(un)-motivational Platitude of the Week

"You tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson is: never try.”

Homer Simpson

Hadrians Wall Walk, Summer 2010

This post isn't exactly in chronological order, but this was the highlight of my summer for 2010, spending 4 days walking with my beautiful daughter along the route of Hadrian's Wall from Carlisle to Corbridge. Staying at the wonderful Brookside Villa B&B in Gilsland, we had good weather for 3.5 days and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Except not knowing where the next refreshment stop was.

If the Romans were so clever, how come they didn't level this out?

Brookside Villa,  Gilsland

Tthere's not a soul out there..."

NOT strictly true, as there was a dad + sledging daughter and a few dog walkers, but otherwise there was no-one else playing out in the wintry wonderland that is 'the lines' as they are known round these parts. UNfortunately he snow is a bit too deep and not very crisp or even, very heavy going which made my 7 mile run much more fatiguing than it has ever been before. A recent diet of real ale and chocolate and not much quality food may also have played a part in my feeling dog-tired. hopefully i'll soon be feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed like this fine fellow:

Made in the UK? (getting a bit political)

Is there any point bemoaning the decline of British manufacturing if we (i.e everybody) just carries on spending our hard-earned cash whilst giving little or no consideration to where our consumer goods come from, and perhaps most importantly, under what conditions they are being produced.

Each £ you spend is a vote for how you want the world to be.


Easier said than done, when most manufacturing is out-sourced to factories in various parts of Asia where labour costs are tiny and safe working conditions aren't always made a priority. However, there are some British based firms that still manufacture quality goods in the UK:

New Balance don't produce all of their sports footwear in the UK, but they should be applauded for retaining a UK manufacturing base in what must be a hugely competitive globalised industry.

SealSkinz are another innovative manufacturer of clothing for various sports and generally being outdoors. Again, whilst not all of their product range is manufactured in the UK, they make it easy to see whic products are by dedicating a page on their website to the >50% made in UK kit.

Kit Review no.1

Craft Pro-Zero Extreme long sleeve base-layer
I've never bought any kit by this manufacturer before, and that continues, as this was a prize from the Black Sheep Brewery Race Series, and a very useful and welcome one at that.

Craft Pro Zero Extreme base layer

It's one of those items of clothing that, when you put them on, you instantly feel toasty warm. It has become my first choice for winter runs, as it keeps me incredibly warm for such a thin garment and I can get away with just this and a wind-stopper jacket on even the coldest days, i.e. no need for multiple bulky layers. It is close fitting, and wicks very well. Available from Wiggle at £27 or Always Riding at £23. Unfortunately not made in UK.

"Slip Sliding Away..."

"God only knows, God makes his plan 
The information's unavailable to the mortal man 
We work in our jobs, collect our pay 
Believe we're gliding down the highway, when in fact we're slip sliding away'"

caption not needed

I was only thinking about how slippy and slidey it was when I was out running this afternoon, but those lyrics are so good I thought i'd leave them in anyway. Managed to stay on my feet for 10 miles on uneven and frozen Castle Eden walkway, trail shoes were obviously a good choice. So that is one target met (15 run miles) whilst another (76kg) was missed by a country mile.

"The boat that i row won't cross no ocean..."

although it does move around a bit on the laminate floor in the hallway. I don't suppose Mr N. Diamond ever came up with that as the next line. Ha!

Spangly-shirted guitar-thruster and sometime actor Neil Diamond 

That's another 6 indoor row km clocked up, steady away at 4m50s / km. Still got 10 run miles to do before the week is out, i.e tomorrow, so it'll either be one long run or my first two-a-day day in a while.

Motivational Platitude of the Week

"Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts for ever."

Lance Armstrong (quite good bike racer)

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

"Be running up that road...

be running up that hill, with no problems..." Perhaps Kate Bush was a frustrated fell runner?

Never seen at fell running events.

 There's a smashing local road which is ideal for hill intervals; there are good landmark points at helpful places along it's 0.5 mile length, there is very little traffic, it has decent street lighting and the gradient changes 4 or 5 times. So i've done a few hill reps tonight (two 800m reps to be precise), just to ease myself back into running, having achieved double-digit run miles only once in the last eight weeks. It felt good to pull on my trainers and get out on a solid surface without worrying about how to explain to the emergency services why i'm out running in the aftermath of a snow storm.

"Nowhere to run to, baby...

...and certainly not while it's so wet and icy."
Not sure if that's the original lyrics, but perhaps it should be.

Vitruvian Orange Man 
 (by Leo Blanchette)

Too much compacted snow and ice to be able to get any running done, and so another run-free week passes by, although 20km on the water-rower should mean i'm not getting too rusty. Must make sure I get out and start building up miles before Edinburgh training starts. Only got 3 weeks to go, so 15 miles, 25 miles and 35 miles are planned for the next three weeks, all very easily achievable, especially with school hols starting soon.
This Friday (17th) is a big weigh-in day, if i'm going to achieve my statedtarget of  'lightweight rower' status I need to be at 76kg on Friday, especially if i'm going to lose another 3.5kg in the two weeks over Christmas and New Year. (How likely is that?)