Build Up My Confidence

9 km - 59.27 min - windy, but pleasantly warm, salty taste on my face. Dogs pant and hide in shade.

Boss never lets us down. When those dastardly good-for-nothings rush out to chase us, he just swishes the long end of the lead - and they scamper. Wow, I wish I could be so brave.

Today he did something he'd never done before. We were coming back and just two or three hundred metres from home, I was really thirsty and tired, kept stopping pretending I wanted to pee, though I didn't, really. Then Blackie rushed out at us, barking, snarling. Bastard, coward, he'd never fight for real, I just know. Boss cracked the lead once, swished it around once - and then he suddenly stopped and unclipped the double lead. Me and Leroy were free! Free to fight!

We stopped, turned round to face Blackie, who didn't realise what had happened - and then we lunged at him. The coward retreated, just ran for it. What a feeling! Total victory! I've never felt so pleased with myself. Leroy was good too. Boss was proud too, I think. 'Well done, boys' he said.

- by Strelka the Golden, retriever

Photo by A.Anichkin: A Gargoyle of the Bayeux Cathedral

Spectator Sport: Magpie Convention

6 km - 44.15 bit of rain

I like the solitude of running. It's just me (and the dogs.) But sometimes I feel as though it is a spectator sport: so many people watch me - farmers, cows, squirrels, buzzards, kites, bluejays - and magpies. I love magpies, they are so clever, industrious and curious. It is said that during the Great Flood the Magpie refused to go inside Noah's Ark, but sat on top, chattering and looking around.

One of the superstitions my wife holds is about the number of magpies you see - one for sorrow - and she stops in the road and starts desperately looking for the second - two for joy. I'm not bothered, I know magpies are good family creatures, where there is one, the husband or wife is sure to be nearby.

Today I ran past a magpie convention. They all rose to greet me with incredible noise. I started counting - nine, ten, no - nine, no - ten, well, nine or, possibly, ten. What are ten magpies for?

It turns out that there are dozens of different versions once you are past 'one for sorrow, two for joy'. So you are free to choose the one that suits you best. I chose the Warwickshire variation, it's where two of my children were born.

One brings Sorrow
Two bring Joy
Three a Girl
And Four a Boy
Five bring Want
And Six bring Gold
Seven bring secrets never told
Eight bring wishing
Nine bring kissing
Ten, the love my own heart's missing!

Cats Love Dogs

13.07.09 - 6 miles - 54.55 min. - a slow, easy trot, quick showers, but hot and humid in between.

You may also want to read 'The Russian Barking Brigade' (with clip from Dogs and Cats)

Like cats and dogs... My tabby Vassily is very sociable and sometimes even tries to follow me and the dogs when we go running, but falls behind quickly and goes back home to wait for his best friend to come back. Then Strelka, the male golden, lies down to cool himself, and the cat gives him a good lick over.

Vita breaks her record

23 Nov 2008
4 km - 27,45 min

It's a cold and windy Sunday with prickly rain and gusty North-West. My daughter has been nagging me to go for a run all week, but I didn't feel fully recovered from my cold and wanted to build up running slowly. Today we go, putting on thermal shirts and windbreakers with hoods.

It's not that it is difficult to run in the rain, it's not hearing approaching cars that is the problem. With a hood on and rain gear rustling and crackling when rain and wind smash into you, you can hardly hear anything. So we rely on the dogs to alert us. Over the years I trained the two Goldens to weer off on the verge when a car approaches. The adopted English Setter quickly learned to do it too.

We never stop - it's just to cold to do anything, but run as fast as we can. We get to the village and turn back. By the time we stop by the gates of the house we're dripping wet, all four of us. I rub the dogs with towels and as we go through stretching on the verandah I check the time - wow, Vita has broken her record by nearly a minute.

Lunge lead or bungee lead

17 March 09
6 miles - 51.59 min
It's a sunny day, a warm pleasant breeze blows, first dandelions appeared in banks and lawns, farmers are busy ploughing.

I saw a neighbour running with her foxterrier on a proper cani-cross bungee lead attached to a belt. I don't use them even though they are supposed to free your hands while running and protect you from sudden pulls. What stops me is length of the lead - about 150cm (5 ft) of it seems not enough to me. With a dog too close there is always a risc of tripping over or hurting him. I use an 2.1 m (7 ft) pleated horse lunge with a double lead attached to it. I keep it looped to keep the dogs closer and extended when we are on a quiet stretch of road. If dogs pull I let the loop slide through my hand and then tighten the grip to stop them. This is similar to bungee effect, but, I think, more felxible.

Lunge is also called longe, from the French allonge - elongate, lenghten out.

How much can you achieve by undressing

13 March 09
6 miles - 51:40 min - 16ºC (60ºF)

...well, apparently there is a limit to how much you can achieve by undressing.
It's a warm sunny day today, real Spring, primroses, crocuses and daffodils are suddenly blooming everywhere.
So, instead of leggings I put on shorts.
The other day I took off sweater and improved my time nearly by two minutes running with just a t-shirt on. Today I took off leggings, but the time didn't change much.

I note this to myself with amusement, not concern.

When you run regularly and time your runs for whatever reason - out of habit, to monitor training progress, to try to hit a certain target, to make use of an expensive birthday present - it's easy to become a performance freak. You make yourself work harder than you want, you get upset over a split second lost over yesterday's run, you start worrying about every little ache in your body, you get tired and you don't relax - and in the end you lose what you started running for - enjoyment, the pleasure of physical and mental release running gives humans (and dogs) like very few other sports. Usain Bolt, the Beijing Olympics champion from Jamaica, wouldn't be such a star if people didn't see clearly how much he enjoyed running.

Photo by Richard Giles

Undressing for Spring

11 March
6 miles - 48.52 min

First time in t-shirt this year, first daffodils of the year came out. Strelka, the male retriever, looks unusually fluffy and rolls on the gravel again and again. He is peeling off his winter coat too.

So, peeling off just one layer of clothing takes off more than a minute off your usual time?

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