Vintage Check Ups

Oldie
I have reached an age where the NHS wants to check-up on me.

This is the opposite of what the DoT want to do with my old cars which is to abandon the MoT test for them.

So the Health Service wants to check if I am still roadworthy but the Transport Department reckons I am mature enough to do a health check on my old cars myself.

June Date
Went for my check-up in June and came back with the following figures:-

• Weight - 68Kg
• BMI 23.8
• BP - 105/69
• Bad cholesterol - 6.1, good cholesterol 2
• Waist 80 

Death Ratios
Long chat with doc about significance of the statistics that the machine produced from this information. Apparently I have a 1 in 5 chance (20%) of dying from a heart attack in the next 10 years. A reduction in cholesterol level by 1 point would only change this to a 1 in 6 chance (17%).

We agreed that the major factors were age, time and inherited genetic - some things no medicine or treatment can do anything about. So, agreed NFA.

That I had nearly been killed on a zebra crossing walking to the surgery rather put this into perspective.

Jogging
Better than medicine - continue with the exercise.
Maybe time for me to seek a new benchmark?

Benchmark

Blogging Blow
Why won't blogger let me load pictures anymore? Because it only works in Chrome.

"A falcon, towerging in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed" Macbeth, Shakespeare

Torch Relay

Joined the crowds in Newbridge Hill to watch the Olympic Torch Relay go past.
Well you have to do it don't you?  It only comes around once-in-a-lifetime.

Olympic Torch Relay - George Harding in Bath - 22nd May

Except tomorrow when it goes from Bristol to Swindon via Royal Wootton Bassett. And yes I checked the number of Ts and Ss.

Everyone wants to have a go with the Torch

Like the Autobahn a legacy of the Nazis. Sort of.

Not sure what the Met Police were there for except to pose. Each time they cleared the crowds off the road they seeped back on again so the support vehicles ended up struggling to get through. Beep-beep. Not sure what connection the disco-dancers and publicity vehicles have with the Olympic ideals.

Went off well. Lets hope in the real events they remember to put out 10 hurdles and not just nine!

A pleasant interlude.

Travellin' Man

Long Time No See
As the unemployed bishop said to the actress.

Well – seven weeks of rain and I have got out more.
It is just have not had time to write about it.

Statistics

Since then:-

• Running – 0143 miles
• Driving – 1430 miles
• Blogging – 0000 miles

Headed north to get away from the rain.

Dumfries and Galloway – recommended.

River Nith

Travel
Broadends the mind they say. Also the bum if driving long distances.

"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.
I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." - R L Stevenson

Must Get Out More

Dry enough to mow lawn today. Need to get out more. And get fit again.

Could Do Better
Meanwhile, every day in every way retirement is getting more like working:-

• Too much to do
• Choc-a-bloc email inbox
• Computer getting slower and more unreliable
• Ms® software a pain in the butt
• Printer failure.

But I don’t get paid for it.

Plus a loo-flush failure that requires a part that cannot be obtained for a week.

What Went Well
This week:-

• Bus diverted for road works – and stopped nearer to centre of town
• Optician did me a deal on glasses – having said they could not do so
• Blossom and leaves busting out all over
• Birds nesting
• First Run for 2 weeks.

Run Log
211th Run. Starter run after 2 weeks sick. Only four and a half miles.
About as far as my legs and lungs wanted to go.

But enough to shake out the cobwebs with a gentle trot round a few bends.
New shoes feeling good.

Just round the corner....... 

  

“A driver must be physically fit and able to resist fatigue.
If unfit, he is a source of danger, not only to himself, to his vehicle, and to any passengers who may travel with him, but also to other road users.”
Manual of Driving and Maintenance for Mechanical Vehicles (Wheeled) 1937

Disaster

Race Day
It is a beautiful sunny day out there - over 14deg C. I should be pounding the streets of Bath in the Half Marathon at this moment. Instead I am stuck indoors shivering with ague and aching limbs.

Instead of seeking to record an improved time I am recording the times I take pills.

Out of Africa
About now the winner will be accepting his prize. And I should have been near my last watering stop of the race.

Psittacosis
Sick as a parrot, I am, Brian.

But fortunately not as sick as that rare “Norwegian Blue.”
Just feeling blue.

Vertigo !

 

It says that Life would signify
A thwarted purposing:
That we come to live, and are called to die.
Yes, that's the thing
In fall, in spring,That Yell'ham says:-
Life offers - to deny!
Yell'ham Wood's Story - Thomas Hardy

Pound for Pound

Pre-Race Nerves
Only a couple of days to go - and already I have pre-race nerves. Rasping throat - hope it is just nerves and not another cold.

Pre-Race Training
Settling in the new shoes - done 13 miles in them so far. Feel good.
Time to “taper” training now - so no more runs before the day.

Charity Boost
The RUH Bath Forever Friends Appeal for £650,000 to buy a Gamma-CT scanner has been boosted by the Chairman of the Appeal, John Cullum the High Sheriff of Somerset, offer to match £1 for £1 all donations up to £200,000, as reported in the Bath Chronicle.

Now that is something you don’t get every day - a charity appeal with a BOGOF element!

Sponsors
So while I am pounding the streets how about putting up your Pounds?
And each one “buys” another pound. Plus - Don’t forget to gift aid it.

Offers of sponsorship have been coming in by phone, email and other. Please keep them coming.

Collection
Donate on my Just Giving page.
Or meet me in the pub.

Luigi and the Boys will be coming round to collect after the race is over!

White-van-man singing the bluegrass

New Shoes

Went 2 Town
Got some new running shoes today. Hooray!

Size Matters

Reasons

1. Holes above big toes in old shoes
2. Mileage 1077 plus - double that recommended
3. Failed the twist test
4. Knees and calves aching more than usual
5. Down to 1.7mm tread depth.

Actually I made that last one up - I have not measured the tread depth but the soles and heals are worn.

Corridor Run
So I tested 3 different pairs of shoes running up and down in The Corridor. Two pairs I tested using the “one from each pair on each foot” test.

Bit like an eye test - “better” or “worse”. After awhile difficult to measure any significant difference.

Ended up with what are the current version of the shoes I had before. So maybe should have bought them off the web and saved some bread.
But - shoes don’t grow on trees you know.

The Shoe Tree

Shop busy - 2 or 3 others also trying new running shoes.

Info For Geeks
Asics GEL-1170. What would the barefoot runners say?

GEL was a Bournemouth registration No.

Back to Asics

"Relax and Enjoy Your Shoes" - Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams