Forever Friends Appeal for the RUH Bath

Local Appeal
Please help me support one of my local charities that is linked to the Bath Half Marathon.

The Forever Friends Appeal for the Royal United Hospital (RUH) Bath is seeking to raise £650,000 for new technology to help the quick and accurate diagnosis of:-

• cancers
• heart disease
• bone pain
• neurological disorders.

This will combine the features of a Gamma Camera and a CT Scan the result being a better picture to identify and pinpoint anomolies. Another benefit is that patients only go through one procedure rather than two.

After my 13.2 miles half marathon I wont need such advanced technology to identify the source of my aches and pains.

Please give generously.

My Just Giving Page
As last year I have set up a page linked to the charity of my choice. This makes online donations easy and if you tick the right boxes the taxman makes a contribution too. If you are a UK taxpayer.

For those of you who dont like online giving you can give me some money and fill in the form when we meet, or you can send a donation direct to:-

The Forever Friends Appeal
Royal United Hospital, Combe Park, Bath BA1 3NG

Cheques payable to "RFU Chaitable Fund (FFA)"

Don't forget to Gift Aid it - and mention me!

Every Day Would Be

The First Day of Spring
Today the sunshine and warm temperature - more than 11deg C - brought out the topless cars and ice cream vans for the first time this year. Crocuses in bloom. Must be Spring.

Also got me out for my first run for 10 days.

Recovery Run
Deliberately slow and evenly paced. Technically not a Recovery Run - but for me a recovery from being unwell run.

Did not work out quite as planned tho’ My log says:-

206th Run. Recovery From Flu Run! 6.5 miles in over an hour. Garmin only recorded outward journey - must have pushed wrong button.
Bridge 2 far - usual route and distance hence know it was 6.5 miles.
Standing HR started relatively high - 72 and HR on run also fairly high for amount of effort put in - Ave 159 and max 176. Which suggests not fully well yet. Or maybe loss of fitness whilst off.
As a "marker" also included time for measured mile - did not push it so came out as 8min 50sec as against best of 7min 22sec.
Pleased with result. Felt OK.

Bath Half
Worried - I am not listed on the website - but got the chip and No.

Waiting to hear what the explanation is. I mean I sent them my last year's time and everything so they know who I am.

Don’t think they allow anyone to run under another name.

Sponsorship
Have sent off for a fund-raising pack. Planning on going local this year.

Rise of Paganism in Bath
On the way to my running routes. More tea vicar?

Decorated Apple Trees

Cling, swing,
Spring, sing,
Swing up into the apple tree.
Landscapes - New Hampshire - T S Eliot

Man Flu

Symptoms in the Attic

My Thursday and Friday:-

• Explosive sneezing
• Hacking cough
• Rasping sore throat - indeed feeling as though it is being rasped by a saw
• Vice across the bridge of the nose - or a G clamp
• Dizziness and Nausea

Almost every bone aching:-

• Legs
• Hips
• Head
• Jaw
• Knees

Unable to breathe.  Unable to sleep - but hallucinatory dreams.
Smell of good food cooking - induces retching.  But gut aching from hunger.

These are the symptoms of Man Flu.

A Problem Shared
Except it is not just me who is suffering from it. But Milady's symptoms are slightly different. More coughing - less paranoia.

Paracetamol ran out yesterday - so had to go out and get some more.
Short walk to shop - but exhausting.

Virulent Virus
As a pensioner I no longer get contact with the popular viruses going round the schools and workplaces of the country - so my natural defences are as out of touch as I am.

Vitamin C
Which is probably why my intake of fruit including oranges has no effect.

Running Training
You are joking!

 Anticipation - or Prophecy?

I've a head like a concertina, I've a tongue like a button-stick,

I've a mouth like an old potato, and I'm more than a little sick,

But I've had my fun o' the Corp'ral's Guard; I've made the cinders fly,

And I'm here in the Clink for a thundering drink and blacking the Corporal's eye.

Cells - Rudyard Kipling

Winter Running

How do runners who work manage to fit in their training?
At this time of year - mostly by running in the dark it would seem.

Pensioner Syndrome
Too much to do - so little time.
Lots of things to be fitted in during the past 2 weeks - and more to come.

It has been hard work keeping up the running schedule for the 1000 miles in 2012 challenge.
More than 20 miles last week and 22 this - so just about on the graph.

Rained & Snowed On
A change to more seasonable weather - colder. Still getting out to do the runs between snowfall and rain - avoiding slush and ice.
Hat and woolly gloves a comfort.

Srewfix
Who cares if I look a twit? The hat advertises Toge TSM. Best Screw In Town.
An ad campaign lost in translation.
Its my gardening hat.

Hours per Mile
My recent runs have been:-

• 4 at 7 miles within 70 minutes
• 1 at 6.5 miles within the hour
• 1 at 10 miles within 103 minutes
• 1 hill run of 6.5 within an hour.

Bristol City

The longer runs pacing at 10 minute miles are not really fast enough if I am to improve on last year’s Bath time. Really I need to go at 9.5 minute miles over the longer distances.

Today I was overtaken by another runner and for awhile I kept within near sight of him.
He slowed a little and I speeded up a bit.

Moving the Margins
I need to do more short fast runs to build pace. Even a small margin would help psychologically.
But I need a 5% increase in pace. Not small.


An Economist said:-

“The modest increase in private car sales in January lifts hopes that consumer spending may hold up better than feared … and help the economy return to modest growth” Howard Archer of OHS Global Insight.

Car sales in the UK increased by 0.03% - including business as well as private sales.
Business Telegraph 7Feb.

What does this percentage represent in numbers?

Forty Two.

Inevitable I suppose.

The Last Laugh Saloon