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

Day 12 and 13 of RED January

 Many thanks for the support so far, it has really helped motivate me. I did a slow 5K yesterday, then a gentle 4K treadmill run today. Thank you all!

Today's musical accompaniment was "Chrome", the 1993 album by Catherine Wheel. This is a really stonking record which I haven't really tired of hearing over three decades. "Crank" was the first single off it and still sounds exciting and epic (I reckon). It's definitely a good running record as the album as a whole is pretty up-tempo.

Cheers,

Al

RED January

Day 11 of RED January

 Parkrun day!

RED January

Day 10 of RED January

 I needed some motivation today, so this is by way of thanks to Eric, Justin, Niall and Barry for their very kind donations to the RED January cause. Thank you very much for your generosity, it really helped me put my shoes on and get out there. 

Today's musical accompaniment was the splendid Veruca Salt, with their 1994 album "American Thighs". A post-grunge classic that should be in every discerning record collection.

Days 8 and 9 of RED January

 My bid to run every day of the month is continuing. I did a treadmill run yesterday as my wife and I were leaving the house soon after to see Hamilton, and I followed up with a road run today. The weather was bitterly cold, and the ground slippery, so it was a slow run wearing multiple layers, including woolly gloves, hat and hoodie. In some respects I don't mind running in cold weather, though. You can always get warmer, but there are limits to how cool you can keep yourself in the summer. On the other hand, I hate chasing the light in winter! Summer is nice because you can run as late in the evening as you like.

My relationship with running is an odd one, anyway. I can't say that I ever particularly enjoy it. Once in a blue moon, perhaps. Most of the time it's a drudge and a bore. What I do enjoy, massively, are finishing runs and the long-term benefits brought by activity.

I didn't even start running until my twenties. As a severely asthmatic child, I'd been actively advised against it in school, and the few occasions when I had to run, for one reason or another, resulted in a great deal of wheeziness and the likely onset of an asthma attack. Things changed after I set up in St Andrews in 1988 to do my doctorate in astronomy. My ever patient PhD supervisor, Ron Hilditch, was an avid runner. Another runner with a strong local connection to St Andrews was Menzies "Ming" Campbell, the then Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife, and the British record holder for the 100m sprint between 1967 to 1974. Ming was a familiar figure around St Andrews and was regularly seen running in the vicinity of the observatory. Suitably influenced by Ron and Ming, and since I already had trainers and shorts, it occurred to me that there was really nothing to stop me attempting to run. My first go, running the length of one field, resulted in the expected breathlessness and wheezing. Something odd happened, though, when I tried to run again no more than a couple of days later. I found that I managed to get around two sides of the field before the same collapse. It seemed impossible to me that any kind of lasting physiological change could have happened in such a short time, but the evidence was that I was able to run a bit further each time I went out. In fairly short time I could get around the whole field, and not long after, I could run around the field two times. After that, provided I managed my breathing carefully, there was essentially nothing to stop me running for half an hour. The thrill of discovering I could do this thing that had been supposedly closed to me until then was literally life-changing and running became a part of my routine thereafter. 

Over the last thirty six years I have had occasional gaps in my running due to illness, injury and the usual life stuff, but I have rarely abstained for more than a few weeks at a time and I always feel the benefits when I resume some kind of regular activity. Parkrun, which has been part of my life since 2018, has been a great aid to maintaining steady running during the week, a fact that became really apparent when Covid shut down parkrunning in Wales for about eighteen months. I'm a parkrun evangelist and very proud to be one of the Run Directors for my local event, as part of a lovely team of volunteers. My knees are in fine shape, thanks - better than they were ten years ago, in fact. My asthma is still a factor (I grew out of it to a degree, but it's still there) but the medicines have got progressively more effective with time and the new stuff I'm on seems particularly good at managing early-morning wheeziness. I still find running boring, and it's a constant struggle to find new routes and new goals, but music helps, as does engagement with other runners, be it via parkrun or just the familiar faces you inevitably encounter on your beat. Anyway, although one never knows what the future will bring, I hope to keep running for some while, and I'm extremely grateful to Ron (and Ming) for planting the seed of an idea in my mind all those years ago.

If any of this has struck a chord, please take a look at my RED January fundraising page, where I'm hoping to raise 100 pounds for Mind over Mountains, to provide support for those struggling with mental health.

RED January

Thanks,

Al

Day 7 of RED January

 That's the first week done!

This afternoon's musical accompaniment was from Swiss industrialists Young Gods, courtesy of their 1995 album "Only Heaven". It's a jolly good record!

Cheers, Al

Day 6 of RED January

 Onward!

The snow was completely gone today, leaving just puddles and mud, although there's more cold weather on its way. I contented myself with a slightly shorter run, not helped by forgetting to start my Garmin until I'd already gone some way. My musical accompaniment was Antiphon, the fourth album by the splendid Midlake, which came out in 2013. I've been listening to this record on and off for over a decade and it's really been a grower, gradually settling into my consciousness as a piece of music I wouldn't want to be without. It's one of those records where, once you've allowed it into your life, you can't imagine how the songs could be ordered in any other way. It's just perfect, seamless, a startlingly coherent creative statement, and all the more wonderful given that it came out a period of disruption in the story of the band. It's also just about the perfect length for a nice run.

I couldn't really tell you what any of the songs are about. They seem to hover just out of reach, implying some ineffable profundity of meaning which hasn't quite revealed itself, but which might do so at any moment. Or they could just be a load of old cobblers. If so, it's still brilliant cobblers. Thank you Midlake (and I like the last album, too, I've just temporarily misplaced it).

Best,

Al

Days 4 and 5 of RED January

 I was up ready for parkrun, but we had a number of cancellations in the volunteer group due to the weather, so I took over one of the timekeeping positions instead. Later in the day I went out for my own run:

It started snowing not long after I got back, followed by rain today, so rather than brave the slush and ice, I hopped on the treadmill for a shorter recovery run this afternoon.

That takes us about a sixth of the way into the challenge. So far so good, but one mustn't get cocky. There'll be some challenges ahead, no doubt.

Here's a link to the fundraising page: 

RED January

Cheers, Al

Day 3 of RED January

 A two for one this time as I'm uploading yesterday's run as well as today's. 

This is my fourth consecutive run as I ended 2024 by running in the Nos Galan road races in Mountain Ash on New Year's Eve. Nos Galan is a wonderful community event which celebrates the life of the legendarily fast Welsh runner Guto Nyth Brân, who lived between 1700 and 1737. Here I am plodding around the course a few evenings ago. I think you can get an idea of the amazing atmosphere of Nos Galan, which is always brilliant regardless of the weather. Nearly 900 of us did the 5K fun run and I can't wait to do it all again at the end of 2025.

Thanks, Al

RED January

 I'm going to beg your patience by mentioning another fundraising initiative I'm doing, although I've set a somewhat more modest a target than I did for the Cardiff Half.

The RED in RED January stands for "rise every day", or, for some of us, "run every day". The RED January movement is about boosting mental health during what can be a challenging time of year, at least in this hemisphere. A little bit of activity, especially done outdoors, can make a massive difference to mood and well-being. I did my own unofficial RED challenge in 2023, running 31 consecutive days, and was enjoying the benefits so much I continued well into the year. After developing a few aches I eventually cut back to six out of seven days, but I kept that pattern going throughout the remainder of 2023 and found it helped enormously with mental and physical resilience. 2024 wasn't as good - I picked up a niggling injury which knocked me back a bit, and in addition, a lot of my training became focused on longer runs in preparation for the half. I'm still doing a half this October, but I won't start preparing for that until somewhat later in the year. For now, I'll be looking to run somewhere between 3 and 5K each day between now and the end of the month, come what way. Most of the runs will be outdoors but (as I did in 2023) I'll resort to a treadmill if we get snow and ice.

I'll be documenting my runs as I go. Here is my run for January 1st:

And here is a link to the RED January fundraising page:

RED January

I'm looking to raise 100 pounds for RED's charity partner, Mind over Mountains.

Other than getting my running shoes on, and making sure my Garmin and MP3 player are properly charged up, I'll be working on the Merlin book, drafting an introduction to a new Gollancz edition of REVELATION SPACE (this is its 25th anniversary - a quarter of a century!) and anticipating the next round of editorial requests on HALCYON YEARS. I'll be listening to some of the lovely new bits of vinyl I got for Christmas from my wife, notably The Police's Ghost in the Machine, Simple Minds' Sparkle in the Rain, and the brilliant Sam Fender's second album. Thanks, my wife!

And again, best wishes to all for 2025. Let's see if we can make lemonade from this box of lemons.