I Drink, therefore I Run

Dear Friends, once again I must crave your forgiveness because I am late in my postings. The past weeks have been ones of pleasure, work and some running, which is no excuse but it is a reason. So, to the running first. A couple of days of blessed rest after the successes of Bramley was extremely welcome (did I mention my 5 minutes 30 seconds personal best? Oh, I already have?). Back into the training on Wednesday and Friday with two easy runs, and then 22 miles on Sunday. All was feeling pretty good, however I did have a sharp pain in my left quad, which was particularly troublesome whilst going downhill. Nevertheless, I completed the run in a very respectable time, and felt in a good place with only 7 Sundays to go now to the London Marathon. Vital stats - 3 runs, 34.31 miles. As you will see next week, that injury came back to bite me again. During the evenings, the talk was all of preparation - in particular, for the arrival of the 24 Italians from the town of Trevigli...

As you will recall from last week's post, I started on Monday having pushed it a bit far. So, I deliberately cooled off this week, and just put in two short runs in the week, by way of a mini-taper for the weekend race. This proved, I think, a lucky approach. There's no doubt a moral tale there that I shall let you work out for yourself. Saturday was very running - focused in a way, in that Janet and I took our niece Annie to Up and Running to buy some new shoes and gear. There is always gear to be bought where running is concerned. I know Thoreau said "mistrust all enterprises which requires new clothes", however that misses the benefit of new clothes in making the enterprise splendid. Anyway, Annie is at Southampton Uni, and is getting into running, so we thought this would be a good way to add extra encouragement. After a very pleasing trip to the shop - and a few purchases for us as well - we then went to see The King's Speech - and yes, it deserved many mor...

A week of pushing it pretty hard! 43 miles this week, which is not huge, however over the weekend I put in a great 8 miler at pace, with the middle 4 miles at 10k pace. I felt like the wind was in my shoes! Then, a tough 23 miles on the Sunday, in choppy weather, with tired legs from the previous day, having almost run a race! Well, as always, I suffered for it on Monday. On the upside, however, they were two cracking training runs, and so, as long as I could push it through, it would all be well! I am on the athletic knife-edge, for sure. Sounds a bit arrogant, when I say it like that - mind you, I am pushing to qualify for the Marathon 2012! Wine of the week is a lovely Rhone wine, from the excellent 2007 vintage. It is Gigondas Les Pallieres 2007, Les Racines.   What a great drop. Beautiful sweet, rich fruit, A warming palate of mildly spicy Grenache, filling the mouth and lingering for ages. This is ripe, meaty, like a bowl of stewed brambly fruits. Yet again, pro...

A week of three halves, if I may use the old footballing analogy. The first part was up in Manchester, for the Spring Conference at GMex - a huge event with all B&Q managers there. What a show - with Jason Manford and Diversity. Of course the really special moment was the FlashMob, with yours truly right up there on stage - as you can see. Not sure what has happened to my midriff, there seems to be an odd kind of 'rucking up' going on. It was a great event, and I was totally immersed in it. My role (if I may aggrandise it as such) was to run one of the stalls in a 'Millionaire' style - 16 sets of 15 minutes, one after the other. Knackering yet exciting at the same time. I loved the praise, of course, and this reminder of my pleasure end enjoyment with being on stage! Runningwise you will be pleased to hear that I took full advantage of the LA Fitness attached to the Hotel. My, that is hardcore gymming, with serried ranks of cardio machines, and separate zones ...