Will Idle Tom be my running mate?
Just signed up for The Seven Hills Run in Edinburgh; an absolute bargain as these races go, just nine quid, which roughly works out at 60p a mile.
It’s on Father’s Day, June 16. What a singularly appropriate way to celebrate the joys of parenthood.
Only one thing left to do …
Call up Idle Tom the Publisher to see if I can rope him in too for this large slice of masochism.
"Tom!" I said. "Do you much exercise these days?"
"Not if I can avoid it," he said. "I play five-a-side football. In fact, come to think of it, that’s the last time I won an award. I was voted the most valuable player on the team -"
"Well, um, great - and whose team was it?"
"My team. I got the whole team together, do all the admin, that sort of thing. Yep, anyway, that’s who I was in 1995 - the team’s most valuable player -"
"Very worthy winner, I’m sure. Now I’ve got something for us to do together. Might help us build a few bridges. A bit of author-publisher bonding. I think you’ll like it."
"Sounds interesting."
"Yeah, it is interesting. We’ll be doing The Seven Hills run in Edinburgh on June 16."
"The Seven Hills Run? That sounds, sort of, hilly-ish. I’m not a very good runner, you know Bill."
"Me neither. But I’ve still signed up anyway."
"And I don’t know if I’ve got time to do the training -"
"Not a problem either! I’ll also not be doing any training."
"So how long is this run?"
"About 14 miles or so. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together."
"Are you really going to do it?"
"Yep - and I’ll get The Well-Tempered Clavier T-shirts made up too. Though maybe you’d prefer a singlet. Oh - and I don’t want you doing any practising or anything like that. You’ve got to do this thing cold, just like me."
"Well I’ll think about it -"