Janathon 2012 Day 24: Another lesson

Janathon 2012 Day 24: Walk - 3.3 miles, Time - 1hr, Weather - horribly wet at first but eased off into mistiness

I had actually planned to run today but when I woke to see a coal black sky and steady rain I changed my mind. My plan is to run 4 times this week and there is flexibility as to how those days are arranged, so it was not a problem and as we know tomorrow is always a better day. 

Instead I walked by the canal and was glad I made the choice because the towpath was  a succession of puddles surrounded by sodden mud - rubbish running conditions. Even walking was hard work, needing me to engage my core muscles far more than normal to counteract the slippines under every planted foot. But this is of course a good thing: a better form of exercise, far better for you than a gentle stroll.

It is possible I would also have enjoyed a run, once I had got out (if I had kept to relatively puddle-free pavements). On such days although you get back wet, your skin tingles and you feel refreshed and virtuous. I even felt quite virtuous after the walk but that was as nothing to what I would have felt if I had run.

However potential levels of smugness are not really the point. It would actually have been far more intelligent to to have waited because the rain stopped to be replaced by mistiness - actually quite nice conditions. 

The lesson of today is obviously to make greater use of the weather forecast.

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 Day 230 (Aug 18th): Very wet

2011 Streak Day 230 (Aug 18^th): Distance - 3 miles, Time - 28min 20sec, Weather - rain, rain and then more rain

This was one of those days when you could not believe it could continue to rain so hard for so long. “Wait till it eases off” I told myself, “just a little longer” but as time passed and the sky was still a solid, unremitting grey, I became less convinced there would be any change. By the middle of the afternoon I thought that if I left it any longer I would not run at all - and I had to run.

Originally I had planned to do 4 to 5 miles but in the end I ran 3. It still seemed quite heroic but in the circumstances as I really don’t enjoy it when it rains so hard it drips straight into your eyes and your clothing i sticks close to your body.

What I lacked in distance I made up for in intensity with a hill session. It was a quarter mile loop: hard up, easy down, repeated 10 times. After the first couple of repetitions I thought 5 would be hard  but I kept on going thinking “just one more” until I reached my target. At the end I bent down from the waist, hands on hips, panting - whatever the weather I could console myself with the thought that I had made an effort. 

When I had dried off and drunk my cup of tea I even felt satisfied.

The photo is an indication of the amount of rain by showing the rain gathering in our wheelbarrow (though sensible people would probably have parked it upside down).

2011 Streak Day 214 (Aug 2nd): Didn’t it rain!

2011 Streak Day 214 (Aug 2^nd): Run - 2.4 miles, Time - 27min, Weather - in the early morning there were intimations of rain.

We left the house at 6:45 when the rising sun was obscured by clouds. As we ran we felt a few drops and the clouds looked ominous; would we be  caught by a deluge? No we were fine it never got heavier than a few drops - a little warning of what was to come later. 

The main amusement of the morning was watching a big articulated lorry trying to turn into the road to reach the Moutarderie. (Probably another satnav misdirection, as a look at the map would have shown that the obvious route was to approach it from the opposite direction). Anyway he tried to make this turning a few times before realising he was stuck and it was totally impossible. He then did something that made we want to applaud the skill of professional lorry drivers: he drove past the turning and then reversed down the narrow road, with all its snaking bends, to make his delivery. Bravo!

The Moutarderie is an interesting example of the type of food business that can be set up in a small village but yet attract visitors from miles around. It is on the map as one of the attractions of the region, selling not only its handmade mustards but also cold pressed sunflower oil (from the local sunflowers), local honey, and other gifty things. It is an example of how you need a combination of technical skill and business drive; something that might require two people. Originally it was just one man making his mustard and it might have stayed like that if he had not married someone with the drive to expand the range of the business and see the possibility of making the shop a destination.

Every year we have visited here the Moutarderie has expanded and is doing just that little bit better.

But back to the rain. I don’t want to leave you with the impression that the day was just heavy clouds and a bit of rain. It was far more than that.

In the afternoon we were returning from Cognac when a thunderstorm struck and the heavens opened - and that is a precise description. it was as if someone had taken a knife to a water bladder and sliced it so the water gushed out in one heavy lump. There were no raindrops it was a solid sheet. The windscreen wipers at their highest speed could not cope and it was difficult to see the road ahead as it had become a shallow stream. The wind came up and at one point a twig was wrenched from a tree and hit the car with an almighty crack. 

The journey was shockingly difficult. We couldn’t even stop and wait for it to pass as we were heading in the same direction.

Eventually it passed but later in the middle of the night there was another heavy storm that battered the roof and made sleep impossible. We later learnt that the rain had been so heavy that a barn roof had collapsed.

These holidays are not all about peace and relaxation - there is drama as well.

Juneathon 2011 Day 22: There was some dampness

2011 Streak Day 173/365: Walk - 4.4 miles, Time - 1hr, 25min, Weather - rather wet at times

Another Cambridge day with the opportunity to get my exercise by walking to the park & ride at Trumpington. I didn't do it both ways because it was ever so slightly wet (as can be seen from the photo).

Although I have admitted that I enjoy some types of rain (e.g. a gentle misty rain), heavy downpours are not included. I dislike them and if by mischance I am out when they start, I look for shelter.

However one of the things I have learnt from my 2011 project is that there are very few days when the weather is bad enough to be truly unpleasant. I have so far been out consecutively for 173 days, and although the weather is often a factor in setting the mood and can sometimes cause a change of plan it has never been bad enough to make the exercise a test of endurance. Almost all my difficulties have been due to my mentality rather than external factors.

Even today was not bad. This was a shower. It came and it went, afterwards there were white clouds. The walk back was really quite pleasant.

Juneathon 2011 Day 12: Wet

2011 Streak Day 163/365: Walk - 7.21 miles, Time - 2hr 29min, Weather - steady rain

I had planned to go cycling today, in that dippy, let's not bother checking the weather forecast, way I plan. I even got dressed in my cycling gear, as if to show that I meant what I said. However as I ate my breakfast and watched the rain streak the windows, saw that the whole of the sky was heavy grey and that there was no sign of it letting-up, I had a rethink.

Of the three activities (running, walking, cycling) for me cycling is the one most affected by rain. I don't really like it. I will do it if I have to (and for years when I commuted I took pride in paying no heed to the conditions) but I don't have to I don't. My present rides are for amusement and fitness.

I didn't think I would be too amused today. So I switched the plan and walked by the canal.

There were very few people about: 1 runner 4 walkers  and 3 bedraggled cyclists. Not many for 2 hours.

There were however fishermen, in a line along one stretch,  huddled under their big umbrellas, watching the pattern of rain on the water. There were no signs that any of them had caught a fish, nor was there any sign of a nibble. I respect their dedication. All the fair weather canal walkers had been put-off, but they stuck to their task. I suppose if their main task is watching water, it doesn't matter if some of it comes from the sky, especially as their umbrellas were large enough to keep them quite dry.

The canal boats were all snuggled down, with their tiller decks enclosed in the equivalent of a macintosh. Smoke was coming from a some of the chimneys and there is something very comforting about the smell of a coal fire. One or two boats passed by, steered by people wrapped in waterproofs, wearing Tilley hats but they seemed content enough.

In a way there was something cosy about the whole scene. The weather wasn't extreme or fierce - it was just wet

I might not enjoyed being sprayed  by passing cars on wet slippery roads, whilst riding my bike but walking (or running) in the rain is different. I enjoyed today's activity.

Juneathon 2011 Day 6: After the rain

2011 Streak Day 157/365: Walk - 4.37 miles, Time - 1hr 26min, Weather - soft mistiness after rain

By yesterday evening the dark grey clouds had settled-in, and solidly it rained: all through the night and into the morning, with a steady battering rhythm. It didn't stop suddenly but gradually eased off until there was no clear divide between raining and not raining.

Afterwards it felt wonderfully fresh as if all the plants had drunk in the water and in return offered-up their perfume. The air was calm, with a misty softness and the green of the foliage looked once again glossy. it was good to be out by the canal. 

Walking was a better than running though, because the towpath was covered in puddles and it would have only taken a short time for my trainers to become soaked (and running with wet feet is not something I greatly enjoy).

As ever, after rain, I was on the look-out for photos of water droplets and I rather liked this of a knob inserted into a tiller. Presumably the person doing the steering rests his forearm along the tiller and grasps the handle. Perhaps it is easier - I don't know but I have not seen it on other boats so it is not a generally accepted design.

One of the great pleasures of the canal is the constant variety of boats. Not only the constant shuffling as they change moorings but the way each individual boat is adapted and personalised.

2011 Streak Day 150/365: Surface tension

2011 Streak Day 150/365: Walk - 3 miles, Time - 1hr, Weather - grey clouds gathering before afternoon rain.

I took this photo after the rain started. There was a simple reason: on the walk, when I was about to photograph a moorhen on its nest I discovered I had left the memory card in the computer. I stood, feeling stupid, for a few moments and then walked on. That's another thing I have to always remember!

It didn't matter because I had half-thought of waiting for the rain to take a picture of the way drops form on leaves or a well waxed car. I love the way the water is held by its surface tension, in different shapes and sizes.

I am reminded of this poem by Philip Gross:

Pour

  Call it connecting  

one moment with another:  

   water- 

in-the-glass with water-in-the-jug, 

two bodies of water 

   and between, 

this slick and fluted glitter, 

    slightly 

arcing, rebraiding itself as it falls, 

as for tangible 

  seconds it’s a thin 

taut string of surface tension 

that my hand feels, on the handle, 

as a pulse, a pull, 

   a thing 

in space, that lives in this world 

like us, with purpose 

   though not one 

least particle is constant, knows 

its place, could account 

   or be held 

to account for what it is or does

2011 Streak Day 146/365: Learning from failure

2011 Streak Day 146/365: Run - 4.72 miles, Time - 45min 27sec, Weather - showery, grey clouds blown along by the wind

The weather has been too dry recently and we need rain, so I am not unhappy that today has been wet. But it has not been set-in steady rain, rain clouds have come and gone, which makes the timing of a run difficult.

It's not that I want to come across as a wuss or a procrastinator (though I could be both) but there is no point in getting unnecessarily wet. 

Today I was lucky. The moment I got my kit on it started to rain,  so I paused and watched a video of the address J K Rowling gave to Harvard graduates in 2008. It was well worth the time. She had two themes: lessons that can be learnt from failure and the importance of the imagination.

The sort of imagination she was talking about was not of the wild fantasy sort but the kind that enables you to put yourself in someone else's shoes, to empathise, understand and take action. The lessons of failure came from her own experience as a single mother living in poverty, clinging onto the dream of her novel.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Afterwards I went out and the clouds soon cleared in the strong wind and everything was fine and I had a theme for the run: I thought about stripping away inessentials and concentrating on the situation as it is.

My long break from running was not really rock bottom, but sometimes it felt like it, and I am treating my current program as foundation building. I now realise with greater clarity than before that the only essential is the ability to keep on running. It doesn't matter how fast or how long. If I have illusions about my abilities and think I should be faster than I actually am (which I do), they should all be stripped away.

All that matters is to keep on going.

2011 Streak Day 138: Things I hate about advertising #177

2011 Streak Day 138: Run - 4.03 miles, Time - 37min 40sec, Weather - post-rain dampness

Today, on my travels, I was on the A30 and passed the Wentworth Golf Club, which is hosting the BMW PGA Championship next week. Already the signs are out to direct traffic and advertise the event, which is only to be expected. What is not to be expected is the idiocy of their slogan: "Joy reunited"  under a picture of the last year's Ryder Cup team.

What on earth is that supposed to mean? The idea of joy being divisible or something that can be taken apart and put together like Lego is very strange, bearing no relation to the nature of the emotion. Now you can lose your joy and then find it; you can discover your joy or even rediscover it; or you can simply feel it. What you cannot do is unite it.

This bugged me as I drove along (I could not make sense of it and I tend to worrit when things do not make sense). When I got home I looked at the European PGA site to see if the slogan was some form of golf imbecility but they are not to blame - it is the current advertising campaign of BMW. For a microsecond I felt like a bit of an idiot for not recognising this (my interest in high-end cars is vanishingly small) but after that passed I started to worry about the way companies try to appropriate words and phrases.

The most obvious example is 'I'm lovin it', which is registered as a trademark of McDonalds even though the phrase was in use long before it was attached to a hamburger. Boing Boing has an example of a company trying to stop people using the phrase 'urban homestead' or 'urban homesteading'. The company even has claims on the phrase 'path to freedom'.

Claiming ownership of a generally understood concept or well used phrase is pernicious.

My guess is that it would be impossible for BMW to trademark the word joy but they obviously want us to associate it with their cars. If Joy is BMW  then Joy is diminished.

My own joy might well have been diminished when I reached home because it started to rain and I had still to go for a run; but I quite like running in soft rain (soft being an important proviso). However the best time is when it has just stopped  and the sun has come out. The smells are more distinct and you can sense  all plant life has been refreshed. 

Today's picture is of water droplets on acer leaves.

2011 Streak 57/365: Steady Rain

2011 Streak 57/365: Walk - 7.62 miles, Time - 2hr 30min, Weather - rainy

The canal was actually a very small part of today's walk but I am using the picture to illustrate the rain. There is nothing like the splashiness of water on water to show that it was a miserable day.

It actually affected my picture taking because I did not look around very much. Actually when I have my kagool hood up I can see very little - just what is in front. Inside the hood the pitter patter noises of the rain drops sounded very loud so I felt part of some minor sensory experiment - limited sight and hearing interference.

I began to wonder what I was doing especially as it was the sort of day when you could be walking down an empty road but the moment you want to cross it cars emerge to block your progress. Most junctions were like that: a minor irritant.

I began to wonder whether I should cut things short and now I wish I had.

There are days when you just have to admit that things are not really working and regroup. Joe Henderson has some really good advice based on his own training practices: he runs the first mile to warm-up and get a sense of how he feels and then he will make a decision as to whether her carries on as planned, cuts it short, or goes a bit harder.

I should have followed his example as today was more about endurance

I Was So Much Older Then

One of the things I like about getting out, whether that be running or cycling, is the questions that come from nowhere and float around aimlessly. Sometimes they are just reminders of how limited is my knowledge of natural history, e.g. what is that bird or plant? Sometimes they are more like a regression to childhood as they are the sort of thing a toddler would ask, viz today:

The weather forecast said there would be heavy showers but when I set out the sky was blue and I thought I might be lucky. In a sense I was because the really heavy rain, in the sense of a large volume of water, fell after I had finished but I did go through a small shower. Although there was not much water in total, the drops of water were very large and they splattered over me like over-ripe blueberries (without the staining - obviously).

“Does heavy rain refer to the size and weight of the raindrops?” was my first question, which was something I could work out for myself. The next questions though were my toddler’s questions: “what makes raindrops big”, “what is the range of droplet size”, and “what is the maximum size”? I did not know the answers but felt somehow I ought to.

Back home I looked up some references. Appropriately most of the sites were written for children but I found the answers e.g. here.

One of the selling points of running, or any other fitness regime, is that it keeps you fitter and therefore helps you to look and feel younger. I’m not sure it has had that effect on me (in fact i know it hasn’t) but obviously, mentally, it has given me the outlook of a three year old.

Rain can almost be pleasant (Occasionally)

Juneathon day 11: run 5.08km time 30min

It is strange to think of summer as I watch the people passing by, huddled up against the rain, eyes cast down, enduring rather than enjoying being outside. It is strange to think of me out here dressed only in t-shirt and shorts whilst everyone else is wrapped up.

Well that is what Juneathon does for you. If there is only a short time available for running and it is raining and miserable, then run you must.

The good thing is that after the first few minutes of “Brrr - Why? Wh/ Why?” it settles down, you warm up, it becomes enjoyable, with the added satisfaction of having conquered your initial reluctance.

(Almost all my Juneathon photos are green so today’s is raindrops on part of a blue car).

Juneathon statistics 11/11
run 8/11
distance 52.63
time 4hr 39min
Cycle 2/11
distance 39.8 miles
time 2hr 58min
Gym 1/11
time 45min

The Problem was Mainly One of Timing

I wrote earlier that my runs tend to be temperate. Although they can be a bit better or a bit worse the variation from the mean is not that great. Yesterday however was horrible. So unpleasant that I started to wonder what on earth I was doing.

As is the as in all such stories It all started so well. The plan was for a longish run and I set out at an easy pace feeling relaxed, Although the sky was grey and damp the air was still and the temperature was pleasant. It was perfect weather for running and I started to think about the differences between good running weather and the general definition of good weather: cool is good as running in the heat is sapping; still is excellent as I hate battling the wind; damp is OK, as soft rain or drizzle can be quite refreshing.

Most of the run was unremarkable. I passed a number of fishermen and wondered what was good weather for fishing. In season they are always out. Even if it is raining hard they will continue to sit patiently by the banks, bundled up, under an umbrella. Nothing will stop a keen fisherman but when is it most enjoyable? This is another area of life of which I know nothing.

I reached my turn round point and it started to rain more heavily but not unpleasantly. The sky though was very, very dark. About 4 miles from home everything changed – a sheet of lightening, a rumble of thunder and an enormous downpour of heavy rain i.e. big droplets that stung when they hit you. I sheltered under a bridge hoping it would pass over but as I got colder and a bit shivery the rain showed no signs of stopping so I set off again.

This was not at all pleasant. Not only was I a bit stiff, I couldn't get a rhythm because I was dodging puddles, trying to find places to land my feet and all the time the rain was getting harder. The towpath eventually became completely covered with water and it was increasingly difficult to run. I had the bright idea thatt the road might be a better surface but this was a mistake. I had no idea how completely the drainage system had been overwhelmed. The roads and pavements were a mixture of fast flowing rivers and lakes with water up to or over the level of the kerbs. The manhole covers had popped up and were gushing water and every time a car passed it sent up an almighty whoosh of spray.

It was impossible to get any wetter - my clothes were stuck to my body and my trainers slurped every time they moved. After struggling along for a couple of miles I suddenly admitted to myself that I was not enjoying this at all and I lost all heart. I had no desire to go on and stopped running. All that was left was a long trudge home. The sky was still gunmetal grey, the rain was still hard, there was still thunder and lightening. My limbs felt heavy and my spirits felt even heavier.