Category: Other thoughts

Posted on

Cross fertilisation

The Clustermap logs for my two sites were recently archived and it was interesting to see the different reach of the two sites.  I’m sure that much of this is because each of the sites probably appeals to different people, but just in case it’s because you didn’t realise that I have two, the other one is at www.davidjfoster.info.

This message is particularly for those folk in, for example, the islands of Hawaii, Iceland, Madagascar and Tasmania who are obvious on a map of this scale.  Alas, I should have taken a copy of the map at a larger size before it was archived so that you could see how much the red blobs elsewhere really differ.

Posted on

Hot and wet

On a day that Lew was clearly sitting in front of the fire watching cartoons, I was out in the rain wondering whether I really need my jacket on, it was that warm.  At least inside my jacket!

I was in a wonderfully thoughtful frame of mind, brought on by my continued reading of The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb and my reaching a point where he posits a definition of an epistemocrat, with which I can associate.

I think that I finally got out at ten past eleven, choosing a moment where there was a squall in progress which helped me to decide which direction I was going to run.  For the woods!  I feel very lucky to have enough woodland in close proximity to be able to run for an hour under cover, which is great on hot days and on wet & windy days.  And I guess especially on days when you are both hot and wet, like today!

I ran to the Royal Oak and up through Hundred Acre wood, where I was delighted to see all manner of walkers, young and old, with and without dogs (it was a shame that two Wivelsfield ladies couldn’t be bothered to at least flick their dog’s poo off the path though!).  It might have been windy and raining but it really was beautiful out there!  And great for the soul!

As I ran along the magical path, I realised that it was a lovely metaphor for life.  The path winds ahead through the trees and you have a sense of where you are going, but not a clear view.  There are opportunities to turn off onto different paths along the way, but the path ahead is really intriguing.  Most importantly, you have to watch your step, ducking around the trees and under low branches.  

This is wonderful if you have your wits about you, but I can imagine it not being such fun if it were dark, or you were tired, as it would be quite confusing and dangerous.  I really must take a photo to show you what I mean.

I’m always keen not to run the same route twice, as the tendency is to compare times directly and today I had the additional incentive that I knew the easy way back would not allow me to reach the hour, a kind of informal lower threshold for a Sunday run.  So I ran on past the development of St George’s Retreat and back to the Royal Oak.

Here I took a Nietzschian decision.  Rather than stick to the calm shelter of the woodland, I would cut back across more open ground, in spite of the conditions, in order to experience the adversity of it.  I recalled cold, miserably wet walks in Wales, the Lake District and Scotland when I was young.  

As I pushed on into the weather, I was surprised that it still had a draining effect on my energy and I wondered how much of this was physical and how much psychological.  Even being aware of it, I still suspect it is the latter, as once I was back into woodland I felt fine and I was not exhausted on reaching home.

The distance was 6.75 miles and the time on completion was, er, ten past eleven.  That’s strange, it took me no time whatsoever.

Or maybe British Summertime ended while I was out.

Posted on

Slack week, chortle chortle

I didn’t get to run last week, but I did manage to walk to work four days out of five, which is at least 8 miles in total.  Cliff was impressed, but wouldn’t let it count towards my running total… don’t know why, as I walk as quickly as he and Pete were running the other weekend!

I started the weekend with a list of tasks to do around the house, mainly because we’d not planned to do anything else.  As I cracked into them on Saturday morning, I realised that they were not chores, but rather chortles.  Discreet tasks that had been hanging around looking at me for ages, were largely straightforward and were hugely rewarding on completion.

So while Kim immersed herself in her sculpting, I was left happily mending, painting, cleaning, hanging, tidying etc.  And despite a full day on Saturday, I still managed to get out for a run.

After the bright sun of Saturday, Sunday started mild with heavy threatening clouds around the edges.  I almost didn’t run, happily reading (Nassim Taleb’s The Black Swan, a VERY thought provoking book, by the way), but then I realised I’d not have anything to write about.

Not wanting to be out for long, especially after last weekend’s 16 miler, I ran over to the Common and did a loop with several sets of knee raisers and leg flips thrown in.  Then I ran across to Wivelsfield and up Slugwash Lane, hoping to take an updated picture of the Barbie (use my Search box above to find an old picture)… alas, it’s either no longer there, or has been subsumed by the hedge, which was a good few inches taller than before.

At the top of the hill I turned left and ran past Debb’s Da’Packa’s… it was odd to hear one almost chirping (I think it was a long and worried winney) and I realised they’ve always been silent before. 

As I dropped down to Ote Hall, the heavens opened with a precursor to a long and rainy day (or so it seemed at the time) but the shower passed.

I reached the house again at 57 minutes, but I’ve not checked the map to see how far it was… 6 miles, possibly a bit more.

The weather cleared and I resumed my chortling, with Kim getting stuck into some of the tasks I really don’t like.  Overall, very productive weekend, apart from on the running front!  I thought you’d like to see how tidy the garden was though, but it was dark.

Posted on

Autumn drawers on

May I be the first to wish you all a very Happy Autumn!  It started at 11.44 EDT (blog time), which I’m guessing is 4.44pm BST for those of you in Blighty.

Apparently, since it is the Autumn Equinox, the sun rose directly in the East this morning and will set directly in the West.

Those of you looking for more information on this subject (and much, much more!) might want to look at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/

Posted on

And finally, on all fours…

Forasmuch as, forbearance, forerunner, foresee, foresight, formative, forte, forthright, fortitude, fortissimo, forty, ah, close… all the fours, forty-four.  Bingo!  It really was that kind of day yesterday!  I guess I’ll have to be fortified next.

Posted on

Running after satisfaction

Last weekend I had the good sense not to try to run after a heavy day’s labour in the garden.  Yesterday once again saw me working hard on the new, um, shed and by the end of another eight hours or so, I had adapted the design again and jointed out the floor joists… of which there are eight.  I had also treated all the cuts and stowed everything away in the dry to make assembly slightly easier… whenever that actually happens!

As with my workbench, I consulted with Andrew, my woodworking mentor, which enabled me to take the huge step of getting my ideas off the page!  Though I collapsed in a small heap around 7.30pm, I experienced that rare type of satisfaction that you gain from trying something for the first time and somehow managing to make it work.

Somehow I managed to convince myself that I should run today, despite many contra-indications.  My muscles, particularly in my back, were really stiff from yesterday; it had been raining and it was now hot, meaning that the humidity was high and… isn’t that enough?

I ignored sense & went out anyway.  The going was really tough and unlike normal, it didn’t get any easier as I progressed.  I ran out past Ote Hall, skirted Wivelsfield Church, went round the back of Wivelsfield and then dropped into the village itself.  From here I ran straight along Hundred Acre Lane, cut round the Industrial Estate and returned via the Common.

I was not surprised that this short run took me over an hour, but I was surprised that I managed 7.35 miles.  The one hour nine minutes time meant I had only run at 6.39mph, but even this was faster than it felt.  Now I’m in a quandary as to whether this counts as a short, or long run!

This afternoon I felt the need to move very slowly in case of a personal power outage, but I still managed to lay the weed (or is that rat?) barrier and drill a few holes which will hold the posts up and treat the cuts and holes a second time.  I guess it was quite fortunate that I ran out of wood and hardware, otherwise I might have been tempted to overdo it completely!

Bizarrely I also had grand intentions to move files etc into my new office, but hey!  Enough!

Posted on

First anniversary

This blog is officially one year old today and I thought it might be interesting to reflect briefly on what my aims were in starting it and what I have achieved.

I’ve long wanted to write, although not quite known what to write, which has always made it rather difficult to get started.  Having read Julia Cameron’s The Sound of Paper last year, I had come to realise that to be able to write you had to just get on and do it.  Regularly.  It actually doesn’t really matter what you write, so long as you do.

So the idea behind this blog and my other site to a certain extent, was to give me a reason to write.  But blogs are notoriously difficult to keep up, with many people writing a few inspired entries and then petering out when they can’t think what to write about.  Therefore I needed a subject that would keep me engaged.

Making it a blog about running meant that I had to run in order to write, which served two good purposes at the same time.  Run to write, write to run and it’s been a great year for both.  Including this one, I have published 156 posts, an average of 3 each week. 

In addition to attending 5 training sessions like the one on Tuesday, I have also run more than 538 miles, or around 45 miles per month.  Some months such as February were light, where skiing and ice driving meant that I only managed 22.3 miles.  By comparison I managed 66 miles in October, 67 miles last month and 69 miles in November.

As Clustermap shows, I have also somehow managed to notch up readers from around the world: in the US & Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Western Europe, the Middle East, India and China.  Despite this, it is clear that there are only a few of you who are more regular… you know who you are!

So, a hearty thank you to all the readers of FosterRuns.com and to all those who have commented to boot… you have made both my writing and my running much more enjoyable and I hope that you will stay with me as I run headlong into a second year.

Posted on

Hair piece

Those of you who have seen me in the last few weeks, either in Seattle or at London Business School, might have wondered whether I was deliberately flaunting a rather full (and still completely naturally dark) head of hair.  It’s been fun, trying to pass myself off as a Beatle, but the real reason was not having visited the maestro, Patrick Swan, for some considerable time.

And then, as you can see above from earlier today, I did! 

What was left over was probably sufficient to make a decent hairpiece for one of the current trend of re-forming boy-bands.  Maybe I should start paying into a hair bank in advance of the inevitable grey day. 

Even Gordon Brown might find the interest in that difficult to tax.

Posted on

A cool, apres-run Blonde

This fantastic article http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=3390  in Runners World says that drinking organic beer after running is a GOOD THING!

 

Blonde by Hepworths http://www.thebeerstation.co.uk/ is a non-gassy, organic lager beer, which comes in handy 330ml bottles AND is delicious even when it’s warm… the acid test of a great beer!  Having tested it on numerous friends over the years, I can vouch for its unswerving popularity and I heartily recommend it for the job!

 

Now you have a great reason to keep a case near your running shoes!
Posted on

Short d-run-ken

Nick and I went to an (er…) interesting networking event in Spitalfields on Friday night for entrepreneurs in the social digital space.  If that term makes no sense to you, don’t worry, as most of the people there were making it up as they went along.  We went for two reasons.  Firstly, to chat to other like minded people about our idea and second, to enjoy a publicised free beer.

It got off to a poor start, as when we arrived half an hour after the event commenced, the music was too loud to talk to people inside, the free beer was gone and the Sol was £3 a bottle.  Whoever was coining it in did not appear to be among the bulk of the people that we talked to, or who spoke from the rostrum in a series of short presentations (against an increasing groundswell of bar-room chatter).  Whilst the general ideas presented were interesting, there tended to be a lack of thought given to the business model… as in, er, how does this make money?

Leaving after the presentations and a few bottles of (captive?) beer, we strolled past the cafe culture of Spitalfields until we realised what the time was.  Twelve minutes to train o’clock.  I remember some time ago Nick mentioning to me about running after a few beers before and I also remember reminding myself not to try it myself, but here we were, of a sudden, running down Bishopsgate like a couple of bag-snatchers.

What was quite surprising was that the beer made little difference to our progress and we ran effortlessly down Gracechurch Street, avoiding the myriad pedestrians, over London Bridge, in to the station and right up on to the platform.  We even beat the arrival of the train by a minute or so.  Probably not our fastest run, not our longest at just over a mile, but definitely the funniest!