Fundraising for Cancer Research Wales via the Cardiff Half Marathon

 Hi folks, yes it's me back again with another plea for your generosity as we move into the final couple of months before the Cardiff Half.

Last year I ran on behalf of Alzheimer's UK and thanks to the kindness and deep pockets of my supporters, including many who read this blog, we managed to raise just shy of two thousand pounds. Earlier this year we also did well with my RED January challenge for the Mind over Mountains mental health charity, in which I did a hundred days of consecutive running, totalling 500km.

This year I'm trying to raise some funds for Cancer Research Wales (CRW), another cause which is very dear to my heart. I lost my mum and dad to cancer, and our wider family and circle of friends has not gone untouched by the disease. I'm sure we all have similar experiences, and of course many of us will either be going through cancer treatment, or providing love and support to those who are. Cancer survival rates are better than they used to be (I heard only today of a friend who's received the all-clear after treatment, which is great) but there is much, much more to be done. We can all try to make lifestyle adjustments to minimise our chances of getting cancer, but (as with Alzheimer's) there are still environmental and genetic factors we can't do much about, at least not right now. More research is needed, more data, more trials, more innovative therapies - not just for the common cancers but the rare ones as well, which are all too often the ones where the treatment options are the most limited.

Obviously earning a bit of sponsorship by running a half-marathon won't change the world, but I hope you'll agree that every little bit is a step in the right direction. If you can chip in, no matter how big or small the contribution, here's the link to do so. I assure you that every pound will help motivate me, both in my training and also on the big day.

https://cardiffhalf25.enthuse.com/pf/alastair-reynolds

I'll be begging your tolerance over the next few weeks as I push my fund-drive, but as I did last year, I'll try to spice it up a bit with a bit of vaguely interesting content.

In terms of preparation, I've been building some longer runs into my schedule, such as this 14K one this afternoon (two thirds of a half!):

Unfortunately I had a bit of a dip in my running through June/July. Back in May something odd happened on a fairly strenuous 5K. I didn't feel any ill-effects, but my Garmin heart-rate data was concerning. I had some follow-up tests with my GP, including bloods and ECGs, and everything eventually came back normal (suggesting that the Garmin thing was a measurement glitch) but while the tests were pending I was advised not to push too hard. On that basis, I reduced my running output to little more than a couple of low-intensity maintenance runs per week, just to hold onto some baseline fitness. Apparently you lose fitness twice as fast as you gain it, which is a bit of a swine! With that behind me I now feel confident to push as hard as I like, and while today was far too humid for me to want to run at anything more than a comfortable plod, I'm looking forward to extending my training over the next couple of weeks with a trial half or two.

Today's motivational music was Elastica's fantastic debut album, which still sounds totally fab and groovy.

Some new books

 I'll shortly be rattling the can for my Cardiff Half Marathon cancer research sponsorship, but in the meantime here are a few new things worthy of mention.

The two Revelation Space short story collections I mentioned last time are now out in the world, and it's very nice to see them. As indicated, these gather all the stories previously compiled in the two collections Galactic North and Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days, as well as the material I've written since those two books: Monkey Suit, Open and Shut, The Last Log of the Lachrimosa, Night Passage and Plague Music. I've no immediate plans for anything else in the RS universe so, for now at least, these two collections are complete. Obviously if you're a completist, and you've already got the two earlier collections, you'll be in the annoying position of having to shell out for one or both of these, but it would have been a bit unsatisfactory to orphan these newer stories in a separate collection, I feel, as they would have needed to be padded out with non-RS material. I know how it feels as I've been there myself with other authors and musicians.

As always, I feel the need to add that, although I'm done with the RS stuff for now, that's not because I got fed up with it or exhausted, just that I'd like to explore fresher creative pastures while I can. At least there's a good chunk of material already written, for those who enjoy rummaging around in future histories. And speaking of which, this summer has also seen the publication of Subterranean Press's gorgeous special edition of ABSOLUTION GAP, following on from their equally lovely renditions of REVELATION SPACE and REDEMPTION ARK. I'm really thrilled and flattered by the attention to detail in Sub Press's books and consider myself very fortunate indeed for their enthusiasm and care.

ABSOLUTION GAP is a divisive book (I know!) but the one thing we can all agree on is that it's a big beast; by my recollection it's around 275,000 words and I've not written anything anywhere near as long since. The Sub Press edition is accordingly quite a bruiser of a book:

It features some stunning and evocative artwork (I'll just offer a teaser here):

By the brilliant Marc Simonetti. Once again Subterranean Press has produced a phenomenal item, and I'm eternally grateful to Bill and everyone at Sub Press for their continued support. Thank you so much.

Also from Subterranean, but not arriving until October, is my standalone novella THE DAGGER IN VICHY, which I'm also very pleased with, and Sub Press has come up with a beautiful quasi-medieval look for the thing, fully in keeping with the narrative.

The cover is by Andrew Davis, and the editor on this title was the formidable Jonathan Strahan, another much appreciated and long-time supporter of my work.

Ordering details for these books, and many others, may be found here:

https://subterraneanpress.com/

There's another North American limited edition in the pipeline, too - something a bit different - which I'll talk about nearer publication.

Many thanks,

Al R

Minor update and RS special edition

 Things are moving in the direction of publication for HALCYON YEARS, I'm pleased to report, although I don't yet have a reliable publication date to share. I'd take September with a modicum of salt as I've yet to see any cover art or copy, and not much tends to happen in publishing during the traditionally slow summer months - although I could be wrong! I've completed the proofreading stage, though, which is generally the last point at which I have any real input into the text, and we've selected a voice artist for the audiobook, which is good.

Meanwhile, in the realm of things which are definitely about to happen, I've seen the Gollancz twenty fifth anniversary REVELATION SPACE limited edition and it's a gorgeous thing:

The hardcover book includes six colour illustrations by Richard Anderson as well as two pieces of double-page artwork for the inside cover and endpapers, also by Richard. The cover includes an adaptation of the line drawing of a lighthugger I did many years ago (distinctly weird to see it looking all posh and proper on a book now) and the text includes an introduction I wrote earlier this year, documenting the writing and road to publication of RS. The whole caboodle comes in a lovely black and silver slipcase, which is beautiful in its own right but which I particularly like because it reminds me of a Flaming Lips album:

Yes, I like black/silvery/shiny things. I must have been a magpie in a previous life. The RS special edition is available from July 3rd in the UK.

Also imminent are the two new-ish collections of Revelation Space-universe short stories and novellas, supplanting and expanding on the earlier books GALACTIC NORTH and DIAMOND DOGS, TURQUOISE DAYS:

Volume 1 gathers:

Dilation Sleep

A Spy in Europa

Galactic North

Great Wall of Mars

Glacial

Diamond Dogs

And Volume 2 gathers:

Turquoise Days

Weather

Grafenwalder's Bestiary

Nightingale

Monkey Suit

The Last Log of the Lachrimosa

Night Passage

Open and Shut

Plague Music

I'm seeing pub dates of 17th July for these two books.

In the mean-meanwhile-time, while all this is theoretically going on, I've been getting on with writing the much-mentioned Merlin book. I'll be honest, it's been a much more difficult project than I initially thought - what seemed like a simple-ish exercise in bringing together the existing Merlin stories, with some linking material, has proved to be anything but. I've ended up writing a LOT of new material, so much so that at least a third of the book will be totally new stuff, and of the earlier stories, only THE IRON TACTICIAN has escaped significant redrafting. But, it's getting there. It's been an interesting exercise, going back and collaborating with my much younger self, and seeing what I could and could not live with - mostly the latter. 

And when I've not been working on Merlin, over the last few weeks, I've been re-reading the first three volumes of James White's SECTOR GENERAL series, with a view to writing an introduction to a forthcoming and much-needed omnibus edition, about which there'll doubtless be more to say in the future.

That's it for now, hope the weather is fine wherever you are, and keep sane and safe as best you can.

Al R

Two Colson Whitehead books

 If you'd asked me to read a 600-plus page novel about a Harlem furniture salesman trying to walk a line between the crooked and straight worlds, I might not have felt I had the stamina. But I blasted through these two recent books back to back, and I think they've cemented Colson Whitehead as my favorite contemporary American writer.

They're not exactly novels. Each book takes a decade as its broad theme and traces the story of Ray Carney through three novella-sized capers that are equal parts crime story and equal parts social history. Carney is a good guy who's basically just trying to run a furniture store and look after his family, but he's been a fence in the past and he can't quite escape the ties to his old life. I read Crook Manifesto first, which is set in the early-mid seventies, then backtracked to Harlem Shuffle, which begins around the turn of the sixties. You'd read them in publication order, ideally, but I didn't feel that my enjoyment was in any way tempered by taking them out of sequence. If you've encountered Whitehead before (I've read The Intuitionist, Zone One and Underground Railroad, so still have a way to go) you'll expect to be dazzled on an almost line-by-line basis, and these books don't disappoint. I presume there's going to be another set of Carney stories and I'm already looking forward to it.

House of Suns awarded the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire

 La Maison des Soleils, the French edition of my 2008 novel HOUSE OF SUNS, was recently awarded the Grand Prix de L'Imaginaire at La Comédie du Livre in Montpellier. I'm delighted with this award, not just because my friends at Belial have been doing a grand job bringing my work back into the French market, but because (as far as I can remember) it's the first award of any kind picked up by HOS. Not that books have an automatic entitlement to awards, but it's one of my personal favorites and the recognition is therefore particularly appreciated.

I wasn't able to attend the festival - I did go last year, and was wowed by Montpellier -  but I had other commitments this May. I was able, though, to record a short message of thanks for the award and to the editors, translator and art team at Belial.

Cheers, Al

Run 100 completed

 That's that done, then. I completed my 100th consecutive run.

For those good at maths who are thinking, hang on, it's only day 99 of 2025, my RED January running challenge did indeed start on Jan 1, but my running streak started a day earlier, when I ran Nos Galan on New Year's Eve. I've logged 499.5 kms of running across these 100 days, but that's a slight underestimate as I forgot to start (or restart) my Garmin properly on a few of the runs, meaning I can be comfortable in saying the total is over 500km.

What's all this got to do with writing, anyway? Good question. Everything, in my view. In order to function properly as a writer, the mind-body machine has to be maintained. While there's a viable publishing model for SF, and I still have the motivation to write it, I want to be able to do so. If I'm lucky enough to be still be doing that in my seventies and eighties, so be it! Writing is inevitably a sedentary occupation so the more that can be done to offset the hours seated at the computer, the better. I don't find that I get any particularly brilliant creative breakthroughs during my running (I don't have enough spare mental capacity for that; walking's a bit different) but I do find that my ability to function holistically as a writer is generally better when I'm in a period of active exercise and general good health.

As to the streak itself, I'm now happily calling quits on it. I'll still be running, but not 7/7. Maybe 6/7 for now. I started to feel that the fitness benefits were not measurably improving after the first few weeks, and while I've certainly been sleeping well and feeling good, my running pace hasn't improved much over the last month. I've dodged any major injuries, avoided coughs and sniffles, but I'm sure a little recovery time will now be beneficial.

Tonight we're starting our four-night run of "Guys and Dolls". I didn't plan for my 100-day streak to conclude today, but it's not a bad stopping point as the time available between writing work and theatre stuff is now very squeezed. Yes, I am still writing! Thanks again for all who supported me and the "Mind over Mountains" charity through RED January.

Newty McNewtface

 My newts are thriving after the winter:

They're beautiful creatures, but I can't help missing the frogs that the newts appear to have displaced. Perhaps the frogs will make a return, though.

In other vertebrate news (vastly preferable to the actual news) we've been enjoying some spectacular bat activity these last few nights, with five or six pipistrelles above us at any one time. I'm still a newbie when it comes to bat identification, but we appear to have a mixture of common and soprano pipistrelles. You can read a bit more about our journey into bats here:

https://approachingpavonis.blogspot.com/2020/05/bat-tales.html

A banger by Billy Nomates

 So good! I played this four times back to back the first time I heard it.

Day 75 of RED January

 Thanks to the support of those who contributed to my RED January running challenge, we managed to raise 180 pounds for the Mind Over Mountains mental health charity. I was feeling pretty good about my running at the end of January, so I decided to push on with the streak. Yesterday was Day 75, but it was actually my 76th day of consecutive running as I ran Nos Galan on December 31st. With the daffodils out, and occasional outbreaks of sunshine, that's starting to feel like a fair while ago.

My total distance over these 75 days is now more than 380km, which places me well into France as the crow flies. I'm not feeling any ill effects, so I'm intending to push on to day 100 and then see how I feel. By then I should be close to exceeding my total running distance in 2024, although at this point in the year I wasn't to know that I was heading for quite a difficult few months with an injury.

Guys & Dolls!

 My friends from Showcase Performing Arts will be staging "Guys & Dolls" over four nights from April 9 to April 12 at the Coliseum Theatre in Aberdare. We've been working very hard on this timeless musical and are looking forward to show week, in just under a month. If you're in the South Wales area, why not come along and see our production? The Coliseum is a beautiful period venue, so much so that the BBC recently used it as a Stratford-on-Avon stand-in for the forthcoming feature film "Mr Burton", where (as mentioned back in July) we provided some extras for a day of shooting.

Inspired by the short stories of Damon Runyan, Guys and Dolls is rollicking tale of sin and virtue on the grubby streets of gangster-era New York. It's got great songs, great characters, and plenty of laughs. Nathan Detroit is a small-time hustler who needs to arrange a venue for a "permanent floating crap game" each night, and needs to keep moving that venue to avoid being busted. Nathan's been stringing along his fiance, Adelaide, for fourteen years:

If only he could get a break! Needing a thousand bucks fast, he enters into a rash bet with the high-rolling gambler Sky Masterson, but needless to say things don't quite go to plan. The last thing Nathan needs is the attention of the lousy Lieutenant Brannigan of the New York police department, which is where I come in:

And here's me getting up close and personal with poor old Nathan:

But fear not, all comes well in the end and there's a suitably upbeat conclusion. Even the lieutenant turns out to have a heart. Brannigan is a relatively small part in the production although the fact of him trying to break up Nathan's fun is a big part of the plot driver, even when he's not on stage. The main players, as well as the gangsters, have got some great songs under their belts and even if you're not familiar with the musical, as I wasn't, you'll probably recognise "Luck be a Lady" and "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat", two big numbers with a lot of choreography! I've fallen in love with this musical over the last few months and know you'll have a good night out if you come along and see us.

Tickets cost 16 pounds, with concessions and family tickets available:

https://www.rct-theatres.co.uk/event/guys-dolls

Chris Moore

 I was sorry to hear of the passing of Chris Moore, the brilliant SF artist whose work lit up so many wonderful book covers, from the middle seventies through to the present.

I'd undoubtedly seen Chris's work on paperback covers as I grew up, but I didn't really connect the art and the artist until I got this book as a Christmas present at the end of 1979:

It's a gorgeously illustrated tour of SF's major themes, loosely justifying the title, but which showcases an enormous and varied amount of art from all the major practitioners of the period, and not merely spaceships. Chris's terrific wraparound cover was the star of the book for me, and I spent many hours goggling at the detail and depth, wondering how it was possible to paint such an amazingly intricate and exciting scene. The book was presumably launched as a cash-in on the tail-end of the Stars Wars boom, but the colourful visuals in that illustration owe very little to the film, or indeed any of the other big contemporary SF spectacles at the time. It's a reminder of a time when SF artwork offered a completely different slant on the future to that seen on screen. Illustrations were made by splodging (or blasting) paint and ink pigments around on canvas or board, whereas film productions were executed with model work and optical effects. They not only didn't look alike, but they probably couldn't have if they tried. When did you ever see a glossy or multicoloured spaceship in 70s cinema, or for that matter an exhaust plume? Now that nearly everything is done by manipulating pixels, there's a visual sameness to the imagery presented on books and in cinema. It's all very technically impressive, but (I confess) it leaves me a bit cold in the way that the work of Chris Moore and his contemporaries never did.

There are some equally stirring Chris Moore illustrations within "Space Wars":

The perspective work on this huge space vehicle is really impressive, but note also Chris's skill with background treatments and colour contrast. These elements are in equal play on this other illustration from the book:

These aren't the only Chris Moore pictures in the volume, but they were more than enough to blow my mind as a space-and-SF-obsessed thirteen year old. Obviously, it was a terrific thrill to have Chris Moore illustrate some of my earlier books, and I never stopped pinching myself that things had come full circle (even, though, secretly, I always thought I'd end up being an illustrator rather than a writer). 

I admire all the covers Chris did for me, but I've a particular soft-spot for House of Suns, which I think captures the scale of things quite impressively:

Notice, if you will, the correct orientation of the green and red nav lights (assuming we're looking at the front of the vehicle, which seems plausible). It was this sort of attention to detail that took Chris's work into a different dimension, and made me such a lifelong enthusiast.

I only got to meet him on a handful of brief occasions, always at SF conventions, but we did chat a little and I think I managed to express my delight that he had come to do my covers. Thank you, Chris, for a lifetime of wonderful imagery that will continue to inspire for many years to come.

Incidentally, while writing this piece I discovered that the text of "Space Wars" (by "Steven Eisler") was in fact written by the writer Robert Holdstock, another giant of the field, now much-missed. If you do see a copy of "Space Wars" in a second hand bookshop or charity shop, snap it up, because it's great!

Al R

Every Bloody Emperor (2004-2005)

 

The Moon-tilt illusion

 I think we are all familiar with the illusion of the moon looking much larger than its true angular size when it is near the horizon, but there's a less familiar moon-related illusion that I only really noticed for myself when I was out running a few years ago. It turns out to be well-documented, and well-understood, but no less weird, because even when you "know" the explanation, your brain still won't readily accept it - or at least, mine won't.

Anyway, today was an ideal day to observe the moon-tilt illusion. It was a crisp clear day and the half-illuminated moon was beautifully clear in the eastern sky well into the afternoon. The Sun was also putting on a jolly good show, roughly in the south at the time I made this short video:

The moon is tiny but visible in this clip taken on my phone. It's in the middle and about two thirds of the way up when the video starts, to the left of the tall bare tree. The view then pans around to the Sun. The illumination angle of the moon, dictated by the moon's apparent tilt, strongly suggests that the illuminating source must be way off to the right and higher in the sky than the apparent elevation of the moon:

But that's very much not where the Sun is! The explanation for the moon-tilt illusion is rather involved, but in essence, it arises from the failure of our brains to possess an innate grasp of spherical coordinate systems. Presumably this is because there would have been no survival benefit in such an understanding, and therefore no selection pressure driving our minds to get better at it. You would think that knowing this would make the moon-tilt illusion evaporate but it remains as stubborn to me as when I first encountered it - just as my brain "insists" that the moon is bigger when it's close to the horizon.

You can read more about the moon-tilt illusion here:

https://www.seas.upenn.edu/~amyers/MoonPaperOnline.pdf

Hoping this is of interest.

Al

RED January done

 I completed my last two runs for RED January. I had theatre rehearsals on Thursday night, and since the venue is about half way around my normal 5K route, I decided to split the run into two halves.

I then finished off with a shorter run this afternoon, just as the light was fading. I managed to spot a lovely pair of male and female bullfinches along the canal, which absolutely made my day.

In total in January I ran 163.9 km, or just over 101 miles. I'm feeling fine so will continue with the running streak for a while, but I'll spare you all the documentation. Suffice to say that I'll be setting my alarm nice and early for parkrun tomorrow morning, and looking forward to seeing many friends from the local running and volunteering community.

Thank you all for your support; I'm sure the money raised for Mind over Mountains will make a difference!

RED January

Normal blogging will resume now, until I start gearing up for the Cardiff Half Marathon in October, for which I'm running for cancer research.

Ta,

Al

Day 29 of RED January

 As we near the end of the challenge, I'm not feeling so anxious about pulling a muscle or something, so I was happy to push for a 10K on this day's run. 

This was pretty brisk by my standards. I've never cracked a sub-60 10K but this was by far the closest I've got, so I don't feel that it's impossible. My 10K route is much nicer than my 5K one, with only a couple of road crossings and some nice long straight intervals over 2 - 2.5K. It's also mostly on the flat.

I spent the first bit of the run listening to "Body Blow", the second album by the New Zealand band Headless Chickens. They had a minor hit in NZ and Australia in 1991 with the single "Cruise Control" from the same record. I'd been introduced to them a couple of years earlier, while visiting friends in Sydney during one of my telescope runs at the Anglo-Australian Observatory. I became a firm fan of their music and managed (by a stroke of luck) to catch them playing live in Sydney in 1994. They were great!

Meanwhile, in another hemisphere, there was a different group called Headless Chickens. They would become ... Radiohead.

Thanks for supporting me in my RED January challenge for mental health. If you'd still like to chip in, the link is here:

RED January

Ta, Al

Days 27 and 28 of RED January

 The one thing about running in the valleys is that you're never far from a hill. My Monday run took me up 90 m with around 1.5 km of continuous climbing, but it felt more! The descent is nice, though.

Back onto the nearly-level yesterday. There are some elevation changes around this route but they're mostly short steep bits rather than continuous grinds.

Thanks again for your support so far. Just three more runs to go, then I'll have completed my RED January challenge in aid of Mind over Mountains, for which we have raised 180 pounds. I don't plan to stop the daily runs just yet, though.

Days 25 and 26 of RED January

 It's not often that the worlds of SF and running combine, but they did on Saturday. Our dear friends John and Yvonne Meaney were in the area for a half-marathon Yvonne was doing in the morning. I was Run Director for my local parkrun, so once I'd finished the results processing, we were able to meet the Meaneys for a pleasant few hours of catching-up. Like me, John got his start in Interzone, with a bunch of stylish stories in the early nineties that paved the way for his first novel, TO HOLD INFINITY, and a string of dazzling follow-ups. John has diversified into many different sub-genres of SF&F since then, so check out where he's at right now by visiting his website:

https://www.johnmeaney.com/index.html

John's a really interesting guy, a martial-arts expert, computer trainer and a great natural story-teller with a delicious twinkle in his eye. Yvonne is a running machine who was doing another half-marathon on Sunday. Obviously one half-marathon per weekend isn't enough for some people!

After we'd said goodbye to John and Yvonne I did my Saturday stint on the treadmill:

And followed it up with a 5K road-run on Sunday, during one of the lulls as the storm passed through.

My total for January is now 133 km.

There are still a few days remaining of my RED January challenge in aid of the mental health charity Mind over Mountains. Thank you all who have supported me so far.

RED January

Warm wishes,

Al R

Days 23 and 24 of RED January

 I completed a 5K yesterday:

Just before my wife and I drove down to Cardiff to see Hamilton at the Millennium Centre. We'd seen it a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it so much we decided to try and get two more tickets before the end of the run. It was well worth it. The majority of the main players were different this time, which meant it was almost like seeing a completely new show. They all handed their roles wonderfully and brought out different nuances in their characters. Seeing it twice, as well, meant that we picked up on details of the story a little more clearly the second time round. It's fast! I can't add anything to the plaudits that have already been heaped on this spectacular piece of theatre, but the hype is more than justified.

After stopping overnight in Cardiff Bay we drove back through the tail-end winds of last night's storm. I got my gear on and did another run:

Was it fun? No!!!

Day 22 of RED January, plus signing.

 A nice run round town and the park today, with some hill work for variety. Back on Ladytron for musical accompaniment. Whatever twinge was in my knee yesterday was not present at all today so I had no qualms about running.

It's not all fun and games, though, because there is work to be done. This week, besides writing, I've been signing a batch of signature sheets for the Subterranean Press edition of ABSOLUTION GAP. Sub Press has been hugely supportive of my work over the years and I'm delighted that they are doing these beautiful new editions of the Revelation Space books.

https://subterraneanpress.com/

And another link to my RED January fundraising page if you'd like to support my running effort for the mental health charity Mind Over Mountains. Much gratitude to those who have already done so:

RED January

Love and best wishes to all,

Al R

Day 21 of RED January

 Here's my 21st consecutive run of 2025. I didn't push today. I felt a twinge in my left knee before I set out, and while this faded after a few minutes, I felt it best to stick to a recovery run rather than risk damage. I also followed one of my alternate routes which involves a lot of pavement work (sidewalks) so care must be taken.

Today's musical accompaniment was the brutal, fabulous "Beaster" EP by the band Sugar, which I bought on CD from a record shop near Grand Central Station during a visit to New York in 1993. It's 30:51 long so ideal for a 5K, although not at today's leisurely pace. My MP3 player finished with Beaster and then started on "Copper Blue", the full-length Sugar album which came out the year before the EP. I saw the band live around that time in the Netherlands, although that's about all I remember. Sugar's Bob Mould had been in Hüsker Dü (from which I appropriated the name "Huskers" for the adversaries in the Merlin stories) before releasing a couple of solo albums in 1989 and 1990. Sugar released another album in 1994 and then Bob Mould went off on another solo tangent. He's a great artist and I ought to reconnect with his work.

Cheers, Al R

Days 19 and 20 of RED January

 I put in a treadmill run yesterday, then a nice road run today, relatively brisk by my standards.

Musical accompaniment: Paramore!

Thanks again for the support.

RED January

Al R

Days 17 and 18 of RED January

 Still going well. It's more of a mental challenge at the moment as there's no doubt that running the same combination of routes day after day can become a bit of a grind. I certainly need to change my music selection - I've been running with the same dozen or so albums since the summer! However the post-run satisfaction is good and I'm not feeling any issues with joints, muscles etc. Onward!

Thanks again for supporting RED January and Mind Over Mountains.

Al R

Day 16 of RED January

 Yesterday's run:

I'm getting on well with the challenge, so thanks again to all who have supported me so far with RED January and Mind Over Mountains. For those who haven't been following, RED January is a mental health initiative aimed at getting some physical movement done on every day of the month, to boost mood and wellbeing. We all set our own goals, mine being to run between 3 and 5 K each day. Any movement is beneficial, even just a little exercise around the house or a walk around the block. According to my sums I've now completed 82 km of running this month. But there are still nearly two weeks to go!

RED January

Many thanks,

Al R

Day 15 of RED January

 We're nearing the middle of the challenge today, and as it was a beautiful crisp clear afternoon, I went for a longer run. For the last year and a half or so, one of my preferred runs has been blocked by the closure of a pedestrian railway crossing due to electrification work on the valleys lines, but a new footbridge has been put in allowing me to pick up the route again.

Today's musical accompaniment included Ladytron's most recent album, "Time's Arrow". Jolly good!

Day 14 of RED January

 There's a welcome hint of lighter evenings to come now that we're into mid-January. One of my preferred running routes has a few unlit stretches and only a few weeks ago I would have had to set off a fair bit earlier than I was able to this afternoon. This is a really nice run which affords opportunities to spot kingfishers, although I haven't seen one for a few months. Always worth a look-out though.

Today's musical accompaniment was Editors, with their second album. I feel I need to give their later records a proper listen.

Thank you all for the continued support with my RED challenge in aid of Mind over Mountains, including my two most recent donors, anonymous and Captain Pell!

Best,

Al R