful injections back in 2007. They worked pretty well. I'm not cured but I'm more than functional. Thanks for injecting me with stuff, Tom!
Alex Marek has given me a few sports massages over the last few weeks. I have been known to scream. Thanks dude, and sharpen your elbows for my return!
Sam Murphy met me for a training session a while back and I bumped into her at the North Downs 30k a few weeks later. Anyone who has more than a passing interest in running should buy this book. It was good chatting to you Sam!

Right. I need to go and superglue my gaiters to my shoes. Finally, to those who've been asking - no, I'm not really nervous. I've done everything that I could do to prepare for this, within the constraints of illness and injury. All that remains now is to hope that it's not too hot, that I manage to avoid the use of my anti-venom pump and that my legs (structurally) hold up. None of those things are under my control so I might as well not worry about them.

So, Marathon des Sables 2010 - in the immortal words of Delia Smith - let's be having you.

Animals XI / the end of the beginning

2010-03-28T19:37:00.001+01:00

I set off a little gingerly yesterday for a quick run on my Easterly canal/river route (one with lots of good animals).

I've not run at all for two weeks, to allow my knee pain to subside a bit. It took a while to disappear - over a week - and I decided to be mature about things rather than rush back. Somewhat to my surprise, it didn't recur on yesterday's outing so - touch wood - maybe I'm better. I'm going to work under the assumption that it will come back at some point on the MdS itself, just so I'm mentally prepared if/when it does. Fundraising has started and I'm already up to over £3.5k for three causes - click here to give. Thanks to all who've donated so generously.

Otherwise, last week was all about the kit. Yesterday was the first time I've run with my new Raidlight water bottle holders, which fit onto the straps of my rucksack - good to have done a bit of a road-test. Regular deliveries began occurring at work - food, gaiters, hiking poles, a lightweight sleeping mat etc. I'm pretty much good to go now, barring a lighter, three more breakfasts and - most importantly - some new socks. Nearly there now...

The longest week

2010-03-15T08:30:00.000Z

57 miles this week, culminating in today's 26 mile run. Train to Merstham, followed the North Downs Way, ended up in Guildford. Easy (or something). It was a lovely day and a pleasant-ish run, with lots of hills to keep me busy, particularly Colley Hill (above) and Box Hill (right) in the initial 8 or 9 miles.

The only problem was my right knee has started playing up - it's a similar pain to one I had when we went walking in the Pyrénées last year, over the outside of my patellar, exacerbated by going downhill. It's strangely reassuring to have had this problem before - I don't think it's a show-stopper and this week will be more relaxed than last as I start to taper down the training, so there'll be time to rest it. I think the ice pack will be making an appearance. Everything else held up pretty well, which was nice.

Lots of preparation going on now. I've ordered my shades and some electrolytes. My gaiters have arrived and I bought my cooking gear at the weekend. Various brands of freeze-dried food are here and being sampled. I still need lots more - my anti-venom pump for starters - and I think my knee problem means that it's sensible to get some walking poles for the hilly sections.

For those who keep asking - I'll send out details of the charities I'll be running for later in the week.

London again

2010-03-08T21:50:00.001Z

I'm stating to think I'm trapped in some kind of Sisyphean nightmare. All I do is run, after which I wash my kit. Repeat ad nauseam. It's getting boring to be honest.

Or maybe it's more Promethean, given the occasional work-outs I give my liver?

Anyway, this week's outing was back on very familiar ground - I can't get away from the fact that I'm a North Londoner at heart. My long run was 23 miles, a lengthened version of my loop around the central parks. The extra diversions were up to Hampstead Heath (around the route of my family's Sunday morning walk, where we'd often see Michael Foot RIP) and through Golders Hill Park, where I have early memories of the ducks, sculptures and bandstand. And maybe some llamas? Then back into Zone 1 past the Holly Bush - they do a great hot spiced apple vodka drink at Christmastime - and also my old flat on Frognal. The other extension to the usual route was to do a whole lap of Hyde Park.

Life isn't all miserable though - the run was sandwiched between two of the best meals I've had for some time. The first was at the newly-opened Bistrot Bruno Loubet in the Zetter Hotel - exceptionally well-executed posh peasant cooking (book now before the reviews start coming). The second was after I got my friend Jonny to do my pre-MdS medical sign-off and ECG in Hammersmith, at Indian Zing, which serves up an excellent biryani. Whilst I'm admittedly bored of running, it's good to see that I can still continue to derive vast pleasure from a decent meal, no matter how many I've had before...

Vegas

2010-03-04T08:33:00.000Z

February drew to a close with a trip to Las Vegas, the first time I've been. No real reason for it, just an excuse to see three of my friends from medical school. The weekend was predictably savage, taking in the casinos and some excellent drinking and eating opportunities, along with nonsense like the white-knuckle rides 1,000 feet up the observation tower of the Stratosphere, a chopper visit to the Grand Canyon and multiple In'n'Out burgers.

From a running point of view, it was the first time that I've been glad of jet-lag. Instead of being enormously frustrated when I wake up before 7am, I was pleased, as it gave me the opportunity to get out early for a couple of runs. It wasn't that hot or hilly but I managed to rack up the mileage - 38mi in total over two big loops to the edge of the City, bringing me to 155mi for the whole of February, which seems like a lot until you realise that the MdS will match that over the course of just one week. Still, I'm kind of getting towards where I want to be, though I'm unsurprisingly experiencing a bit of wear-and tear - hopefully nothing terminal though...

Sweet Thames run softly

2010-02-21T21:31:00.000Z

Another weekend, another 18 mile cross-country run. Having had a fun lunch with the family, I made my way to Waterloo, missed my train (damn you, Northern line closures) and eventually got to Staines.

After the now-traditional snow flurry as I left the station, I joined the Thames Path. Thankfully, navigation is much easier than anything in Epping Forest - you just follow the big watery thing. There were no hills, but it was nevertheless a good run and a very pleasant route, passing some lovely scenery and some exceptionally large houses - the biggest of which is pictured to the right and, I think, has a fairly well-known resident - through Runnymeade, Windsor, Eton and Maidenhead. I got to Windsor just before 4pm and realised the sun was going down, so I hoofed it for the next 6 miles. Even so, it was getting pretty dark by the time I arrived at my destination of Cookham after just under 3 hours on the road, a particularly pleasing time given I was carrying a pack.

The purpose of the trip was to spend the evening with B and James, friends of Freya, my girlfriend. It turned out to be a very enjoyable weekend, with dinner in Malik's (apparently Heston B's favourite curry house) and a few pints of Rebellion, capped off with a bracing Sunday morning walk down to the quite extraordinary Bounty in Cockmarsh for some predominantly deep-fried food today. Also, pleasingly, no ill-effects from the run. It's getting to the point where I'm close to believing that I'll make it to the start line...

Epping Forest

2010-02-15T20:16:00.000Z

In my effort to try to find a long run that is (a) not tedious, (b) off-road and (c) has a hill or two, I found myself making my way to Theydon Bois on Sunday. The plan was to run back home through Epping Forest and it looked like it was going to be a 16-miler - perfect. The forest is only a couple of miles wide, so no real navigation problems. So, off to Zone 6 of the tube, armed with my new trail shoes (to break in for the MdS), a litre of water, a Clif bar, my Blackberry and a map of the forest on a sheet of A4.

What happened next? My iPod refused to switch on at the start - pretty annoying. Within 5 minutes of starting the run it began to hail. I got a bit excited when I finally managed to find something that looked like Epping Forest though and set off into some fields.

Turns out there are no signposts in Epping Forest. Nor are there any nice big maps with "You are here" blobs on them. Quite a lot of roads criss-cross it but, whenever I emerged onto one, on no occasion was it obvious where the hell I was. Mobile reception is a bit patchy, so my Blackberry was of limited use, although at least it tended to confirm that I was heading in roughly the right direction - i.e. South - most of the time. I did see a nice tree though.

Expecting a run of 2.5 hours, maybe 3 hours tops, I ate my snack after about 1 hour and had finished my water by about 2 hours. At that point, I think I was somewhere near Walthamstow. I got to Whipps Cross Hospital and thought I was almost home. Wrong - still 7 miles to go from there. I experienced sense-of-humour failure. I had to run along main roads. I continued to experience sense-of-humour failure. I did get to see some kind of Olympic stadium preparation, though by that point I was beyond caring - I was a bit knackered, hungry and dehydrated by then. Finally, 3h43m later, I managed to make it home.

On the plus side, my trainers were OK and I ran (in the end) about 18 miles I think - further than I have for ages - with few ill effects. On the minus side, I was a bit late for dinner...

Animals VIII / back in the saddle

2010-02-07T22:10:00.000Z

It feels a bit as though my training starts now. My horrible October and November lost me lots of ground, and I've spent the last couple of months trying to get back to where I was before the Marathon du Médoc. Finally it feels like I'm getting there. I've run over 35 miles this week and, for the first time in ages, felt pretty good whist doing it. The problem now is trying to fit everything in - the last 7 days have seen two gym sessions and four runs. It's starting to take a bit of a toll on my work and social life. I guess, on the plus side, it's only for the next couple of months. I've also started doing some really sad things like putting surgical spirit on my feet to toughen them up and have just started to research taping techniques for blisters...

Today's long run was 14 miles - my usual loop around London's central parks, though this time I took in the entire perimeter of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. It felt relatively easy going given I've not run this far since September last year, though I did tire a bit for the last few miles and the rain was pretty unpleasant at times.

Here are a couple of animals from Victoria Embankment - a sturgeon and a camel.

Skiing again

2010-02-02T20:54:00.000Z

Back from a week in St Anton, a somewhat crazy place of skiing and drinking. Unfortunately, the former was curtailed by yet another injury, this one a bit unexpected. My ski boots seemed to rub over the side of my ankle bone (lateral malleolus for those who're of a medical bent), causing untold agony when I put them on and limiting my skiing to only about 3 days. Luckily, I just about remember how to snowboard and I managed to deal with the shame of being a boarder for the rest of the time.

Then back for an 11 miler on Sunday night. Turns out they lock Victoria Park at night. Who knew?

Down to business

2010-01-20T08:30:00.003Z

Thankfully, the cold spell is over - it's unusual to have snow on the ground for more than a day or two in central London and it has made training a bit of a trial (along with inflicting my tights on the general population). At the moment, there are a lot of obvious "new year's resolution" runners out, who you can tell are wondering what the hell they've let themselves in for as they battle the snow, ice, cold and general misery...

Now that I have the fear, I'm getting down to the serious stuff. Saturday saw me try to find a hill. This led me to Greenwich Park, where I did laps of the observatory for a while. I was going to run the five miles home too, but I felt a twinge in my foot and so decided to be sensible for a change and just got the train back again. On the positive side, this allowed me to try a banh mi at a stall that I passed, bringing back memories of the 'nam. Sunday saw me run as far as I've managed for ages - my standard 11 mile lap of London along the river, through the parks and back on the canal. I have to step up the mid-week running too - I ran seven miles to Ladbroke Grove last night with 6kg on my back and got a bit of sand experience on Rotten Row. It doesn't quite recreate MdS conditions though - my pack was 10kg too light, the temperature was 40C too cold and the sand was nicely flat and stuck-together.

Oh - and everyone should sign this petition on libel law reform. And give to Haiti *. And go see A Prophet.

* OK - as Walm points out, give money to charity, not Haiti.

The fear / picturesque East London winter scene

2010-01-11T20:32:00.000Z

Last week I was concerned about my foot - the first time I had my (dull-as-ditchwater) tendon problem I could barely walk at times. I was worried that things would be the same this time around, resulting in another 5 weeks off running and hence my withdrawal from the MdS. Turns out - having run 23 miles this week - it was more of a twinge. Phew.

Phew?

Suddenly, I have gone from being scared that I might not be able to run in the event to being terrified at how behind schedule I am. I'm not totally ill-prepared, it's just that I'd have thought I'd be running 30+ miles/week by now. And have worked out what trainers/socks/gaiters/sunglasses/food/drink etc etc I will be taking with me IN LESS THAN THREE MONTHS!

Sometimes it's good to get the fear...

Pain

2010-01-04T21:58:00.001Z

I had a slightly depressing weekend. This was unexpected - I've been having a very (too?) enjoyable time of late, with plenty of seasonal over-indulgence. Most of what I got up to in the last couple of days has been very enjoyable - I saw the fascinating Pitmen Painters at the National with my mum and brother, drinks on Saturday with Smithy, Lotte, Rick and a heavily pregnant Andi (now a mum) and went up to Bedford on Sunday to see my sister and her family, which was great apart from the attempted poisoning...

The problem was my run on Saturday. Within moments of finishingthe 8 miles, I knew that my peroneal tendon problem had come back - this was the foot pain that kept me from running for 5 weeks after the Marathon du Médoc in September. I am cutting it very fine with my training already, what with that original injury coupled with my 'flu/pneumonia, and the thought of more time out makes me wonder whether I'll make it to Morocco at all at this rate. Only three months to go.

I had a sudden epiphany whilst jogging to the gym this evening though. Incidentally, all non-geeks can stop reading now. Anyway - I have been trying to modify my running style for a while now, focusing on avoiding a heavy heel strike (which is inefficient and I suspect contributed to my patellar tendinopathy a while back) and trying to land with more of a midfoot strike. I think that this, however, puts more strain on my peroneal tendon and 5th metatarsal, hence my new foot problem. It's a relief to have a working theory as to why this is happening and what to do about it. The difficulty now is to balance avoiding more peroneal tendon problems with avoiding more patellar tendon problems. Some might say this is a sign that I shouldn't run the MdS. I say "bah" to them - for now - though I did check the cut-off dates for refunds if I do pull out of the race.

Incidentally, on the off-chance that anyone has read this far and hasn't died of boredom yet, there's an excellent review of running technique on the blog The Science of Sport here.

Merry Xmas

2009-12-28T13:45:00.000Z

I hope everyone's enjoyed a good break.

I went for a run from my parents' house on Xmas day, through Hampstead Garden Suburb and up to the Heath. I was hoping to find Jonathan Ross' house for a nice Xmas photo/card for this site, but he seems to have scaled down his lighting efforts compared to previous years and it wasn't obvious which place was his. Instead, you get a well-proportioned terraced house in Islington, which I passed during another run yesterday. I must remember to revisit in the dark...

I'd heard that the Mike Skinner of the art world, Banksy, has been busy of late and the main purpose of my foray up the Regent's Canal was to discover his new pieces before they got destroyed. Unfortunately my fears were partly well-founded - the main piece (which is in the article linked to above) already seems to be non-existent, having been defaced by other 'artists', though I'm sure Banksy was aware that this would happen and I quite like the irony of the graffiti workman erecting graffiti, only to be graffitied over within days.

Tignes

2009-12-21T19:38:00.000Z

I was a bit apprehensive as Rob and I headed off to Tignes due to my pig 'flu-related fitness problems but it turned out that I was able to deal with a bit of pre-Xmas skiing fine. There wasn't a great deal of fresh snow but it was very cold indeed (I reckon down to -20C at times up the mountain) so the pistes had a good covering.

We managed a morning with a guide late in the week via Rob's mate Giles, a very nice bloke who works for the Development Centre. The exceptionally friendly and, frankly, awesome Nicko gave us a bit of light instruction whilst somehow managing to find some pretty decent powder - the photo on the right was taken after a 10 minute walk from the top of the Tommeuses chair, before a very pleasant ski down into the Vallée Perdue.

All in all, the trip was a decent way to begin like I'm regaining my fitness. I obviously need to start running properly again but it was nice to get a bit of physical activity under my belt. Hopefully the current cold snap in London won't last too long, as the icy pavements aren't going to be very helpful...

Animals VII - is you da fox?

2009-12-06T21:35:00.000Z

It was never really part of the plan to run less than 40 miles in October and November but it happened.October was the foot problem. November saw what I suspect was swine 'flu plus pneumonia. Thanks to my truly appaling GPs, very little got done until relatively recently and it took until three days ago before I finally ended up with the right antibiotic for the pneumonia, a full three weeks after I originally fell ill. At this point I should thank my sister Jane and friend Refik for their recent medical advice, which was infinitely more helpful than that of what were supposedly "my" doctors. The latter will be receiving a bollocking, assuming the post still works these days.

My mate Al is a great believer that runners shouldn't get too obsessed with illness and injury. I can see his point to a certain extent - these are a natural part of running and you can't wait until everything is perfect before you tie up your trainers. Niggles etc are there to be run through rather than whinged about, although obviously serious injury or illnesses are something a bit different. Anyway, now that I've had three days of feeling normal again, I thought it was time to test my body out. Three weeks is quite a while to go with no exercise, notwithstanding the close-to-half a stone that I've lost (I'm now below 12st and am technically a "normal weight" for the first time since god knows when).

Turns out I'm OK - clearly the short run I did was tough, but I think I'll be somewhere close to normal relatively quickly. It's a measure of how far behind I am versus my expectations that I was hoping to be competing in a cross-country marathon on the Gower peninsula. Hopefully I'll be in a position to start running proper distances by the end of the month.

Swine 'flu two

2009-11-21T21:11:00.000Z

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

2009-11-15T17:25:00.000Z

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

2009-11-10T21:55:00.002Z

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

2009-11-01T21:33:00.000Z

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.

Still running

2009-10-25T22:34:00.000Z

Last week was fairly tough, with work-related stress compounded by jet-lag. All-in-all, I was glad when Friday came around, at which point the weekend started in earnest. Friday night was Carl's birthday in the Lansdowne, I went to the Ski Show on Saturday with Rob (who now looks unlikely to be running the MdS with me - gutting) and I'd been lucky enough to sort out a reservation last night at the pop-up Restaurant on the Roof. In the midst of all of this I managed a couple of runs. Again, neither especially long given my concern for my foot - six-milers. Pleasingly, I came through both unscathed, which is probably more than I can say for anyone unlucky enough to see me today, trying out my recently-purchased compression tights - apologies to anyone in the Victoria Park area who saw me and has presumably had to wash their eyes with soap/bleach/anything they can find before entering therapy.

I got a couple of snaps along the way but this week's winner was taken close to home, in front of Hitchcock's Reel on Leonard Street. Not sure quite what was going on but an odd-looking fella seemed to be fly-fishing for Ferraris. Weird. That's Shoreditch for you.

Animals VI: an emasculated lion

2009-10-18T22:00:00.000+01:00

What a week. It commenced with Matt and AC's wedding out in Paris - a very cool couple and a great party, which was only slightly cut short by the knowledge that I had to fly to Chicago the next day for the start of a marketing trip. This saw me go to Madison, Austin, Houston, New York and Boston. Non-work highlights included catching up with Kiddo, Jill and their daughter Emily (Chicago), Shindles (Boston) and eating possibly the best burger that I've ever had (at JG Melon in NYC). I hate coming home from Boston as the flight time is so short but I managed about 5 hours kip before returning via brunch at the Walms' in St Margarets.

Running again. It seems like ages since I last took to the streets and I'd almost forgotten what to do. It's also got cold since my last proper foray, the Marathon du Médoc in mid-September. I took things easy yesterday with a quick 6-miler to test out my tendons. I was full of paranoia as I started out (past what was apparently some filming for the next series of Ashes to Ashes on my street) and I was conscious of every tiny twinge in my right foot. Amazingly all seemed fine so I ran another 6 miles today, again without any reaction so far. The main problem is I'm clearly much less fit than I was 5 weeks ago and my calves feel pretty tight, but it's great that I appear to be OK, having bottled the steroid injection because I'm a big scaredy-cat.

The lion is at the far point of these rather short runs, on the South side of Westminster Bridge. When you start to delve into these things, they always have amazing histories - the sculpture is made out of fake stone and was originally painted red when it stood on the site of an old brewery that made way for the Festival Hall. He was apparently 'modified' when he was moved to his new location, as he was rather too well-endowed for the sensibilities of the day, poor chap.

What happens next?

2009-10-05T20:11:00.000+01:00

First a penguin then a gorilla! My many (three) readers must be hanging on the edges of their seats, literally constipated with excitement and wondering what amazing feat will follow...

Well, sorry to disappoint. What happens next is: Dr Badenoch refers Andy to Mr Singh who diagnoses suspected inflammation of the peroneus longus tendon at the level of the cuboid bone and sends him on to Dr Vijayanathan for what is likely to be an ultrasound-guided steroid injection (tomorrow). Brilliant and in no way frustrating. I'll probably not be running for another three weeks or so - just what you want exactly 6 months before a 155 mile run.

Great Gorilla Run

2009-09-26T16:19:00.000+01:00

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted there was no post last week (though I did end up in the Guardian again). I seem to have acquired some kind of tendon or ligament injury to my right foot during the Marathon du Médoc that is taking ages to get better - it was so bad last week that I was worried it was a stress fracture (props to all those I bored with my whinging) but it has gradually got a bit better over the last few days. So instead of running, I spent my time watching the Wire - now half way through Season 3. That and eating. I've been to Olivomare with my mum (great), Franco Manca with Lotte, Harriet and Ben (just about lives up to the hype), Haozhan with Catherine (poor), Chisou with Nick, Dom and Rob (great) and the C&R Cafe (with a bunch of the Caius lot) in the last 10 days. Normally I get away with this kind of behaviour but I've not been running because of the foot. I am now massive.

And so to today. Obviously, I didn't want to go on too long a run. I wanted more of a short-ish test to see if my foot was OK. Luckily, I'd entered the Great Gorilla Run, a gentle 4.5-mile meander that started walking distance from my flat. I thus found myself putting on an animal suit for the second time in two weeks and wandering down to Mincing Lane for the start at 10.30am, generating the odd admiring glance. Come the race, obviously, the distance wasn't a problem but it was still a tough run because of my new-found furriness. I thought I'd leave my costume fully on the whole way round and ended up very wet indeed. I was expecting to be pretty moist but two unforeseen problems arose - the condensation inside my head/mask (not pleasant) and I also noticed (about half way round) that my hands/gloves were watertight and slowly filling up with sweat. Not at all pleasant. The event itself was obviously hilarious and it was nice to bump into Richard P at the end, an old friend from school and college.

My foot now hurts again. Hardly unexpected but... bugger.

The Marathon du Médoc

2009-09-13T20:23:00.001+01:00

I've wanted to do the Marathon du Médoc for a few years now and finally persuaded my brother to come along with me. It's billed as "le plus longue du monde" because of the 20+ tastings as you pass the châteaux around the course, along with the oysters, Bayonne ham, steak, cheese and ice-cream in the last three or so miles. 90% run it in fancy dress. This year's theme was the circus, so we (obviously) went in costumes that were totally unrelated, my brother as Elvis and me in a penguin suit. It looked good on the website but was thick, black and generally highly unsuitable for running on a sunny day in Southern France.

The course was spectacular and the 'race' was great fun but it was somewhat slow going given the frequent refreshment stops. We got round in 6h20, 10 minutes before the course was officially shut, having drunk and eaten at every station that was serving things along the way. I was pleased this morning that the race, the drinking and the ridiculous costume hadn't taken too much out of me. My legs aren't too stiff, which is a marked contrast to my only other marathon, London in 2006, although my time then was considerably better!

Extra photos, for the extra dedicated, can be seen here. Respec' to my bro for keeping me company and making it round to the end; also to the guys at Gruaud Larose for providing what I think was the best wine of the day.

Basel and Cologne

2009-09-10T22:32:00.001+01:00

I was away this week with work, arriving in Basel on Monday evening. After a few meetings on Tuesday, I courageously assumed that the weekend's through-fall problems were resolved and went for what turned out to be a great run in beautiful weather. I started off through the old town - past the town hall and the cathedral - then along the Rhein and down one of its tributaries. This took me past the footie stadium (one of Basel's must-sees apparently) and into some proper woodland. Navigating (poorly) via my Blackberry and a printout from mapmyrun.com I then ended up climbing a decent hill up to a meadow halfway to somewhere called Muttenz, before returning via the Botanic Gardens. Just over 9.2 miles in 1h33 - not very quick for me, but good fun.

The next day, we finished up in Cologne, where mapmyrun.com had found me a straightforward run down the banks of the Rhein. This one was much quicker in every way - 4.2 miles in 32 mins. On the way, I saw some cool buildings overhanging the river, below. Cologne holds good memories for me - another first moment of freedom. My friend Gus and I spent our first night Inter-railing here just after A-levels. We only spent a few hours here on our way to Prague but it was my first trip as a proper independent traveler and it prefaced what was a hilarious holiday, a massive loop through Greece, Italy, France, Holland and Belgium. One of our first acts was to climb the cathedral - visible on the right hand side of this shot.

Animals V

2009-09-06T16:01:00.002+01:00

Friday night saw me arrive at the Dog House in Kennington at about 6.30pm and leave at about midnight, after various friends had come and gone - Charlie, Lotte, Osh, Harriet and Ben in that order. Saturday afternoon and evening was taken up by Anna's birthday lunch and drinks. In the intervening couple of hours I managed to fit in my 11 mile loop around London's central Parks. I ran anticlockwise for a change, to Regent's Park first, then Hyde, Green and St James'.

It's funny when you reverse a run - you often see things that have previously totally passed you by. Whilst I was expecting something new, I was amazed to see a vast bronze horse's head at Marble Arch - I couldn't understand how I'd missed it before, particularly given my animal obsession. Turns out it's only been there a couple of months. Phew. I did notice a view from the bridge in St James' Park that I'd never really noticed before though, across the lake to the Horse Guards building, with (I think) the FCO on the right and the London Eye poking out above it.

I was going to run back to my folks' for lunch again today but have been afflicted by a bout of what the Germans so descriptively call "durchfall", which put paid to that. Oh well.

Castéra-Lectourois

2009-08-24T19:23:00.006+01:00

Just back from a long weekend in France - another trip involving freeloading with some very generous friends. I stayed in Martha and Matt's place once before (strictly speaking, Martha's parents' place) a couple of years ago and knew what to expect - a few days in a lovely old farmhouse hanging out with a couple of their friends and M&M's exceptionally cool kids, Hope (my very pretty god-daughter) and Ferdie. As anticipated, we also ended up eating and drinking like locals and, this time, with locals, since the village fete was on. This involved losing at boules to some grizzled pétanque veterans, followed by dinner in the school playground with a few hundred French types, who entertained themselves and us in truly inimitable fashion. God knows where they all came from - French Wikipedia suggests that Castéra-Lectourois only has a population of about 300!

Along with the other highlights, I went running. Unfortunately I was a couple of days late for the 40-degree heatwave that had just swept through the region and which had left the sunflowers looking somewhat dehydrated - though I think the flowers are so heavy this late in the season that they do tend to droop even in normal years. Still, my first sortie gave me some time running on the hills that I have been so sorely craving and my second, of about 10 miles, combined them with 35-degree temperatures. Suffice to say, the last 20 minutes or so were not an enormous pleasure but I managed roughly 9-minute miles so I was fairly satisfied.No more holidays planned for 2009, for anyone who's getting envious! It does seem as though I've been away a lot this year for some reason.

Saturday lunch

2009-08-16T15:12:00.007+01:00

I ran to Hannah and Fraser's house on Saturday, two great people who I don't see nearly often enough. They're out in West Ken, which involved crossing Hyde Park, which it turns out I don't really know too well. Presumably this is down to my North West London prejudice against anything that isn't within walking distance of the Northern Line. Anyhow, it was a fun run and carrying a pack didn't feel too bad at 9:30/mile pace. I got to go along the little bit of sand known as Rotten Row (below), which I always thought was a corruption of the French but Wikipedia informs me there may be other etymologies behind it. A delicious lunch involving some great lamb chops was followed by a fun afternoon that took in the delights of some rather unusual Polish flavoured vodkas before finishing up in the pub.
I also went for a run on Sunday, which took my total mileage for the weekend to around 18. Unfortunately, with only 7-and-a-bit months to go until the MdS, I'm going to have to start doing that kind of thing more often, though it was a beautiful day and a very pleasant run...

Finally, kudos to my mate Riz, who has pointed out that the flowers in a previous post are not in fact wisteria at all but are buddleja. Smart-ass.

Kenwood House

2009-08-09T20:35:00.003+01:00

Not a great deal to say about today's run. I ran back to my parents' for lunch, via Hampstead Heath. The pic is of Kenwood House, the well-proportioned Robert Adam building.

Now I'm back at home, two episodes into the third season of the Wire. Happy days.

Çeşmealtı

2009-08-03T20:13:00.004+01:00

I am lucky to know someone as generous as my friend Refik, who invited a bunch of us out to his family's amazing place in Turkey, in between Urla Iskele and Çeşmealtı. It was a great week and, in marked contrast to my other trips this year (lots of skiing and a bit of walking), it involved doing nothing. Well, nothing except eating. He's a great host, proud of his country and keen to ensure that everyone enjoys the best it has to offer, which includes great fruit, veg, fish and beer. Turkish wine, however, is a bit less impressive.

I fitted in three runs, avoiding the hill behind the house where last year I attracted the attention of numerous working dogs who weren't too friendly. I ran along the coast instead, through Urla Iskele and beyond. The pic to the right is of Karantina (quarantine) island, past which my runs went. It's now a hospital rather than a place to send plague victims.

Things I learned: running in mid-30 degree heat is OK as long as it's not humid (it was much easier than Orlando) and there's a breeze. Oh, and P20 suncream really works and doesn't make you sweat as much as the normal ones - very impressive.

Cambridge redux

2009-07-25T18:58:00.003+01:00

A very Cambridge day on Saturday, starting with breakfast with my friend Matt at Albion, which took a while to digest so I didn't end up running until quite late in the day. The sides of the Regent's Canal are currently covered in wisteria, which always reminds me of Tree Court at Caius, and I was thinking of my old university as I was running along. After I while, I came across another quintessential Cambridge view, that of a hapless punter in all sorts of difficulty, blocking the entire canal round about Mile End Park. Turns out you can rent them as of fairly recently...

Marco Polo

2009-07-19T22:11:00.007+01:00

I ran my >10 miler around Chelsea Bridge last night as penance for recent excesses and over-consumption (lunch at my sister's on Saturday, lunch at Herms' birthday on Sunday etc). Forgot to wear my iPod, which was annoying given the 1.5 hour duration.

My run was my standard loop around Chelsea Bridge, taking me past what I now know to be called the Marco Polo building, just opposite Battersea Park. An unremarkable building, ugly even. However, it has a slightly bizarre symbolism for me.

Picture the scene. I've just finished my A-levels. The summer holidays and a place at university await. My best pal, Osh, decides we need to go for a drive around London, so a bunch of us piled into his old-school VW Beetle and just took off - him, me, I think the Scrimgeour twins and one other. It was, from memory, a beautiful summer evening and the feeling of freedom, driving around London, was exhilarating. At some point we drove past the Marco Polo building, which was, back then, the HQ of the Observer I think, and we got out to marvel at its shiny whiteness. I remember feeling a very clear sense of excitement, of a new phase of my life about to start - hardly surprising given I'd been at the same school for the previous 11 years and was really only just about to experience my first taste of independence. The memory of being in that car, with nowhere to be and total freedom to go where we wanted remains vivid. Somehow, the building's name, evoking exploration and new horizons, is strangely appropriate.

Why does our fifth companion in the car remain nameless? Well, he was the one who, when we ended up driving back through Brixton fairly late in the day, cowered down in the front seat of the car whimpering "I don't want to get shot". Now, whilst this was back in the day when cabbies would refuse to "go South of the river at this time of night", his concern that we'd be shot simply for being white guys in a car was pretty pathetic even considering our tender years...

Pyrénées

2009-07-15T20:13:00.008+01:00

No running this week but plenty of exercise, courtesy of a 6-day trip to the Pyrénées with a few of the Caius lot. We flew to Pau and made our way down to Gavarnie. We then started our trip, armed with little more than a couple of maps and several tons of trail mix, cheese and local sausage. Our little wander took us up to the Breche de Roland (in the background below), round into San Nicolás de Bujaruelo on the Spanish side before wandering along to the highest peak in the French Pyrénées, the 3,298m Vignemale. The view from the top, down across the glacier, is above.

The walking was tough-ish - we averaged just under 1,000m of ascent per day, generally with a c15kg pack on, so I don't feel like I've missed out on my training. The ascent up the glacier was particularly exciting for me, never having used crampons or an ice-axe before, and it felt liberating to be doing a trip like this independently - without a guide. The other real highlight was the flora and fauna - not usually my bag. Nevertheless, the fields of flowers were really stunning and the unexpected (for me anyway) and multiple sightings of marmots frolicking in the sunshine was a joy given the number of times I must have skied a run called 'Marmottes' (every resort seems to have one). Finally, I mustn't forget to mention Dix' inspired decision, not only to organise the trip, but also to buy us all berets at the start. It really helped us to make friends.
The trip was useful in other ways too. It really highlighted again how important hill training, cross-country and training with a pack will be in my prep for the MdS - much tougher than road-running. I also managed to pick up some kind of injury to the medial collateral ligament in my left knee, which I'm currently hoping will disappear of its own accord...

Drinkaware

2009-07-05T13:34:00.006+01:00

The blog seems to be unintentionally turning into a kind of chronicle of 'how I got my hangover last night' - like the "I see you like to recycle" Drinkaware campaign on the Tube. Last night's excuse was a visit from Kiddo, a friend who now lives in Chicago, over for the 4th July weekend. We got to watch the Nathan's competition (it turns out I can get ESPN on Sky), which produced another amazing contest - it's hard to believe how far the sport has come even since my first visit to Coney Island in 2004. This was followed up with the usual idiocy...

The pic is of some dudes fishing in Limehouse Basin, with the temples of Mammon in the background.

Farnham

2009-06-29T19:50:00.005+01:00

I'm some way off my peak of weddings, which still stands at 11 in one year, and it's been a while since the last Caius shin-dig - out of London anyway - so it was nice to get out to Farnham for Crawf and Jen's this weekend. It was a slightly brutal schedule kicking off with the Lions test at 2pm on the Saturday (what a game), taking in a bit more cricket and then the world's hottest restaurant temperature-wise before a bit more beer for good measure. The wedding itself was on the Sunday night followed by a midnight cab back to Shoreditch, which made for an interesting Monday morning, but I think a lot of fun was had by all. It was good to see a few faces that aren't around that often - hi to the Shindlers, Big Jase, the Wilmots and the new Walmsley to mention a few...

I managed to squeeze in a hung-over hour in on Sunday morning before the main event, running up Castle Street and a big hill to get into Farnham Park. It was a very pleasant run once my headache had subsided a bit - beautiful weather and great to get out onto some grass for a change.

Apologies...

2009-06-25T20:17:00.003+01:00

...to my three loyal readers. No post last weekend. That's because I didn't run, for a variety of reasons - partly illness (swine 'flu?), partly busyness (the Lions test, a non-christening, my mum/brother's birthday barbecue and partly because I was still a bit tired after the North Downs 30k (which doesn't bode well for the MdS).

So, as compensation, here's a mid-week write-up. Not much to say, apart from my run took me past one of the Street Pianos (right) and one of my blisters from 11 days ago still hurt. Again, not encouraging for next April. At some point I need to read my copy of the not-geeky-at-all 'Fixing your Feet'...

North Downs

2009-06-14T18:18:00.010+01:00

Today's run was a bit hardcore - the North Downs 30k, nearly 19 miles of hilly cross-country terrain. Pleasingly, the race started from a leisure centre on Thong Lane and went through both Shorne and Lower Bush. Less pleasingly from my point of view, it was sunny. The first 10k went well enough. The second was pretty tough. The third was gruelling - a lot of up-and-down and, by that stage, I was tired (and salty). I haven't run that far since my marathon in 2006 and my training has been a little more erratic that I would have liked in the last month or so, and it showed. Nevertheless, I ended up finishing a shade under 2h45m, which I guess is pretty decent given the circumstances. Rob whipped my ass again. Highlights: finishing in one piece, the poppies (above), the marshals (and their life-saving jelly-babies) and the cake provided by the organisers at the end. It wasn't as pretty as the Pembrokeshire race but was fun in a really, really hard way.

Shamu

2009-06-06T17:49:00.005+01:00

I got back from Orlando on Thursday morning. I was visiting with work to attend a medical conference but managed to find time for a couple of runs. Not really knowing the city, I followed a fairly unimaginative route from my hotel, past the massive conference centre (and the 30,000 attendees in the 4 m square foot floor space), around SeaWorld and back. A few points occurred to me on the runs:

1. Running in mid-30C heat and very high humidity is enormously unpleasant.

2. I hate cities where you have to drive everywhere - they lack soul. Many of the roads didn't have pavements, which made jogging tough. People presumably drive off somewhere nicer for their runs rather than running in Orlando itself, because there were barely any other joggers around. SeaWorld seemed to be 75% car park and 25% amusement park.

3. Grass in the US is very thick.

The conference was less busy than in previous years, which left a bit of time to visit SeaWorld itself with a handful of clients and competitors. The highlight was undoubtedly seeing some leafy sea dragons - very cool fish - with the Manta rollercoaster a close second. The Shamu show ("at the heart of every being lies a sense of wonder") was corny American horseshit - my heart was not transported to the edge of wonder as they claimed - but allowed me to get this quite cool snap on my mobile phone.

Bank Holiday 10k

2009-05-25T19:51:00.013+01:00

I've only ever run a few races - a couple of half-marathons, the London marathon in 2006 and the off-road 15 miler earlier this year. Today saw my first 10k, the BUPA 10,000. I wasn't especially confident going into it. I don't really run fast when I train - no speed-work, no hills, no intervals etc - and that's what you need to do to get a decent time in a shorter race like a 10k. This was coupled with a poor "build-up", by which I mean going down to Plymouth with a bunch of friends for the first two days of a glorious Bank Holiday, involving some very picturesque beaches but also the usual self-destruction that such a trip brings (fry-ups, beer, barbecues, stupid games, pasties etc - thanks for hosting to Bobby J). The Saturday saw an epic game of beach cricket at Mothecombe and me pulling a hamstring whilst pushing for a tight second run. Finally, my sunburn wasn't making me feel the best.

All-in-all, I wasn't expecting too much from the race today, so when I found myself with the 'elite athletes' in Red zone A at the start - the first wave of runners to set off - I was a little shocked (I must have lied about my expected time on the entry form or something). Somehow in the end I think I managed acquit myself fairly well with a time of 41m 29s to finish as the 226th male out of 4,500 - there were a lot of people in fancy dress I guess!

In other news related to previous blog entries, I have now eaten in La Figa - lunch with Lu - and it was pretty good. I had pizza 'la figa' (of course). Surprisingly, it lacked anchovies. Secondly, my mum tells me that she thinks that my grandfather, Arthur Glover, was responsible for the grasshopper outside what was Martin's Bank on Lombard Street. Finally, it turns out Will le F has actually used the catapault thingy outside the Tower as part of his odd historical re-enactment job.

Home

2009-05-16T16:34:00.007+01:00

It's funny. Somehow this blog is ending up less personal than I thought it would be. Having lived in London (basically) all my life, I thought it would end up reflecting a lot more of me than it has. I think that a lot of this is down to the disparity between where I run and where I've lived and played. As a stolid North Londoner by birth and one educated in South Hertfordshire, I have little connection to places like Victoria Park in the East End. Even the Regent's Canal was a fairly recent discovery for me, apart from the stretch just by Camden Market, where I did hang out for the odd evening when I was a kid, drinking warm cans of lager. Etc.

This post bucks the impersonal trend. I ran back to my folks' place for lunch - round to Camden, up across the Heath and the lazily-named Heath Extension, where my mate Jonny memorably had his rugby stag a couple of years ago. From there, I entered the extraordinary and, ultimately, unsuccessful social experiment that is Hampstead Garden Suburb. The top photo is of St Jude's church, close to where my nursery school was. The lower one is of my parents' house (and mine from the age of 2 until university), with my primary school in the background, poking above the hedge. What could be more personal than that?

Go go Gadget arms!

2009-05-10T12:10:00.004+01:00

I try not to get annoyed with the crowds that extend between Namco (a fabulous place - bowling, pool, cheap beer and that game where you dance when the floor lights up), past the London Eye and the South Bank Centre, extending all the way to the Tate Modern. Yesterday's run felt almost like Parkour, as I jumped onto barriers, round statues and generally tried to avoid the tourists. Yet I still prefer to run the route rather than changing course to avoid the throngs - I quite like seeing people enjoy my home city I guess - and occasionally you come across people like my long-armed acquaintance here.

Animals IV

2009-05-04T19:07:00.005+01:00

Whilst I quite like monkeys...

...I am particularly pleased that I know where to find a 3-foot steel grasshopper:

Post-stag

2009-04-26T19:22:00.004+01:00

I have just returned from a fantastic stag weekend, but one that left me with a touch of self-loathing. It involved numerous traditional stag weekend activities - silly outdoor stuff (hovercrafting and canoeing), curry, fry-ups, copious amounts of Butty Bach and small-town "clubbing". We were incredibly well looked after by Alan at the Old Pandy Inn, which is well worth a visit, if only to try the Welsh Dragon sausage - about 15" long, 1lb in weight and filled with chillies. Crawf, our stag for the weekend, put in an exceptional performance, dressed in a clown outfit and resembling nothing less than a Weeble for most of last night (Weebles wobble but they don't fall down), consuming heroic quantities of booze and yet remaining mostly upright and hugely entertaining. A truly great effort, especially considering he'd come all the way from Greenwich CT in order to be with us.

Anyway, I had only run 45 miles this month and I was aiming for 60. Also, the weekend had involved horrific calorie consumption. This resulted in me forcing myself out on my return for a 10 miler, round Chelsea Bridge. The route down took me along the final couple of miles of the London Marathon, pretty much all over bar a few stragglers and some guy in a camel costume. This week's photo is of Boadicea, who I remember being a very welcome sight in my 2006 marathon - she's just at the end of Victoria Embankment, just before the route turns off the river and up towards the Mall. At that point, you know you're going to make it...

Well done to my bro, who made it round in 4:06, despite injury-hampered training!

Hung over

2009-04-19T18:31:00.004+01:00

It's been what can only described as a "mixed" weekend - not quite a curate's egg but it's certainly had ups and downs. On the plus side, I've eaten incredibly well. With the "r"-less months rapidly approaching, I made a quick trip to Wright Brothers early on Friday night for a couple of pints of porter and 9 oysters before ending up at my new favourite tapas place Pinchito just up the road from my flat, where I tried elvers for the first time, a fairly unusual but very pleasant experience. Plus I've uncovered the barbeque for the first time this year - yesterday involved a whole sea bream and my post-run treat was a 16oz t-bone from the Ginger Pig - both with new season English asparagus. Another positive was an unexpected visit from my schoolmate Simon yesterday, with wife and cute 10-month old son in tow.

On the less positive side... I woke up today with a SPLITTING headache after a rather-too-excitable evening out. I looked at my watch and saw it was 2pm. What a waste of a Sunday (i.e. it's annoying that I haven't managed to watch any more of the Wire yet). Plus I soon realised that my left knee was about twice the size of the right one, which (I think) was due to some kind of race down a tenpin bowling lane against my mate TG. My memory of it remains hazy but I think I got about a third of the way down before going arse-over-tit. Those things are surprisingly slippery. Still, I managed to drag myself out of bed and did the same run as last week but adding in a circuit of a blossom-filled Victoria Park, which took it to nearly 11 miles. On the way back, I saw a catapault/trebuchet or something outside the Tower of London.

Oh, and Arsenal predictably lost the FA cup semi-final. Bugger.

The fig

2009-04-13T16:28:00.005+01:00

I was a little nervous leaving my flat today for two reasons. One was I was worried that my patellar tendinopathy had returned. This started in 2005 when I was training for the London marathon but had receded in the last year or so after a lay-off of a few months plus some weird injections from a nice sports doc called Tom Crisp that set BUPA back a pretty penny. It felt like the problem was back on Friday, so I didn't run back to my parents' house as I had intended on Saturday, hoping that this short rest would do the trick. Miraculously, 9 miles today didn't seem like a problem, which was a huge relief - it's very irritating and took ages to clear up.

The other reason for my apprehension was that I tried a new route today, East along the Regent's Canal to Victoria Park, down to Limehouse Basin via Mile End Park and then back along the Thames. It's not an area I know especially well and there's always the chance of getting lost etc first time around. It turned out fine - a really beautiful run and one that re-acquainted me with some places I've not seen for ages. My friends Sally and Alice used to live near Victoria Park, Ellie had a birthday do in a pub on Mile End Park a couple of years ago, I discovered a couple of restaurants (Gordon Ramsay's pub the Narrow and, bizarrely, the sister restaurant of the Kyrgyz one referred to in a previous post) and some great views of London landmarks. Why, then, is my only picture of an Italian restaurant that I have never been to? Well - it's called "La Figa" and I'd heard of it mainly because nearby residents eventually realised that this means not just "the fig" but is also Italian slang for... wait for it... a woman's parts.

I love the logo. I am hugely immature.

Animals III / one year to go

2009-04-05T14:21:00.006+01:00

I left the flat gingerly this morning, feeling a little like the UK’s greatest ever marathon runner and public defaecator Paula Radcliffe. Luckily the public conveniences at Marble Arch came to my aid...

But only after I had run past Mimetes Anon. “As if from a scene in an apocalyptic science fiction movie, its appearance in the Plaza also serves as a reminder of what might have been if the great evolutionary leap forward never happened”. What a load of balls. I, however, will choose to refer to him as ‘Frank the lucky chimp’, which will please both me and at least two of my friends.

In other news, the 24th Marathon des Sables is now over. It was an extraordinary event, with the first stage cancelled due to flooding (in the Sahara?) and it rarely getting above 30 degrees - not what you’d expect. More importantly, one Jacobus Cilliers entered. South African born and a UK resident, he entered via the Korean team. He smokes 40 a day, weighs over 21 stone, and is basically quoted as saying “I entered in order to prove that fat lads aren’t a waste of space”. Unfortunately he dropped out in stage 3 but Jacobus, we salute you. You are an inspiration to us all.

Animals II: dragons and pigs

2009-04-01T19:10:00.005+01:00

It feels like ages since I ran in London, and it turns out that it's been 3.5 weeks, what with Pembrokeshire, skiing and tower running. I'm determined to get to 60 miles in April, which doesn't really sound like that much but then I am going to the gym twice a week too. I think that's a valid excuse.

It seems like there's so much to write about. First, my second picture of animals in London.

You'll notice both of the animals that guard the City in this picture. One is the dragon, which supports the arms of the City and the origin of which is discussed in this article that I frankly couldn't be bothered to read. The other is the pig i.e. the police, who were much in evidence today. The walk to work at 6.45am was particularly amusing. Hundreds of men were sidling past wearing work-shirt, jeans, brogues and Crombie coats. There was the occasional American in chinos. None looked remotely "casual". All this because of the G20 protests taking place later in the day. These are already well-documented (the magic of live blogs and twitter) so I'm not going to say much about them myself. One pic though, looking down Cheapside towards the Bank of England and Royal Exchange on my run today. Count the police vehicles. I think there are at least 20...

I'm actually no stranger to riots in London. My first experience was the 1990 poll tax riots, when I was 14 - an early age to begin a career of civil disobedience you'd think. You'd be right, and how. I was returning from possibly the geekiest event of my life: the final of some kind of school science quiz, run by what is now the British Science Association. We came second in the country. I was on the tube, on my way back from the competition, which was held at one of the Kensington museums. I guess I must have been changing lines at Leicester Square, only to be confronted with the aftermath of the protests, which took place in Trafalgar Square (i.e. running, looting, hairy youths). I had no idea what was going on and was, I suspect, in my school uniform. Rad.

St Anton and fame

2009-03-29T19:44:00.004+01:00

No running this week - skiing again. I decided to repeat last year’s trick of emailing everyone I know and seeing who wanted to come along, so we ended up with 29 of us (and four poor randoms) in the Chalet Regina, under the care of the lovely Dee, who did a really great job of looking after us.

There was plenty of snow - if anything, too much! A few of us had luckily booked a guide (the lovely Martina from Piste to Powder) for the Tuesday and Thursday and we ended up in ridiculous amounts of powder on both days. Despite some of the most enjoyable skiing of my life and a lot of other fun too, there’s no disguising that a holiday like this is not in any way healthy and I now need to sleep for a very long time. After that, I need to get back running again, as www.mapmyrun.com has just informed me I have only done 25 miles this month, although I have admittedly climbed some stairs and skied down some mountains.

In other news, the Guardian Online published my write-up of the Vertical Rush event a couple of weeks ago! Impressive (until you hear that I know someone who works there, which might have helped). Still, at least it might mean that someone ends up reading this blog – they included a link to it at the end. We’ll see...

Vertical Rush

2009-03-19T18:52:00.008Z

Highlights:

1. Finishing.
2. Overtaking the person who started first in my heat about half way up, Sky TV's Gladiator "Tempest". She is hotter in real life.
3. £900 for Shelter.

Lowlights:

1. Too many people - I started way back in my group and they got in the way, so I only finished in 7:38, 169th out of 593. How the winner did it in 4:22 I really don't know.
2. How I felt at the top - legs were fine but my lungs were burning.

Same again next year, but I'll try harder.

Trail running in Pembrokshire

2009-03-15T16:35:00.010Z

I managed to persuade my friends Al and Rob to enter a "half marathon" run earlier in the year. After a 5 hour drive down to Broad Haven on Friday afternoon and a quiet evening eating pasta in our rented apartment, we found ourselves at the start of what turned out to be a 14.8 mile race. To be fair, the organisers do warn that distances are only approximate but I think we were all a little concerned that the extra 1.7 miles might be a step too far. I was certainly a little concerned - this was to be my first ever trail run, I haven't run that far since my marathon in 2006 and the forecast in the previous week had always suggested a lot of wind whilst varying between pouring rain and cloudy conditions.

In the end, the weather was beautiful if a little blowy. The start was hilarious - after a 50 yards, we reached a staircase onto the cliffs that was only scalable in single file, leaving a trail of runners stretching out into the distance in front of us (they're visible at the top of the cliff in the photo on the right).

Both Al and Rob had professed to be "unfit" before the race, although there was little evidence of this as Rob hared off into the distance after we'd been running around 15 minutes. At this point, we'd been running quite hard and constantly climbing or descending as the path meandered along the coast so I slowed down, ran at my own pace (conveniently similar to Al's) and really enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

After 8 miles, the path turned inland and we left the stunning views for the run back, which was a bit of a shame. By then, though, my thoughts were much more on putting one foot in front of the other and getting round the course in one piece - the extra distance and uneven ground meant that it was much harder than standard half-marathon on the road. In the end, the beaches of Little Haven emerged back into view and the final little downhill run took me back down to the finish line in 2.11, with which I was enormously pleased. The run was followed up with a decent amount of beer, a nice cawl in the very pleasant Swan Inn (where we particularly enjoyed the influx - at around 5pm - of a dozen chunky local lads all without their shirts on) and, by 9.15pm, I'd passed out in bed.

A couple of thank yous: to Al for driving us down, and to all those who thought they were going to enjoy a nice Saturday morning walk along the coast only to be confronted by hundreds of sweaty people haring it along the paths. Sorry!

Rehersal

2009-03-10T20:02:00.010Z

My first special training event will be next week's jaunt in aid of homelessness charity Shelter. Known as 'Vertical Rush', it will involve climbing London's second-tallest building, Tower 42 (the old NatWest Tower).

I remember reading an article about tower running a few months back and thinking "wow, that sounds cool". A couple of weeks ago, I saw a poster in Bank tube advertising Vertical Rush and wanted to get involved. I then re-read the original article after registering and present selected quotations here:

"Tower runners all talk of one universally shared experience - the pain"
"After my first race, I puked in a garbage can. Everyone high-fived me"
"Tower runners love to relate stories of elite marathon runners who assume they'll cruise to the top, only to drop out in a crumpled heap on the 43rd floor"

Luckily, Tower 42 is only 42 floors high and I'm not an elite marathon runner, so the last comment definitely won't apply to me. Nevertheless, the write-up worried me enough to take the organiser's suggestion of training a little. So, at lunchtime today, I found myself climbing the the Monument (right), which happens to be about three minutes from my office. Built between 1671 and 1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London, the viewing platform is 311 steps up, 160 feet above the ground. This makes it a quarter of the height of Tower 42 (although with one third of the steps - clearly they had short legs in the 17th Century) - so a good training run rather than anything directly comparable to next Thursday's event.

Bugger me, it hurt. The first half was OK. The second half left me gasping for breath, with my thighs and calves burning. The real event will be exceptionally unpleasant. The only vaguely good thing was managing to get this snap from the top - Tower 42 is the very tall building in the centre of the pic.

Finally, I'd like to give a big thank you to Dos Hermanos and the Guild of Fine Food, which organises the Great Taste Awards, for my dinner tonight. The former are a couple of well-known food bloggers, who organised a fantastic dinner a couple of weeks ago at Vinoteca - my second meal there, but easily as good as my first visit (the mutton pie was awesome). At the dinner, in exceptionally uncharacteristic style, I won a hamper that was organised by the latter.

Having now munched my way through a load of the "3-star gold winners", I can confirm that the wild boar salami from the Real Boar Company is awesomely piggy and genuinely complex, Products From Spain's manchego is really excellent given I don't normally find it that particular cheese especially exciting, Hi-T's fudge rocks (it won the 'fudge, plain, including vanilla' category after all) and CoCouture's Irish Whisky Truffles were worthy winners of the 'dark truffles with alcohol' class. The reason I'm writing about this now is that my dinner is one of Harvies Pies steak pies. They have made me a happy man...

I met a bunch of great guys at the dinner, mainly food bloggers (links to their sites are on the right of this page). I felt a little humbled in their presence, given my readership averages (I think) in the mid-to-low single-digits, whereas theirs is in the hundreds or thousands. In some ways I'd like to write a food blog of my own. On the other hand, somehow food seems so integral to my life that it seems a bit odd to want to write about it as though it is something noteworthy, rather than it being a sine qua non. I can't contemplate life without being able to eat well; this blog only exists because I still think of running as somehow alien to me, given my still-'sturdy' build.

Animals I / social animals

2009-03-08T20:07:00.007Z

I kinda started the blog in order to add some interest to my runs. I now find myself trying a little to spice up the blog with a semi-permanent theme/riff, which will be: London's animals. Not actual animals, mind - just its permanent (or semi-permanent) fauna. I've observed a lot of these in the last few weeks whilst running around the place and they should make for good sport. They tend to be rather unusual creatures - often carnivorous, rarely native to these shores and sometimes not even real. To get us kicked off, let's move from the sublime (the WWI Royal Air Force memorial, completed in 1923):

to the rather more prosaic:

On a different note, following this article in the Guardian recently about how runners rarely acknowledge each other, I tried an experiment. It was a genuinely beautiful sunny day today, and I felt no difficulty in summoning up a cheery smile and "good morning" for all the runners that I passed. Given that I went on a 10 mile run (West along the North Bank of the Thames to Battersea, then back along the South), there were plenty of people to greet.

It rapidly became apparent that the running community is indeed miserable. After the first few people, I learned that the best hope of a response was to make eye contact around 20 yards before passing the next runner, followed by a nod of the head (15 yards) and then finally the aforementioned "morning" (3-5 yards). Even this resulted in maybe only a 15% acknowledgement rate (and half of those were women who looked at me like I was some kind of molester).

I think the bottom line is this. Many runners listen to MP3 players and thus don't greet anyone at all. Many women are afraid that interacting with strangers is an open invitation for abuse. Greeting runners is a bit arbitrary anyway - why only say hi to them whilst ignoring every other pedestrian that one passes? And finally, I suspect that many runners don't enjoy their pastime very much and do it for reasons of virtue rather than enjoyment - they simply aren't in the mood for interaction. All of which is a shame. I am minded to continue in my efforts to greet people from now on, despite their lack of enthusiasm, in a one-man effort to... dunno... something, anyway.

Ski touring

2009-03-07T20:03:00.007Z

No running for the last week, because I've been off learning to walk uphill on skis on a course with the International School of Mountaineering, based in Leysin. Unfortunately, we were severely restricted by some appalling weather, which left us with a huge amount of snow but also a great deal of wind, whiteness, avalanche risk etc.

After a couple of days of learning the ropes, including an ascent of Pic Chaussy, the supposed highlight of the week - a couple of days in the Great St Bernard Hospice, where some monks invented the brandy-carrying dogs - turned into a bit of a nightmare. We skinned up in horrible conditions and hung around for a pleasant night in the Hospice. On setting off the next morning, we triggered a mini-avalanche within 10 yards of the front door, decided discretion was the better part of valour and we just set off back down the mountain again. Through the Combe des Morts - the "Valley of Death" - so called because of its avalanche risk. Great.

Luckily, like my recent visit to Chamonix, this trip was saved by the last day - a climb of the Gros Châtillon. The weather was a bit less severe (the summit is only at 1,840m versus the Hospice at 2,470m) but there wasn't much of a view beyond our immediate surroundings. Luckily these were the most incredible snow-laden trees - it was pretty spectacular.

The ski down, through the ~18" of recent snowfall, was good enough to make up for the previous couple of days.

Am I now a fan of ski touring? I enjoyed lots of things about it - the tranquility (particularly when compared to a traditional ski resort), the sense of achievement on climbing a hill, the sense that one should try to ski down as well as possible and not "waste" any of the ascent, the freedom to roam wherever you want rather than being constrained by lifts and the aerobic element, just to name a few things. If I lived somewhere snowy, I think I'd happily tour a lot - it's like going for a good mountain walk, with the added bonus of skiing down at the end. However, for me, with only a week or two of skiing per year, I think my time on the slopes is too precious to spend it walking up them as well as caning it down. Having said that, I'm sure I'll be back for a proper hut-to-hut tour at some point in the not too distant future - the West Oberland Haute Route, also run by ISM and involving "superb north-facing (powder) slopes giving about 1000m of descent each day, and beautiful backdrops of huge limestone cliffs and the peaks of the Swiss Valais" sounds pretty cool!

Finally, a big "thank you" to Terry, who taught and guided us last week and generally kept us out of trouble, and thanks also to those on the course who were, for the most part, an entertaining bunch.

Hampstead Heath

2009-02-22T16:35:00.006Z

The last few days have been full of firsts, including my first visit to London's only Kyrgyz restaurant (to my knowledge) and the purchase of my first proper trail shoes. This gave me the opportunity and incentive to run off my samsi, lagman and plov on Hampstead Heath today.

One of the reasons that I like running in London is that, having grown up here, many places have very old memories for me. For example, my slight fear of dogs was clearly down to our family's habit of going for a walk on the Heath every Sunday morning prior to lunch until I was in my teens. Here, I was regularly attacked by hounds that were, for the most part, bigger than I was. Even today, I found my way barred by an Old English Sheepdog, who refused to let me past.

Going to the Heath has some great advantages over my usual routes. This was my first real off-road running and the first on anything like hilly terrain - central London is actually pretty flat. On the other hand, it's a bit of a probe having to commute to your run - the Heath is a bit far for me to run to, then around, then back again. Apologies to those on the tube on the way home who had to put up with a somewhat feral-smelling man.

Speaking of memories, the view from Parliament Hill (above) was as cool as I could remember (maybe better, now that Canary Wharf is in existence and viewable) and it was good to see my and my brother's tree from all those years ago still standing there. Check it out - perfectly designed for climbing:

I eat rubbish

2009-02-16T20:06:00.004Z

Many of my pics seem to be scenes on the Thames. This is partly because a lot of my runs involve travelling along the river, in order to have a bit of scenery to look at and to avoid traffic (the same reason I'm keen on the Regent's Canal and London's parks). Yesterday saw me take in all of the above - along the North bank to Westminster, then up through St James' Park, Green Park, Hyde Park, Regent's Park and then back along the canal. As I hit the Thames south of St Paul's, I saw this craft and couldn't help taking the picture to the right - somehow it seemed fitting in so many ways. 40 tonnes of rubbish is a lot - possibly even more than I could manage though...

NYC

2009-02-14T13:50:00.008Z

Amidst the excitement of a 5-day marketing trip to Boston, New York, Denver, Kansas City and Chicago, there was a little bit of time for a run. This took me up 5th Avenue to Central Park, past a huge ice rink and the Guggenheim, to the reservoir and then back home again. I looked like a bit of a loser taking my snaps ("night scenery" mode involves me standing stationary for about 20 seconds desperately trying not to jog the camera), but a couple of good ones came out and no one laughed at or mugged me...

Snow

2009-02-08T14:28:00.007Z

I took the opportunity to make a slight detour on yesterday's run down to Battersea to pass by a building opposite my company's old office. Some cursory googling has revealed that it was designed by Whinney, Son and Austen Hall for Credit Lyonnais and, when it was finished in 1977, was the first building in the world to be entirely clad in glass-fibre-reinforced cement. I just think it looks cool.

Further on, I came across the last remaining evidence of last week's snow falls, that were so successful in stopping public transport everywhere.

Off to the States for 5 days now with work - I'll be taking my trainers and camera in case I'm able to fit in a run...

Cranes and African hunting dogs

2009-02-01T14:06:00.010Z

So there I was, thinking: "these building sites look quite cool, I'm going to use those on the blog this week". The sheer number of cranes in London, particularly the City, has always fascinated me. Even before the recent economic "wobble", it always seemed a bit weird that we'd need quite that much office space. Now, it just looks ridiculous. I particularly like the second one, of the Old Street roundabout with the Lloyds building and a tiny bit of Gherkin pointing up above the new development (the Bézier apartments - "curves in all the right places" apparently)...

Anyway, I continued along my Regent's Canal run full of further thoughts:
"It's not that embarrassing wearing tights [see first ever post] to run in, apart from those bits around Camden Lock and Islington where people can actually see you";
"It's nice to get back on a run after a two-week layoff";
"I look forward to my lunch of Jerusalem artichoke soup and the after-effects, which should coincide neatly with Super Bowl 43 (let's hope Kurt Warner can give it a go)"
"It's amazing how carrying a camera makes you notice things when running - things you'd probably miss otherwise"...

At which point - how right I was - I spotted these fellas behind one of the fences at London Zoo. Pretty cool guys, trotting along here and there. Now, admittedly the sign at the back says "giraffes" but I'm pretty sure they're not. My best guess is that they're African hunting dogs, seeing as the London Zoo website seems to admit to them owning some of them. Apparently they "mostly hunt medium-sized antelope". Even better, "the preferred species [varies] according to the most abundant prey species in the area". I wonder what they subsist on in London. Pigeons and children?

Kocen at 3,275m

2009-01-25T21:53:00.005Z

Didn't run this weekend due to my company's ski weekend in Chamonix. Amongst the lunacy, some exercise was done in place of running and this morning's skiing involved some of the best, lightest powder I've ever seen, thankfully making up for Thursday and Friday's weather-restricted efforts. The pic to the left was at the top of the Grand Montets just before we ignored the "do not enter" barrier and had one of the most glee-inducing skis of my life.

Quickie

2009-01-19T20:32:00.005Z

I only had a little time to spare on Sunday morning, as I had to trek out to Oxshott to see my friend Dom, who I was taking to see Jimmy Carr in the evening with another friend Nick. Dom's had the shitty misfortune to have a stroke and getting around is on the tricky side for him, but we had a good night. I always feel guilty at not seeing Dom often enough and it was great to get him out and about. He retains his ability to combine an incredibly acerbic wit with an amazing disarming boyish charm and is one of the best people I know, though obviously life can be understandably trying for him post-stroke. He's definitely going to be one of the beneficiaries of MdS sponsorship when the time comes...

Anyway - the pic of Sunday's quick 8-miler is this building (left) just to the West of the Tate Modern, as seen from the wobbly bridge. Nothing as grand as a cathedral, but I find it quite striking - it reminds me so much of Brueghel's "Tower of Babel" (right) every time I see it.

Pretentious, moi? Hopefully there won't be too many posts like this one. Not sure I could keep up this kind of highbrow effort all year...

Frozen London

2009-01-11T19:12:00.016Z

Having spent the latter portions of last night in the York and Albany trying to decide whether my favorite cocktail was a Sazerac, an Old Fashioned or some kind of modified Negroni, I wasn't in much of a mood to run this morning. However, I only had a limited time before I had to head off for a great lunch with Gus, Ali and 3-week-old Jess, so I had to get my skates on...

The Regent's Canal was looking especially cool, still frozen although this probably won't last much longer. I really love running along the canal. It's like you're no longer in London - the view above really doesn't look like you're in Zone 1. I wish I'd known about the canal when I was training for the marathon three years ago, rather than running endless laps of Regent's Park. And I also enjoyed the prancing dog at the top of Primrose Hill (below), with the amazing skyline behind. Worth clicking on for the full image I reckon.

I got a few other good shots but I think I'm going to save some of the views for later in the year - I don't want to run out of interesting things to post.

Finally, I discussed this blog with my friend Refik last night and apparently blogs are neither required to be neither interesting nor relevant (if anything, the opposite is true), so I'm going to open up access to it for everyone. I bet the world can't wait.

The first (money) shot

2009-01-10T18:21:00.008Z

I've already got the feeling that it's going to be hard to take enough good snaps to keep this blog really interesting, but I did manage to take a few on a cold and hazy night on Thursday. It was a quick run along the South Bank of the Thames to Westminster Bridge and back along the North. I stopped for pics quite a few times and must have looked pretty odd to the passers-by - a jogger in shorts, probably steaming a bit with sweat, stopping occasionally and taking photos of London. It proved tough to hold the camera steady for long enough to get decent shots given that it was night-time, but I did manage this one after running across the Wobbly Bridge to get to the Tate Modern.

There were about 10x as many runners out as usual, presumably because of resolutions for 2009. Poor guys, to have started just as the weather turned properly nippy...

Bumped into Julia M when I was about 5 mins from home and had a quick chat - nice to see her!

Wow what is this "blogging" thing?

2009-01-06T19:43:00.005Z

2009. And I now have a blog. Not late to the party at all.

This idea has been spawned from a variety of thoughts of mine, mainly the desire to chronicle the time between now and the Marathon des Sables in March/April 2010. It's partly a product of a run I went on at the weekend, when the Regent's Canal was frozen and beautiful, and the crisp January view from the top of Primrose Hill was pretty cool. And also my long-standing desire (hopefully to be fulfilled soon) to get round to taking a photo of the East of St Paul's cathedral before a new building goes up in the way. Finally, I thought it would be a way to keep me entertained on the multiple training runs etc that I'm going to have to undertake this year - I'll take my camera, and try to get a photo each time. Or something. We'll see how it works out, and whether I end up making the site public rather than just being my diary...

To get things off to an undoubtedly unpleasant start, a slight cheat of a pic of me from the Bedford half-marathon - cheating because it was in December 08. Good fun - 1h34m was better than I expected and 5m faster than my only other half-marathon a whole decade ago. Thanks to Al W and Han M for the idea of running it, and to my sister for the early full Xmas lunch afterwards.

Enough for now. Hopefully the next post will feature my first "action shot".