The loneliness of a long distance hasher

Back in the jug ....

If there's anything good about long-distance air travel I've forgotten what it is. I suppose its quicker than sailing, but really .... its almost agricultural. I spent the entire 24hr trip back to Sydney wedged in economy next to a 120kg gorilla who I swear was some kind of Serbian mercenary. After a while the right side of my upper body went numb, but I was too scared to say anything because much of the time he was engrossed in what appeared to be the East European equivalent of 'Soldier Of Fortune'. Such is life.

I landed at 5.30am Wednesday morning, two days after I left London (you lose a day on the way back), had a quick shower and was in the office by 7.30am rather than drop another day's annual leave (Winston, I'll explain how this works later). I had hoped for a quiet day, but it was not to be. I worked through until about 6pm and somehow managed to avoid losing money, felt sick with fatigue so went to the local pub where we have a regular table at the weekly trivia quiz. After a couple of beers I felt much, much better and we won the jackpot for the first time( about $500 !). I was in bed by about 9pm, but that morning and every morning since woke at 4am feeling quite bright and sparky. Very strange.

I haven't run since I got back, but looking forward to putting the 'ruby slippers' through their paces during 'Pain In The Domain' on next Tuesday. Its now a lot cooler in Sydney than it was, so heat exhaustion won't be an issue. Thanks everyone for making Paris such tremendous fun ..... what's the plan for next year ?

posted by Steve @ 7:27 AM 0 comments

A Happy Ending

Ladies and Gentlemen; the Paris Marathon. Parm parm paaaaaaarm.

And so the heroes return, etc etc.

Paris gave us perfect conditions for the marathon; ~8C, no wind and sunny. Apart from a hosiery incident at the start (less exciting than it sounds) I had a great run and am v. pleased with my time (2h54'15").

My tactics this year were impeccable - I opted for the official post-run massage tent rather than the impromptu massage operation run by the Scientologists last year. The official masseurs were just as pretty and smiley as the scientologists, you got one to each leg, and they knew their stuff.

It was great to go out with everyone on Sunday night, although a whole night on Heineken made the Sackcloth taste really good last night!

Please forgive the embedding of the official marathon theme tune. If you didn't get the music, try here - most uplifting!

posted by Jim @ 5:25 PM 0 comments

Je prévois une émeute

Par les chefs de Kaiser

It's traditional for the British to their bowel movements and the weather at the forefront of their minds at all times. No less so the Brit about to do a marathon.

My eyes are going to be glued to the BBC weather pages for Paris for the next couple of days. It's looking extremely promising so far (aside from the fact that 4 day weather forecasts should largely be given the same factual credence as Dan Brown novels).

As for the other, well, the nerves are beginning to get to me.

posted by Jim @ 9:26 PM 0 comments

It'll be a riot

I have a confession to make as my plan has failed. Having trashed Steve's taste, judgment and ethics over the red shoes, I fully intended to turn out on Sunday wearing exactly the same ones. Sadly, it turns out that real athletes (who need 200g shoes) have narrow feet, so my pair have been sent back to the shop. At least I now know that my inability to run a 3 hour marathon is attributable to my size 9 flippers. I knew there must be a reason.

posted by Winston @ 6:06 PM 1 comments