Beach Run

The sand hard and white
no breeze,
friend and dog
off we go

I am on the beach
like so many times before
but not before so much time
has elapsed
and so many things have changed

I am thinking of my mate
wondering if he is running tonight
and with each step
with nothing but good company
and the wind and sea
to remind me
as the sun sets
my spirits rise
and run free

The distance I don't know
the time neither fast or slow
The pace, it was no race
but he would have been happy
to go around again
and to have a swim at the end.

The darkness draws in
as it does at this time of year
and the nip in the air is there
but I am on the beach
and the memory of the june sun
and the warmth of this run
pushes the season aside
and leaves only
Summer

A Barby

So is it just a matter
of burnishing meat over
a flame
a cooking fire that we first leant
all those years ago, the need
to feed, to eat, to feed
to make fire and cook that
which had come across your
path

and now it has become a meeting
a place a wood burning
pyre
a gathering and a place for
tribes to meet
and to eat and to exchange the
pleasantries of the day
to today.

To the barby,salt and fat
to clean the plate, just
like my Grandad showed me
a while ago
and then to feed to eat
to dine and to enjoy
the circumstance that has brought us together..

Waters, Lakes and Wine ...

I could get used to this lark.. Had a great week so far running wise.. On Sunday I caught up with Lucy and Richie and Kipper the dog and hung on with them on their way up the Water of Leith to Balerno... I knew when I started that despite them saying it was going to be an easy run, that I would be doing well to keep up which is what I did. I had my strategic exit about 3.5 miles into the run when I left them at Slateford and went up Craiglockhart Hill whilst they continued on to Balerno.. This is what I like about our sport that a plodder like me can enjoy some time with somebody way faster / better than you and still enjoy it .. Sure, if they were running hard, then I would not have lasted more than a 1/2 mile, but that was beside the point..

The above was written a week ago - sort of lost track of time.. Mon last week wss 5 miles, Wed was a 11 miler, Thurs 4 miles at lunch and then it was down to Windermere with Gary and Merv and their boys for an overnight stay and then a walk in the lake district.. Gaz and Merv have supported me on all my WHW runs (bar 2008) and are really good mates... A lot has been happening in my world the last couple of weeks, so it was great to get away for a night and a day... We stayed in the Windermere Manor - a hotel run by Action for the Blind - well recommended, great accomodation, friendly people.. It is quite weird being shown the way to the town at 8:30 PM by a guy with a dog wearing dark glasses...

I had been wanting to open a bottle of Penfolds Grange for quite some time and made sure with Gaz that the one I had chosen was ready.. Grange is Australia's finest wine - quite a statement I know but it is fact.. In Oz you can't get it for love or money, but in the UK you can pick it up in Tesco's - which is where I got it.. Gary said he would bring along a couple of other wines to support the evening.. We ended up in the Cedar Manor in Windermere - a great place with friendly people, great food and a very welcoming attitude. After a cleansing ale after our drive from Edinburgh we started our meal.. First cab off the rank was a 2002 Leuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay - a spectacular wine from Margaret River - just south of where I come from.. It was absolutely blindingly great.. Then we went on to the big boy. I had never had one of these fellas before - it is sort of a right of passage and I was so glad to be able to share it with such great friends.. And it did not dissapoint ! It was like having your first ride in an airplane or the first time you ever rode in a fast car, or even the first time you had sex - but unlike that event, this one lasted longer than 30 mins :- ) !! I will always remember the first sip I had, like no other wine I had ever had before..



Meanwhile the meal was coming and going, we were having a great chat and a top night was developing. We had to have a spacer after the Grange with a desert wine, then we moved onto the final for the night - a '98 Penfolds Bin 389... What a closer.. A Glengoyne to finish then it was back to the hotel, and bed (well after some chasers of beer, gin, Baileys and JD, with Gaz's eldest son Matthew, a 3rd Year Med Student who can only give you hope for the future..)

Next day saw us at Great Langdale for a delayed start. Rocked into the carpark only to be confronted by people in running vests, limbering up and looking like they were up for a day on the hills.. Turned out it was the English Chanps for Hill Running or some such thing... Spoke to a few blokes about it and they were very friendly (Not sure if my WHW buff made any difference !) And then we were off on the hills. Goal was to get up Great Gable and back (about 18k) but after a short time we knew that might not happen.. I was champing at the bit to get cracking, but this was not a run it was a walk.. a change of pace, and all the better for it.. We had some cracking views to start with, but when we got to the top of Rosset Pike it started to close in.. Me and Matt decided to go up Scafell Pike, the others went down towards Green Gable.. We got up to the highest bit in England, but may as well have stood on the top of a chair in a steam room.. Visibility was down to about 10m, but it was a great climb up !!



the trip back up was uneventful, now back to work and also running, 5 on Mon, 10 or so tonight with Norman and back to running tomorrow lunchtime.. Hope you are having a good one !

Support

Weekly running total - Monday out with Norman up Costorphine hill (twice) for a wee blast before he does Loch Ness. Wednesday a little trot with Ian Beattie - up some steps on the Water of Leith and then C. Hill again.. Both Ian and Norman are doing Loch Ness, and they are in fine fettle - hope it goes well for them ! Today a lazy 4 miler at lunch time with Ian King and others from work along the Water of Leith.. So a good few days... and only a few glasses of wine in between !! (well a bottle of Campo Viejo Rioja !! over 2 nights ...

Last weekend I had the privilege of having my suppport crew and families (minus Stuart McCormack) from this years little adventure around for a barby. this is the beast - my mate Mike made it - it is TOPS !!



We had the best weather and I really enjoyed getting the Big Barby out and cooking up for the 30 or so people who were there.. A few beers were had, and then a few wines.. And then a few more wines.. Luckily there were more sensible heads that prevailed when I wanted to set off a few fireworks..

So for Mike Johnson, John Kennedy, Merv Jones, Gary Haywood, Kristin Mitchell. Matt Stoner, Mike Smith, Norman Duncan and Stuart McCormack (who unfortunately could not be there), this one is for you ... Also thanks to Shirl, Kirsty, Caroline who are always there and Sandy, Zak, Ben, Anne, Pauline, Alex, Luke, Eloise, Anne Marie, Matt, Rachel, Jarrad, Alison, Brody, Jasmine, Sheena, Jenny, Katie and Laura, Shirley, and David and Trish Ruxton, thanks for a great day and also for lending me a mate for a day or 2 !

So I am doing this run
Do you want to come
And support me in this dream
It's a bit of a long way
And it is all about me
and what I want to do
What, you can make it
How did I get a friend like you ?

I am running
And
I can only do what I do
because you are there
and I will never forget

The miles are mounting
the midges are biting and annoying
the hell out of you
sitting in your car and I
am running

And then I get to where you are
and I see you and my eyes well up
when I see the bowl of porrige
or can of coke
or just the smile
I have made this goal
done that last mile
when I was feeling like shit
and needing you just to be there
for me
and I will never forget
that I am running which is a
privilege
and I owe it to you

And this is all about me
in this most selfish dream
and then towards the end
we share some miles
you keep me going through the dips
and pacing me, chatting away
I don't recall much of what you say
I can't save it for another day
but you are there
and I am running

which means
We are running
I am the legs
You are the engine, driving
Every step I take
Every mile
Ever bloody rock I kick
or hill I climb
I can't stop
not when we have come this far
We would only have to come back another day
To do it all again

And you have not given up
you are lying and tell me how good I look
In the moments that we share
when I ask for 'the thing' I need
You know the one
it's the, you know
it's at the bottom of the pack
you know - I am sure it's there
oh you've found it
no excuses then
you've done your bit
so I must do mine
Until the end
and we have done
what we set out to do
Only at the end
can we stop..

and now it is all over
and many months hence
So I did this bit of a run
and so did you
and supported me in this dream
It was a bit of a long way
And maybe it started off as all about me
and what I want to do
But we made it
And I am glad that I have a friend like you