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I'm In Love

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:08:02 -0600

Driving home tonight I happened upon Paul Jones on Radio 2.

Anyone heard of Magic Slim and the Teardrops? Well I hadn't so I did some research.

woW...

He's still touring too....

It's very quiet in here at the mo....

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:00:48 -0600

So hands up who's not injured/ill at the moment...

March

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:30:06 -0600

Feeling fighting fit again (except for a niggling cough, which is going to be with me till the summer at this rate). A week off was a good policy. I'm actually well enough for a short long run tonight, but one more early night is too appealing. I could get used to the concept of taking the whole week off for a step-back - I wonder...? Anyway, a big week coming up, culminating in an 18-miler at the weekend.

March 2010

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:58:40 -0600

Another stunning morning arrives to tease me. Frosted trees, sparkling rooftops, blinding sunshine, unsullied by cloud, beaming through my bathroom window. I can no more run today than fly above my beloved hills, the remnants of my latest infestation still rumbling darkly in my chest.

Looking out across the valley, a broth of deep mist lounging across the town, I'm reminded of a day in May 2007 when, having risen early to run before a flight to Istanbul, I was treated to a similar scene. I wrote:

For so long it seemed a nailed-on certainty that Shine On You Crazy Diamond ... would walk off with the (track du jour) plaudits. This soothed its way onto my I-pod just as I crested the stables rise on the homeward leg, a little after 6am. Languid clouds lay dormant in the Ouse valley, translucent leviathans sleeping in after a cool, damp night. Even as I watched the sun's warmth appeared to wake them. They drifted, one by one, misty zeppelins loosed from their moorings, rising gently towards the east.

Reading that, and looking out on a perfect dawn on the cusp of Spring, I can't wait to pull on my running boots and get back to the downland trails.

Running for Moyleman

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:15:06 -0600

If any of you JSJer's or RCer's have some spare cash please sponsor us (Ladyrunner, Moylebird, Jen and Louise). We are running the Brighton Marathon in memory of Chris 'Moyleman' to raise money for The Martlet's Hospice. The Martlet's Hospice looked after Chris so well when he was ill.

http://www.justgiving.com/runningformoyleman

The marathon takes place on 18th April 2010, which is one year and two days after Chris lost his seven month battle against cancer.

Chris would definitely be running this race but he will be with us and supporting us and everyone every 26.2 mile steps of the way. When the training and race day becomes hard we will just think of Chris and know that its going to be okay.

So please dig deep and donate now. Thank you so much.

Ryan Air

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:02:18 -0600

I know what some of you guys think of this outfit. Saw this today which made me smile...

Let’s spare a thought for Michael O’Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair.

Arriving in a hotel in Dublin , he went to the bar and asked for a pint of Guinness.

The barman nodded and said “that will be one Euro please, Mr. O’Leary” to which Michael replied “that’s a very competitive price” and handed over his money.

“Will you be wanting a glass with your Guinness, sir?” enquired the barman.

Laydeez an Gennamun ...

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:13:31 -0600

We have a
WINNER!

http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/5020031....on/?ref=mr

Crikey, I used to run with this gal!
Brilliant run, terrific heart to see off all-comers on a foul and brutal day for running.

A move to WordPress

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:34:09 -0600

I've been toying with the idea of moving away from the hand-coded HTML site for some time. It has a sort of quaintness value, but I fancy the relative simplicity of a proper content management system (CMS). I've mentioned Drupal a few times, which is (IMO) the champion of CMSs. Trouble is, after playing with it for months, on and off, I've decided it's a bit of an octopus, and possibly more than I need just at the moment.

So I've transferred all my content into WordPress. I've done almost no formatting or customisation yet, but the base site can be seen here --
http://www.runningcommentary.net/wp . (The Drupal version, in the basic out-of-the-box style is at http://www.runningcommentary.net/new .)

At some point I'll change over to the standard URL, but I'm finding it hard to let go just at the moment.

A few points:

The forum will be unchanged.

You will notice, if you search for something, that a lot of forum posts appear as well as my posts. The reason for this is: in my Drupal period, I experimented with a Drupal forum, and imported all the content from the forum into the Drupal db. These were stored as just more content, along with my posts. When I imported everything into the WordPress db, they came along too. I'm going to delete them, but of course they will all still be visible here in the forum. Some of the forum posts (I think the ones that start a thread only) are also included in the little word-count widget. So this figure will come down as they get removed. I don't want to delete them all manually, so plan to do this at the database end. I'm just nervously refreshing my long-dormant SQL skills to make sure I don't break everything.

Look and feel -- there is plenty of work to do here. I've gone for a simple theme so that I can tart it up. What would people like to see in the interface? Is it about time I got rid of all the existing decoration, or should I port over a few of these familiar items?

Do people want links to other places? Or should we remain a Bhutan of the web world?

Banner. I'm thinking it would be good to create a brand new banner, for the site header. Perhaps a collage of pics of the usual suspects? Or should it be more neutral? Any thoughts?

Retain Twitter?

Part of the problem is that I'm still not sure what the site is really about. Or what it's for. I wrote an item recently called "Where have all the plodders gone?", but didn't post it. The gist was that everyone apart from me seems to have got rather good at this running game. Which is grand, but it sort of changes the landscape a bit.

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on that, or any requests, or complaints.... you know what to do.

Hmm, that sounded a bit ruder than intended....

2010, February -> The clifftop path

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:21:14 -0600

Sorry for the recent silence.

I'll explain this in more floral language shortly in the main blog, but I've had another setback. After Almeria I decided to do no running for 2 weeks. Finally went out yesterday feeling unfit and a few pounds heavier, but was surprised at how easily I was moving. Then just after 2 miles, the damn calf went again. Just seized up, and I had to limp home the last 1.5 miles.

The plan had been to tackle the core training as well as doing 2 or 3 short runs a week. I started the exercises in earnest a couple of days ago, and yesterday was to be the first of the regular shorties.

That plan has to be rewritten again. It looks like I'll have to lay off the running completely (unless I find the treadmill easier on the calf) and major on the stretching and exercising and spin classes. My plan was to invert that format, with the exercises and gym work playing a supporting role to the steady outdoor running.

So the news is not good, but I'm actually feeling a lot better about it today than I was yesterday.

I've also been doing some techie work on the site too, which I'll reveal/talk about very soon.

Club's pet food sponsorship deal disallowed

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:38:00 -0600

It was announced today that QPR, the struggling Championship club have secured a deal with Gulf Air to continue with sponsorship next season, even if they are relegated.

It was rumoured that a national pet food manufacturer had declared an interest in sponsoring the club, but it was decided that to have Winalot emblazoned on the front of their shirts was deemed to be a breach of the advertising code.

Parkrun critic

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:27:23 -0600

Is it April 1st already?

Interesting point of view, and deeply unpopular if the comments that follow are anything to go by. I think I know which camp we would want to belong to:

Park run boycott

The Robin Hood tax

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:50:13 -0600

This is worth 3 minutes of your time.

[[url=]

Feb

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:16:56 -0600

Sunday 31st Jan The Pennine Bridleway Relay
--------------------------------------------
[Leg 5 - Whitworth to Rawtenstall - 9.5 miles]
This route is dominated by a 2.5 mile climb that takes you up to the top of the Pennines then quickly down again. The day was freezing cold but mostly clear. And with plenty of ice on the ground, potentially hazardous as one poor bloke found out when he broke his ankle not long after setting off.

The thing about these long relays is the combined effort that they demand. When you wake up in the morning the first thing that comes into your mind is the fact that the first two runners from your team have just set-off; and they got up before dawn to be there. And if you're running the final leg you have the whole of the morning to contemplate on the effort that's continually going on in order to get the baton to you as fast as possible.

So you better get there on time; be ready to run when they come hurtling around the corner; have the right kit to pass the inspection; and run within a reasonable margin of your best.

So when you start to feel dizzy after only 6 miles and wonder where to put your feet or where you are or why other teams are whizzing past you, you know things have gone seriously wrong. Whatever the reason (not enough fuel and not enough clothing are the likely candidates) it was careless, to say the least.

And I felt pretty low when I did finally make it to the finish. I guess life is like this. As the FRA forums pronounce: Fell running, we take the ups with the downs.

None of GMan thankfully:

PBR Event

Sunday 7th Feb - Dewsbury 10k
-----------------------------

Ten kilometers out and back from the centre of Dewsbury on a cold, grey day. Well, it's what you make it I guess and there were some round edges to this race. Meeting up with friends before and after the race; seeing fellow club members run well; the prospect of my first effort at this distance; and some pub action to round-off the morning.

But these events are inevitably dominated by the stats. Mrs G was gunning for under the hour whilst I was hoping for anything under 40. She came in at 55:55 and I managed 36:38. So from a performance point-of-view it was a good day. But I wasn't really looking forward to this distance and it didn't fail to disappoint. I found myself running into a big empty space for much of the second half of the race which was abit grim. When somebidy did come onto my shoulder and ease past it was a welcome diversion to try and stay with them. At least I've done one now and know how 'orrible they are. Although, let's face it, they're all 'orrible.

GMAN Dewsbury

Some low-key running in the hills next I think. No numbers or times, just for the joy of it.

XIII Medio maratón de Almería 31st January 2010

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:08:35 -0600

Saturday 30th January 2010

This year the day before the half marathon was a little different since the expo was at another hotel and there was no pasta meal offered by the organisation, which I find great since it was awful to have to queue for a long time in order to help yourself from a buffet at the hotel restaurant. It was much better when the meal was at the VIP area in the Mediterranean stadium although we also had to queue.

I went with Santi to the Tryp hotel where we met Sweder, Simon, Ladyrunner, Tracey and Elgordo at 7 pm. So, Tracey was the new participant this year. Unfortunately, Marion couldn´t come because of her boyfriend´s sudden illness. I hope he is already better.

We walked to the Vincci hotel to pick up our race numbers. There, I greeted a few other runners such as Diego, Adolfo, etc. Afterwards, we took the van and got to the Italian restaurant La Tagiatella where we had a delicious dinner and had a good time all together talking about our aims for the half next day, etc. http://WWW.tagliatella.com

Sunday 31st January 2010

It was a wonderful sunny morning. In the stadium, I met the RC team and we did some stretching. Elgordo still noticed some discomfort in his calf so he decided to do a part of the half so as not to get more injured.

When we were going to the start line, we noticed that people were going back towards the stadium, so we turned back and went along the stadium but under it to get outside to the start line. It is the first time it had happened. This year, we were expecting to have to stop after a false start but it didn´t happen. So, we went along the avenue to turn left, which was new, and continued along a new avenue with new blocks of flats to turn back and go along camino de la Goleta as in previous years. I really felt fine in the first kilometres at a 5´ 30´´ pace the kilometre. In the middle of La Rambla I saw Cristina, María and Lázaro, teachers from Galileo secondary school, cheering. Later I saw Encarna at the top of La Rambla. I thought that if I could do 11 kms under one hour, I could manage the sub 2 hour half. However, I did 10 kms in 58 minutes, so I realised it was not possible, so I took it easy enjoying the atmosphere, the views, the sunshine, taking photos …… Besides, my legs started to feel stiff. I greeted Simon, Julie, Sweder, Manolo, Alberto, AntonioL , Elgordo when I saw them on the other side of the road. On the second lap along avenida del Mediterráneo I heard “Antonio, Antonio, Antonio ….”. I had a look and it came from Carmen, my wife, and some friends : Encarna, Filo, Luz, etc. After such cheer, I went on feeling that 4 or 5 kilometres more was nothing. On my way to the stadium, I met a man from Jaén called Agustín who told me he had had to go to the toilet in a bar. He said that he has a flat in Roquetas de Mar and he is looking forward to getting retired to be able to spend there many months. In the last kilometre I felt stronger and pushed a little passing a few runners and at the stadium I took some photos while running so some people told me to take a picture of them at the stands, which I did. I managed to do 2 hours seventeen minutes, which is not a PB but I don´t mind. One minute more than last year. After going through the finish, I saw a long queue. There, I met Manolo who I had seen i before but I hadn´t been able to keep his pace. We had to wait for a long time although they gave out bottles of lemonade to share while we were waiting. Finally, we arrived at the stall where we were given a bottle of lemonade, water, a banana, a T-shirt after leaving our chips.

Then, when I was going to pick up my sweatshirt, I met Manolo, a colleague from Galileo school. He had done his first half marathon in 1 hour 42 minutes. He was very glad. I also met Jose, who had got injured and I saw Encarna, Pepe, Javi as well.

In the afternoon, we met to take the official post race photo with the half marathon T-shirt at the bottom of La Rambla and walked to the restaurant where we had a delicious meal with all the drinks we wanted until the dessert. http://WWW.plazadecanas.com

We had “salmorejo”, salad, “patatas a lo pobre” with egg, some sort of small pizzas and veal in several slices as the main dish. For dessert, assorted small cakes. We drank water, beer and wine from Laujar de Andarax which tasted very good. We also had coffee or tea.

After that, we all went to the new Molly Malone where we had a drink.

Monday 1st February 2010.

Another sunny lovely day. I went to the hotel Tryp Indalo at 3:15 pm where I met the British armada. They were tired after many hours drinking in pubs the previous day, especially Elgordo and Sweder. The former preferred remaining at the hotel , so we took the van and went along a road by the sea to San José in Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park. We took a path and got to Mónsul beach where there were a few caravans. This beach has been used for a scene of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. We decided to go for a run from there to another hidden beach along a sandy track, Barronal beach. After taking some photos, Simon went up a dune, so we followed him and decided to climb a hill to see the view from there. It was tough, especially going down. From there, we went back toward Mónsul and decided to go up the path as far as La Vela Blanca. Simon and Sweder went ahead while Julie, Tracey and me at a slower pace. It is a bit steep but it is worth going since the views are great. From there you can see Cabo de Gata cliffs and lighthouse. Then, we went down to the beach and the van where we did some stretching and drove back to the hotel.

At nine pm we met outside Molly Malone to go to “El Quinto Toro” where Manolo, Cristina and two of her friends were waiting for us. We took a table and had some Rioja, beer, water and “raciones” of ham, cheese, pork fried with garlic, salad, anchovies, etc.

Another intense weekend is gone. I have really enjoyed it and found that the relationship that started as something virtual unlikely to become real turned real quite soon making it possible to meet people somewhere in the south of Spain and. surprisingly, in spite of direct flights to Almería, it is consolidating and meeting new friends every year although not forgetting those who have come once or twice, especially Chris “Moyleman” who would have loved to be with us here.

February 2010

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:54:27 -0600

Well, it's about bloody time.
Catch-up posts follow. Er, later

February

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:49:19 -0600

All fairly tickety-boo here; not much blogworthy drama going on. The month kicked off with the customary short fartlek, then an unconventional (for me) 6 am, 6 mile tempo session. Sunday night saw a long slow run about 50m shy of the half marathon, by my online measurements.

I tend to avoid early morning runs, having settled into a late night routine. I'm normally up at 5.30 anyway, so that doesn't leave much time for running, and I'm convinced that the rest / elevation benefits of running directly before bedtime are great. I made it round with the minimal of mental duress, but I noted that the total time was only 2 minutes quicker than when I ran the route back in November, at a supposedly easy pace. I need to remain focussed during the shorter tempo and fartlek sessions, to extract maximum quality from them. There's no place for junk miles in the less-is-more programme.

The almost-half-marathon was equally satisfactory. My post-Christmas cold has lingered on for a month or more, so I avoided the ski mask et al; it would just have been too unpleasant. Slipping into the zone on dark and lonely streets, at a time when otherwise I'd be curled up with a book or heading for an early night to prepare for the week ahead, my battery of Radio 4 podcasts took me into an almost meditative state. From first-hand accounts of the daily struggle to live in places like Nicaragua and Yemen, to pioneering new approaches to cancer treatment, to contrasting the respective impacts of Presidents Obama and Lyndon B. Johnson, to speculating on the possibility of extra-terrestrial intelligence, our complex and confusing world was laid out before my ears, and my mind was sent spinning.

But the miles were clocking up, home was drawing near, and saving the world would have wait for another day (how convenient). With a couple of miles to go, I flicked over to a selection of 80s hits to see me home. Katrina and the Waves fuelled a sprint finish up the home straight in inimitable fashion (the choice of song somewhat ironic given the lateness of the hour), but it was Michael Stipe's plaintive cries (does he have any other style?) which seemed to best capture the lonely reflections of the long-distance plodder:

This one goes out to the one I love
This one goes out to the one I've left behind
A simple prop to occupy my time
This one goes out to the one I love

I came in comfortably under the 2 hour mark (1 minute faster than last year, consistency fans). There were a few back twinges, but not as noticeable as last week. My spreadsheet tells me that the 500 mile light has come on on my current Asics, so I guess it's time to get the next pair down from the loft. Seems such a waste. I think the project for summer '10 might be to try and remodel my gait, and join the growing band of flat-fans. But there's the small matter of a marathon before that.

Step-back this weekend - 10 miles. Nice.

Cancel (the) Connemara Kop-out

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:39:19 -0600

I was always going to Connemara, that was a given. Claire has never been to Ireland, and I’ve been often enough to know that the craic is worth the trip alone.

No, what was weighing heavily on me was whether I would go and actually run the half-marathon I’d entered. Time was a-marching and I’d become an A* grade procrastinator. An arm injury sustained in December had curtailed my tennis for most of January and obviously I couldn’t run with a dodgy arm, so general sloth and work dominated. And here we are in February, just about two months from the gun and my few treddie sessions in November were all I’d undertaken between the Brighton 10K and about 6pm this evening.

The other day Mr Swede of this parish phoned me from Lisbon airport (or was it Houston) whilst he was awaiting a connection home, to enquire how my training was going….He knew the answer as well as I did. Grrr…

So tonight was the (re)start. Yes I know that my periods of err….race recovery are somewhat legendary, but tonight I donned the gear and huffed the seafront for two miles, and bloody easy it was too!

See, the thing about lengthy lay-offs is that one tends to forget the fantastic post-run endorphin hit. Maybe it’s why runners have to up the anti, but whatever - It’s here with me now and it’s WOW.

I’ve been in this game long enough to know that I’ve got to build on this, and yes my recent record of continued plodding isn’t exactly great. But I did two 10K’s late last year, basically on the back of bugger all training I’m well aware that the half is a different kettle of oysters.

It’s a start though…So c’mon guys, kick my ample lardy arse and don’t let up until I’m up to at least 10 miles….please.

February

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:22:43 -0600

Mid week training was ok – had to curtail the Tuesday one in exchange for a check up with the doc about my bones.

Friday night saw us enjoying cocktails in the Sky Bar followed by a gorgeous meal at the Hilton in Manchester, had a great time, but probably not the best preparation for a 15 mile training run the following day.

Saturday morning dawned bright and warmish just for a change. I lingered in bed just a tad too long, but decided to show willing. Breakfast was toast and honey and a large mug of tea. Kit was rounded up and shrugged on. Garmin fished out and placed on top of the bird table in the garden to find the satellites before needed. Trouble was, by the time I went out to fetch it, it was showing there was only an hours charge left in the blinking thing. Took it back inside, plugged it in to the charger and hung around for an hour. Mr SW arrived back from his gym class amazed that I still hadn’t left the house.

Gathered up the Garmin, plonked it back on the bird table and fastened my shoes. 10 minutes later I strapped on the GPS and set off at last. Half a mile into the run I realised I hadn’t had a pee before I left…fatal, I now couldn’t think of anything else – should I head back? Should I plod on? I plodded on but doubled back after a while when I remembered a local park had perfectly respectable loos. However, the loos were so respectable that they were locked – probably so they stay pristine over the weekend. Nothing else for it but to find a secluded spot in the park for a quick Paula…you guys have it so easy.

I plodded on, conscious that I should be running slowly in order to make sure I covered the distance. Big mistake. I never got into any sort of rhythm, every junction I came to it seemed I had to stop and wait for a car. The next loo stop – one of those coin in the slot types that wash the floor after every use - was also locked so had to detour to Sainsburys. My legs were both stiff and leaden, calves were particularly tight and didn’t get any better even after stopping to stretch.

Part of my chosen route goes through a park that I occasionally use for hill reps at lunch times, the loos are open during the week, so out of curiosity I checked them out on Saturday, yes you’ve guessed it locked and barred despite the park being full of families. Why? (Must remember to email the council.)

If this post seems to be overly concerned with plumbing establishments you’d be right. Before I had finished I had an even more urgent but awkward need to visit another WC, so I headed home. Afterwards it was so hard to head out of the door again to finish the last 3.5 painful miles. 15 slow and wretched miles banked. I slept like a baby on Saturday night.

I really do feel that I started out too slowly. I should perhaps try to relax into a more normal pace and worry about the distance later. More than that ‘though – why am I doing this at all? At 58 in less than a week shouldn’t I just settle for putting my feet up? I am having serious doubts.

2010 A running oddity

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:24:20 -0600

[attachment=2150]Update
2009 ended with a flurry of activity but with very little actual training. In fact over the whole of last year I clocked 700 or so kilometres which is possibly my lowest yearly total since the mid-90s.

Two events have contributed to altering my running patterns, probably forever. The first, as noted in these diaries was the death of my father. The second, as yet unreported, was the death of somebody I’d never met in my life.

Running has always been a straightforward enough pastime. It’s never really been an effort to get out there. One of the redeeming features of the insalubrious “barrio” where I live is that it lies in the shadow of Monte Pajariel and five minutes from our flat a rickety, makeshift bridge has always provided speedy access to unlimited forest trails. Those easy, carefree days are over.

The bridge crossed the mighty River Sil at its narrowest point and the white-water underneath would funnel through with unrelenting force. The accident was there waiting to happen and one day a blue and white police cordon confirmed what everybody had predicted but funnily enough nobody had expected.

Had to ask around to get a picture of what had actually happened. Somebody had fallen in, somebody had drowned, somebody had been found floating downstream to Toral de Merayo. That somebody turned out to be Rafael “el mudo” a retired cobbler who had worked for years in the little shoe repair shop I walk past almost every day. Apparently one of the workman’s pallets which had been placed upon the bridge’s metal base had given way as Rafael crossed. Somehow he had got his foot trapped inside and had lost balance, either at that very moment or as a result of trying to free himself. He ended up stuck upside down with his upper body underwater and with at least one foot still attached to the bridge. The force of the water probably prevented him from hauling himself up again. And if Rafael “el mudo” had managed to get his head above the water at any moment nobody would have heard his cry for help. “Mudo” in Spanish means mute; death had dealt a particularly cruel card to the unlucky shoemaker.

The accusations were not long in coming. The locals blamed the Town Hall for not building a bridge in conditions. The Town Hall blamed the water board as they were in charge of monitoring the river. The water board said that it wasn’t their fault that the workers from the chorizo factory had built an illegal bridge to get home quickly for their lunch break. And the workers of the chorizo factory of course denied all knowledge that the bridge had ever even existed.

But in reality we all shared a little bit of responsibility for the death of Rafael “el mudo”. We all used that bridge in its precarious state, the runners, the mountain-bikers, the pensioners with their transistor radios on their sunny afternoon strolls; each one of us contributed our collective grain of responsibility to this horrible, tragic, freak accident …and of course none of us did because it was just that; a tragic, freak accident.

It may seem frivolous to talk about running after this grim little story but the loss of easy access to the Pajariel trails has meant that running is no longer effortless. I can’t merrily zip off to the hills for half an hour as all my old routes now involve a time consuming detour only viable on Sunday mornings. Running from now on will involve effort, discipline and even dare I say it, planning. Or there will be no running at all.

Fervent February

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:49:10 -0600

This first week of February has been appalling for running. A combination of a still-dodgy calf, frightful 13 hour work days and terrible weather has left me runless for 5 days until this morning, and then all I could manage was a measly 4 kilometres, due mostly to the 95% humidity we've had no let up from all week (not even overnight). It's frustrating!

Consequently, I'm tossing out the training plan I had and will have to ease back a bit. Instead of a gradual build up of weekly kms I'll now focus on maintaining a decent base mileage for a few weeks and see how things pan out from there.

But first this weather has to change. I can cope with heat, but high humidity is not something I've learned to run in yet. Awful stuff!

Track du Jour: Bob Dylan's Liliy, Rosemary & The Jack of Hearts, which lasted nearly as long as my run did.