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Mel, 14 strokes over 9 holes (?) sounds a bit grim. With regard to books, once I 'hit' on a writer I like I tend to go through his or her collected work. Kate Atkinson is one of my favourites. Shame about that letter getting lost in the post, but at least it wasn't cash. It's funny, I can't remember the last time I wrote a cheque (this is not through being tight!).
In a local race last night a 60-64 woman runner did 5k in 20.25! That is astonishing. No reaction physically to my little 5k yesterday but no run today. Instead a 2k row (SB by 2 seconds) followed very soon thereafter by a bike ride up a hill. Both hard work.
Having suffered at the hands of 'Lesley from Quality' I'm now being run ragged by 'Jessica from Accounts' in a different organisation. This lot don't run PAYE so I have to be 'a supplier' and submit an invoice. This I did about 3 months ago and hadn't heard anything. When I queried she said that I need to write it on compony notepaper. I explained that I'm not a 'company' - and heard nothing back. So I've fired off a rather sharply worded email. someone once said of me that I'm a 'green light' sort of person - but then I'll suddenly switch to red. I don't do amber, This was a very astute bit of analysis.
WtnMel, It was quite a novelty riding on a steam train again. There's something about the chuff chuffing of steam, and I was rather sad when steam trains were gradually withdrawn from service many years ago.
I think my legs will be "very creaky" on Sunday after each stop.
Sorry to hear that Alan beat you again in your golf match, but I'm sure that as long as you persist with your lessons and practice, you will get the upper hand.
I always do a bank transfer from "The bank of Dad" when my son and daughter ask if I could lend then some money. I know that I will never get it back, but I suppose that's what Dad's are for.😉
JB, the New Forest is definitely undulating, but there are some quite long, steep hills. There is so much of the forest that I haven't explored, but the various club challenges are certainly helping in this respect.
That's an amazing 5k time by that 60-64 year old local woman, definitely an elite runner!
Good to hear that you had no after effects from yesterdays 5k. Rowing and cycling today, definitely quality cross training.
You definitely know how to pick Companies to apply to for jobs. I'm not surprised that your green light sometimes changes to red, when you encounter such hassles.
Todays road 10k run turned out to be a bit of a surprise. It was meant to be a recovery run from yesterdays hill session, but I ran it in 59.39, a WAVA of 66.11%. The first mile was painfully slow, 11.08, but then I picked up the pace, with mile 6 being 8.58.
Nothing much to report as today is a rest day. Heavy rain expected over the weekend☹
Not much going on here today: another cold miserable day. Went for a 5 mile walk with a friend and met the g'kids from school.
Heard on the news that Parkrun organisers say that at present, less than a third of events look like they'll go ahead.
Given that folk will just over-pack the ones that will go ahead if two-thirds (or even half) of the Parkruns don't happen, I think there's a real problem here. There's never going to be 100% of them re-starting, so I wonder what the 'safety threshold' will be. I suspect that at the very best, there'll be some heavily over-subscribed Parkruns this summer. Perhaps they could encourage folk to turn up every other week? (You could do it by age cats, I guess.)
Meanwhile the new Covid variant looks worrying.
JB - it was grim when I kept fluffing my drive every time I was on the tee. But I seemed to manage to play my way through that bad phase. I don't tend to write cheques these days - it was only because my son didn't want yet another Amazon voucher that I sent him one. That's an impressive time for 5k by that lady. Glad to hear there was no reaction to your little 5k (what, no cheering crowds?)
HS - I seem to run a similar one-branch Bank Of Dad that gives out overdrafts with no chance of the loan being repaid
Samrich - Please. Fuck. Off. (have marked the post as spam and also reported it - not that any good will come of it)
JB mentioned 'hitting' on a writer and reading everything by them. I enjoyed the first two parts of an SF trilogy so naturally, bought the third book. But compared to the first two, it was rubbish with way too much pseudo-scientific nonsense getting in the way of plotting or characters. My Kindle invited me to leave a review on Amazon so I was only too happy to leave a one-star review with the headline "Self-replicating nonsense" (I'd imagine the author will be none too happy to see it if he ever does!!).
I took advantage of the dry spell yesterday to cut the lawns as I could see from the forecast, it might be a few more days before I'd get another chance.
I was lucky with the weather earlier - set off for a walk and it was drizzling - it stayed like that but 10 mins after I got home, the heavy rain started.
JB, the Bank of Dad was never available to me as a lad either!
The future of parkruns is looking rather iffy. Many will never reopen, and as you say, those that do will be swamped. I can't see how they will be able to restrict the numbers as runners will just turn up. Parking is a bit of a nightmare at the best of times, and will only be worse when they reopen.
WtnMel, I've also spammed that Samrich who we got "removed for moderation" previously. The moderator, who is probably a robot, shouldn't have let him post again, but I see he has two stars now! It takes 5 ticks to remove the pests.
I think people of our generation are all "Banks" to our children. I never, ever asked my Dad to lend me money, but he probably would have if I had asked.
Well done cutting the lawn before the rain.
I ran the 60th successive not a parkrun 5k in the forest this morning. We were lucky as it was just light drizzle, so we didn't get very wet. The sun has been shining all afternoon, but heavy rain and thunder storms are forecast for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the 25k forest pub crawl as I mentioned previously. A shame it isn't postponed to next week, as we would have been able to go inside the pubs. As it is, we will be sitting outside in the rain, soaked to the skin. I suppose it will prove that we are not fair weather runners.
HS, that's amazing consistency and in marked contrast to me own very patchy running these days. Good luck with your 25k pub crawl. I think it sounds rather better than it will feel, especially given the weather..............
I was put off my planned run yesterday by a downpour so did a row (another SB by a second!) and then went for a spin on my bike. So I planned to run today, after watching my granddaughter's Junior Parkrun. As they set off the clouds deposited a huge amount of rain on them (and the spectators!) but they soldiered on. This time Lily was last again but by an even greater distance. But there's a certain nobility in this.
Inspired (I'm not sure that's quite the right word) by this I went straight to the prom on my bike and tackled a 5k (the rain had by then blown away). A really odd run as I did 12.00 on the 'out' bit (very disappointing) but 11.02 on the way back - when if anything the wind was against me. I was delighted with my 2nd half performance, even if it did leave me in a crumpled heap for a minute or two.
JB, thanks, the run was actually 15.83 miles and was very tough. Thankfully the rain was intermittent, but was really heavy at times. That long run brought last weeks mileage to 40.6 miles. That is the furthest mileage week this year. I'm taking 2 rest days to recover.
Your granddaughter is doing well by actually taking part in the junior parkruns and I'm sure that she will soon be finishing further up the field.
Well done for your 5k, especially the negative split into a head wind.
Apologies in advance for any typos that get through my editing process. My keyboard seems to be stuck in a strange mode where the " and @ have been transposed. Only ever seen that when I was working in Belgium and they had 'azerty' rather than 'qwerty' keyboards. I've not yet sussed out what has changed but I expect a restart of my laptop will sort it.
HS - I see Samrich now has 4 stars .. it's tempting to create some 'spare' accounts to use at times like this to get rid of them more quickly. Well done re your 60th consecutive 5K. I saw your run on Strava and thought the pace was similar to my walking pace - then the penny dropped about it being the pub crawl. I could have kept up if I'd been there .. as long as I bypassed all the pub stops
JB - it certainly didn't help being watched on the 1st tee .. but I was just as bad even when it was just my mate Alan watching me. A trip to the driving range is obviously needed to practise. We've planted a couple of areas of wild grasses/flowers this year but are keeping the lawn cut. Well done with your rowing SB (by a second) and your negative split on the prom run.
Did another brisk walk before coffee this morning and am getting very tempted to try and break into a jog - but I resisted. The walk was enlivened by a toddler in front of me who saw a lady walking a white poodle and proclaimed .. "Look Mummy - a polar bear"
We have an interesting sounding u3a talk after lunch at the virtual monthly meeting - "Memsahibs and their servants".
HS. that event is a great testimony to your endurance. Nice photo showing a good turnout. Was this taken before or after? If after, I expect some to have been horizontal!
Mel, well done to resist the temptation. Even being tempted to break into a jog probably means that you body is telling you that you are nearly recovered, perhaps?
That U3A gig sounds fascinating.
I now need to put the record straight. Well 2 actually:
1. My son tells me that several of the competitors in the Junior Parkrun didn't do the full number of laps, ergo Lily wasn't really last. Good to see there is decency and honour in her bloodline.
2. But this ethicality is clearly not from me: My claim for a rowing PB was fraudulent; I noticed an entry in my training log in March that was a full 5 seconds quicker! Shame on me.
Second Covid jab (AZ) for me today. As I type this I am rather drowsy. Side-effect or imagined??
PS one of my running rivals did a triathlon yesterday. He only one objective: to beat an old friend from 1971. He was beaten by 2 seconds! This is pretty close over an Olympic triathlon. I asked if he was beaten 'on the line' but they went off at different times and didn't realise the results until the official times were published, which makes the closeness of the finish even more remarkable.
How are you and are you still running? Do you still have your blog "Dynamic Knitting " or something like that?
The "Navigators Hat," for which you kindly knitted a medal in the club's colours, has unfortunately gone missing.
Could you do us a favour and tick the spammer samrich to get rid of him. It takes 5 ticks to get rid of these posts for moderation.
WtnMel, that's strange that your keyboard is stuck in a strange mode. I hope a restart will do the trick. On the subject of laptops, I rang Andy who operates my maintenance contract, to get me some quotes for a replacement laptop and compatible printer this morning. I've been meaning to do this for ages, so as I wasn't running today, thought I would take the opportunity. My present laptop is a Toshiba, which I believe are no longer manufactured, and my ancient Hewlett Packard printer has "given up the ghost."
I've asked Redhead if she would tick the spammer which would be the fifth, to get rid of him. He will probably return again later though.
You wouldn't be able to walk at your normal pace if you tried walking on yesterday's course. There were plenty of hills, most of which we walked up, gates to climb over, deep mud most of the way, concealed roots etc.
That's a promising sign that you were almost tempted to break into a jog.
Toddlers do say the most amusing things, many of them very funny, but embarrassing.
I hope your u3a talk went well this afternoon?
I've just discovered that the picture does enlarge. I'm the one on the extreme left as you look at it.
Redhead - hello straight back at you. Hope you've been keeping well.
JB - thanks for the Peters & Lee earworm ("Come on in .... and close the door" 🎵🎵). Tsk tsk re those 'cheaters' at the junior parkrun
HS - after my earlier post I did a restart of my laptop and surprise, surprise, that weird problem with the keyboard has gone away. I've still no idea what was going on. That was a tongue-in-cheek comment re keeping up with you runners and you're correct of course .. all these fast walks of mine have been done under ideal conditions and with a firm footing.
The u3a talk was interesting. The lady in question (Jenny Mallin) did a talk on tracing her family history back 5 generations of memsahib's during the times of the British Raj and explaining a bit about the background to it and what it entailed.
One funny thing to mention re the u3a talk .. the lady who organises the zoom session said it may be worth reminding everyone to switch their camera off when the talk is in progress. She said she looked around during the talk and someone had fallen asleep (which wouldn't have impressed the speaker). I suppose it could have been worse!
(Well done to Lily, a star in the making).
I actually tracked a walk to the supermarket this morning and you will be able to see it on strava. Don't take too much notice of the pace, as that included walking round the store doing my shopping and queuing at the checkout. Just said that so that you wouldn't comment what a slow walker I was🤣
Good that the u3a talk was interesting. I was amused by the comment that members should switch their cameras off while the talk was in progress, as the speaker said that she could see that someone had fallen asleep. Yes it could have been worse, he/she could have been picking their nose🤦♂️
Aquarius, thanks, it was a really good turn out, but not a club event. It was Dan's belated birthday run. He is the chap that sets us all the challenges. Yes that photo was taken outside of the pub that we started from, and where we finished. We obviously didn't all run together, but nobody got left behind, as the faster runners would wait until the slower ones caught up, and then they went ahead again. Yes, I've definitely made the most of yesterday and todays rest days, but did a series of stretches this morning.
I hope you don't have any after effects from Thursdays second jab. I was lucky as I had none from either.
As far as I know, you don't have to have your second jab at the same venue as the first, but it does have to be the same vaccine. In the early days, they did think that it would be possible to have one of each, but then changed their minds. Typical of this Government, more u turns than in a sewer, but they will blame it on others.
Good that they haven't dug up the running track, although not so good with the potholes.
Sorry to hear that you have been suffering with the pollen.
I waited a couple of days after each jab before running, and was fine.
I contacted Andy yesterday who operates my laptop maintenance contract, and he will get me some quotes for a new one and compatible printer. The contract covers all labour, and I only have to pay if any hardware is required.
It's pouring with rain now, and I'm hoping it will hold off tomorrow,
Aquarius - hope (for your sake) any side effects from your 2nd jab are mild. I could create spamkiller 2 and 3 I guess if needed - hopefully they won't be! Glad to hear the school running track was still useable, even though the surface wasn't very good. Sorry to hear the tree pollen is getting to you. Fingers crossed you get your 2nd jab okay re the change of venue.
HS - I saw your walk to/from the supermarket on Strava .. but didn't comment as I realised it would be slower than your usual pace!
I noticed my knee was a bit iffy after yesterday's walk when I had to jog across the road as the traffic lights changed suddenly .. hopefully that's not a sign of things to come but we'll see.
No walking today - it's garden waste day tomorrow so we're hoping to get out and do some weeding (although it's raining hard as I type so not immediately!). I did notice my neighbour over the road finishing mowing his lawn and getting very wet .. he must have decided to get it out of the way so that he can fill his garden waste bin as well.
I ordered a new phone holder for my car which arrived yesterday - hopefully this one will work better than the (smaller, less adjustable) one I currently have.
WtnMel, take care of that knee. It took me a very long time before I was able to do more than a hobble/jog after my knee injury; but I persevered, and am gradually regaining some of my pre injury pace.
I hope you managed to get some weeding done after the rain stopped; if in fact it did, and that your new car phone holder works better than the previous one.
This morning was a pyramid session on a fairly flat stretch of a gravel track. It was tough, but I was pleasantly surprised how well I was running, after Sundays epic long run. The two rest days must have paid dividends.😅
I'm waiting for Andy to ring with quotes for a new laptop and printer. I'm wondering if the printer will work on blue tooth, as my current one has to be plugged into my laptop with cables.
Aquarius, hope your jab went as well as mine. Glad to see you are using your track.
Met, HS is rightly cautious about knee twinges, given what he went through and how well he came out of it. Weeding is a miserable job at the best of times.......
HS, your rest has paid dividends.
No running from me. Always hyper aware of the Achilles. Not much going on here. My younger son is unhappy at work, registered with an agency and instantly had 3 interviews lined up. That never happened to me, although by a coincidence I did have the offer of more work through from one of my existing places yesterday, which was a nice vote of confidence.
Cycling to see some friends today. I don't mind cycling in the strong winds (within reason) as I try to frame it as a free work out. (I don't think I used to see it that way when I was a 12 year carrying a heavy sack of newspapers to deliver!)
There seems to be quite a coordinated campaign to restore Parkruns; I've just heard Lord Coe (I was always a Steve Ovett man myself) interviewed on the matter. We'll see...........
HS - don't worry, I'm being very cautious where my knee is concerned. I had to jog across a couple more roads on my walk this morning so hopefully, there won't be any more knee twinges later. I ended up 'weeding' the path, which is block paving, where grass/weeds were growing through the cracks. A lot of printers are wi-fi enabled these days, which completely does away with the need for cables - so it would be a good idea to ask Andy to quote you for a printer that does that. It was a revelation when we got our Canon MG5250 to hit 'print' and hear the printer whirring away in the other corner of the study.
JB - I'm surprised my back isn't aching more after being bent over removing weeds from the path for an hour .. those stretching exercises must be doing me some good! Good news that your son had three interviews lined up very quickly after registering with an agency. Yes - cycling to see friends (rather than driving there) definitely counts as a 'free' workout. I don't know anything about the campaign to re-start parkrun - but given the spread of the new variant and worries about how transmissible it will be and whether the vaccine will protect against it, it sounds too soon to be organising events where lots of people can get together, even if it's outside. So it sounds like Lord Coe is being too quick off the mark and a bit of an a**e ..
JB, I agree, the weather has been truly awful this year, and this evening and tomorrow will be subject to very strong winds.
The two rest days certainly paid off for yesterdays session.
Your son was lucky to have 3 interviews offered to him. It would be good if all 3 resulted in job offers, so that he could pick the most beneficial.
I was a paper boy working for WH Smith, and rode a trade bike with panniers each side, wonky brakes, no gears or lights. I had a really steep hill to ride up whilst both bags were full. I never walked up, so probably strengthened my legs. I believe I have mentioned this before.
I watched that interview with Seb this morning re parkruns. It's not looking good as 90% approval is required, and so far, only about 34% has been given. There is no way that they can limit the numbers, as runners will just turn up and cause chaos. Parking was always a nightmare before the shutdown, and if a smaller number of runs are permitted, things will be even worse. I'll probably give them a miss, unless normal service can be resumed.
WtnMel, good that you are being careful with your knee, it will pay dividends in the long run. No pun intended🤣
I've got a lot of weeding to do, but I'm not venturing into the garden with these strong winds.
I will mention to Andy that I want a wi- fi enabled printer.
Enjoy the rest of the day indoors.
I ran a 10k on roads this morning with Karen, and it was the quickest since my injury all those years ago. 58.55 a WAVA of 66.93%. I'm especially pleased as I did the pyramid session yesterday.😅
Aquarius, it appears that our posts have crossed again! I'm glad that you had no problems getting your second jab, and hope that you don't have any side effects.
Dan is preparing another challenge and asked us to pencil in 22nd August. All I know is that it will be another off road pub crawl.
Andy rang this afternoon and asked me to pop into the shop tomorrow morning, as he has some quotes for several laptops and printers for me to consider.
Good that yesterdays tempo run felt comfortable. Hopefully you will be feeling ok for tomorrows 6 mile run.
Oh dear, you are certainly having problems with the Discovery and also the courtesy car. That garage does seem to be a bit iffy, and possibly charging you for unnecessary work. I wouldn't be happy being told to hit the brake pads with a hammer to loosen them. I'm sure that this doesn't fall within health and safety guidelines!
Damien, I believe the start date for the parkruns has been moved to the 26th June.
Sorry to hear that you have had some unpleasant after effects from your first covid jab.
Today is a rest day for me, and tomorrow will be the 61st successive not a parkrun.
I've managed to reduce my car insurance renewal by £60, so it's worth doing a bit of negotiating.
Aquarius - hope any side-effects from the 2nd jab are minor. Similar thing here re wireless printers except it's in the study and I've set up an 'alternative' study in the spare room so I print things, then wait to hear the whirring of the printer from the other room. My iffy knee was nothing to worry about (see below for today's update). I guess various authorities have different procedures re jabs - at mine there was a steady stream of people arriving (rather than all at the same time) so it was a very slick operation. Well done re the 4.5ml reservoir run and glad to hear the rain held off - hope it's a similar story for the weekend 6ml run. I hope you are right about the garage but it's a common problem that you have to take their word for it about what work is needed and its usually difficult to know if they've done what they said (apart from 'obvious' stuff like new filters, engine oil or brake pads).
HS - I don't blame you for giving parkruns a miss should they come back after this current campaign. Good news that you've mentioned to Andy about wanting a wi-fi enabled printer - with that you should be able to print from your phone/tablet as well should the need ever arise. Updated as we cross-posted .. a saving of £60 meant it was definitely worth negotiating your car insurance.
I saw on Strava that some clubmates mentioned meeting for coffee - turns out some of the Thu group have been synchronising their runs to meet at various places around town. I presume no-one bothered to let me know because I'm not running but have asked to be added to the email group in case I can make it over the coming weeks even if I've walked there rather than run.
My usually immaculate timing let me down this morning - it was very windy but only drizzling when I set off. I got caught in heavy rain about half a mile from home so it was a shame I didn't set off five mins earlier.
I had to break into a jog when crossing a couple of roads on my walk this morning (due to unaccountably polite drivers at roundabouts and traffic lights changing quicker than I wanted). And dare I say it, my leg felt stronger, I didn't feel 'creaky' when running and so far, I've not noticed and post-jog knee problems. At this rate, I'll be trying a walk/run again - I think this fast walking I've been doing plus the exercises are definitely helping with the recovery.
The u3a rambling group were asking for people to be leaders for next month's walk and I've volunteered - the lady who organises the walks says she'll contact me on Monday to see about arranging a 'pre-ramble' walk so we can suss out the route before the ramble itself.
Aquarius, there's something of an irony that your car, which has the USP of robustness, seems to be prone to various problems. I'm sure that this irony, a painfully inconvenient and expensive one one, is not lost on you. I guess where you live, a rugged vehicle is what is required. (I was going to add 'in these horrible winters', but it's spring.) BTW I will accept the offer of a bit extra work as it is very light touch stuff and mainly consists of writing a very bland annual report.
HS, meanwhile you show that there are still bargains (insurance reduction) to be had!
Well done on that 10K. Loved the paper-round recollection. As I was writing this, I looked up and noticed that my neighbour was having her paper delivered - by a young lad who was being driven by his dad (in a rather plush 4x4). Don't get me wrong - I think in many ways youngsters have it harder than we did. But that example was somehow illustrative of how things have changed. I guess our experiences were 'character-building' so perhaps we were the lucky ones.
Damien, I share your frustration on the return (or not) of Parkrun. As I type this I'd usually at this time on a Saturday be looking forward to getting out there, meeting up with my fellow addicts and beating as many of them as I can!
Mel. your leadership qualities have finally been recognised and your fanbase now expects to hear of expeditions to the Arctic! Seriously, I'd be the worse person to lead any walks as I've got a very annoying cognitive flaw of not being able to distinguish between left and right. As for reading a map - impossible! This is not an affectation (I've got plenty of those anyway) but a problem with my 'wiring'. It doesn't extend to politics though where I can usually discern the left/right nuances.
I reckon that as a little group we are now 'fully jabbed' and no danger to anyone.
A visit from the grandchildren today as part of the extended celebrations for Mrs JB's 65th birthday. This is actually on Monday 24th - a date she shares with Bob Dylan.
I don't think I'll give the Eurovision Song Contest much of a visit this evening......