Two Left Feet

Some very quick points that I want to tell you about...

1. I've got two good books lately (from Amazon - will they give me a discount for the plug?). The first is a fascinating read (so far). It's called Insanity and is a bit of an autobiography by Charles Bronson. The notorious prisoner, not the film director. Extremely good, also quite relevant as he has spent quite a bit of time at Whitemoor, where I'm going to be visiting quite a bit!
The other book is all about HTML, CSS & XHTML writing i.e. it's about how the internet pages are coded. It's something that I've wanted to get into, so watch this space as I guess my trials may be on these very pages.

2. Had a great walk on Saturday. It was on of those moments when I just had to go and do it. I looked up a walk, not too far away and 9.5 miles. Good one. The guide time was 4 hours. Now, I'm not saying that I'm competitive. Well no, actually that's exactly what I am saying. 4 hours? Right, I have so got to beat that! So off I set. The first section followed the Little Ouse from Santon Downham to Brandon. I had shorts on. The path was quite overgrown. I suffered badly from nettle stings.
At Brandon, it then headed off to Weeting and then Weeting Castle before crossing into Thetford Forest. Unforunately, here, the book showed it's age and the directions got a bit vague. I had to follow my nose a bit and I think I went on a one mile detour. Still I picked it up again and was on the home run. I got back to the car and checked the time. Let's call it 10 miles with the detour. That was in pretty much 2.75 hours. 4 hours indeed!
Mind you my legs were a little on the achey side!

3. So a day off exercise yesterday. But today I was determined.. Unfortunately, it's been raining since about 3am, so it was the gym. Could I do 10Km, I asked myself. Sure enough, I dialed it in to the treadmill. 59 minutes later and job done. That feels good to have just gone and done that. The downside being that the bar is now upped. It will have to be 10 miles or 15 Km next.

4. The Downham Carnival / Parade was cancelled today. Shock Horror!

True Faith

I've just realised that I haven't updated you on the bike ride.
It was last Sunday. As mentioned previously, we had a friend, Reg, come and stay. On the Sturday evening at about 9pm, we decided to pop down to the Livvy to have a couple of beers and also see the a band, Roxoff, playing.
The plan was to have a couple and head for home at about 10.30.
Ooops. 10.30 turned into midnight, and a couple turned into well, several.

So I woke up on the Sunday a little bit worse for wear. Not the best start to a 14 mile ride out. Still, head out to Dersingham we did.

It was a nice day with a bit of sun and little wind. A good turnout too, maybe about 60 riders. We duly got set off my some mayor or other.
I sat back at about 7th to start, but after about half a mile, we hit the first (and steepest) hill. This seemed like a brick wall to some, but I just sat back in the saddle and motored on up without dropping a gear. So leading all the way up, I put some space between myself and everyone else.
Now anyone who thinks that Norfolk is flat is welcome to come and try this ride. Believe me, there are some fierce hills! But, for every climb, there is a drop.
I was aiming to do the ride in about an hour, so where possible, I kept my speed above 14. It became somewhat difficult to gauge though as on the uphills, I'd drop to about 10 and on the downhill get as quick as 25.
Still, I pushed on. I stayed a long way out in front until about 5.5 miles when an 18 year old went flying past me on a proper road bike. There is no way on this earth that I'd have been able to stay with him, so I let him go and carried on at my own pace.
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. It didn't seem that long until I came back to the start/finish. H & Reg weren't expecting me and were sat in the car. I hopped off the bike and checked my time. 53 minutes with an average of 15.8mph. Very pleased with that. I swear at some point though that I was sweating 80% Kronenburg!



Thanks for the sponsorship. Now I need your money!

Feed The Light

As promised, here is a little bit about my best friend in the world.
Her name is Anna aka Razzthekid aka Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine.

We first met through Sams last year and got on pretty well. Earlier on this year though, we had a few duties together and realised we had quite a bit in common and really "clicked". The next few months saw us spending lots of time together and generally having a great time.
Currently, she is "living the dream" touring around South East Asia - China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia etc etc, before heading to Australia for....... 2-3 years! Hence why I'm heading out to Perth in August (and looking forward to it muchly)

So, here she is...



This is in China a few weeks ago.

For an interesting read and loads more photos etc, you can check out her Travel Blog here

Anyway, here's a story for you.
At the weekend, a good friend of ours (Reg) visited. On Friday, we were in the pub and Rage Against The Machine came on the juke box. I haven't heard much by them and really liked the track. Later that night, I downloaded the album.
Yesterday, I was looking up the band on Wikipedia. This particular album cover features quite a famous photo of a monk, Thích Quang Đuc. He set light to himself in Saigon as a protest against what Vietnam administration was doing against Buddhism.
Here's the pic...



He didn't actually come from Saigon. His monastery was in Hué. The car that he drove to Saigon in (background of the photo) is actually still at his monastery as a shrine. So what?
Well, Anna was in Hué yesterday. The very day that I was reading about this guy.

But wait......

I emailed her and told her about this coincidence.
She replied and explained that yesterday, she visited this monastery and at pretty much the exact time that I was listening to the album and looking up about the monk, she was standing in front of the very same car, having her photo taken!

That, folks, is spooky!

So, that's Anna. A person that I care a lot for and who I'm looking forward to seeing in August.

Crazy

Morning!

Been meaning to post for a few days now, but other stuff always seemed to have got in the way.
What the hell has happened to the weather? Thirty odd days of sun and now the rain hasn't stopped. I don't mind a bit of each, but it would be much more convenient if it say, rained at night and was nice and sunny all day. Is that too much to ask?

What's been going on? Well, I went to Berlin last Monday. T'were a Bank Holiday too, there's dedication for you.
Was quite pleased at the airport. I've been after some Rayban Aviators (retro is so now, don't you know?). I managed to pick up a pair for £73, which is about £50 cheaper than I've found them online.
The reason for the trip to Berlin was work-related. I was going for a bit of training on some lab equipment that we've got. Yet again, the Europeans show how hosting should be done. They really did look after us well.
Also on the course was a mixed bag of folks from around the globe. By memory - us two Brits, a Belgian, a Chilean, two French, one Spaniard, one Greek and two Chinese.
The work was fairly intense, but like I said, they looked after us in the evenings. The first evening we had a lovely meal at a superb French restaurant. The second evening was a three hour cruise through the centre of Berlin whilst dining. I've got to admit to having a strange feeling on seeing the Wall for the first time.
Last but not least, the hotel gets a mention. It was very pleasant €51 per night for Berlin! It was used as a training facility for staff too, so most of them were under 25 and it's got to be said, absolutely stunning!

What else?
Thanks to those who've put their hand in their pocket for the sponsored bike ride. I've actually picked up a strained calf at the weekend, so I'm going a bit easy in anticipation of Sunday. I might give it a stretch with 2-3 miles tonight though.

B2 paid a visit last weekend. Didn't spend as much time together as we'd have liked, but still had some good fun. We even had a Scrabble challenge on Sunday. I have to admit to feeling a teeny bit guilty. Nat played a blinder all the way through and thoroughly deserved to win. As luck would have it, I got rid of all my tiles on the last round, so got a big bonus meaning I pipped her at the most. Bit unfair that really.

Right. More later.

Neon Bible

Carrying on from yesterday's post about running and stuff, I've got two ramblings to share with you today.

The first is by far the most important - pay attention!

On Sunday May 20th, I'm doing a sponsored bike ride in aid Of King's Lynn Samaritans.
I did this last year and loads of folks shared some of their wealth with me. My employer has a scheme whereby everything I raise, they will match. So, if you donate £5, you've actually sponsored me £10!
Please get in touch and sponsor me NOW!
Thanks.

Secondly, partially in preparation for the bike ride, but just because I fancied it really, I went out on the bike this lunchtime. It's pretty windy today, but you take the rough with the smooth.
Why is it, no matter whether I'm running or biking, does the wind play against me? By that, I mean it always is behind me when I start and then when I turn round it's a head wind all the way home. No matter how much care I take to see which way it's blowing and plan my route accordingly.
So today, I decide a route and head off. I wanted to keep above 14mph all the way, so set off at a good pace. I headed up the A10 and soon noticed that the wind was behind me, so I was doing about 16.5mph!
I got to the halfway point, Watlington for those who know it (just near the wonderful Razz's house), I head for home on some back roads and blam - right in my face. So it's a hard 5 mile slog home.
It was hard work, but was quite pleased by the time I got home. I'd managed 12 miles in under 50 minutes which gave me an average of 14.9mph

That's all for today!

Safari Beach

There's one thing that I'm pretty strong in - willpower. If I decide that I'm going to do something. I really can put my mind to it.

So, at the beginning of the year, although it wasn't really a New Year's resolution, I decided that I was going to get back into running, cut back a bit on the alcohol and maybe lose some weight in the process.

Stats wise, I was about 13s 10lb and being a little tight in 34" trousers.

I started with a few little runs. Mostly taking Jack around the block. So it was somewhere in the region of 2 miles. It was bloody hard. But I stuck at it. Initially jogging 3 times per week. No less.

And steadily, I've been getting better.

Up to date. I now do just under 4 miles per run (often more), with just one rest day per week. I run round instead of jogging. Jack has had to fall by the wayside, as by the end, I was having to drag him along to keep up.
Results wise too, I've had to buy new trousers and jeans. a very comfortable 32" waist. I'm now down to about 12st 5lB. The 12 stone barrier is in sight.
On Thursday, my ankles were suffering a bit and I though about making it my rest day. But it's a bit like a drug. I feel as though I want to do something everyday. So I went to the gym, for the first time in about 8 months. Straight in, I dived on the stepper. 30 minutes later, I'd hit 560 calories. It felt very good.
Last night, I walked Jack with H. I felt like going out on the bike, but it was pretty windy - a bikers hatred. So, maybe Friday would be the rest day. But no, again I was restless. I decided to have a steady trot round my usual route. Except I probably did it quicker than ever before and again, it felt very good.

So, here I am at 37 years old.
Twenty years ago, I started smoking, and that continued on and off about 12 years. I also went to the gym on and off. I cycled on and off. But all of that said, I am now probably fitter than I have been since my early 20s.
Like I said, it's a bit addictive too.