The seriousness of a (semi) long distance runner...

I could just have the most understanding supervisor ever.  After nearly dying from heat stroke on Tuesday evening (I can have a sense of the dramatic on occasion) from running my 3 miles along the Atlanta Beltline which has little to no shade I realised that I needed to switch my running to the mornings if I was going to keep to my schedule, enjoy it and not die.

While I clocked my three miles in 35 minutes (included a couple of walking stretches) I know I am not going to get stronger or faster if I continue to do the majority of my training in the evening summer heat.  So my great boss TC has agreed to let me come into work a little later on Tuesday's, Wednesday's and Thursday's. This will allow me to run in the mornings and not be rushed into work overheated and hungry. Three cheers for TC please.

Hills, Thrills and the American Way

Well how y'all doin'?   Welcome to Hotlanta! You're gonna' have to get a car.

Mr Lapin and I have been in the United States for two months now, Atlanta to be precise.  The last couple of weeks in Bangkok were so incredibly stressful that I had just about enough time in the day to get the relocating stuff done let alone trying to contemplate running.

Needless to say I arrived in a very hilly city very unfit.  I am not kidding the first few weeks here it seemed that whatever direction I was walking in I was always walking up hill.  Big hills. I am beginning to think this is why everyone drives.  Oh, my legs ached and my heart thumped.  I huffed and puffed and thought how the hell am I going to be able to run these hilly streets?

The solution was to get all American and take my 'sneakers' to work so that I could join my ladies walking at lunch time.  Now don't be fooled, when I say walking I am not talking about a gentle lunch time stroll to 'stretch the legs'.  I am talking FAST walking.

Blogging: It's a bit like bank statements

While speaking to my mother the other night she gently chided that I had not posted anything on this site since 27 May and she was left to tracking me through my twitter feed and the photographs of what I ate.  I proffered such excuses as "been really busy", "never quite got back into the rhythm after injuring my foot" and my killer "well I am trying to relocate myself and Mr Lapin to the other side of the world in four weeks time".  All of which are true but it got me thinking about why something I started (running and writing) as a way of relaxing and opening up my horizons has become quite quickly the first thing I drop when life piles up.

Running hills and the hamster wheel

A few weeks ago I found myself in Atlanta, Georgia for a conference.  It proved a good time for catching up with dispersed work colleagues and all of us valuing the face to face time that is all too rare in the budget tight world of an NGO.

One of the great things about being in the United States is that this is where (modern recreational) running was born.  I mean the ‘jogger’ came from America. While the rest of us in Europe looked dismissively at those crazy Americans and their running.  Those crazy Americans had discovered something that the rest of us would soon catch on to – running is fun.  Seriously, it is.