I had a race today representing my county because our best two guys had committed themselves elsewhere before they knew of the county match. Dominic King, who was the only UK representative in the 2012 Olympics Walks, represented Essex and, as usual, lapped me and most others*. Afterwards, when I duly (and sincerely) congratulated him. he asked how ( Read more... )

A stunning example of incompetence. The race was cancelled after keeping the runners waiting at the start line for about half-an-hour because the organisers found out yesterday morning that the water "bowsers" that they had ordered had not been delivered (and a quick approach to local supermarkets left them thinking that those could not provide ( Read more... )

I did a five-mile race (OK, on the short side but in this weather they don't want the guys and gals to get frostbite) today and I was lapped by a kid one-quarter of my age. Kids that age aren't supposed to be allowed to compete against adults in case they hurt themselves. I ought to be celebrating that Enfield has found a great prospect who beat a ( Read more... )

This evening my wife emailed a couple of pages toi print out because the printer is currently, as usual, linked to my computer. It took me 6 seconds to walk upstairs (I was in no hurry); it took a little over 10 minutes for the email to travel the same distance.

A BBC commentator, talking about the undoubtedly great Sachin Tendulkar says ( Read more... )

I received this afternoon a very flattering email from a young woman at Landmark Films (she didn't state her age but said that her boyfriend's grandmother is 80 so I must assume that she is young) asking me to contribute to a programme, called Masters Olympic, about over-70s actively competing in sports at a high standard ( Read more... )

So the BBC publishes a big article claiming that someone has found the first case of brain damage comparable to the "punch-drunk" syndrome in a rugby player. Allegedly "The former rugby player had higher levels than a retired amateur boxer." ... "The condition has been recognised for more than a century, and until recently had been thought to only ( Read more... )

I have only seen the preliminary reports on the Boston Marathon bombings but I am revolted. This is less comparable to kicking puppies than stamping on them. Anyone finishing a marathon after 5 hours must have run themselves into the ground to raise money for charity (serious runners finish in 2 to, for over-40s, 3.5 hours) and be in a worse state ( Read more... )

The CEO of the firm for which I do most of my work introduced me to a friend (of his and of his major shareholder) so that I could talk to him about pension fund liabilities and, after looking baffled for a few minutes, suggested that we could communicate by e-mail. Youngster looks at my card and says, jokingly, "you don't have enough letters after ( Read more... )

After six months without racing or even training since I hurt my foot (on a really bad pot-hole trying to avoid a family who chose to walk along the race-course), I was quite relieved to get through yesterday evening in one piece. Especially in view of the weather: when we started there were no pools of water on the "all-weather" track, it was just ( Read more... )