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.