bookmark_borderAll this and more…

A little ‘achy’ after yesterdays run but none the worse really. Looking back I know that I started too fast, the kilometre long hill took more out of my legs than I thought, and ultimately it was just too hot as the clouds parted the minute before the race began and I reckon it was hovering around the 24C mark (possibly higher). Typical.

The timing was chipped (a little plastic dongle strapped onto your laces that records when you pass the start and finish lines) and my ‘offical’ time as opposed to the ‘time on my watch’ was 1:06:09, and I finished 671st out of.. umm.. I dunno actually but I’d guess at 800 or so entrants. I received my time by text message, and it’ll be up on the website within the next couple of days I guess. Clever stuff.

And yes, I did get to find my old B.B. captain and shake him by the hand. He was somewhat bemused mind you but I did say to him that he probably wouldn’t remember that conversation we had a year ago.

Well, that’s the first one done and I now have a time to aim for in the future. I’ve already agreed to do another 10K on 28th of October, and I’m looking at two more (10Ks) this year; the Great Glasgow Run on the 2nd Sept and possibly the Loch Ness 10K on the 7th of October. We’ll see. Suffice to say that I’m determined to get my time under an hour before the year is out!

After my extertions, we headed to my parents to celebrate Father’s Day and as it was so nice we ended up having a lunchtime BBQ. Steak burgers and ostrich steaks. Yum. A quick pit-stop to visit my Gran on the way home and pretty soon I was flat out on the sofa watching TV.

First up I watched that Mr. Hamilton whizz around a racetrack in his Formula One car. He’s quite good, isn’t he, or at the very least the car underneath him seems quite good. Mind you as the current World Champion has the ‘same’ car and he’s holding him off, then yeah, Lewis Hamilton seems to be pretty on the money. AND he seems like a nice guy. How very British.

In between that finishing and the Real Madrid game starting I even managed to get my Windows box and my MacBook talking. Now I just need to get the whole ‘aliases in Front Row’ thing sorted out and I might be able to stream stuff from the big box (Dell) upstairs to the little white slab (MacBook) downstairs. And if I can get THAT working then next stop is to hook up my MacBook to my 40″ LCD TV and… ohhh my… my inner geek just wet himself.

Right, I think the coffee has finished brewing, time to stretch the legs. I don’t want to be seizing up… I’ve got a 5K run tomorrow night to get through.

bookmark_borderFootball*

“At the end of the day, to be honest, I think I can safely say that I take each post as it comes. Although I’ve always got on eye on the next game post, it’s usually end to end stuff.”

Despite watching and (occasionally) playing football I rarely post about it mainly because I’m aware that most my readership doesn’t give a flying galactic toss monkey about it, and also because I’m what I consider a ‘neutral’ fan. This means my views lack the objectivenessless of the diehard, lifelong supporter, lack any real degree of passion or involvement and soon dissolve into an exercise in trying not to offend. The latter is only because I’m a nice guy though.

My Dad was/is a P.E. teacher so sport was always a topic of conversation and knowledge in our household with the possible exception of football, mainly because my Dad prefers other sports. I know a lot about the techniques and tactics behind a large variety of sports, having read a lot of the books my Dad was using/reading on various sporting topics, even if I don’t play them all.

Another reason I rarely post about football is that I don’t really have a team that I support. I truly a neutral fan. At the moment I’m loving Chelsea in the English Premiership, AC Milan and Real Madrid have long been continental favourites of mine, honed through the early years of Champions League and European Cups in the 80s, but I’ll watch pretty much any game if it’s good. Man Utd in the mid 90s were awesome to watch, and Arsenal of a couple of years ago were breath-taking with their pace and passing game.

I do play football, although a lot more of my time is spent on the PlayStation (Pro Evolution Soccer) than on the 5-a-side pitch these days, and I’m waiting for Christmas to get Football Manager 2006 for the PC. I’m currently second in the fantasy football league at work, and as I live in the West of Scotland and hugely aware of what is happening with Rangers and Celtic. As to which of THOSE teams I support, well that depends on who I’m talking to or, more accurately, who I’m trying to wind up. I don’t really support either but it IS fun pretending.

I think video techology can and should be used, I think stiffer fines should be imposed on players who cheat, and I would love to see more discipline on the pitch.

So, there you go. For the three of you that have read this, I hope that answers some questions.

* Soccer, for my American friends.

bookmark_borderSimple things

Woke up in grumpy mood.
Got on train at 8 am.
Sat on stationary train for an hour and a half.
Finally got off train at 10:05 am.
Even grumpier now.
Phoned boss and took the rest of the morning off.
Bought a Real Madrid top (sorry Gert) in Foot Locker.
Stop feeling grumpy.
Notice the retro basketball shoes from Nike of which I had an original pair about 15 years ago.
Feel old.
Feel grumpy again.
Get into work at 12 noon.
Find boss has kept me a fudge doughnut.
Suddenly feel much better.

bookmark_borderYikes

So much to do, so little time.
Watched Real Madrid demolish Man U 3-1 and now I’m catching up with blog reading.
Write up of trip is underway (Day one done, photo’s almost ready) hope to finish that off tomorrow at some point…
Should be back up to full ‘blog-speed’ by Thursday I reckon.

bookmark_borderShooto!!

Scored 3 goals tonight, none of which compared to Zidane’s second for Real Madrid, which I watched from the comfort of my own home as predicted.

Was going to comment on some inaccuracies by the ITV commentary team (No Scotland aren’t on a pre-World Cup tour as we didn’t qualify, and how the hell do you know that the two fans who ran onto the pitch tonight were from Glasgow, most likely Spanish or German I would’ve thought…) but I’m too tired.

P.S. Did you notice the tweaks to the site? More coming tomorrow.