FEEL NO PAIN

Bit of “dry skin” on the old face this morning. So, not that I’m one of those there “meterosexuals” you understand, thought I’d bung on a bit of the old moisturiser. Oh yes.

Slather it on… a good skoosh into the hand then a vigorous rub. Not a bit like those eejits you see on the adverts.

Thing is..the “eejits” probably check the tube before applying.

Face now covered in Ibruprofen pain killer gel..

I feel all numb now L.

MARYHILL

Yesterday saw me through in the DGP, but once more up in my “old” office for a meeting - the beautiful Cowcaddens area of the DGP.

So a flat, fast 7.5 miles was in order up by the canal and out towards the ever lovely “Maryhill” district. Don’t know if it was partly the need to get back in a reasonable time (for the meeting) or just a desire to “let off steam” (said “meeting” was not a prospect I was looking forward to), but I managed round quicker than I’ve done that route before. Maybe not the best idea a few days before  a race - but it felt good at the time (and felt like the right thing to do at the time).

Lots of other runners out and about at that time of day. Quite enjoyed it.

Few other “meetings” coming up – so might revisit that route again.

AT LAST - A POST THAT HAS RUNNING, COFFEE, CAKE AND JAZZ!!

Sadly, we do not live in an ideal world (if we did then we wouldn’t have the “music” of Sting or Phil Collins to name but two).

Another thing that would be “ideal” in an ideal world is the banning of people who do not actually take part in sport from having an opinion on it. Obviously that in itself may be a bit harsh and I wouldn’t dream of denying Douglas Badder the right to comment on the 400m hurdles for example or remove from David Blunkett the chance to talk about last nights snooker on the telly. But I would ban non running parents who take their kids along to races – with the sole intention of fulfilling their own petty desires and aspirations veraciously through their kids. What a pain in the arse! The parents who run themselves and want to get the kids into it? No problem, they know the score. The ones who think that simply bunging the kid into the 4x4 and driving them to an event makes them Brendan Foster? Shoot them all.

“He needs to know the route (every bloody inch of it mind – not just the rough outline)”. “Should he wear spikes or studs”. “I can see your busy...but I’m going to ignore that anyway… what time did he get?” “I know your up to your eyes in work. But did she win anything”. FECK OFF the lot of you.

Rant over.

 

 

Helped the club organise a leg of the cross country yesterday. Mostly went OK and the weather was definitely on our side. I started the junior race then scuttled off to Hallhill to start the results while the senior race was getting underway..

Didn’t get much of a chance to have a natter with folks when they got back, which is always a shame. Though I did get the chance for a brief word with one or two – including Ray who I chatted about jazz with for a wee while.

Sadly, due to lack of space, I was again left in the position where I had to sit in the main hall doing the results while everyone else got to mingle and, more importantly, eat cakes (though I did manage to blag a bit of coffee and walnut cake earlier).

One problem that I did face, sitting in the hall, was a lack of sockets for my computer and printer. So I had to compromise …. I plugged the computer in, but every time I needed the printer I had to unplug one of the soup kettles to free up a socket. So, if you were at the prize giving and didn’t think the soup was quite as hot as it should be, you now know who to blame!! There were two soup kettles, so I don’t know what type of soup was involved.

Managed to squeeze in a quick 5 mile run of my own when I got home, before I finished the results. Didn’t really mind only doing a short run yesterday as I’d done some LSD on Saturday – a nice undulating 16 mile circuit that took in Crowhill and Oldhamstocks (one of my “stock” training routes).

Going to try and take it a bit easier this week. Got my number for the Lasswade 10 this coming Sunday, so I want to try and keep the legs fresh for that.

 

 

Bit of a problem in the old stately pile. The airing cupboard in the “guest room” in the “west wing” has been visited by a mouse. Not problematic as such – you live in the country….you get mice. Fact. However, when the cupboard is used to store [many, many] shoes…. suede shoes….oh dear.

And “no”, none of the shoes were mine. My shoes don’t get stored. They just get left where I kick them off.

A TALE OF TWO ARSES

Ever had one of those days when you really feel that nothings gone right and you should have stayed in bed?
Yes? - Welcome to my life.
The train last night from the Treblinka selection ramp (A.K.A Queens Street, platform 7) back to civilization actually went fairly well. I was joined on my journey by a couple of colleagues who are both almost as disdainful of the state of the Scottish Civil Service than I am - so a major "putting-the-world-to-rights, preferably via the medium of firing squad" was the main topic of conversation (this, despite both of them actually being civil servants!).
But then back in Edinburgh things began to go.., as I believe the vernacular is, "tits-up".
Two of us got on the train to Dunbar - we even got seats.
It pulled out of the station....slowly.
It stopped - in a tunnel and we looked out at darkness.
We looked out again a little later to see if anything had changed. No still darkness.
The state of darkness continued for a good bit longer than it should. And then, oh joy, we began to move - backwards!!
We got back to the station to listen to some nonsense about "blockages on the line", "power failures", "broken dooh-dahs" and other such crap. And then we heard the magic words "... this train is going nowhere for at least an hour".
Now when any rail-type person says "at least an hour" they mean 2-3!
We made a snap decision .... "Quick to the bus station" and bolted off. Only to discover the stairs up to Princess Street were blocked off.
So - a quick dash down to platform 19, through the food court of Princes Mall and up and out to the hurly burly of Edinburgh in the rush hour.... When in the name of hell did they put barriers down half of Princess Street?
As we ran towards the bus station I asked my companion "what time is the bus?", to be told "I don't know".
"So why are we running"???
Got to the station. The buses don't run from there anymore!! Well some do but not ours.
We ran to the stops at St Andrews Square - Nope.
We ran to the stops at York Place - Nope.
We ran to the stops at John Lewis - Yes!!!
"Whens the next bus?"... "Two minutes ago"!
Luckily it was late.
Unluckily there were hardly any seats... I say hardly because "yes" I did get a seat. Oh yes.
I got sat next to Mr Lard Arse, and so spent the next one hour and twenty minutes sat on the razors edge of the seat for fear of sitting on one of the loose folds of butt-cheek that was spilling out all over the place. All the while suffering dark looks from Mr Lard Arse for having the afront to even "deny" him this little section of what he saw as personal space.

So last night I got to the club late and half of them were already away for their run.
I was just about to set off on my own when some more "train refugees" turned up, so I headed out with Brian.
Very pleasant it was too... perhaps, I thought, my luck is looking up. If only.
My downfall came in the shape of two wee boys out kicking a football about the street.
They saw us. I know they saw us because one of them said "Oooh hello joggers". And then they did that sort of was-that-deliberate-you-little-sod thing that only little sods can do. They made out they were trying to avoid us... while getting in the way.
I sort of had to decelerate and side-step at the same time. Didn't work... fell. Less of a "fall" to be honest this time and more a sort of "controlled-crash-landing".
Knocked my elbow, my hip and half of that big muscle located between the base of the spine and top of the leg. Not really a medical man, but "arse" I think it's called.
The wee boys were all "sorry mister. Sorry", but I'm sure I heard them chuckling when I did get up and ran on.
Rest of the run wasn't too bad. Probably the adrenalin keeps you going, but its bloody stiff today and the bruising's coming out a treat. A bit sore for the first part of todays run before it started to wear off a bit.

RIBBON

They do seem to like their public “art” through in the DGP.

It’s right up there among their favourite things – alongside early mortality, obesity, illiteracy and sickness benefit.

Did my usual route today and had a bit of bother getting past the “gawpers” as the path goes along by the “Upper Harbour” district of the majestic Clyde. Took me a wee while to figure out what the gawpers were in fact gawping at.

I can only assume it’s more of that there “installation art”. Between two of the bridges (the A77 bridge and a pedestrian suspension bridge) someone has suspended a large, thick, white ribbon.

It’s from the centre of one bridge and drops to just touch the water before rising again and joining up with the centre of the other bridge. It sort of cuts a couple of hundred metre section of the Clyde in two (along its length). It looks too well done to be a prank, and it’s certainly not the type of ribbon that some wee chav’s just found by lying about and decided to hang off a bridge.

Could a charity “statement”. What does it mean? Who’s it by? How long will it last?

Couldn’t give a stuff to be honest. As long as the gawpers keep out my road. Also. If you really must dip anything in the Clyde probably best not make it white!

STRANGE FINDINGS DOWN BY THE COAST...



Runners SHOULD see this..

A group of us from the club went down to White Sands yesterday for a last scout round the proposed route of next weeks XC race.

A bit on the flat side compared to some of the other routes in the series - but still a few wee "niggly bits".

Starts on the beach before going over the old lime kilns, round the lighthouse, back onto beach and along a bit before finally heading back through the muddy coastal paths. Just over 4 miles.



Runners SHOULDN'T see this



One obstacle that we saw that I definitely hope isn't there next weekend for the runners was a neat pile of "remains". Horrible looking stuff. Brian was of the opinion that it was probably left over from some fish... but I think I've read too many novels about serial killers - my mind was running riot! Looks like a small set of lungs to me.



Anyway. Because the scout round the route was a bit stop/start I didn't count it as part of my weekly mileage so just went out for a wee run when we got home (I was still pretty much warmed up anyway).

Then today it was off for another dosage of LSD.

Planned to do 16 and headed off down to Biel then off road for a bit through the Chicken Farm before heading home via West Barns and Eweford and the hideous climb up Starvation Brae.

Slightly miscalculated the route I was doing though ...desperately waiting on my GPS to "beep" for the 16th time before I got to the door, but ended up having to run past the house and up the hill at the back for a wee bit just to push myself up the 16 mile mark.

Interested to see that the old political "chestnut" of British Summertime V's GMT has reared its head YET again. With those in favour citing that longer evenings will mean, among other things, an "increase in sport". PISH.

Wheteher you muck about with the clocks or not theres still only a set number of daylight hours in any given day - if you don't want to miss any of it - get out your feckin' bed an hour earlier.

I still remember as a kid going to school in the late 60's and very early 70's in pitch black and having to walk down the road with a torch (the last time they mucked about with the clocks). It was dark till the back of nine some mornings. Awful.

Anyway. It's not the lack of light that puts people off taking part in sport in this country at this time of year ... it's the lack of heat. And there's bugger all the government can do about that.

CONTRACTORS HUMOUR...

What do you have if you have 12 civil servants buried up to their necks in sand?

A shortage of sand!!