September 2011

[Sweder]

Time to catch up with September. It's the 8th already and I'm still pfaffing about in August. Story of my life.

I arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday evening and it's been all work since. Having endured a sleepless night Tuesday (when I suffered every miserable minute of England's pallid scrape past a luckless Wales) I grabbed some shuteye during Wednesday. As a consequence I found myself in the Wide Awake club at 04:00 this morning. As my last run had been on Saturday I strapped on the Mizunos and set off into the pre-dawn, slogging slowly along the soul-less concrete trails that skirt the airport. 5.5 unremarkable kilometres turned my Terminator t-shirt transluscent, a fact that left the Marriott doorman slack-jawed in silent horror.

Back in my room I peeled off my sodden clothes and stood in the blast of the aircon, leaking like a buck-shot cartoon gunslinger. I'm pleased that I managed to get out there but annoyed with myself for not heeding Glaconman's sound advice about controlling my environment on the road. Most of the fluid springing from my freshly opened pores was recycled Guinness. Having eschewed a nightbus to Kowloon (full of gamboling, business-crazed show-folk) I sat down in the Velocity bar and sank several pints. There really was no excuse for it aside from boredom. I can and will do better. The run this morning has helped, if only to remind me just how fast a belly can return from exile.