les Davey de France

 So I saw my own doctor on Friday - or at least the colleague who often replaces him - and he said, "yes, why not. It's best to run in the countryside." "Yes, but this is the city centre." "So I go to the forests to run, or in the big park beyond the football stadium." My own doctor, before referring me to the cardiologist, suggested crossing the river to run up the hills of the Entre Deux Mers. "It's an hour tram-ride away." "Oh yes, I go on the bike." (It's a half-hour bike ride.) He's probably about 30, about 6'3" and it's all legs. I suppressed harsh thoughts, but felt much better when later on I caught him outside having a quick cigarette. So today I started again. I have new socks and I may need to find new shoes, but today was fine. I'm back on the couch to 5K trail for now, but looking at other programmes, too.

 Redid Tuesday's run.  Better this time.  Not good as such, but better.  Good enough to count as done and move on.

 Last week on couch to 5K I had six runs of 1:30mins each. This week I have two of 1:30mins and two of 3:00mins. The total time is the same, but the effort is quite different. Meanwhile I am encouraged, inspired and challenged by Mrs Davey, some weeks ahead of me, who ran 6K yesterday. Also, I found out where the prostitutes have gone - a row of white vans parked down on the small road parallel to the river. One lady was sat at the seat of custom but I think she could tell that I was in no fit state to partake of her wares. She ignored me as I went gallumphing past.

 week two begun

 Yes, I've started at the very beginning.  It is, after all, a very good place to start. I have one long felt want - to be able to count and run at the same time. I try to count my repetitions and fail dismally and so I carefully calculate my finishing point to be just outside the block of flats so all I have to do is climb the stairs to the fourth floor as my cool-off, but I mess it all up and finish up by the tram lines with a long walk home. Beurk

 Sunday morning : Why am I doing this? How did I ever do this? Man this hurts so much! Forget it. Monday : Why did I even think about it? How did I do it before? Have I aged so much so quickly? Tuesday : Paracetamol is pretty good. I could do it again. Tomorrow. Wednesday : Why did I fuss so much? It's not so bad. Oh no! Forgot my running around permit... There'll be no photos, though. I have this amazing little computer thing that you strap on your arm, and it tells you when to run and when to walk by rattling. It means I don't have to take my phone with me when I run.

The faithful reader will know that I am not afraid of incorporating the assured findings of recent scientific research and the latest fads of the snake-oil vendors into what I so ambitiously call "my life". Also that I am not usually shy of sharing these fascinating snippets with you, gentle reader, though I did spare you, I think, the inclusion of nuts into my daily regime - something that caused me long reflection. Long story short, chocolate nut porage, with walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts and almonds. Carry on like this and I'll be adding fish-oil and chopped liver to my morning oatflakes. Anyway, moving swiftly on, I'm trying to sleep longer. Our wild social agenda prevents me going to bed earlier, so that means staying in bed later in the morning. But I've always got up by 6:30! But good men get up early! Everyone says so! But I go running at 6:30! Aha. Leaving aside any pretence at being a "good man", whatever that may mean, and the steely g...

Well it's warmer, at least, but this morning we were back to more normal December weather of driving rain and blustery wind. To be honest it wasn't raining that much. More a question of puddles and dampness, and I do pretty well in dampness. But the wind was annoying because all the uphill section of my habitual run (I did the short version this morning) you are running into the wind. But not only that, for some reason the good burgers of Pessac had decided that this was the night to forget to fasten their gates, so all the way I was subjected to the noise of sudden slamming. It was just like running through a horror film. I expected some monster to appear round the corner at any moment. None did, thankfully! We had these super-duper cheap and cheerful running bands, you know, like fitbits, but the Chinese version. They were really good, though Mrs Davey's always found it hard to connect to her phone. Mine worked OK. Till I changed my phone. Then it just wouldn't ...

Oh boy was it cold this morning. I had on a nice thick tee-shirt, "lounge pants", a sweatshirt and a tubular hat for my head, but my eyes still watered with the cold. I want to increase my distance bit by bit, but this was not the morning to do that.

Mrs Davey has a flare-up of her back problem.

Falling over : Mrs Davey fell over this morning. She thinks there is only superficial injury, thankfully.

It was good to be back pouring the paths again... A little punctuated by my unsettled asthma, but it'll improve.

We have these wristband gizmos that do all kinds of things. If you're indoors and can swivel your arm at the right speed or poke a receptor successfully it'll tell you the time. Not only that, but coupled with an application on your phone it will tell you how many steps you've taken, how far you've walked or run, your average stride, the distance travelled, your maximum heart rate while exercising and your heart rate at any given moment. It's wonderful. If you wear the thing overnight it'll even detect when you fall asleep and when you wake up and tell you how long you spent in deep sleep. Every now and agin they update the software on the phone and on he wrist band. Lats time I went to the UK, because I'd be spending all day sat in a conference and travelling lots by underworld railway and bus and stuff I left the thing at home. When I cam back I charged it up, updated the software and since then it's gone nuts. Apparently I don't do deep ...

Well that was funny. I could see that it was raining a little before I even put my shoes on, but by the time I got to the corner of the vineyard it was clear that the rain was too heavy and that it was increasing. So I turned round, went home and ate my porage.

It felt good, though a tiny bit ... breathless? ... to be back on the trail this morning. I didn't run during the heatwave. The government told us to avoid physical effort. Also we weren't sleeping very well. And it was already HOT first thing in the morning. So it was good to be back out today, even though I had to take a few breathers!

First a word of explanation. Hot. It's hot here. Very hot. The kind of hot where you just cat-nap all night, skimming over the surface of sleep like a stone on a lake. But I thought, if not now, then when. So I donned my special running socks, my special running trews and my special running shoes, plus yesterday's tee-shirt, and ventured out. Boy was it hot. Not only that but the first drops of the approaching storm were falling. But I made it to the château and back, and next time it will be easier.

This morning I got out a little later than usual and was surprised to see my neighbours still waiting at the bus stop. Just after I passed them their bus came, but it did mean they watched me totter up the hill in my startling grey, navy and fluorescent yellow running gear. All went OK. A noisy bird yelled at me as I passed. When I came to the vineyard I spotted a bunny just a few yards ahead, a sweet little young bunny. He scarpered. There was no hole in the fence. I galloped, the bunny galloped, we galloped together. He had an admirable turn of speed, but little endurance. He kept stopping to rest. So I caught up with him a couple of times. Then he hid behind a waste bin and rejoiced to see me hurtle past. Ha! When I came hurtling back he bolted and scarpered again. He galloped. I galloped. As before, but in the opposite direction. This time we went all round the vineyard in our somewhat unequal relay race before he found a couple of bushes he could dive headlong into. Bye bunn...

I looked out of the kitchen window. It was not raining. It had rained. It would rain. But it was not raining. Of course, but the time I got outside, it was raining. As I walked up to the vineyards I got one of those severe, sharp, stabbing pains that shoots directly up your leg and threatens to make you fall over. It meant nothing. There was no real problem. It just hurt. I stretched and the pain went away. I got to the vineyards and decided to use my inhaler before setting off. And I gave myself a coughing fit. Such are the hurdles to be jumped by the morning runner, before he even begins! There were nice flowers, though.

Well here I am back again. This morning's run was fresh!!! As in "running through the clouds of your own breath" fresh. And because the trees are still trying to sabotage me, I had to stop to use my inhaler twice. But apart from that it felt good. One drawback of these lighter mornings is that there are more people about. On Tuesday morning I passed someone running the other way. We waved to each other. This morning I passed various people and a somewhat gasped "bonjour" was necessary. I was a little perturbed recently to discover that regular running will add on average three years to your life. This all sounds great, except that you then remember that it adds the three years on to the end, the bit where you're ill and immobile and so on... If I could add three years onto my thirties, then that would be great. Except it's too late. But I suppose it doesn't work quite like that. I hope that as well as adding three years, it will make the last...