Crossgates

Other than going for a run twice today and taking Bindy for a short walk as usual, I will be having an easy day, which after some consideration is an oxymoron! I continue to clear the back log of outstanding tasks, one of which is to repair toilet roll holder in the bathroom, and another is to put some dates of races in the joint diary, and also on the joint year’s calendar, so we both know which Sundays I will not have a race now that the cross country season will be starting this weekend. As I previously observed, why all this stuff has been put off is something I cannot quite work out why. I sometimes philosophise that after retirement from work, it is all too easy to do little else than organize, eat meals and tidy up afterwards, and for some even the latter is too much!

So after a morning of not doing very much, I find that I am pushed for time to get in a run before our regular time of 1 p.m. for lunch. However I am able to resist the obvious temptation not to bother, but such is my mood of determination this week that I compromise and just run for 3 miles round a shorter Seamer route I have for such occasions. As usual I am pleased that I have got a run in and that for many much younger people, running even 3 miles at any pace would be impossible.

After lunch another task is completed after I purchase a holder for our recent purchase of a Sat Nav, which will enable it to be placed on the car’s dashboard rather than by a suction cap near the window. The window option makes the screen slightly too far away to read at a glance, which is of course not the desired option, there being no time to spend in safety staring at it!

My easy day continues with Bindy’s afternoon walk, and then an early evening meal. As darkness falls although it is only 7 p.m.,I meet up with members of Scarborough Athletic club. After the usual notices etc, and I have distributed copies of the magazine, we set off for the club run. This is more urban tonight, but there are many quiet roads in pleasant though dark surroundings. We also manage a couple of fairly steep hills. Next Thursday, we will recommence what is called ‘structured training’ and this will often involve running fast up hills! In all we cover over 5 miles on average, as the faster runners will run back to the main group at selected points on the run. At the present time, I am happy to stay with the main group! Perhaps when I get fitter ?!

Crossgates

Today will be one of those days with a fair amount of outdoor activity of varying degrees, so I am pleased that whilst there is some fairly strong wind, it is westerly and otherwise fine and seasonably mild. I understood the weather forecast to have threatened a return to what was 2008 summer weather! I get up around the usual time which is just past 7.30, and after feeding the cats, clearing the their litter tray, taking Joan a cup of tea, and then having breakfast, I sit down at the computer and do some more catching up of various things such as the usual backlog of blogs, now reduced but rarely fully up to date. Then I have just three press reports which do not involve so many of Scarborough Athletic Club’s athletes and once I have obtained the official results from the web, can be produced quite easily. After around 90 minutes of two fingered typing, it is time to join Joan for the walk with Gemma. We decide to stick to Ayton rather than the beach or elsewhere for today, partly because of the strong winds, which may not suit the cliff top walk which precedes a walk at Cayton Bay.

After returning home for morning coffee, I have a short rest and then go for the first of two planned runs. Because of the wind, I take a slightly different route round Seamer, which will afford slightly more shelter from the wind. This goes fairly well, in that I am not overly tired, but I am slowed a little by the wind for parts of the run.

After lunch and before the second dog walk of the day, I do more catching up and complete a programme to keep a better record of our banking, after several adjustments and amendments such as adding and subtracting relevant columns. However, I sense that the momentum is fading slightly as I am content with what I have done already.

Once Bindy has been walked, I get out for a second run, and am in a determined frame of mind, and for the usual 6 mile run round the Seamer tracks, I push the pace a little, and end the run with some short fast bursts, which is the first time for well over a week. So with the first cross country race of the season coming up this Sunday, things are looking good.

After an evening meal and a hot bath, I am not predisposed to doing very much else, other than try and find something to watch on the television. Other than news, there is very little. Later in the evening, I receive the printed copies of the Club Magazine for distribution, and these are the October edition, they are bang on time for the first time in 11 issues.

Crossgates

Whilst the weather continues to be fine and dry and mild, I have planned a day of mainly catching up on lots of tasks that I have been either, avoiding, delaying, and/ or forgetting altogether. Having made a rough list on Sunday, I added things to it that can be best be described as forgotten, and have now reached a total of 57 items ‘to do’! I am not a regular list maker, for two reasons. Firstly I find that it does not seem to help me achieve completion of the tasks, and only serves to depress me when I look at what is still outstanding. Illogical but true. Secondly, I tend to think that it is natural to achieve completion of most things in a natural order of importance, but also of the satisfaction achieved. Thus some trivial and unimportant task may be completed first, as it is something that gives pleasure. My current list includes tasks that may never be achieved either in the short or long term, such as learning to speak Italian, and mastering a photo editing program on the computer, but who knows. At least these things have made the list! The immediate aim is to randomly complete as many of the simpler and least time consuming tasks, and then do another more structured list with possibly targets. I am, still fairly good at targets, so we shall see.

I started to complete several comparatively easy tasks throughout the morning, but broke off late morning to go for a run, and not be distracted from keeping my fitness level up and my weight down. As usual I take the usual 4 mile run round Seamer. I feel slightly tired, but also determined to get some miles on the clock for the week after a slowish start.

After lunch, I continue to complete lots of comparatively small tasks, that arguably should never have built up to start with, and I cannot really understand why this has happened. I wonder if this is some sign of an aging process, or possibly and perhaps more likely to just be a form of laziness. Whatever the reason, I am now making a good effort to reduce the ‘arrears’. Just as I did in the morning, I break off firstly to take Bindy for her short walk, and then having resisted the temptation to not run and continue clearing the backlog, I get out for a 6 mile run, and after a tired start, I feel pleased that I have already exceeded my mileage for the first three days of the week over last week.

After the run and an evening meal, I cease work other than reviewing some of the work I have done, and in particular designing documents that will replace all the notes of transaction that are currently contained on the ‘stubs’ of my cheque book. Now that most transactions do not involve the use of cheques, the stub of a single cheque needs to be capable of recording far too much information, and has become very impractical. I make several alterations to my design, all of which will hopefully make our many transactions easier to understand on a large sheet of A4 rather than less than a square inch of a cheque stub. There is little of interest on television which will distract me, but after a latish hot bath, I cease all meaningful activity for the day.

Crossgates

Today will see the best weather for several days, with rain and gales forecast for much of the week after today. It is also expected to get colder, so we should make the best of today. As usual for a Monday I start my exercise filled day joined by Joan for the walk with Gemma, which is round Ayton and not on the beach again, mainly as Joan will be going to Morrisons afterwards for the weekly food shop. So we drive over to Ayton and collect Gemma and walk with her round a cooler but sunny Ayton. Gemma seems quite content to do this rather than a romp on the beach and as usual plods happily along by our side.

After returning Gemma back to her home, we return back home for a coffee, and then Joan goes to Morrisons whilst I get out for a 4 mile run round Seamer. As I have not had a race or long run yesterday, I am not overly heavy, and whilst as always the run requires some effort, I am not over burdened by it. After lunch, I relax a little and then catch up with some simple outstanding tasks, such as checking bank statements.

The Monday routine continues late afternoon with a walk for Bindy and then an early evening meal, prior to joining runners from Scarborough Athletic Club for the Monday night run. With the days continuing to have less and less daylight, there is no longer any possibility of running anywhere other than on pavements or quiet roads, so we meet at the Filey Road Sports centre, which will now be the routine until next April and the start of British Summertime. It seems a little sad right now to reflect that summer has ended. This evening we start by running up the hill to Olivers Mount, and then we proceed towards the town and the Spa area, before climbing the winding path up to The Esplanade and then back to where we started, and what was a run of over 5 miles. I felt quite comfortable for most of the run, but did not feel like pushing the pace too much other than the down hill sections.

After returning home, there was a slight change to the Monday routine in that there was no longer any of the ‘New Trick’s’ series being shown on television, neither new or repeats. However there was still the Sandie Dunleavey show on BBC Radio York to listen to and greatly enjoy as ever. So ends a routine day in a life of Mick!

Crossgates

The mild and dry weather continues as forecast, which is good as a session of gardening is planned for this afternoon. With autumn well under way, there will not be many more grass cutting of our lawns, but the back lawn is in need of a trim so that will be the main task later. In order to avoid the lawn mower churning up the soil with the damp grass, which seemingly stays damp all day at this time of year, I use some old dust sheets kept for decorating to soak up all or most of the heavy due, so that by the afternoon the grass will be dry or at least a lot drier. The first part of the morning is then spent in the usual way with the Sunday newspapers, until I get out for my Sunday run – after spending time deciding how long and how far. In the end I opt for a slightly longer than normal run of 8 miles to Hutton Buschel and back. I take the opportunity to post by hand copies of the Scarborough Athletic Club magazine and cross country race number to a club member who lives there. As always I enjoy utilising my running to carry out such errands. Overall I am still not on top form, but I am getting the miles in and my weight down.

After lunch I fight my post lunch lethargy as usual, although I do have a short nap. Before starting work on the lawn, I spend a couple of hours weeding, and digging out some large plants with Joan’s help, for replanting. At the end of the session, with the lawn cut and edges trimmed, 6 garden waste sacks are filled and await collection by the council waste department. I estimate that less than half of the garden has been cleared of weeds and dead plants etc, and the usefulness of a compost bin which would be filled by half what has been removed today, is questionable.

After the walk with Bindy and an evening meal, I relax and watch the last episode in the current series of ‘Hearbeat’ which is one program that we both enjoy. Looking at what will replace it, leads me to think that Sunday night’s television will not be as good in the coming weeks.

Crossgates

Whilst it is not as warm as last Saturday, it is quite mild and sunny, and a good day to visit Cayton Bay again with Gemma. Joan wants to make an early start to avoid as many other dogs as possible, so we set off to collect Gemma as early as 9.30. This means that I will miss some of the ‘Sounds of the 60s’ program on Radio 2. It seems unfortunate that Brian Matthew is playing songs I know and actually like, as when we drive over to Cayton Bay we hear some Cliff Richard and even a ‘Shadows’ hit, ‘Foot Tapper’ being played. I look forward to listening in to the program ‘on line’ at a later time. However, before doing so, I look up a list of what was played. As usual about half the records were obscure and not hits. For example he played ‘Ticket to Ride’ but not by The Beatles but by 5^th Dimension, and this version never made the charts at all!

When we get down to the beach, the tide is out further than I have ever known it, and we are able to walk towards the north end for a long way, whilst Gemma runs back and forth, in and out of rock pools, and occasionally into the sea. As always it is lovely to watch her seemingly enjoying the free running off the lead, and a lot more than would be expected of an older dog. After about 45 minutes which is as long as her normal walks around Ayton we head back to her home. Of course in the 45 minutes on the beach, Gemma will have covered a lot more than usual, and when we drive back, she has a lie down on the back seat after sitting upright for just a short time.

After a restful afternoon, spent catching up with the newspapers, followed by a short nap, I get out for a run round the Seamer Tracks. It is mentally hard as I often find some reason not to do much if any running on a Saturday, but after a somewhat lethargic start, I enjoy getting some more miles on the clock for the week. In the evening I inadvertently watch some of ‘Come Dancing’ and then the ‘X Factor’. I just do not ‘get’ either of these shows. In years gone by, I would sometimes watch ‘Come Dancing’ which featured competing teams of dancers, with the final result often depending on the final formation dances, featuring teams from places such as Penge! I also watched what were called ‘Talent Shows’ which were truly competitive and threw up some stars to be. In all the years of X Factor, only Will Young has seemingly emerged, at least in my opinion.

Crossgates

Today will be another good day for exercise, and there is some pleasant weather to carry out my runs and dog walks. So on very pleasant autumn morning, Joan joins me for the first session of the day outdoors, which is the usual walk with Gemma round Ayton as the sun breaks through the early morning clouds.

After the walk and morning coffee, I get out for a 4 mile run, which requires some concentration and determination once again. However, I take advantage of my fitness, and use the run for a trip to Currys to buy ink for the computer. Not for the first time this week, I find that I have worn too much clothing for the run, and finish the run bathed in sweat.

After lunch, I spend some time preparing a recommendation to the Borough Council, for Coach of the Year, which is in respect of my friend David Feasey. He has worked hard over the year with a group of mainly youngsters at the club, all in his own time and without any recompense for travel etc. Two of the group have reached schoolboy international status, with one competing for England and another named as a reserve.

After completing the application, I take Bindy out for her walk slightly earlier than usual, and then wrestle with the thought of whether I should go out for a afternoon run. I  feel lethargic, and I have now achieved a decent total of miles for the week, but when I realise that we will be having fish and chips for the evening meal, I decide that it would be best if I burned some calories in advance! Partly because I have left it slightly late, and partly because I feel 4 miles rather than 6 miles will be enough, I repeat the run of this morning but in reverse.

After the run, I can enjoy the fish and chips from our local ‘Silks’ outlet, and as a bonus I do not put any weight on.