December

[Sweder]

Well, well, well.
A proper scamper across the hills this morning, chased by a bitter, scything nor' westerly seemingly intent on scrubbing the frozen flesh from my wind-battered bones.

Tomorrow being a day of unbridled debauchery at the MGS AGM I've written off any chance of making the ParkRun on Saturday. By way of advanced pennance I chose to make this a swift one, running where possible at 5K pace (around 5-minute kilometre pace), setting the goal of completing my mid-week course in under 45 minutes for the first time in a while. Like MarathonDan I use breathing patterns to regulate pace. A 'quick' run is one where the breaths come in short, sharp bursts of violence, noisy exhalations forcing plumes of steam into the frosty air. I rasped and gasped my way up the 2 mile climb to Blackcap, keeping a wary eye on the purple-grey clouds scuttering in from the north. As is my wont at this time of year I expelled an impressive quantity of nasal ejectum along the route. Call me old-fashioned but I simply will not swallow.

7.84 hilly kilometres in 43:36; I'm happy with that.
An arbritrary post-run visit to the bathroom scales revealed a rather less pleasing, much bigger number; 200.8 lbs, or 14 stone 5 in old currency. Weight rarely features in my running plans, yet I can't help but wonder what the loss of a stone might mean to my performance in Almeria. Perhaps this isn't the best time to ponder such things. My expected calorific intake for the next 24 hours may well exceed my normal weekly total

Track du jour: Rage Against The Machine: Killing In The Name Of
Anyone listen to BBC Radio 5 Live this morning (circa 09:00)? If so you'd have heard this - wonderful stuff, reminded me of the Sex Pistols on Granada with Bill Grundy all those years ago. Listen to 'saint' Nicky Campbell say 'Let's get Christmassy' just before they kick off. Hats off to the Beeb for letting the thing run. Brilliant.