New Mature Runners Thread

1137138140142143254

Comments

  • AquariusAquarius ✭✭✭
    edited December 2020
    Afternoon all,

    JB - Sorry to hear about your grandchild’s head injury, but glad that all is ok now. It’s always worrying when something like this happens, and it can happen so easily. Fortunately young children do tend to take these things in their stride, it’s the adults that feel the shock the most. Is your interview this evening? What an inconvenient time to hold it, I’d be getting ready for bed by then. Good luck with it anyway, and try not to fall asleep - that sort of thing tends not to go down well at interviews. Actually, that’s just reminded me of an online interview I was invited to take part in a few years ago. The post I had apparently applied for was the head of the Podiatry department in an Australian hospital. Needless to say I hadn’t applied for anything of the sort, but the hospital HR dept wouldn’t believe me when I pointed out they’d got the wrong email address and they insisted I do the interview. So I played along for a while, commenting that I hadn’t realised my recent visit to a podiatrist in the UK had qualified me for this post, and also moaning a little about the inconvenience of having to stay awake until the early hours due to the time difference, I also asked that if the questions were too hard for me, not having a medical background, would I be able to phone a friend? Amazingly they didn’t seem to have any sense of humour and questioned why I’d said i didn’t have a medical background when I obviously had according to my CV. In the end I had to drop the jokey tone and point our as clearly as I could that I wasn’t the person they thought I was. I told them I often received emails about events I’d been to in Australia or New Zealand, and quite a few acknowledgements of job applications, (all of which was quite true) so somebody somewhere must have a very similar email address. After a couple of days I received a rather abrupt email advising me they had amended their records, and that was the last I heard. I’ve often wondered if the genuine applicant was successful.   

    WtnMel - That’s a great photo, you look quite the cheeky chappie, you could be auditioning for a role in Just William. I think my photo collection is in the loft, so I’ll have to get Steve to have a rummage around up there to see if he can find them. I just hope there’ll be something suitable I can upload. I’d forgotten about Truprint, we used to use them too, but I think that was a bit later, perhaps in the 80s. I can sympathise with your friend about having no photos of her youth, what a nice surprise it must have been for her when you sent her those scanned copies, I wish someone would do that for me. It seems strange to me now that as a teenager it never occurred to me to take photos, I just never thought I’d be interested in looking back at the things we got up to. A far cry from today’s teenagers who record every slight detail of their daily lives. You have a lot of zoom meetings coming up I see, what is this afternoon’s Science and Technology meeting about? I hadn’t realised you could get timed out of zoom meetings, nor that it could be necessary to pay for a licence. (But then I’m a typical example of an old person requiring the help of someone with IT skills - perhaps I should sign up for Ability.net  :) )

    We were due to go for another C to 5k again this morning but Steve had to take the car over to the BMW garage in Newcastle as there appeared to be a problem with the coolant (I think that was it anyway) so while he was out I did two back to back yoga sessions instead. One was with arm weights and the other was entitled ‘deep hip opening” and it certainly was - I couldn’t get into some of the poses. However just as I’d finished Steve arrived home and suggested that as sleet was forecast for later today and also tomorrow it would be a good idea to just bite the bullet and go out now. So we quickly got changed and set out, luckily the threatened sleet didn’t arrive although it was a bit drizzly and cold. I hope tomorrow I won't be feeling the effects of running straight after that yoga session.

    I received an email yesterday from our club's Cross Country captain advising that there are two XC events coming up, a relays event in January and the Masters Championships in February. These are actual events, not virtual ones, so it looks as if local athletics bodies are expecting to be able to get back to normal soon. I've also had an email from British Athletics to say the Indoor Championships will take place in Glasgow in February. I can't help wondering if it would have been better to wait a little longer, a major indoor event in February seems a bit ambitious to me.

    Runningfox - we haven't heard from you in a while, I hope you are keeping well. Now the lockdown is over will you be able to see your partner again, or are you in the wrong tiers? 
  • Aquarius: I'm still here, keeping tabs on you all.  But as you'll have seen from my blog, I'm not running any more.  I miss it terribly.  I haven't seen my partner at all during the latest lockdown but we'll be together this weekend and definitely over Christmas.   She runs almost every morning, weather permitting, and sends me wonderful sunrise photographs.  She also sends some to the local newspaper.   









































































    A
  • Runningfox I’m delighted to hear that you and your partner will be seeing each other this weekend, and over Christmas too. I hope you have a wonderful time. 😊
  • Great pictures.
    I haven't been running this week as I had a gum abscess and I needed two teeth extracting and the abscess lancing.
    I ran a 10k on Saturday night and got a PB but with my mouth healing, I'm not even risking getting them infected.
    Keep up the good work guys.
  • john bateman 6john bateman 6 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2020
    Damien, that sounds very nasty. (Not the PB but the teeth and gums.) Wishing you a speedy recovery.

    RF, I can only echo the thoughts expressed by Aquarius.

    Mel, hope the golf went well and you avoided the bad weather.

    Aquarius, how great just to think about events being staged, although I am surprised that an indoor one is listed.

    I think I'd bend over backwards to avoid that yoga session, if only I could bend over backwards. Perhaps I need to take up yoga.

    That's a great anecdote about the job offer. It confirms all the dark thoughts I've harboured over the years about HR. (I've had one or two battles, especially when I was the union rep.)

    My (nocturnal) job interview is next week. It's actually on my wedding anniversary and the nightmare scenario is of Mrs JB, having demolished her nightly 7 bottles of Babycham and in romantic mode, wandering into to the bedroom in the middle of my zoom interview. I might have to barricade myself in.

    Back to reality, a 30 minute run for me today. This was in a part of our town that I never ever run around. This is because not only is it rather hilly but it is astonishingly posh and not my natural habitat. As I did a circuit I realised that the last time I'd ever been there was 1971 when I went out with a girl who lived there! I don't think her dad approved of me - so I speeded up a bit just in case he was still around.

    Finally, a funny thing happened to me today which I have to share. It's about pensions and I know that some folk get very wound up about public sector occupational pensions being too generous, and warning, this is about that very such thing. A few years ago I did a little bit of work for a university. They routinely have to ask if you want to be enrolled in their pension and I couldn't be bothered to opt out; and indeed forgot all about it. So you can imaging my thrill when out of the blue I had formal notification of my pay-out today: £2.61 per month before tax. After a long chat with my financial adviser and Mrs JB, I've decided that I won't massively change my subsequent lifestyle choices.

  • Good afternoon everyone, sorry for lack of posts, but there is a lot to catch up, and my laptop is doing a massive update. It's been stuck on 44% for a couple of hours. It's been with Andy, my IT contact for a health check, and returned it to me to complete the update. We will look into me buying a new laptop after Christmas. He said I've had my Toshiba for 5 years. It's still on 44%, looking like it's going to take all night ☹
  • Damien - ouch, an abscess and two extractions. You deserve a medal. Good idea to give running a miss until your mouth has fully healed. Well done on your PB.

    HS - Glad to hear your absence is just due to IT issues. I was wondering if you were ok, it's not like you to be absent from here for long. I hope your laptop finishes updating soon. It’s so frustrating when you are without it. 

    JB - Babycham - that brings back memories. My favourite tipple in the 70s was Babycham and brandy, but sometimes I went for the commercial version - “Wicked Lady”. This wasn’t as strong as Babycham and brandy, but it used to amuse me to see how embarrassed Steve got asking the barman if he had a wicked lady.
    I hope you didn’t get too wet on your run today. We woke up to snow this morning, but the rain has washed it all away now thank goodness. £2.61 a month - what a lovely early Christmas present :D , you’ll have to treat Mrs JB to another Babycham.

    A rest day today (which is lucky considering the snow). We’re due to do our final C to 5k tomorrow, but may wait to see what the weather has in store. 
  • Aquarius, of course Mrs JB isn't really a Babycham swigger. Indeed I'm not sure you could even find it on sale anywhere these days. It belongs with hostess tea-trolleys, Blue Nun wine and the music of James Last. I should add that if anyone likes any of these then they are all fine cultural artefacts.

    Well, I copped some weather today, even here on the benign (the weather, not the people!) Costa del Geriatrica. My standard 3 mile prom run completed with a fierce cross-wind plus a hail shower. 22.36 was OK in these conditions.
  • JB - okay, no Babycham for Mrs JB then, (but perhaps a Cherry B?)😁
    It sounds like you are getting some of our weather down there, in which case 22.36 is not to be sneezed at. Very respectable in those conditions.
    We also had pretty unpleasant weather here this morning. No wind fortunately but plenty of ice, so it was quite a slow run around the reservoir this morning to complete Steve’s couch to 5k programme. We’ve had a lot of rain recently which was evident in the run-off from the surrounding hills, in places it was almost completely flooded on the reservoir paths, making it even harder going.
  • Good afternoon everyone, I can't believe that my last "proper post" was December 1st. Must find more time for posting!

    Aquarius, sorry that you have been unable to find any photos from your flower power days, but people didn't take many photos in those days. I remember taking film to the chemist who would send it away for development and return a few days later. I once took a whole reel of film, I think 36 prints of a friends wedding, and the chemist advised that when the film was returned, they said that the developers advised that there was only a half inch of film and the remainder must be still in the camera. This was rubbish as the camera was empty and I complained bitterly, as the content was very important. Eventually the chemist agreed to give me a free film and free development as compensation. this in no way made up for the loss, and I never used their services again.
    Thanks for your comments on my photos. I was indeed posing against the derelict railway station, and my friend who took the pics was semi professional, and actually taught photography at evening classes for a while. He once enabled me and another friend to get into the Roundhouse in London to see "The Byrds." He took several photos of the band, but unfortunately, I don't have them any more.
    Reference the results of the virtual Bournemouth 10 miles, we were required to provide evidence of our runs, i.e screen shots from strava, or photos of the time from our watches, but I doubt if these were scrutinised. I say this because as soon as I submitted my "evidence," it appeared in the results. It might sound like sour grapes, and Donald Trump like, but I have my doubts on the validity of some of the times.
    I hope your recce for the virtual 5k trail race goes well, and that it doesn't snow.
    Good that there is no Covid in your household at present.

    JB, congratulations on your 42nd wedding anniversary coming up soon, and your sub 7 minute mile.

    WtnMel, that's a great school photo of yours, I have one somewhere, but no idea where.
    I hope that your knee "is behaving itself now!"

    JB again, sorry to hear that another grandchild had an head injury, but glad that all ok now.
    Good luck with your job interview next week. I'm glad that I don't have to go through the interview process again. I had my fair share of them during my career, mostly for promotions, which were frequently unsuccessful.
    Great news about your unexpected pension pay-out of £2.61 per month before tax. Hope you don't spend it all at once!
    Well done for todays 3 mile in cross winds and hail.

    WtnMel again; when in my teens and working in London, my friends and I took a pride in our outfits. We must have spent most of our wages on clothes and haircuts. Pier Cardin suits, and shoes from Anello and David in Drury Lane .One of my friends bosses thought that we were spivs, as she wondered how we could afford such expensive gear on our very low wages. I remember my first wage slip was £5.14 shillings per week, out of which I had to pay my Mum house keeping money, and purchase a season ticket from Surbiton to Waterloo, and tube tickets to Tottenham Court Road. Hope your zoom meeting went well on Thursday

    Aquarius again;  I like your anecdote about the job interview you had for a post that you hadn't applied for. sounds like you had a bit of fun with it, winding them up.
    Well done going for a run on Thursday after your yoga session.
    I doubt the wisdom of an indoor athletics meeting in February, but presume the spectators numbers will be limited, as per football at present.
    My laptop updated this morning with no problems.
    I remember Babycham and the TV adverts "Babycham, Babycham, I'd love a Babycham." There was also a white 45rpm disc which was a recording of the jingle. Would probably be worth a few quid now! Blue Nun wine too, quite trendy at the time. Remember Bernie Inns with prawn cocktail starters and steak and chips for the main meal. I've been vegetarian for more than a year now, and the thought of eating steak is repulsive these days.
    No snow here yet, but there was sleet this morning.

    Damien, that abscess and two extractions sounds very painful. Well done for the 10kPB. 

    Runningfox, good to hear that you will be seeing your partner this weekend and over the Christmas.

    I hope that I have covered most of the points in your posts, there was a lot to take in, and I'm now feeling laptop fatigue. Must try to post daily again, to keep on top of matters.

    Wednesday was another structured training session with the two Sarah's and Mike. We did 5 x 1k with 90 second recoveries and 4 x 100 metres with 60 second recoveries. Thursday was a solo road run of 5,6 miles at recovery pace, and today was our 37th not a parkrun 5k in the forest. Tomorrow will be a 10 mile forest run, celebrating my 75th birthday, as we can't have the usual celebratory evening meal. Unfortunately we will only be able to run in a bubble of 6, but that's better than solo, as in the first lock down.
  • john bateman 6john bateman 6 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2020
    HS - happy birthday! I hope you get a PB as a present. (Well it will be a PB for your new age category!)
    Interesting that you are (now) a veggie. I've been one since I was about 14. It was so unusual in those days. No-one else in my family or indeed anyone else I knew was one at the time. It was quite  a limit on my social life as I never wanted to make a fuss and would get very embarrassed when people started asking me about it. Mrs JB became a veggie when we first lived together and is now a vegan. (I can't quite manage that - it's the Vegan cheese I can't cope with!). Neither of our sons are veggies although in effect they were brought up as veggies. 
    I'm not surprised that your photo was taken by a pro. It's really moody and so much of its time. Wow: the Byrds! Far out..............terrific band. (Mr Tambourine Man is one of my all time favs.)
  • I ventured out tonight and did a steady 10k and I did ok.
    That last couple weeks was a pain in the ass. It strange having the teeth yanked out but that abcess is still sore now even though it's gone.

  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    Aquarius - I smiled at your story about your non-interview for the podiatry post .. wonder why the HR department didn't believe you? What a bunch of humourless people the Australians were - you'd think they would have laughed along with you and then let rip at the numpties in the UK. Got my fingers crossed Steve is able to find the old photos -we've shown you ours so hope we get to see yours ;) The S&T talk was supposed to be about the possibility of alien life - unfortunately the guy giving it had a power cut but a chap from York (a subject expert on space-related stuff) was on the call so he had a talk ready about the solar system and gave us that instead. With Zoom, you can chat without limit for up to three people - once you get over three, the time-limit kicks in. We've bought a licence as it reasonably cheap (£14 a month between us) and it will save all the faffing about re-starting zoom calls. Well done for getting out with Steve despite the weather forecast. I think my running club have re-started their socially-distanced, max 6 people in a group, Wed eve sessions. Re Steve having to ask for a wicked lady .. they definitely name drinks for the double-entendre possibilities. Well done for running in nasty conditions.

    RF - glad to hear you're still out there keeping tabs on all of us ;)

    Damien - hope the pain is now receding from the abscess and teeth being removed.

    JB - your joke about the nightmare scenario of Mrs JB appearing during your interview after one too many Babychams made me smile. There have been reports of people popping up on their partner's zoom calls and there's the famous example of Charles Saatchi wandering around naked and flashing his bum on his way to the shower during Trinny Woodall's Facebook Live video. Well done re your (speedy when in the posh part of town) 30 min run and running in hail. That's an impressive (ly small amount of) pension you've been awarded there .. thought my £30 a month one was small enough but you beat that.

    HS - glad to hear your laptop has now recovered after that large update. I think my first wage slip when I got an apprenticeship on leaving school at 16 was probably about £5. I'm sure, like you, some of that was donated to my Mum so I felt I was doing my bit. I don't remember any Babycham adverts or the jingle - I still have all my lp's from the 70's and 80's and keep meaning to check online to see what any of the more obscure ones might be worth. I see today is actually your birthday - hope you are having  nice day. I went vegetarian for a few months in my twenties more by way of an experiment than anything else. But I missed having meat and returned back to my usual diet.

    It was cold playing golf on Friday despite me wearing four layers (thermal vest, polo shirt, thermal running top, waterproof) - the main culprit was the cold wind. The only time I warmed up was on the 2nd fairway when Alan was rummaging around for his 7 iron - he then realised he'd left it behind at the 1st green. As he's not as fit as me I volunteered to jog back to get it - the following group of 4 guys had picked it up and I met them at the 2nd tee then jogged back to Alan. As you can imagine, I was a bit warm after that unexpected bit of exercise. It was all square after 13 holes but I lost 8 strokes over the last five holes. I was worn out by then - can't imagine why!

    Spent yesterday working in the bathroom of my house in Wootton Bassett. My son discovered the bath wasn't supported very well after he took the side off to be able to clear the drain. We spent a few hours re-seating the bath and he says he should be able to do the sealant along the bath edges by himself. I was a bit achey after yesterday - think I'm getting too old to be scrabbling around underneath baths!

    Needless to say, having a quiet day today after the golf and the diy. I'm not planning to run for a few days yet - want to make sure my knee fully recovered.
  • Afternoon all, I haven’t time to do a proper post but just wanted to wish HS a happy birthday 🥳 
  • Just catching up on all of the posts since my last visit. Wow, you folks certainly have been busy. Before I forget, a very happy birthday HS. Hope your day goes well.
    Some great photos posted as well. There's absolutely no chance of me uploading one of mine. It's just too embarrassing; not that I have many to chose from (apart from the wedding album). For many years I went out of my way to avoid having my picture taken, mainly because they never turned out very well (silk purses and sows ears).
    Did my usual 9 miler this morning. Slow and painful. The pain emanates from my shoulder and travels down my arm after about 5 miles. I've been doing remedial shoulder exercises during the past week, but not much improvement as yet.
    I've been toying with the idea of doing a 100k in a week challenge, just for a bit of variety. Maybe before Christmas, to make room for the over-eating that is to come.
  • Good afternoon all,

    Thanks for the birthday wishes, I had a very enjoyable 10 mile social run in the forest with 5 running friends. We celebrated after the run with Prosecco and home made cakes. I'm attaching 2 of the photos. I'll reply to your posts tomorrow 🍾

  • RM - 100K in a week would be a fair old challenge. With 2 days off it's a half marathon a day. I for one couldn't dream of that right now, but good luck if you have a go.

    HS - great photos; what a lovely supportive bunch of friends/running mates you have. I tend to stick with one - mainly because he's the only person who'd put up with me.....and is a good listener. (He needs to be.)

    First frost of the winter here today! Not really my cup of tea but dragged myself out and ran 5 miles in 45 mins. I was running 1 miles laps and this included running past my old school and the house where I was born a few weeks short of 66 years ago!
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    Aquarius - *waves hello*

    Redmist - I don't have as many photos as I'd like of me in my younger days, mainly due to me being behind the camera. Thank goodness for self-timers and my remote control .. now I get to gurn for the cameras too :) Well done re your 9 mile run. I've had some shoulder problems in the past and they take ages to sort out. I would struggle to manage 100k in a month, let alone in a week - good luck with that if you decide to do it.

    HS - some lovely photos there (well done to the photographer). At least you didn't need to chill the prosecco!

    JB - I'm a bit like you. Only have one person who has run with me since lockdown and that has only been the one time a few weeks ago. Well done re your 5ml run.

    I set off for the hairdressers and got to the end of the drive before realising I'd forgotten my mask. Jogging back to the house (because I was already running a few minutes late) reminded me my knee still isn't right.

    I definitely noticed the cold on my head on the way back home :) 

    Walking through the churchyard, I bumped into one of the U3A ladies I'd been chatting to a few hours earlier on a 'coffee & chat' zoom call. She didn't recognise me at first until I slipped my mask down! We've another 'coffee and chat' call in two weeks time (21st) so Val who organises the call has asked us to wear something xmas-sy. Not sure I have a hat or a jumper - so may have to wear my xmas socks.


  • Good afternoon everyone,

    First of all I'd like to thank you all for your birthday wishes, very much appreciated🍷🍾🍰🎅.

    JB, yes I've been a veggie for over a year now. An Aunty of mine, now deceased, was a vegetarian for most of her life. My daughter has also been a vegetarian for many years, and has even tried being a vegan a couple of times. These didn't last long though. I couldn't ever be vegan as I like fish, eggs, cheese etc.
    I like Mr Tambourine Man too and at the moment am playing a Byrds CD that has it as track one. I believe Bob Dylan also recorded it. It's in a Byrds box set of 4 CD's. 
    I'm glad that you liked the photos of the 6 of us after my birthday run. It was a shame that it had to be limited to a bubble of 6, but better than having to run solo.
    This morning was foggy and below zero, and I did a forest recovery run with Jane of 7 miles. She was unable to run with us on Sunday, so it was good to run with her this morning.
    That must have been very nostalgic running past your old school and where you were born.

    Damien, hope that the soreness from having the abscess removed soon clears up.

    WtnMel, that's a pity that the talk about the possibility of Alien life wasn't able to be held. I would have been very interested in that, possibly because I am a Star trek watcher, and can't believe that we are the only intelligent life forms in all the countless galaxies.  I'm also intrigued about the possibility of going backwards or forwards in time. 
    It certainly was cold on Friday and thankfully was a rest day for me, except for a walk to and from the supermarket.
    Rather unusual for golfers to see someone jogging between tees. Sorry that you lost to Alan, probably due to the jogging😁
    Sounds like hard work reseating a bath, and certainly something I wouldn't contemplate.
    A good idea resting from running for a few days to give your knee time to recover.
    I visited Andy, my laptop maintenance man on Friday for its health check, and he said that I had had it for 5 years, so definitely time for an updated one. We will wait until after Christmas when there are "offers" and he will give me a selection to chose from. He will take mine in part exchange, and do all the wiping and transferring to the new one, and setting up with my router and printer etc. All part of the maintenance contract, which includes all call outs foc except for any necessary hardware.

    Redmist, good luck with your attempt at a 100k week. I think 62 miles in a week is the most that I have ever run.

    Tomorrow is a rest day and Wednesday will be another structured training session.
  • HS, a little correction, which is especially topical as Dylan has just sold (or sold out!) his entire collection of lyrics in a multi-million dollar deal, he wrote the song - although I think I prefer the Byrds' version. whether Bob was worth that Nobel prize for literature is arguable but my goodness he wrote some great stuff.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    edited December 2020
    Afternoon everyone,

    HS - like JB, I prefer the Byrds version of Tambourine Man to the Dylan original. I also much prefer Hendrix's version of All Along The Watchtower (apparently even Bob Dylan himself liked it). Now we have Sky Arts on Freeview I've been watching 'Classic Albums' which give you an insight into the recording process for various albums you may have in your collection. Some are more interesting than others and I enjoyed the one about Hysteria (Def Leppard) last week. It's a shame you're not a member of your local u3a as if so, I could have probably wangled you an invite to the zoom call as a 'guest'. Well done re your 7ml run with Jane. Re golf, although I lost by 8 strokes, under the scoring system (Stableford) we were tied on 24 points each. The system has just been updated and I've discovered my handicap has increased from 36 to 39 while Alan's has decreased to 33. So in future, I will have 6 strokes in hand and a bit more chance of beating him. Nice to have a pc engineer you can trust to help with maintenance/upgrades etc. I'd imagine there are a lot of dodgy characters around in that field. 

    JB - I read about that deal Dylan did recently. I also wasn't sure he should have been awarded the Nobel prize for literature.

    Had a fun zoom call yesterday. It was the u3a 'coffee & chat' group and we talked nonsense and had a laugh for an hour of so (interspersed with various people muting themselves or switching their camera off and then not sure how to get it back on) - a much-needed laugh for all of us. Today's zoom call will be slightly more serious - it's the book group where we will be discussing  "The Beekeeper of Aleppo" which we've read over the last month and we'll decide on the book to read for next month's meeting. My suggestion will be The Midnight Library by Matt Haig but we'll see what others have to say.

    Each year I print myself a double-sided A4 sheet year-planner for planning holidays etc. Obviously, 2020's version didn't get much use after March this year and most planned things got cancelled. But being optimistic, I'm just getting the 2021 version ready to print.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Popped back to see what people have posted but I see no-one else has been here in the meantime ..

    The inevitable flurry of xmas cards have begun to arrive. So I have been in the loft, retrieved the xmas card holders and they are now on the living room doors waiting to be filled up (we just have a handful at the moment).

    Everyone enjoyed "The Beekeeper Of Aleppo" and the book group decided to read "Where The Crawdads Sing" for next month's meeting. The reviews I've seen don't fill me with optimism but I'll give it a go and see what I think myself ..
  • john bateman 6john bateman 6 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2020
    Mel, firstly the BIG news: the Xmas Radio Times is out. The rather bad news is that it's a fiver. However I still went for it. It's just part of the ritual. To some extent we're all still kids at heart, I guess.

    I too did a Zoom call yesterday - to New York! This made me feel terribly cosmopolitan and sophisticated but it was only a routine 'work' one. He might as well have been in the next street.

    On your book club choice I don't know those titles. Mrs JBs book club made the shrewd - if expensive, as it was only out in hardback - choice of the new Richard Osman one which has been selling like hotcakes. It's very clever - as is the man - and set in Sussex (he's from Sussex) and I loved the first 130 pages and then suddenly switched off. The book club weren't overly impressed either which surprised me as all the book's principal characters are old as are we. Anyway, the reviews have been fab - so what do we know?

    Felt rough today. Really tired as if a hangover or going down with a bug. It can't be the former as I'm trying to cut down my alcohol intake and have only had 2 'drinking days'* in the last 3 weeks, which for me is pretty remarkable. I now think it's just 'over-doing it. I checked my training diary and since 01/10 I've only had one day when I've not trained - either rowing, running or quite intensive workouts. Sometimes this has been up to 3 sessions a day. (You can see where the hitherto regular drinking fits in!) So yesterday I thought I'd go for a little run. Only 3 or 4 miles. But I chose to include a 1 mile steepish hill. And then I spotted a cyclist and chose to try to get to the top of the hill before him (I failed but totally knackered myself). And then I did 2 x fast 3kms on the rower. Not very bright.

    So today I'm doing nothing.

    *I should add that usually this is just 1 can a day, rather than a 24 hour  session!

  • Good afternoon everyone,

    JB, I also prefer the Byrds version of Mr Tambourine Man, and Jimmi Hendricks "All along the Watchtower." Dyland's version is definitely inferior in my opinion. Another Dylan Number is "Knockin' on Heavens Door." I prefer the AC DC version which I think is amazing.
    On the subject of Richard Osman, I don't know if you watch" Pointless," but some evenings he's clean shaven, and others he's got a big black beard. 
    Sounds like you are overdoing it, with the running and workouts and only one rest day. It's your body telling you to ease off a bit.
    I'm also guilty of trying to beat  cyclists to the top of a hill, but only if they are elderly, definitely not the racing cyclists that frequent the forest roads.

    WtnMel, we seem to have similar tastes in music. I also watched the Def Leppard programme on Channel 11, and a couple of weeks ago, the Bee Gees live, which I think was in 1983. One about Meatloaf was very interesting too.
    I used to have Skype but recently deleted it. I haven't got zoom, but probably will eventually.
    I have been a customer of Andy for about 10 years; he set up my first laptop, and I have used his services ever since. Coincidentally Andy was a keen golfer until he had back problems so doesn't play any more He said he had a single figure handicap which he said was good. He also had a watch, especially for golf which he said notified distance between holes, trajectory and other aids. He said that in a way it was cheating, as it took some of the mental arithmetic out of it.
    I'm afraid that I've never heard of the books that you mentioned, so I wouldn't be much good in a discussion. At the moment, I'm trying to read some of the books I've had for years, and never got round to reading.
    Good luck with your year planner. I'm keeping a spread sheet of all the not a park runs since March. It's interesting to compare the data from each run.

    Another tough structured training session in the forest this morning with the two Sarah's and Mike. It comprised 5 reps up a 0.23 mile hill, with recoveries running down. It was a bit slippery, but thankfully none of us fell over.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    JB - as I have a subscription to it, no doubt the postie will be struggling to push the double-issue Radio Times through the letterbox any day now. I did get an email telling me not to panic if I saw it in the shops before it arrives as they wanted to re-assure me they won't forget. It may be due to the channels 'saving' stuff for xmas but the last week or two there seems to have been an awful lot of dross in the schedules. My book club ladies prefer to go for older books rather than new releases .. ones they can buy cheaply or in some cases, borrow from the library. Not such a problem for me as if it's cheaper, I'll go for the Kindle version. Hope for your sake you're not coming down with anything .. but it does sound like you've been over-doing the training (not something I'll ever do as I know I need a rest day in between training).

    Have just written and posted the first batch of xmas cards - not started on the presents yet though but there are less to get as my family have agreed and decided to foregoe presents this year as we can't all see each other in person. So just my Mum is getting a present (and that has already been sent via my sister who lives near to my Mum).
  • Mel, your hopes well well founded as I am indeed coming down with something! Not THE 'something' (sense of smell and taste ore OK - other than my dress code!) but just feeling yuk. Suddenly resting doesn't become a choice. 

    Hope all are OK and more resistant than me!
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    WtnMel, our posts crossed!

    JB, there are quite a few colds around at the moment, which is strange, as most people are wearing face coverings where appropriate, which should help prevent the spread. Hope you soon feel better!

    Ran a 5.3 mile recovery run this morning on heavy legs from yesterdays hill reps.
    I had to make an unscheduled visit to the supermarket this morning, as when I started to prepare lunch, I realised that I didn't have any potatoes. I arrived around 11.45 and it was really busy, with queues at all the checkouts that were open. I usually arrive at around 8.30am when it is nearly empty.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    JB - glad to read you're only coming down with something rather than THE something. If we don't see you on here for a few days we'll know why.

    HS - I refreshed the page after posting but it looks like you were on here within the hour. Well done re your recovery run - still no running from me as every now and then my knee still makes itself known and behind my right knee is still sore as if I've over-stretched something. Margaret makes a point of going to the supermarket between 6am and 6:30am to avoid the worst of the queues (and reports there's usually hardly anyone there - can't say I'm surprised).

    We've just got a new fitting for our bird-feeder .. a tray that hangs off one of the hooks but with a built-in dome over the top to stop the seed getting wet & soggy. I've adjusted it so that only birds like blue-tits, robins and wrens can squeeze in under the dome to get to the tray of seed. So all being well, that will stop the pigeons from hoovering it all up. They'll have to make do with the fat balls on the 'open to the air' tray that was already there.

    The decorators are here tomorrow to paint the conservatory. I'm being allowed out to play golf (assuming Alan is up for a round of golf - I've emailed him to ask and am still awaiting a reply). Looks like we'll be lucky and miss any rain - but I'll still wear my lined waterproof trousers as they kept me lovely and warm last Friday.
  • Afternoon all,

    Another brief post from me I’m afraid. I keep putting off posting until I have enough time to respond to everyones posts and also update you on our activities, but somehow the days fly over and I still haven’t posted. 
    I’ve only a few minutes before starting on the evening meal, which unfortunately means I haven’t time to comment on your recent posts, except to wish JB a speedy recovery (speaking as someone who repeatedly overdoes things, and then feels lousy for a week or so, I expect this is what you have done JB. Try to enjoy your enforced downtime, you’ll be back to all your usual activities before you know it).
    Although we’ve finished the C to 5k programme we’re still running about 30 minutes three times a week, and expect to gradually increase this over the next few weeks.( Oh-oh just had something flash up on the screen to tell me to uninstall Adobe Flash Player, something else to find the time to look into.) Yesterday we tried to recce the trail run I signed up for in December. Well that was a £10 entry fee down the drain. The organiser had emailed a map, which was actually just a photo of a leaflet about the woods showing a very basic map, which he’d drawn on to indicate the route. It didn’t bear much resemblance to the actual trails when we got there, and we got lost twice trying to follow it. There were a lot of confusing paths, and next to no signage, so it was very difficult to work out which way to go, then a dog appeared from nowhere and jumped up at me repeatedly covering me with mud. When the owners turned up (“oh you naughty boy Charlie”) a frank exchange of views on dogs off the leash took place, then I rather went off the whole idea and we went home. When we got back I cut Steve’s hair (second disaster of the day) but we salvaged what was left of the day with a successful present wrapping session. Today, apart from our run this morning, we shopped around for a small Christmas tree. We have a large artificial one, but I like real trees, so the compromise is the large one goes in the corner of the kitchen and my real tree sits on a table in the living room (and so has to be on the small side). After looking at a couple of garden centres (with ridiculous prices) we ended up at B&Q, who were also pretty expensive but just as we were leaving we saw a small tree that was already netted up. The assistant told us it was only £19, which was suspiciously cheap, but we snapped it up and haven’t yet had the courage to take the netting off to see what sort of a pathetic specimen it is. We’ll keep that treat for tomorrow. I can hear Steve in the kitchen now so I’d better go and give him a hand with the meal. 

Sign In or Register to comment.