Miscellany

Guided running holidays with a physiotherapist

I recently saw this (see above link) on the Guardian website, which looks rather good for anyone who would like to up their running performance, learn better technique (I know I do) or just enjoy a healthy and productive running holiday where everything's taken care of and you're looked after rather well. David Jelley is a physiotherapist, so he could even be useful if you're coming back from injury. He's also fast, but only in the heat of competition. He wouldn't dare run his clients ragged; he's much too nice a bloke to do that. I know because I've met him a few times, most memorably at the Shires and Spires Northants Ultra 35 in June this year, where he finished second to Stuart Mills. It may sound like a contradition but from the tone of the article, his running holidays actually sound relaxing, what with the accommodation and all that healthy living to go with the running. I could do with some of that myself.

Blogger woes?

Blogger started to rebell again recently, preventing us from posting comments. If any of you are still having issues I'm afraid you'll have to do what your Mother told you never to do and accept Hobnobs from strangers. In trendy parlance it has something to do with accepting third party cookies. I use Internet Explorer and it involved reducing my cookie blocking by one level, from Medium to Low. 'Low' is the lowest level without accepting digestives, rich tea, garibaldi, nice - in fact the whole shebang, willy-nilly. At this level just the more decadent offerings, like those chocolate-laden Foxes luxury assortments, get rejected. I can see my waistline expanding already.

Another requirement to allow editing without being repeatedly logged out is to untick the 'Keep me signed in' box at the login page. Having to enter all your login details every time you access Blogger is a small price to pay for having it work as intended.

Alpro downgrade - BOOOO!

I bought fresh supplies of Alpro soya chocolate drink for next weekend's Round Rotherham and noticed to my disgust that the manufacturers have reduced its effectiveness as fuel. Sugar is now reduced by 15% to make it more healthy, but only if you're sedentary and don't need it in the first place. As ultra fuel it's probably been ruined. :-(

Mind over matter.

The following paragraph came to me when filling in the TV company's questionnaire for this year's Snowdonia Marathon on 29th October.

My advice to any runner, new or seasoned: “Never give up unless a physical predicament or injury makes it impossible to continue. The mind can be strong but it can also be very weak. Mental fortitude can help you to achieve what you never dreamed possible. Pain is only temporary but the satisfaction of a finish can last a lifetime“.

Woodbank Parkrun.

I ran my local 5k yesterday (23:22), and what a contrast to last week. Temperature was down and it drizzled. I ran to keep warm.