Doing the best that I can, at writing, running and living
I’ve been thinking about this film on and off, since we saw it last week. It is definitely one of those films that might get refined in your head on a second viewing. Not refined in the sense that you could answer all the questions it poses, but in the sense that the familiarity settles… Continue reading All Of Us Strangers – directed by Andrew Haigh
I’m gathering the cards together from a game that the kids had been playing. A pairing game. Match the animal … to its droppings. It is a universal truth that children of a certain age have a fascination for all things scatological. Just saying the word ‘poo’ out loud sends our nearly two and nearly… Continue reading Croccy Double – XC Madness
Buds … little tiny buds reaching out through the cold winter earth. I’m not talking daffodils or irises, but the beginnings of a flowering of my strength. The very beginnings mind, but in today’s race there were moments where I actually felt pretty good. So, it seems that consistency does pay off eventually. The Borders… Continue reading Borders Race – Pensby As Hosts
So … that actually went better than I thought it would. Okay, so I was last Pensby in, and I was twelve minutes slower than last year, and I got pipped at the final post by a guy who evidently had more than jelly in his legs. But … the weather wasn’t too bad at… Continue reading Helsby Half 2024
I had been half hoping that this week’s snow would cause Helsby to be cancelled, which is a terrible thing to wish for I know, but I’m just not sure I’m up to the task of completing it. I had felt bullish at the beginning of January, assuming that all my miles in 2023 (over… Continue reading Helsby Prep
'Thwack ... pffft.' The metal flap of our letterbox slammed back as the thin, white envelope dropped on the door mat. I was having a quietly crunchy five minutes with a cheese and salted crisp sandwich when the delivery woke me from my reverie. Inside the envelope was my Four Villages (Helsby Half) race number.… Continue reading How’s That Training Going?
You know that you have really let yourself go when you see a thin layer of dust on the top of your running shoes, and have a sports kit drawer that’s bulging because there are zero clothes in the washing basket, or drying on the line. There are twenty one days, including today, until the… Continue reading Running … again
Today comes before another day, but that other’s not like the rest. We’ve imbued it with an added magic, the power to start afresh. It’s not a modern phenomenon, the Babylonians made New Year a twelve-day festival. They didn’t seem too bothered about getting thinner/ fitter/ frugal, but they promised to pay their debts and… Continue reading New Year’s Eve
On the shortest morning of the shortest day, we are cooped up inside while the wind buffets and the rain scatterguns our window. Our neighbour’s whomping willow is whipping itself into a frenzy. I feel for kids and commuters, having to brave these storms to reach their destinations. For the posties tramping along the streets… Continue reading A&E – Part Two
When Anne told the nurse that we decided against coming in at half past ten on a Friday night, she laughed and replied that we’d made the right call. This was at the end of two and a half hours of: waiting; triage; x-ray; and then a little more waiting. It was an interesting array… Continue reading Saturday Morning in A&E
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