stretching the legs

For any of you interested in pork rather in my attempts at running, I can tell you that butchering even half a pig is a lot of work but, boy, do you get a lot of meat. Chops, ribs, belly, hand, roasts, loads of stock for making soups, brawn, rillettes and a ham currently sitting in salt, soon to be air dried. And our chickens have had a feast of all sorts of dollops of odd little bits and excess fat to eat. Sometime in the next couple of months we shall slaughter our two lambs and by then we'll probably have more meat in the freezers than we will eat in the year. Very satisfying!

Over the last week I've carried on hacking up to the post office with parcels on my back - not huge amounts, I have to say. I wouldn't want anyone to think I was running with massive weights but enough to feel the difference once I've dropped the parcels off in the post.

I teach english sometimes at Plougernével Hospital - to the staff (it is after all a psychiatric hospital) - and it's a handy 15km from door to door. So today Jane took me in and I managed to run back in1 hour 33 - the first two lots of 5km in 30 minutes each and then a slightly slower last 5km. The run is uphill overall and felt like it and it's also my longest run in recent times. My calves are the bits that are feeling tired. I'm trying to vary my running style to give my calves a change and it helps a bit but they are just going to have to get used to it. The good thing is my lungs are fine - they at least seem to have decided to get on with it and settle into a rhythm.

One problem is managing my temperature. I tend to start out a bit over-dressed and, once I've got hot, it's too late to take a layer off because I've got sweaty and I'd get cold. I'm going to have to trust that I'll just get warm as I run and risk starting off a bit cold. That might work better.

April in Paris

It's not my fault! Really it's not. It's all the fault of Greg our youngest son. He's just done the Berlin Marathon and, knowing that I've had this desire to do a Marathon - but only a distant desire, nothing too close to reality, the merest hint of a wish really - he sent me a link to the Paris Marathon site. April in Paris - too many links. Jane and I honeymooned in Paris in April. I studied there at 17 and loved the city of light. How could I not do it. AND it's just 2 days before our 36th anniversary, AND I get to do my first marathon before I'm 60 next June. All the same, I was still thinking about it when Jane logged onto the site and got me registered. So perhaps it's her fault too. It's certainly nothing to do with me - except I'm the one who has to run it!

We have a small mail order business selling second hand books so for the last few weeks - ever since I forked out the 50+ euros for entry to the Paris - I've been hacking up to the village with a pack on my back full of orders to be posted. Good training. I'm not - thankfully, since there are less than 6 months to go before April 5th - a complete novice runner. I do orienteer a bit. But I've got out the way of running continuously for any length of time. So today - 31st October - I ran about 9+ kilometres in 55 minutes non-stop. I'm rather pleased with that and the run ended at a friends' house where we slaughtered 3 pigs, half of one of which is for us. A good day! The run didn't feel bad. I'm a bit tired but OK. And I avoided all the rain that's been beating down in very heavy showers.

By the way, I live in Brittany, deepest rural Brittany, where the idea of slaughtering a few pigs on a Friday afternoon, is not at all 'de trop' as they might say over here!

Now all I've got to do is convince various bits of my anatomy that they really would like to run about 4 or 5 times what they've just done - and all in one go! And then Paris will be a doddle.