The Well-Tempered Clavier

Sometimes as I run, I plug in my ear-phones. I don’t listen to music. I listen to books. I have finally got round to Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms. I have at least six copies of the book at home. But I’ve had an allergy to the book since school, and though I have started it many times […]

A sort of windy-ish day in Edinburgh. Well… how windy was it? Check out this footage on Youtube of a bin being blown down one of my neighbouring streets…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSqbWWRS1lM
Meanwhile… of much more more importance. What would the Doogie say? Would the Doogie come out running?
“It’s windy,” he said.
“So what’s your point?”
“Well it’s wet too.”
“And?”
“And… I […]

A heroic session last night - me, SIX women and not another bloke to be seen. I had a slight feel for how the Mormon men enjoy their Hogmanays.
Anyway, I got disgustingly drunk - but surprisingly I did not get overly abusive/punchy/jokey. Nothing at all to be ashamed of this morning. Or so I am […]

And so… as 2011 comes to an end, I am faced with a large bill.
Within the week, I have to pay up another £2,100 for my golden ticket into the Marathon des Sables - though let us not forget that incorporated into my £3,600 is my “compulsory corpse repatriation fee”.
Of slight concern is my running compadre Doogie. It […]

I have managed to give myself the most spectacular black eye. I can feel the skin around my left eye puckering and begin to swell. On Christmas Day, it will be an absolute beauty; I guess it will be aubergine and lime.
I’d been running. I have been doing quite a lot of that recently - and […]

Could somebody please - please! - explain to me this thing about guys and lycra shorts.
The fact is: guys in lycra look absolutely REPELLENT.
I was in my local gym last week doing some core-strength piece of nuttery, and there’s this man next to me. He’s in his forties, groovy glasses, very expensive kit. Neat, trim […]

I first started running 14 years ago in New York City under the tutelage of my barrel-shaped colleague Geoff Stead - and have only now, NOW, come to appreciate the special joys of rolling.
Of course I know a little bit about stretching after runs and damn boring it is too. I mean ideally I should […]

Vaseline: essential for all chubster long-distance runners who tend to find that buttocks and various other body parts start to chafe after about 15 miles. Nipples are especially vulnerable. At first you don’t notice much, just a light tingle - and then suddenly it really kicks in. It’s even more exciting when you get back […]