Running with your mouth closed

This week we have upped the ante with a few short midweek runs, together but apart . We call each other at a designated time and then head off out into the pouring rain - if we didn't make this arrangement we would never go .



At the weekend, we had to do this as well due to various other commitments. As I didn't have my normal chatty running buddy with me, I started to daydream. This time it was about the dangers of swallowing flies whilst on the run - something that has happened occasionally over the years, with rather disturbing results. I tend to double up, retch horribly and scare the shit out of passing dog walkers.



So I try to run through the woods with my mouth closed or more often with my toungue sticking out to deflect attacking insects - all of which also makes me look a bit demented and certainly untrustworthy.

My daydreaming soon took me to a darker place - excerpts from the film 'The Fly' flash before my eyes or, even worse, long forgotten memories re-emerge of Val Doonican singing "I once knew a woman who swallowed a fly ....



Time for the old jumpers and cardigans to make a comeback ?

Up and running again - concrete and pykrete

We finally got it together and ran this weekend - this time on Saturday. We were surprised how busy it was compared to a Sunday morning but part of this was due to the Mayor's riverside festival on the Southbank. It is also clearly a big tourist tour time - we are always amused as to what some of them wear ...



Do you think some one should tell this stage assistant that Marilyn Monroe passed on some time ago - also interesting that her name is totally mispelt but it takes several glances to notice this.
At the end of the run we crept into the Smithfield poultry market to gaze at the amazing roof ...



Horace Jones' original Poultry Market was destroyed by fire in 1958. The replacement building was designed by Sir Thomas Bennett in 1962–1963. The main hall is covered by an enormous concrete dome, shaped as an elliptical paraboloid, spanning 225 feet by 125 feet and only 3 inches thick at the centre. The dome is believed to be the largest concrete shell structure ever built in Europe by that time.

More research on getting home revealed that during World War II, a large underground cold store at Smithfield was the theatre of secret experiments led by Max Perutz on pykrete, a mixture of ice and woodpulp, alleged to be tougher than steel. Perutz's work, inspired by Geoffrey Pyke and part of Project Habakkuk, was meant to test the viability of pykrete as a material to construct floating airstrips in the Atlantic to allow refuelling of cargo planes in support of Lord Louis Mountbatten's operations. The experiments were carried out by Perutz and his colleagues in a refrigerated meat locker in a Smithfield Market butcher's basement, behind a protective screen of frozen animal carcasses. These experiments became obsolete with the development of longer range aircraft and the project was soon abandoned.



Looks like they finally found a use for pykrete ...

P.S. New Smiths of Smithfield restaurant in Spitalfields now open - called The Luxe probably because they couldn't call it Spit of Spitalfields...

Driving on the right.

Mark managed to get into a fight with an Irish fencing post and a road this week - he won on points - but unfortunately no Sunday run.



Talking of roads, I was taken with the story about the Samoans deciding to switch the side of the road they drive on from the right to the left. They only drive on the right because of a short period of German rule at the start of the last century .

Apparently, in the pre-industrial era horses kept to the left so that riders could draw their sword. Napoleon changed Europe to the right - all because someone called him short - watch out for what Sarkozy does next.



The Samoans have wangled themselves a special two day bank holiday ( but with a 3 day ban on alcohol sales) to help them into the new regime. There were also reports of some people attempting to drive on the left before the official changeover- a Samoan spokesman was heard to say "though I don't know if they were doing it by accident or because they are crazy".




It reminded me of working in Holland with some Dutch colleagues - all of their jokes were based on the myth that all Belgiums are not that bright. One of their favourites was about the Belgium plan to switch from driving on the right to the left - but to make it easier on the population the first week, it would be lorries only....

Staycation running 3 - the new slow

I think I've cracked it - don't drink the night before and there is a chance of running the next morning - Camber Sands beach is vast and wonderful - if I can stop looking down to pick up razorclam shells or stopping to take pictures of degrading groynes I can run for hours ...

The light first thing on the run was also amazing

Now groynes have always fascinated me - was it just a schoolboy snigger at the name or was it more ? A quick trip to Wikipedia reveals the following essential facts -

Groynes may be classified as attracting, deflecting or repelling. Attracting groynes point downstream, serving to attract the stream flow toward themselves and not repel the flow toward the opposite bank. They tend to maintain deep current close to the bank. Deflecting groynes change the direction of flow without repelling it. They are generally short and used for limited, local protection. Repelling groynes point upstream; they force the flow away from themselves. A single groyne may have one section, for example, attracting, and another section deflecting.

Fascinating and useless information ....

Best of all you sometimes get terminal groyne syndrome where sand doesn't do what it is supposed to do

So I managed 3 runs in 3 days - the answer seems to be no alcohol, flat vast beaches and be careful at all times of terminal groyne syndrome ...

Staycation running 2 - the new slow

Hopes were relatively high on the running front until we hit the Glen Bar on the first night and it was downhill and uphill from there.

We managed a long walk on the next day down an amazing pass



taking in swollen waterfalls,



fast flowing, impassable rivers



and a particularly expensive but dangerous primus stove

We finished the next day with a fun trek up the local mountain and were rewarded with a wild bilberry scrumping session on the way down.

Last hope for holiday running was next stop - Camber Sands.

Staycation running 1 - the new slow

First stop on our British staycation journey this summer was West Wales - as for all holidays I diligently packed my running kit with high expectations of early morning runs on empty beaches and coastal paths.

Well we managed to fish for mackerel, below is the full catch)



complete a stunning coastal walk around St David's Head and



and play an epic round of golf in hurricane wind conditions



- but the evening drinking put paid to jumping up early and zipping along the local beaches.

Next stop, and hopefully run, Donegal ...

The last straw

Ankle injuries and 50th birthday celebrations are this week's excuses for not running - at least the sprained ankle happened whilst on a training run.

Following on from previous posts concerning Big Ben, I was excited to see pictures of a straw replica in a Cheshire cornfield - 70 feet high and made from more than 500 straw bales , it also has a working clock and is illuminated at night.




Apparently, Jack Straw is to take over from Mandy as acting Prime Minister in 2 weeks time - I suggest we ask him to stand in a corn field and to save on energy costs, not illuminate him at night when the combine harvester is in action.