Napping and eating

In my experience, you can't talk someone into taking up running, not really. I suppose you might convince them to do a 'couch to five k' or to pop along to a Park Run one morning* but to actually become a runner, that seems to come from within.

And I don't think that you have to be of a particular age or fitness for this to happen nor do you have to take up great speeds or distances. For many years, I would never do more than five miles on any given run, usually clocking in around forty minutes or so.

But if you do take up running and especially if you do longer distances, there is a pleasure to be had that is nothing to do with the experience of being out or the quiet reward of feeling better about yourself, and that is the lovely drowsiness and appetite that follows.

This morning, I ran along Eaves Lane, over the canal and then up Long Lane, before heading down through Adderton to pick up the canal at Addlington, and back along the path to Fredericks before running through town and home. It was about ten miles.

Once I'd stretched and showered, the Minx took me out for lunch at the Top Lock pub, which was excellent. The sun was already low in the sky when we came out and I took this photo. Then we went home and I had a blissful nap before recording the radio show.

And then I had another nap before dinner after which the Minx and I watched 'Yesterday' - standard fare from Richard Curtis with one saving grace** - and I still slept soundly after that.

*When she lived in London, Izzy went out for a run one morning and there was a Park Run taking place in the park that she incorporated into her run. Unfortunately, she was running the opposite direction and all the marshals kept trying to turn her 'round.

** There's just one scene, featuring Robert Carlyle, that makes the whole film worth watching.

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-12.1 kgs
I finished reading 'Look To Windward' by Iain M Banks. Heaven knows how many times I've read each of his books. I don't know how well this would fare as a standalone novel but it's a lovely addition to Culture lore. I've never felt any writer's death as keenly as his; all those stories that we've missed.