Crikey. What a hiatus between blog posts. It might reflect, in part, the Governments insistence (yet again) that we all stay home and stop doing stuff except when we're out doing other stuff that's permissible. No pubs, no restaurants, no races, no concerts, no meeting, no touching; its like being in a Puritan England of the past. In Northumberland the questionable decision by the Council to lump us all together with the rest of the North East is ensuring local oppression is thriving. I have fought back against this tyranny by ordering a couple of second hand books and some new running shoes and after a week of no exercise, I enjoyed, yesterday, a modest 5 miler around the town once the rain that has dogged the last 2 days finally came to an end. A couple of sub 7 miles on the flat ground was encouraging, but I really must learn to reign it in. My mileage over the last month has been meagre as I try to stave off the niggles.
What with all this apparent spare time I have sped through Frederick Forsyths 1974 classic 'the Odessa File', Hanif Kureishi's short 1994 novel 'Intimacy' and I am currently stop-starting Sebastian Faulks 2010 effort 'A week in December'.
Work has been busy and I have a back log of reports to prepare. The work in the back garden has ground to a halt but I hope my effort to create a permanent pond will attract the frogs in the Spring. I haven't seen our resident hedgehog recently and hope its just hibernating and not come to any grief.
The various reports of vaccines as the saviour of our freedom has been doing the rounds, but I hear we are to have identification cards on the back of it. What a strange world we occupy. Being stuck at home, I missed the first snow of this winter and looked on enviously as much of Scotland was bathed in the crisp white stuff. However, if I can nurse my temperamental calf through the next month, I should be able to get out and about on the trails. At least we can get out training together so I can resume our mid-week jaunts around the lanes with a couple of the lads.
While considering the virtual racing scene, the Dark Destroyer came up with a well meaning but hair brained idea of running 100miles in 24 hours around the time for charity. She set off at lunchtime last week and completed the challenge in 20 hours supported by family and friends in part. I singularly failed to make an appearance till early morning. Excluding stopping for food and change of clothes etc her time was a remarkable 16 hours. The charity is St Oswalds hospice in Gosforth and the just giving link is here (should you wish to give to a good cause) : Lorna Macdonald is fundraising for St Oswald's Hospice Limited (justgiving.com) www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lornamac13
I hear the RunNation bloke is organising a 5 mile race on the 27th at Whalton over the circuit that I organised the Whalton Classic race 10 years ago. We'll see if it actually happens. Anyway, best get up and get some work done.
