2011 Streak Day 254 (Wednesday Sept 14th): Lineman

2011 Streak Day 254 (Wednesday Sept 14^th):Walk - 1 mile, Time 20min, Weather - changeable

Me last picture showed my grandson, this picture reminds me of my grandfather. He was a telephone engineer and inspected the lines.

These lines amused me though because they show the persistence of nature and the way plants can grow up anything.

Because of my grandfather I have always had a soft spot for the song Wichita Lineman, even though that was about people maintaining power cables rather than telephone lines. Recently Radio 4 made a programme about that song in its Soul Music series, which is still available. It is odd when talking to both my wife and daughter about this they thought the song was about railway lines and have always been puzzled by the lyrics.

Other than that there is not much to report. I only managed the minimum distance. I am glad I decided Folkestone was off - I am worse rather than better.

2011 Streak Day 253 (Sept 13th): A slight indulgence

2011 Streak Day 253 (Sept 13th): A slight indulgence
Walk - 1 mile, Time 23min, Weather - changeable, some rain interspersed with blue skies and sun

This blog is concerned with running and what I notice when out and about. It is not a diary and is only indirectly personal and there are no pictures of me or my family.

But I want to make an exception with a moment of self-indulgence. My elder daughter and her new child  had been staying with us for the past 4 days and it seemed appropriate to mark this with a picture.

There certainly wasn't much scope for an outdoor alternative as the exertions of the last two days  left me completely drained and only able to do the minimum.

2011 Streak Day 252 (Monday Sept 12th): Moving

2011 Streak Day 252 (Monday Sept 12^th): Walk - 2 miles, Time - 40min, Weather extremely windy ( the tail end of Hurricane  Katia)

The photograph is a phoney. It was taken today (Sept 29^th) because I realised I did not have a picture to represent my main activity for Day 252 - driving to Manchester and back, mostly on the motorway.

However what it does show is the contrast between the wonderfully hot weather we are having in autumn compared to the miserably dull days in what was meant to be summer. I have been amazed at going through all the photos I took on those days to see how many showed grey skies.

Anyway September 12^th was notable for being the day when we caught the tail end of Hurricane Katia. I thought the drive was going to be in driving rain, with high sided lorries swaying all over the road. In the event it was not too bad - the sky was mostly clear and although it was very windy the lorries were coping. Unlike the Tour of Britain, which called-off the day's stage.

My walking was accounted for by toing and froing, with stuff, to move my daughter into her new flat and wandering the streets of West Didsbury on finding that Greens was not open for monday lunch.

2011 Streak Day 251 (Sun Sept 11th): Make or break

2011 Streak Day 251 (Sun Sept 11^th): Run 4.25 miles Time 40min Weather grey but with patches of blue sky and scudding clouds 

This was make or break Sunday. 

The plan has been to run the Folkestone Half Marathon on 25^th Sept - two weeks away, but with feeling unwell and not having run for two weeks that was looking problematic. If I was recovered enough to survive a decent length run, then residual fitness from the summer should be OK and I would be able to tailor a programme to be able to get round. The question was if?

The first part of the run seemed fine. I hit a steady rhythm and kept going but very quickly I realised there was no power in the legs - no push at all.  The further I went the weaker I felt. I managed to keep going for 4 miles because the route was flat (by the canal) and I adopted a technique of just lifting my legs up, the equivalent of twiddling on a bike. Even so I had to stop a couple of times.

Not too good but not completely without hope. When I finished I was not 100% sure Folkestone was a lost cause but when I got home I knew it was. I completely flaked-out and spent the rest of the day lolling around feeling rubbish. A flat, easy 4 miles had done for me. There was no chance I would be able to do 13 a few days later.

Sadness washed over me because I had really wanted to do the race and meet-up with some wonderful bloggers who, so far, I have only ever talked to on-line. Bah!

But it is my constant refrain about running: it forces you to be honest about your abilities as you can only do what you can do. I knew I couldn't do a half marathon.

P.S. For the first time there is continuity in pictures. The photo in the last post was of a canal bridge. This is looking back towards where I was when I took that photo.

2011 Streak Day 259 (Saturday Sept 10th): Tradition

2011 Streak Day 259 (Saturday Sept 10^th):Walk 2.5 miles, Time 1hr, Weather - clouds come, clouds go

Another day to combine grocery shopping with a walk along the canal. As Sainsbury's is next to the canal, on the site of the old John Dickinson paper mill, it is the obvious thing to do.

This bridge, with its useless secondary arch is one I have always liked. It puzzles me slightly because I do not think the canal too wide to be spanned by a single arch. I will obviously have to do further research on the span of brick arches and their limits.

However as it is this bridge has a picturesque lop-sided charm. A couple of weeks ago I passed a lady painting a watercolour of it and stopped for a chat about what she was doing and the view.

Yesterday I mentioned the comforting Englishness of the bowling green. I ought to add to that the sight of a watercolourist in the open air, painting a landscape.

2011 Streak Day 249 (Friday Sept 9th): Bowls

2011 Streak Day 249 (Friday Sept 9^th): Walk 1 mile, Time 20min, Weather - fed-up of saying overcast lets concentrate on the positive and say it was warm

Not much time for a walk today as I had to go to Winchester so once again the minimum has been done.

But this gives me a chance to take a picture of the bowling green and talk about the enormous care goes into their maintenance and in many cases like here it is done by council. But obviously the council is an arm of government and statist and not part of the Big Society so the Secretary of State for local government, Eric Pickles, uses bowling as an example where local people can band together and take over some local land.  This letter in Guardian shows it is not quite as simple as that.

I am no bowler but I value the greens as part of the fabric of English life and somehow I feel reassured by their presence.

2011 Streak Day 248 (Thursday Sept 8th): Walking and thinking

2011 Streak Day 248 (Thursday Sept 8^th)

Walk - 3 miles , Time 1hr 10min, Weather - grey

When you look at this tree you can see how easy it is to imagine monsters and scary creatures. This looks like a multi-eyed sea creature, which has crawled up out of the canal.

When walking or running thoughts float in and out. You see something out of the corner of the eye, make some connection and it is then gone - replaced  another idle thought. I would not have remembered this tree if I hadn't taken a photograph. The act of taking a photo is different - you have to stop, make decisions, focus your attention. You are deliberately memorialising.  

Sometimes though I can't be bothered to stop. I am content in the stream of consciousness. Happy in the fleeting moments.

The thought patterns of running and walking are different though. Running thoughts are not sustained. The needs of the body are far too intrusive and the aching: of the legs, or the shoulders, or the lungs constantly intrude. The clip clop rhythm imposes a pattern at odds with the contemplative plod of a walk. Also walking can be automatic like breathing and it is possible to sustain an argument, a thread, work something out.

Without having any real statistics to hand I am sure the number of writers and artists who use walking as an aid to thinking is large. Perhaps I should start to compile a list.

Of the top of my head I would start with  Charles Dickens who was famous for walking prodigious distances each day. But there is also Eric Satie for whom walking was an important part of his daily routine (there was a Radio 3 programme on 27^th August about Satie walking, which is unfortunately no longer available on the iplayer).

However this passage from a moribund blog Daily Routines, tells you all you need to know.

"On most mornings after he moved to Arcueil, Satie would return to Paris on foot, a distance of about ten kilometres, stopping frequently at his favourite cafés on route. Accoring to Templier, "he walked slowly, taking small steps, his umbrella held tight under his arm. When talking he would stop, bend one knee a little, adjust his pince-nez and place his fist on his lap. The he would take off once more with small deliberate steps."

When he eventually reached Paris he visited friends, or arranged to meet them in other cafés by sending pneumatiques. Often the walking from place to place continued, focussing on Montmarte before the war, and subsequently on Montparnasse. From here, Satie would catch the last train back to Arcueil at about 1.00am, or, if he was still engaged in serious drinking, he would miss the train and begin the long walk home during the early hours of the morning. Then the daily round would begin again.

Roger Shattuck, in conversations with John Cage in 1982, put forward the interesting theory that "the source of Satie's sense of musical beat--the possibility of variation within repetition, the effect of boredom on the organism--may be this endless walking back and forth across the same landscape day after day . . . the total observation of a very limited and narrow environment." During his walks, Satie was also observed stopping to jot down ideas by the light of the street lamps he passed.

Robert Orledge, Satie Remembered. French translations by Roger Nichols. (Thanks to Tom Cunliffe.)"

(The highlight is mine)

2011 Streak Day 247 (Wednesday Sept 7th): Grey

2011 Streak Day 247 (Wednesday Sept 7^th): Walk - 2 miles, Time - 45min, Weather - grey and overcast

The words that have dominated my weather reports have been grey and overcast.  Look at the photograph and you can see that once again those words cannot be avoided. In fact the sky is the only real subject of the photo as otherwise it is an unremarkable view - just the park at the bottom of my road.

This is the place I regularly walk at the moment - a pleasant place to be that is quite close. Even if my sub-par health wasn't limiting the range of my trips at the moment I would not be constantly exploring new places.

 When I run I have a few core routes which I vary slightly by throwing in different loops or extensions, with cycling it is the same. When I feel better I think I will make a bigger effort to explore other places.

2011 Streak Day 246 (Tuesday Sept 6th): Autumn leaf

2011 Streak Day 246 (Tuesday Sept 6^th): Walk - 1 mile, Time - 25min, Weather - variable

After yesterday's exertions I felt tired and so there was only minimum exercise. The Streak is more or less been kept going in name only.

On my way back I saw this leaf which had fallen onto the pavement and immediately thought of autumn and how the seasons have now turned. No great insights just a fleeting "Oh autumn already".

2011 Streak Day 245 (Monday Sept 5th): Looking at buildings

2011 Streak Day 245 (Monday Sept 5^th): Walk - 4 miles, Time - 2hrs, Weather - blue sky and sun (could be confused with summer)

A day in London.

The photo was taken in Whitcomb Street.  China Town looked very festive with yellow and red lanterns strung across the streets. The paper globes absorbed the light and glowed whilst the tinsel shimmered, reflecting the sun. Below people strolled, stood talking in groups, or walked purposefully. It was (however briefly) summer in the city.

The effect of weather on behaviour is fascinating. Yesterday, when it was raining, people were defensive, hunched into themselves but today, in the sun, they open out and the atmosphere is more relaxed.

I like warm (but not too hot) days in London. Not taking public transport allows you to look more closely at the surroundings: the people, the buildings. The great trick when looking at buildings is to look up. At eye level a streetscape is dominated by shop fronts and their signs and as the majority of these are chain stores they will look the same wherever. However above first floor level the buildings show their history and are particular to their location

But looking gives only a general impression. it never gives the full story behind why buildings were built the way they were at that particular time. The exterior never tells everything and I sometimes think we spend too much time judging various stylistic ticks and less on how buildings actually function.

A good example is the National Gallery Extension. The story behind it is fascinating in that it had been the site of a department store, which had been destroyed in the Blitz. For over 30 years the site had been vacant and there had been a desire to expand the Gallery but money was the problem (it is amazing how mean spirited our attitude to public building has been during most of the post war period). The 80s were not a propitious time as they were the time of Thatcher, the introduction of museum charges and a suspicion of public provision. Thus the initial plan was for a mixed development with office and gallery space, the former paying for the latter.  There was a  public competition won by Ahrends  but their modern design that incurred the wrath of the Prince of Wales. His speech where he compared it to a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of  a much loved and elegant friend" sparked a huge cotroversy and the design was withdrawn

Although this was unfair to Ahrends, who had done a good job with a compromised brief, there was a a happy consequence: members of the Sainsbury family donated enough money to allow the site to be developed for the National Gallery alone (as should have been the plan all along).

The new building was designed by Robert Venturi, an extremely influential theoretician and architect, often associated with Post-Modernism. The exterior is an understated pastiche, designed to miimc the main National Gallery building. Inside there is a simplified, stylised classicism to the rooms but the colouring is grey - everywhere there is grey.

At the time I can remember most people being snooty about the the building. The modernists didn't like it because they thought it backward looking and a compromise, whilst the nostalgic romantics were not that impressed either.

My own view at the time, and still is, that it was very clever. The exterior gives minimum offence and is designed to blend-in and avoid more controversy, whilst the interior offers an excellent environment for viewing the pictures (which is after all a gallery's job). The use of grey is an example of this. If it was used in this way in a normal multi-use building it would be oppressive but here it allows the colours of the Renascence painting to come alive and seem vivid (which again is the purpose of the space).

Looking at the building now and knowing the background story means that the initial visual impression is supplemented by a wider understanding.  However most of the time when I walk around London I am more aware of what I don't know than what I do. Most of the time  I fall back on fleeting visual impressions.

2011 Streak Day 244 (Sunday Sept 4th): Wet

2011 Streak Day 244 (Sunday Sept 4^th): Walk - 3 miles, Time 1hr, Weather - Very wet

My walk took me to town today. When I started it was merely grey overhead but when I arrived the clouds opened up. This picture is from the early stages. Afterwards it got heavier and heavier until the raindrops were bouncing back off the paving stones.

I was delayed getting back - that is all i have to say.

2011 Streak 243 (Saturday Sept 3rd): Beginnings

2011 Streak 243 (Saturday Sept 3^rd):Walk 2 miles, Time - 45min,  Weather - strange split sky banks of gunmetal grey cloud and blue sky

Short slow walk around Old Town and park. This is a very difficult time. Feeling weak but trying to carry on is hard work as I arrive home exhausted. At the moment the days are a mixture of: rest, a little activity, rest. All is hazy.

However being in the park ion a Saturday is a good diversion. Watching other people circulating, and enjoying themselves, lifts ones own spirits. When you feel ill it is very easy to direct all your attention inwards but there is stimulation in the world around  and this can make you feel better.

Walking along the footpath I glimpsed a wedding party assembling for photographs outside St Mary's church. Weddings always represent hope and the beginning of something. I like beginnings. 

I could do with one rich now.  I need to get back into training and start making plans again but at the moment that seems a strange and distant idea.

2011 Streak Day 242 (Friday Sept 2nd): Looking towards the future

2011 Streak Day 242 (Friday Sept 2^nd): Walk 2 miles, Time 40min, Weather sunny and bright

I took the car to Berkhamsted and walked along the canal. I rather like it here because it feels much more a part of the town, with more communal space than at Hemel. There is more parkland and greater variety of buildings along the canal side (including 3 pubs). in the summer holidays it is the place people go

This picture is of a small area of sustainable plant in the park, next to the children’s play area. I like the idea of councils creating such plantings, especially as it runs counter to the local government tradition of formal, geometric displays of bedding plants. The flowers are usually colourful and pretty but the arrangement is very rigid.

I also like it that it is near the play area for young children. If sustainability is about anything then it about them and their future children. A neat little bit of symbolism.

2011 Streak Day 241 (Thursday Set 1st): It is always the process that matters

2011 Streak Day 241 (Thursday Set 1^st): Walk - 1 mile, Time 20min, Weather - some sun, mostly muggy

Minimal walk today. Very easy because my energies had to be saved for the main exertion, which was moving my daughter & possessions out her room in college. Today was the last day of her masters and it is now all over. The dissertation has been handed in, the presentation given and a website delivered. A year of intensely hard work has finished.

I wonder whether there will now be a let-down as can happen, on a more minor scale, with running. Preparing for a marathon, if done properly, consumes large amounts of time and most spare mental capacity. Once it is over though, after the initial sense of achievement, there is an emptiness. What do you now do?

You float for a bit but then the answer is simple: you start again because running is something you just carry on doing. It is what you do if running is part of your self definition.

The process, the doing, is always the most important thing

2011 Streak Day 242 (Wednesday Aug 31st): These things are important

2011 Streak Day 242 (Wednesday Aug 31st): Walk - 2 miles, Time - 45min, Weather - overcast

This is picture of work in progress is a small example of how the planning system can work.

In canal history terms the site is interesting as it had been a working wharf from the earliest days of the Grand Union Canal in 1798 until 2002, when Bridgewater Boats stopped using it in 2002. 

However a vacant plot beside a canal, in an attractive town like Berkhamsted is an obvious opportunity for housing development. A plan was put forward for that would have lost the wharf and its connection with the past. There was however opposition.

In the event the initial proposal was dropped and a new owner got planning permission for a scheme, which scaled back the housing and incorporated a boatyard. As you can see some housing new housing is in keeping with its surroundings .

The story of the battle against the original proposals is here, including a link to the documents presented to the planning committee. A colossal amount of work was required to oppose the initial planning application but it showed that sometimes things can be done to preserve the character and tradition of a place.

This is important to know because at the moment there are threats to our planning system, making it far easier for developers to get the go-ahead. 

The proposals have incurred the ire of, amongst others, the National Trust (not a body I would have thought a  Conservative politician would want to cross) and it is well worth reading the wonderfully spleenic polemic by their chairman Simon Jenkins.

These things are important because we are often unaware of all the forces that shape our environment and the character of the places we live. We need systems to both preserve and improve what we have. We cannot leave it all to chance and market forces.

With all the time I spend running or walking by the canal I am acutely aware not only of how fortunate I am to have it nearby but also of what a wonderful amenity it is. Yet knowing something of the history of canals and how in middle of the 20^th Century they were scruffy neglected areas in the backend of towns makes me aware that their present state cannot be taken for granted

2011 Streak Day 241 (Tuesday Aug 30th): Water Gardens

2011 Streak Day 241 (Tuesday Aug 30^th): Walk - 3 miles, Time 1hr 10min, Weather - greyish once more

When I started this 2011 project one of the objectives was to talk about exercise and training, as normal, another was to notice things I found visually interesting and take photographs, but the third strand was pay attention to my home region, especially Hemel Hempstead where I live.

What particularly interests me is the differences between the ideals and hopes invested in the New Town project immediately post-war and the way they are now. I am tremendously attracted to the early idealism but am equally aware that some things have not turned out as planned.

Today’s photo is a good example and it is a disgrace.

You would not guess from the overgrown planting, eroded banks, grass destroyed by too many canada geese, and eroding concrete, that this is a listed in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Particular Historic Interested (in other words it is Grade II listed). 

It was designed by Geoffrey Jellicoe (a eminent landscape architect of the Twentieth Century who was also responsible for the gardens of the JFK Memorial at Runnymead) and planted by his wife Susan, both of whom thought it one of their most successful projects. Interestingly Jellicoe was interested in the way the unconscious influenced all design and in this project admitted being influenced by Paul Klee.

Today you would be hard put to identify the artistic ideals. What should be a pleasant civic space has been neglected over the years and is now a just a scruffy area with water (kids can still feed the ducks so that is OK).

It is an example of how anything can degrade without care and attention. Everything has to be maintained or it starts to fall apart. Changes may be gradual at first, barely noticeable, but eventually they reach a point where you  realise things have become so bad major reconstruction is needed.

It looks like we are now at that point. The Garden History Society had a study day in Hemel on the Water Gardens, a Friends Group is being formed to work with the council to prepare a bid for lottery funding and the council itself is talking of improving the area. But “actively pursued when the cash is available” probably means we should not expect immediate action.

2011 Streak Day 240 (Monday Aug 29th): Images and reality

2011 Streak Day 240 (Monday Aug 29^th): Walk - 2 miles, Time - 45min, Weather - still grey

Car to the canal and then a gentle stroll along the route of many runs.

I am watching the progress of the housing development on the site of the old paper mill. At the moment they only seem to be building in the corner furthest away from the canal. Probably there are phases and they will get round to canal side when the initial development has been sold. This means that if you buy one of the houses now you will be living on a building site for a long time.

So how do they sell it, what do they offer to tempt you? With nothing less than peace, open countryside and idyllic living. Wow.

I actually like the pictures they put on the walls (they are not a lie - that opening into that parkland is only a half a mile up the hill) but what I want to know is what the houses will look like. Odd to concentrate on the surroundings and not the buildings but I suppose they are really selling a dream.

2011 Streak Day 239 (Sunday Aug 28th): Gathering in the Park

2011 Streak Day 239 (Sunday Aug 28^th): Walk - 2 miles, Time 45min,  Weather - grey

A bank holiday weekend in the park and there has been all sorts of activity. The fair is still there, there had some sort of fun day, which was being packed away when I arrived and kids were gathered at the skate park. I like this sense of people gathering.

Wandering around, not feeling like doing much, I enjoyed watching others being active.

2011 Streak Day 238 (SaturdayAug 27th):OK then rub it in

2011 Streak Day 238 (SaturdayAug 27^th): Walk - 2 miles, Time 45min, Weather - grey again

The alternative to a brief walk to the park was to take my car to the canal and then have a stroll along the towpath.

Today I was passed by a group of women jogging along. I wondered what sort of group because they didn’t look like a running club (oh yes you can tell the dedicated runner!) but then thought no more about it until I turned a corner and saw them doing aerobic exercises.

A Saturday morning exercise group using the canal and a nearby patch of green space - what a very nice idea. They were a very jovial group (there were more than you can see in the photo), obviously there for companionship and fun than flinty eyed obsession. When I walked by one of them asked if I wanted to join in, another time I might have taken them up on it but today walking was all I could do.

It reminded me of how often in various parks and open spaces you see trainers leading small groups. The growth in personal trainers is something I have noticed over the last few years. It used to be the preserve of Hollywood actors and the very rich but now it is mainstream, which can be only be good if you believe there is a trend towards unfitness which needs to be counteracted. However I wonder how long it will be before other councils follow the boneheaded example of Hammersmith and Fulham who want personal trainers to pay for the privilege of using their parks.  This article has an excellent illogical statement public spokesmen are prone to when trying to justify something dodgy: 

Michael Hainge, of Hammersmith & Fulham parks department, said the council is anxious to use parks to fight obesity, but wanted "to ensure programmes were not simply aimed at those already inclined towards exercise".

How do little groups of exercisers in a big open space inhibit anyone else? If anything they might even inspire others.

We now inhabit a strange neoliberal world  where everything is seen in terms of personal commercial transactions and a council can see its parks in those terms.

P.S. The headline of the article includes nannies amongst those who might be affected. Mary Poppins where are you?

2011 Streak Day 237 (Friday Aug 26th): Feebleness ascending

2011 Streak Day 237 (Friday Aug 26th): Walk - 1 mile, Time - 20min, Weather - grey

It cannot have escaped the notice of any eagled eyed reader that I have fallen behind in my blogging and am writing this in retrospect, trying to catch up. Partly this is because the last 3 or 4 weeks have been difficult.

From the last couple of posts you will have noticed that things had not been going well. The run on Tuesday had been a failure - something that should have been routine became impossible; Wednesday’s walk had been hard with my mind fuzzily elsewhere; and on Thursday I just watched a cat.

On Friday it became clear that I was not well. I had a cough, headache, my chest that felt it was being squeezed, and my legs felt watery weak.

So what about the Streak? The condition is that I have to get out of the house everyday and do something for 365 days. What to do?

For some stupid reason I did not want to give it up. As I wasn’t completely incapacitated I decided to keep going as best I could, doing the minimum. It would be not very much but at least it would be something.

I don’t know whether that was very smart because the infection dragged on and all I did was survive. They were days of emptiness with nothing much to report. I will thus whisk through the upcoming days with very brief posts marking the days and showing I kept going but little more.

For many of those days all I did was walk to the park at the bottom of my road and walk back again. On Day 237 the fair was still there to give me some extra colour.

2011 Streak Day 236 (Thursday Aug 25th): Attention

2011 Streak Day 236 (Thursday Aug 25^th): Walk - 2 miles, Time 45min,  Weather - grey

I stood and watched this for some time. The cat was one side of the garage roof whilst doves were on the other: preening, cooing, walking up and down. The cat was in tension as if every muscle was ready to spring, yet it was poised. The only thing that moved was its head, which followed every movement of the birds. It was in a state of high awareness yet the birds seemed oblivious to any danger.

I wanted to see what would happen.

My mind has been formed by watching too many cartoons and I imagined a Tom and Jerry scene, with the cat pouncing, missing and then flying over the edge -splat!. But real cats are a bit more canny than that.

The birds seem happy with a cat so close, maybe they are playing a game and backing their quick reactions.  For some reason they did not fly away.

In the end nothing happened. 

But whilst I was watching I was entranced by the balance of the cat and the way it was poised, ready for action. If as runners we are trying to be a good animal, we have a long way to go. Boy oh boy am I lumpen in comparison.

2011 Streak Day 235 (Wednesday Aug 24th): Dreamlike

2011 Streak Day 235 (Wednesday  Aug 24^th):  Walk - 4.1 miles, Time 1hr 25min, Weather - Scudding clouds, patches of sun, patches of grey, quite warm

In the beginning of the film Michael Clayton George Clooney stops his car in the middle of nowhere and walks towards some horses that have appeared from the dawn mist. As he reaches out there is an explosions and the car he has just left  is a fire ball. The horses run off. There is a strange dreamlike feel to the whole scene and in particular to the horses in the mist.

Nothing dramatic happened to me today. There were definitely no explosions but I had the same dreamlike sensation as I came across this hooded horse, standing peacefully in the wooded fringe of a field, his coat dappled with sunlight. It was ever so slightly weird. I have not seen a blindfolded horse horse before. I assume he had had some sort of treatment but I don't know much about horses and that is only supposition.

It was just odd, I was walking on a footpath, small stream to one side, wood to the other, completely alone. In such places the imagination can have a feast.

Other than that it was a day in Cambridge with my exercise being the walk back to the Trumpington park&ride. I could still feel yesterday  and it was a bit of a slog but I survived by going slow and looking around.

2011 Streak Day 234 (Tuesday Aug 23rd): Decay

2011 Streak Day 234 (Tuesday Aug 23rd): Run - 1.75 miles, Time -  17min, Weather - nondescript

There is a reason for the flower picture - it shows decay.

Most of my other picture have shown plants developing and then coming into to bloom - at the height of their powers, if you will. But this one shows that things do not last, they wither and then are gone.

Just like my ability to run. I am not sure if it ever came into to full flower but now everything seems to have gone. All my powers have withered.

I ran for less than 2 miles but felt desperate all the time. "End it!  End it!" my brain was screaming. Part of my conscious mind was saying "No the schedule says 5 miles we must go on" but the other half was saying "Oh what is the point. What is the point!"

There was no point. Going 5 miles would not have achieved anything, The 1.75 miles I ran achieved nothing. I crawled home and felt whipped.

What had happened? where had all my strength gone?

The rest of the day was spent in a fog of unknowing.

2011 Streak Day 234 (Monday Aug 22nd): Rest Day

2011 Streak Day 234 (Monday Aug 22^nd): Walk - 1 mile, Time - 20min, Weather - Wow there was sun

The picture is of a garden umbrella. Sun, an actual bright yellow ball in a blue sky sun, is shining through making it a bright vibrant red. It is amazing how the weather can affect your mood - a bit of summer sun and everything in the world feels more relaxed and easier.

Sitting out this time of year should be the norm but this August has been mostly grey and damp. Even the weather in France was not as bright as normal.

It makes me think of the term ‘climate change’. Famously a Republican strategist, Frank Luntz, advised George Bush to use the term climate change instead of global warming because he felt it sounded softer and less threatening (and they wanted to push away any action on the environment). In someways this is an example of how politicians seek to hijack language in support of their own ends but in this case I think he might have inadvertently helped.  Global warming does not mean that everywhere gets warmer: it means the overall temperature of the globe is rising, with immense variations in local weather patterns. As most people only tend to notice the weather they themselves experience it is very easy to think warming is not happening if you have a bad summer. However the strangeness of recent weather patterns is hard to ignore. It is climate change.

Anyway, sitting out, having a rest day after the 10 miler, everything is as it should be. Thoughts about the use of language are just one of a number of things that floated across my mind. But I have no desire to bore youa with a stream of consciousness.

2011 Streak Day 233 (Sunday Aug 21st): A little bit weary

2011 Streak Day 233 (Sunday Aug 21^st): Run 10 miles, Time 1hr 43min 20 sec, Weather - changeable, mostly cloudy but the rain held off

My schedule told me it was time to run 10 miles. A couple of years ago (or even most of last year) that would not have been a big deal. It was a distance I regularly ran but this year everything seems harder and I have yet to go that far. So I approached the run with a little trepidation.

In the event I don’t know whether to be pleased or disappointed. The plus side is that I did it but the minus is (and it is quite a big minus) I ran out of steam with a mile to go. It was a act of will power to keep going. (use of the old trick of "just to the next junction and then see how you feel", then " just to the next lamppost" etc, etc).

The problem was probably that I had been too ambitious. Knowing that the Folkestone half marathon has a big hill towards the end I threw in a big hill on this run. Humph! perhaps it didn't work out quite as well as I hoped.

Nevertheless it was done and the weariness made the recuperation all the sweeter. It cannot be said too often that those moments when you stop, but feel you have done enough to earn the rest, are especially sweet. You can stretch out and enjoy being still.

The photo is also of something I find enjoyable, that speaks of an English summer: a cricket green, a match and a couple of people watching - magic!

2011 Streak Day 232 (Saturday Aug 20th): More diggers

2011 Streak Day 232 (Saturday Aug 20^th): Walk - 4 Miles, Time 1hr 10min, Weather - bright early on but clouds then gathered and there was some rain

These diggers amused me: tethered like horses in a temporary corral, resting before they are let out to mend the road. I looked at them and thought of any number of cowboy films.

After my legs had felt so tired, it was important to have a low key day. and so today was a gentle walk to B&Q to buy some tools. It was enough 

2011 Streak Day 231/365 (Friday19 Aug): Hours of Practice

2011 Streak Day 231/365 (Friday19 Aug): Distance 5 miles Time - 48min 50 Weather - sunny and quite warm, a big change after yesterday

Another run where I stopped on the dot, which shows not only that it was a bit of a struggle but also I am a bit dumb. Yesterday's hills were quite hard so I should have  eased back with a gentle recovery around the park. As it was my calves were tired and there was no zip.Tomorrow must be a rest day.

This got me thinking about Bounce, which I mentioned in the last post. Matthew Syed's thesis is that champions are made rather than born - it is not a matter of innate talent but of hard work. He follows the Malcolm Gladwell line that it takes 10,000 of practice.

My body is not capable of putting in those sort of hours. It needs time to recover or it breaks down. This suggests talent and genes have a say in the ability to put in the necessary hours. Those who have the innate ability and a suitable constitution can both, see the rewards and put in the hours. It is very difficult to stay dedicated if you are getting nothing back.

Yet initially the book seems very convincing. Good evidence is presented about the importance of practice and one is easily carried along by the advocacy. But as I read it I had the same uneasy feeling I had when reading Oliver James about the importance of parenting in forming a persons character and emotional stability - yes  it is important but is it sufficient to explain everything? I have always been amazed at the intellectual energy spent on a nature vs nurture debate that sees it as an either/or.  By all means argue about the percentage split but don't dismiss one or the other. It is exactly the same with talent vs practice.

As a key piece of evidence Syed cites the 1993 study by Ericsson (as does Gladwell) that looked at the hours of practice accumulated by the best, good, and less good violinists and showed that there was a distinct difference in the average hours of practice for each group. In other words the best practiced more. 

This article from The Science of Sport, which is a very considered response to Bounce, includes something rather surprising about the Ericsson study - although he showed the average practice times for the different grades of violinists  he did not show the variance, i.e. he did not show the standard deviation within each group. It is perfectly conceivable that there could be people from the less able groups putting in more hours than some in the more able group but not seeing the result. Conceivable but I do not know because the study withholds the information. 

When weight is be placed on a study you would hope it covered everything openly.  You would also hope it accorded with a broad range of other studies but as the Science in Sport article shows there is contra evidence.

Bottom line is that you can get a very long way by working hard but I still believe champions have something extra.

However that is not of much personal concern as I will never be a champion. I can only hope to do the best I can and be satisfied with that. 

That best includes the concept of rest and enjoyment. Hence my picture of someone, at ease, reading by the canal. A waterway for slow paced boats and slow paced runners.