Still running...

I have been trying to avoid writing posts about my running exploits, because I fear they might lack the general interest quality I've been striving for in the blog; but the fact is that my life seems to have become somewhat dominated by running recently, so there isn't really much choice.  Maybe I should start a new blog, so that people who only want stuff that's actually amusing don't have to put up with it. Please feel free to vote for your preference using the comment facility below. Of course, like the EU Commission, I reserve the right to ignore the result if I don't like it.

Anyway, the upshot is that I have been running every day for the last week or more, complete with spreadsheet to keep track of my performance.  Strangely, the two courses take about the same time, so it's difficult to remember what my PB is for each one - and it keeps changing!  Currently the results are:

Hill	21:45
Millers Crossing	22:17

Today I did 22:00 up the hill - a pesky 15 seconds too slow for a new record.

Part of the credit for this frequently improving performance is surely due to selecting  appropriate "music".  I put this in quotes because in my search for suitably driving, beat-driven sounds with a BPM (beats per minute) value that is provided by the creator (for DJs) I have discovered a genre called "dark psy".  This is fast psytrance with not the slightest intention of being pleasant to listen to.  This is good, because it isn't distracting in the way that nice music is, and it keeps you awake, in case any kind of running reverie should waft along.  Also, one of the tracks I found was called "Early Retirement", so I just had to give it a go.  It's only 150BPM though,  which (it turns out) is a bit slow for me nowadays.  About 155BPM is more like it for the Miller's Crossing route, and even 165 for the trip down the hill.  165BPM means a track like "Apocalyptic Nonsense" (which is from an album called "Age of Apocalypse" - so you can't say you weren't warned).  Anyway, here's a link to a preview, just to give you a taste of what I mean: Apocalyptic Nonsense preview

In other news, I went to a running shop and had my gait analysed so that they could sell me some proper shoes.  I over-pronate, like most of the population, so I now have a pair of Brooks Ravenna DNA 8 "stability shoes".  A bargain at £115. At least, they will be if they keep my ankles working.  I decided not to buy a pair of tights for £45-£70 from the running shop though.  Something tells me I could do better elsewhere.

All this expenditure hasn't improved my time though, no PB on either route yet after running each one in the new stability shoes.  But at least they are a nice colour.  Since we haven't had an amusing picture for ages, here's what I now look like when I pretend to be running:

As you can see, I've removed my left arm at the shoulder to save weight. The bluetooth headphones are good if a bit heavy - you can get bluetooth earbuds apparently.  Oh, and I'm carrying a phone for music, so obviously I should be in the market for some sort of wrist-mounted computer gizmo.  I think another grand should see me through for a while...