Coventry to Catherine de Barnes via Tamworth and Birmingham

Saturday I set out on a 111 mile loop run along canal paths. It was an organised event in which I really only had hopes a making it to check point #3 at roughly 75 miles (and eventually had to throw in the towel at checkpoint #2 (a little shy of 50 miles). I’ll go back a few times later this year to complete the other sections.

I’m doing a significantly longer run later in the year and went into this one with no expectations other than to test drive my strategy and nutrition under real conditions…y’know, see what’s working and what isn’t.

I started a little faster than I would if planning to do the full distance and was still working out tightness ten miles into the day, running sideways or highstepping a minute or so at a time. I’ve got a bit more confidence carrying the 2 litre water bladder and can see some other, related ways to lighten the load in future. I should definitely schedule some heavy meals at pubs during the next really long run but it was good to rely on the support crew and my carb/protein/vitamin/mineral concoction this time. Other than those bits, everything seemed to work according to plan.

The first pub stop was at about 25 miles. The Gate was quiet but the beer was cold (Fosters). I got through checkpoint #1 about a mile away, changing shoes, socks, and shirt for dry ones and grabbing some fruit before continuing.

At 31 miles, a Red Stripe helped me pace myself during a stop at the Dog and Doublet but I could already feel the twinges of the left IT band that has plagued me over the last 20 years.

Realising I only had about 6 hours left in me before this became an injury requiring lengthy recovery, I downed the mushrooms I had promised the donor I would use during this race. By the time I reached the Boat, inside was too weird and it would be my last pub for the day.

The tripping part of the run was quite beautiful, of course, but it distracted me from the developing tendinitis in my anterior tibial tendon which has turned out to be fairly severe.

With 61.5 miles to go I made the right decision not to go. Probably off the left leg for a week or so.

Week 28 Recap: When Did Simple Desire Become A Sin?

There is an overwhelming longing to finish the house refurb as we start our 21st month in The Compound. We feel like this is normal but we have never set — nor abided by — the standards of others. The arbiters of taste and morality be damned.

We continue to work on indoor details because the pile, seen behind the rising cladding (made from 115 year old skirting boards formerly resident in the pile), precludes our enjoyment of the garden. In the coming four weeks our summer project will be to shift the old shed’s contents to this temporary structure (made entirely from scrap, mind you), tear down the old shed, add it to Skip #3 at the end of the month, and pour a slab onto which we will build the new, larger shed and a wee patio.

This is less ostentatious than mildly ambitious. The garden is small but the aerial Google map of this buurt was recently updated with our stuff in the garden blurrily visible. The brick shed on the back of the house (torn down June 2020) is still attached to the house in this shot and our blue patio table is visible with the shadow of the folded parasol on it. A larger shadow on the lawn is cast by the folded down clothesline and tells me that the date is late spring and the time is mid-to-late morning (someone was home as the upstairs bathroom window is open):

We may have missed our window of Summer opportunity, though. The first days exceeding 25 degrees C (77 F) were this week and that may be what passes for the heat wave this year. We are natives of the sultry, humid lands of the subtropical southeastern US; moderation in all things is an unfair demand in this hellishly temperate climate.

The foot injury seems to have eased and I’ve managed to run enough to sweat a few times. Fines and fees: £72.67

Week 27 Recap: Stress

The stress fracture in my foot finally started easing Monday and staying on codeine all week kept me low key despite also really productive at work. Mileage, therefore, is mostly walking until Sunday when I did a DIY supply run to a couple of places 3 miles apart. Foot shows promise…third false start this year so don’t know what to look forward to.

Watching England v Italy as I type. England are playing a guy named Trippier and another named Stones. Fantastic match, with 7 minutes left in extra time and tied 1-1.

Did various stuff and made plans for more stuff imminently. Details may follow.

Shameful and shameless this week … fines and fees £151.67. Crikey, I must lead a better life. Starting …

… now?

The match ended. I loathe the penalty shoot out and think the extra time should continue until a winner is found. When I was young I thought this should continue around the clock with substitutes requiring at least 12 hours between return to field, but nowadays I think 6 hours per day until it is settled. Fer fuck’s sake, do it.

#GVRAT 1000K: 270.9 miles after a rest day for the new eye decoration

It is a good recipe.  In fact, it is a countdown…3…2…1.  Three shots of tequila, 2 shots of Cointreau, 1 of fresh lime juice.  Shake with lots of ice in a Boston shaker and strain into a salt-rimmed cocktail glass.  Repeat until you fall over in the garden.

More work than there has been in months today.  Very busy, so it was easy to take the time off the running.  I did get out for a little more than a half hour walk bringing the GVRAT mileage up slightly to  270.9.  I am, therefore, virtually next to a big, windowless metal building with approximately 20 parking spaces.  Horrifyingly similar to what I imagine the afterlife might be.

 

#GVRAT 1000K: The Curse of ASMS

I’ve attended the annual conference of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry 12 or 13 times over the last 25 years and every time I sustain an injury within 48 hours of arrival (drink and/or drugs may have been involved).

I once awoke next to a swimming pool the morning I was speaking in a polymer mass spec session wearing only my outer shirt, one sock, and some underwear; the security personnel demanding to know if I was resident at that hotel were nudging the swollen and quite broken toe on the unclad foot.

Eventually, they escorted me to the room I was sharing with my PhD adviser asking him, “do you know this man?”  “Yes,” he replied tiredly with the, “unfortunately,” implied but not uttered.  He never bothered to ask for details having seen worse the previous 3 years.

So, this year ASMS conference is online due to COVID-19.  What’s the worst that could happen?  Day 2 also happened to be Jackie’s birthday and all she wanted was tacos and margaritas.

D’oh.  Tequila…the broken toe incident also involved tequila.  I awoke this morning with a 3 inch gash on the opposite side of my forehead from the ones I just de-sutured (which I sustained, from the online receipt, the day I signed up for this virtual conference).  This new decoration came after J had already gone to bed and I was shifting some plants out in the garden from a usually sunny spot to one a little more protected from foul weather ahead.  My back seized and my knee collapsed and the tequila balance defined my trajectory toward a stack of paving stones.  Olé!

Before the fiesta, we jogged to the far side of Oldbury and back during my work-from-home lunch break.  The resulting GVRAT mileage now stands at 268.8 and my virtual position is here in the shadow of a “See Rock City” sign:

2020 Commute 36 of 52 (From): Rotton Park New Build and #GVRAT past Pulaski

My left knee is still giving me grief, but it is soft tissue related and entirely my fault for poor stretching habits.  It FEELS structural but is is entirely due to tightness up my side, along my hip, and across my ass and lower back.  I am such a dumb ass.

So, the run home was gentle and slow although much has improved since yesterday’s mat session.  I stayed on the mostly unpaved side of the canal and got a look at the new houses going up in the wasteland that is known as Rotton Park.  The site has been in prep so long that I hardly noticed when these sprang up like a fungus a week or so ago.  So far, so ghastly.

For the GVRAT update, today’s crawl and the couple miles with Jackie later on bring me to 220.5 out of about 620 total.  I’m roughly at the red pushpin on US-31 above which is just past Pulaski, Tennessee:

 

2020 Commute 35 of 52 (To): #GVRAT Crossroads and the Prison/Hospital Loop

Documented the canal accoutrements along the Prison/Hospital loop on my way into work today.  More on that below.

But first, I added another 13 miles and change to the GVRAT effort, ending up with 199.4 and at the crossroads you see below.  Tomorrow, the path turns right, here, but for now I’m just waiting on a fellow that smells of brimstone and is making offers for any souls not otherwise allocated.

On the canals, my turn was to the left.  The first sight was the Winson Green Railway Bridge:

The road bridges on this loop are largely spectacular brick works.  Next was the Winson Green Bridge.

Passing HMS Prison Birmingham, I crossed a long footbridge:

The Asylum Bridge runs between the island and the Prison:

There’s a private barge port off the side.  This is the bridge over the entrance:

Western Road is similar to the others on this branch:

There is a lot of construction and the ruins of factories around Spring Hill Bridge:

Just before that, I spotted the bunny graffito at the top of this post.  Just after, there is a very steep footbridge that nearly destroyed my knackered knee on the way back down the far side:

At the Soho Rail Bridge, I rejoined the main canal.  Off to work.  More mileage tomorrow if the knee holds up.

 

 

2020 Commute 33 of 52 (To): Hated But Rated and #GVRAT update (Git’er Done)

The constant, painful throbbing in my forehead subsided last night and I haven’t used pain meds (other than bourbon) in more than 24 hours.  I opted to do my normal commute run in but shaved a mile off by entering the canal path a bit farther downstream than normal.  That was probably a good idea, as were the frequent stops for water (in and out) and sightseeing.  I’ve spotted the Hated But Rated mural before (it turned up a few months ago) but that’s today’s picture, not far from where The Incident occurred last Thursday.  (Note…I misread the graffito that day as “40 Words” when the actual note was “How many words,” but both were apropos.)

The commute along with the walk downtown after my duties put my GVRAT mileage at 126.1, landing me just short of “Git’er Done Equipment Rentals.”  The name refers to a catchphrase a college educated, middle-class, northerner made famous doing a white-trash comic caricature that Southerners really embrace and most of whom think is authentic.  I despair for my people (just not enough to ever spend any time with or on them).

 

#GVRAT 1000K, Walking off the cracked skull (6.6 miles) virtually to Fish Branch Creek

Right eye swelled overnight but the pain from the fracture is less than yesterday.  Got out for a morning hike which felt good while doing it but has left me pale and drained afterward.  The 6.6 miles logged brings the GVRAT mileage to 106.9 (precisely 172 km) progressing me to a point by a creek, just beyond Hornsby:

 

Kanapinis Šviesusis Alus — Neighbourhood Beer Tour #23

The gashes on my forehead and next to my eye continued to bleed at varying rates the rest of the afternoon indicating a trip to A&E for sutures.  Cooking supper was not a priority so curry was ordered.  If there’s one culinary thing the Brits have gotten right it is that beer is perfect with Indian food.  I went for the Lithuanian Kanapinis Šviesusis Alus  or “Hemp Light Beer” with my repast and a dose of codeine.  Yum.