March 30th - Bowmont Forest

Friendly young BT engineer came out this morning and installed a second line in the house. Quickly signed up for a Tesco package that, for £5.99 a month gives me unlimited dial-up access between 2 am and 4 pm. Intention is to leave it continually connected throughout the working day, giving me a sort of proto broadband – albeit one that works at about 30K instead of 8Meg!

Strange dull hazy day reflected my mood perfectly, and it was a bit of a struggle to motivate myself to get out for a run, despite being a very quiet work day. Eventually ran out of displacement activities and dragged myself out for 40 minutes steady around Bowmont Forest. Had planned an hour, and was on my way for a loop around the fields when I bumped into Anna and the boys out for a walk and immediately decided to join them.

Out for drinks at Jean & Claire’s with the Scott-Plummers, who are as posh as their name suggests. Great fun, with our three boys and Claire’s three all playing happily in the garden. After two glasses of wine I had to be helped home, and tottered around the house until I’d had a good feed of veg casserole to steady myself!

March 29th - Track session

Rib very achey all day, and tightness spread into my shoulder and back. In dire need of a supermarket run, so decided to go to Gala and plod through the track session and visit Tesco afterwards. Had to miss all the dancey-prancey warm-up stuff at the start because of the rib and jogged a couple of miles instead.

Session was three sets of 600, 400, 200, 400, 600 with 200m jog between reps and 3 minutes between sets. Ran the first set steady with Graeme Murdoch then gave it a bit of welly on the second set, and a bit more on the last. Whole right side of torso tightened badly immediately after last rep and gave me serious gyp for an hour or two. Had to do shopping and navigate trolley one-handed. Try it sometime!

Times were 2:02, 1:20, 37.5, 1:22, 2:03; 1:56, 1:17, 31.7, 1:17, 1:57; 1:58, 1:14, 32.7, 1:13, 1:52.

March 28th - Local

Very busy day, and only had time for a quick 20-minute blast around the fields. Oscar joined me for the last half-a-mile, which he treated as a fartlek session, chatting all the while. I reckon he’ll be a long-distance bod. Seems to be able to run forever. Dunno where he gets it from!

BT finally decreed that my phone line will not support broadband, which translates as “our engineer can’t be arsed opening any joints to find where the moisture’s getting in”.

March 27th - Linton Hill

The most prominent landmark in any direction from the house is the mast on Linton Hill to the east, and it struck me a shameful that I’ve only run there once since moving here. Last time it took an hour, and this time I had exactly an hour before Anna had to disappear for one of her mysterious daily appointments. Right foot kept cramping, and eventually I had to loosen my shoe twicw, the second time to the extent that my foot was sliding around inside on the descents. Nevertheless, nipped out to the mast and back in 55 minutes without any real discomfort from the rib.

Visited Peter Darling at Bowmont Forest sawmill this morning to talk through options for cladding for the new house. Quite exciting. Probably going to go for larch grown and processed in Bowmont Forest, which is kind of nice.

March 26th - Teviot

Anna had a funeral to conduct and I was tied up all morning with childcare and work. Drove out to Heiton and crossed the Teviot on the viaduct, then ran 20 minutes out towards Nisbet before turning and running back the same way. Legs felt heavy and chest aching. Hard work to get any pace going. Lovely hazy sunshine all day, and a slight headwind on the way back.

Toby took me on a walk in the woods to collect firewood after dinner, which was a delight, and especially welcomed by the dog, whom I forgot to take on my run. She’s still in a grump 6 hours later!

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March 25th - Wideopen Hill & Hownam Law

Glorious warm(ish) day with soft hazy sunshine. Spent the morning raking then re-mowing the southern section of garden, which was a pretty severe test for the poor beleagured rib. Dropped the boys in Morebattle for a party (another one!!) at 2 pm and carried on to Whitton to unload, dismantle and retrieve the shelves from my shed and former Alarms for Farms HQ. Headed straight to the Hownam road and started up Wideopen Hill in shorts and T-shirt, for the first time this year, I think. Rib had been really achey this morning after sleeping in a dodgy position, but by mid-afternoon was feeling miles better, either because of or in spite of the morning's exertions. Hardly felt it on the run, and with the cold / cough cleared up, I felt like a new man, and decided to extend the run from wideopen Hill along to Hownam Law. Felt strong and liberated all the way, and enjoyed having to run hell-for-leather down the long gradual descent to Hownam Grange in order to get back in time to collect the wee men. Treated myself to some disgusting birthday cake with black icing(!) and a chipolata. Went for a family walk (minus Ellie, who's in London for the week) through the woods. Gorgeous dappled light through the trees, but couldn't find my bumbag and camera when I looked, so you'll have to take my word for it.
Assenbled the shelving in my office, which now looks like a cave, but at least the stock is now accessible and organised.

March 24th - local run

Bit of a mad day in store, with a wedding in Edinburgh for Anna, flute and a car-journey to London for Ellie, a birthday party for Hamish and clumsy, disorganised me charged with coordinating it all (apart from the wedding, thank heavens!)

Set off in glorious warm sunshine at 10 am hoping for a quick hour’s run to the mast on Linton Hill and back before Anna had to leave, but soon realised that the legs weren’t up to it. Instead I eased back, lowered my ambitions, cut the route short and listened to the skylarks – my favourite bird (apart from Anna, I suppose) celebrating the apparent arrival of spring. Ran steadily for 47 minutes, and was pretty tired at the end.

Remainder of the day went to script, apart from Toby’s tantrum at having to leave Hamish’s pal’s party before the fun started, and a universal refusal to eat the curry I made for dinner. Hamish was full of cake, Anna can’t handle anything feistier than salt ‘n’ vinegar crisps, Oscar doesn’t eat meat and Toby wanted, with all his heart, to cut straight to the pudding. I cleaned all their plates and spent the evening sitting on the sofa like Buddha.

March 23rd - Lempitlaw

Anna was in Edinburgh for the day, and Hamish was off school with a serious ailment that mysteriously cleared up at about 9:15 am. This meant that I got to spend the day working in my office to the soundtrack of the three boys waging war on each other and whatever pirates, aliens and bad-guys where foolish enough to show themselves. Even Duncan the Citylink driver wasn't spared the cudgel on his daily pick-up.
Anna arrived home around 5, and I nipped out for a quick half hour to Lempitlaw and back with the dogs. Felt I was able to work the lungs a bit, which was welcome progress, although the old legs felt a bit wooden. A few weeks ago I was scrabbling around for races to do through March and April. Now glad that there's a lengthy gap in the calendar coinciding with my incapacitation. Should be right as rain in time for the Boat Race in mid-May, although I'll need to treat myself to a few long outings beforehand.
Bit of a red-letter day on the house-build. Having conquered the barren wastes of the Planning department, I've now conned the Ecology Building Society into lending me £110,000, which should fund the build. Exciting times ahead!

March 22nd - The only way is UP!

After last night's nadir, things could really only get better on the running front. Perhaps rejuvinated by the sudden apparent advent of Spring I took the dogs out for half an hour and managed to move at a much more respectable clip around the local fields. Running uphill is still pretty uncomfortable, but the rib has now subsided to a constant dull ache, which is what I remember from previous broken ribs, rather than the screaming spasms that have hitherto characterised this one. Long may it continue to improve.
Went to Ellie's play in the evening, which was startlingly professional and polished. Expected the usual chaotic primary school performance, but this was in a different league entirely, and Ellie, despite her loss of voice, held together superbly.

March 21st - road

Ellie’s birthday. Woken at 5 am by one of the kids galumphing along the corridor for a wee, and couldn’t find a comfortable position to lie in. Lay awake till 6:20 then woke Ellie for presents. Rib seems to have taken a turn for the worse again, after yesterday’s respite. Asked Dr. Ross at the bus-stop if it was worth making a appointment with Dr. Miller, but he said, “Nah – not really. Anyway, he’s busy with the [Kelso Amateur] Opera, so you’ll be way down his list of priorities. Just take pain-killers and get on with it.” Pay them more, I reckon. 100 grand a year clearly isn’t enough for that sort of care and devotion to duty!

Spent a couple of hours in lovely afternoon sunshine (in a T-shirt for the first day of spring!) cutting the grass. Even using a petrol mower, this was a very good workout for the ribs. Now that the initial inflammation has gone down, there’s a clearly discernable dent and a sharp lump alongside. Poking either with a finger is very sore. So, I can attest, is having one or other of the twins land on it elbow-first.

By the time I knocked off and was about to go for a run, Anna had succumbed to “strep throat”, which is like a mysterious and highly potent form of tonsillitis. Anna has spectacularly plump tonsils at the best of times, and any bug that gets in there has a field day. She’d taken to bed with a fever and was in a shocking state. Drove her and all the boys to the Health Centre and got her some anti-biotics. Immediately we arrived home she had to drag herself off to Melrose for Ellie’s play, leaving me to babysit, and hope that she’s back by 23:40 so I can squeeze the requisite 20 minutes in before midnight!

… She was. They arrived triumphant and hanging in bits at 10 pm – by which time I’d been asleep for an hour - and launched immediately into a word-by-word account of the evening’s performance. I listened patiently, and when Anna briefly drew breath at 11:02 I ducked out into the freezing rain in waterproofs for a thoroughly nasty 26 minutes on the road. Anna pointed out that running at that time of night in the dark and in the rain with a chest-infection and a broken rib was “ridiculous”, but I knew that already. Found myself running for long stretches with my eyes closed, trying to shut out the unpleasantness of it all, and stumbled on the verge at one point when I strayed from the tarmac. Just the stumbling brought a sharp stab of pain, which suggests that hill-races may be a wee way off! This is about as crap and disspiriting as running gets. I hope things take a sharp turn for the better soon, or this challenge may begin to seem like a bit of a burden. Too demoralised to take any photos these days, as every run seems to be a carbon-copy of many others.

March 20th - local fields again

Wind still blowing, carrying occasional light snow showers through the day. Rib not quite as bad a yesterday, probably because the hacking cough has backed off a bit. Ran the same route as yesterday during a sunny snow-flurry, but about 4 minutes quicker. Started quite briskly to get warm, but had to ease up when the breathing and jiggling became too sore.

March 19th - local fields

Rib much more painful today. Tip-toed around the house waiting for the next spasm, and crept out in a bitter wind for a bare minimum run around the fields. Out for 25 minutes, which was more than enough. Difficult to keep warm as I was moving so slowly.

March 18th - Bowmont Forest

Slouchy morning at home while Anna went to work. Very windy again. I’m convinced it’s been the windiest winter I’ve experienced. No major storms, but it just seems to blow for weeks at a time. Made the mistake of hanging a load of washing out on the whirligig, which then buckled under the spinnaker-effect and bent at ground-level, for the second time in a fortnight.

Dragged the mower out of mothballs for the first time since last summer and spent 10 minutes trying in vain to get it going, torturing hell out of my ribs in the process. Took Anooshka out for 36 minutes very steady running in Bowmont Forest, and discovered that after a few minutes, once the endorphins had kicked in, I was able to run in only moderate pain, as long as I kept the work-rate somewhere between washing-the-dishes and painting-the-ceiling. Any incline that elevated my breathing above a very gentle puff brought stabs of pain. March, I fear, is going to go down as something of a wasted month where running’s concerned. Even my running, though, far outstrips the performance of BT, who continue to frustrate my attempts to have an internet connection of any sort in the house. They are unable to send an engineer until the end of the month, purely to decide whether it will be possible to re-energise the second line that was connected in the house until the day before we moved in. Quite unbelievable. Council planning department still being completely useless and obstructive, as it happens. Why are big organisations so utterly, utterly crap?

March 17th - St. Patrick's Day injury

You’re gonna love this! Ellie was having a pool party in advance of Wednesday’s 12th birthday, and I was feeling chipper enough to join in fully with her exuberant school pals in their energetic larking about. Until, that is, I was dislodged from the top of a large inflatable octopus and landed ribs-first on the head of a very hard-headed kid called Harry. Honestly think I’ve bust a rib. Bleedin’ agony, which just got progressively worse through the afternoon. Unable to breath deeply, cough or, heaven forbid, sneeze without whimpering like a wet puppy. You can imagine the degree of sympathy this elicits from Anna. None, since you ask. In fact, she reminded me with a hint of derision that I missed a week’s running the summer before last after injuring a shoulder in the Dads’ sack race at the school sports day.

Hamish announced that he would like to come on the run today, and as I knew that I’d be lucky to get to the end of the garden, I was happy to let him. Paris, his spider-legged cousin came along too. Jogged very gingerly down the track beside the house for half a mile, wincing and mincing all the way. By now Hamu had had enough of jumping over puddles, tripping over nothing and hiding from spies in the woods beside the track, so we jogged back through the trees, seeking shelter from the wind. I collected the dogs and carried on alone for another ten minutes, for a grand total of 23 minutes at little more than walking pace. I suspect this will be the shape of runs to come for a week or two. Things seem rather stacked against my build-up to my 40^th at the moment. My plan to take the vets rankings by storm may not get out of the blocks. For what it’s worth, the lurgy seems to be on the retreat, unlike my hypochondria, which is bloody killing me!

March 16th - Road run

No chance to run until after dark today. Felt a fair bit better than yesterday, with just swollen glands and a sore throat. Trotted out for an easy 28 minutes towards Linton and back.

March 15th - Bowmont Forest

Ellie’s turn last night. Came through in the small hours complaining of major nausea, but stoically managed to keep the contents of her stomach to herself. I awoke feeling wretched – horrible chest, sicky guts and totally drained. Worked at half-speed all day and dragged myself out for a 26-minute shuffle in Bowmont Forest at 4ish. Should have been at the track tonight, but even the thought makes me want to heave! Seems like I’ve not been right since early February for some reason. Maybe I live in a sick building, or perhaps I just need some undisturbed sleep.

March 14th - Local

Oscar was violently sick at the end of a racking coughing fit in the night. We both rushed through to help, only to discover that the clever little chap had held a little back. The second volley managed to catch Anna and me, so all three of us, his pillow, sheet and duvet were all liberally pebble-dashed! I woke with a sore throat and a horrible cough that seemed to originate in my boots. From this low point I ventured out into the real world to finish the job I bottled out of last Thursday. Knocked it off by lunchtime, with none of the trauma of last week. Feeling washed out and rough, so just nipped out with both dogs for a gentle 35 minutes around the fields before dinner.

March 13th - Wideopen Hill

Had to go to Whitton to retrieve a couple of things from the shed, so packed my kit and intended to run from there. Brian was buzzing around and I felt awkward running around the farm now that we no longer live there, so I left and planned to run after dark on the road. The light on the hills was so gorgeous that I diverted to the ford over the Kale and ran to the top of Wideopen Hill on St. Cuthberts Way. Glorious evening. Soft sunshine and a definite chill in the air. Sore throat and lethargy all day made me wonder if I was still carrying the lurgy that laid me low a couple of weeks back. It would explain my recent lack of oomph. Felt surprisingly strong on the climbs, but a bit tentative on the descent. Ankles feeling a tad creaky these days, especially when I’ve been seated for a while.

March 12th - River Teviot

Another manic Monday at work. Lovely and sunny outside, with a brisk breeze. Had to drop a load at the post office in Kelso before closing-time, so took my kit and had a run along the Teviot. Quite a revelation. Lovely riparian path out to Roxburgh, and a huge viaduct carrying the disused railway (a victim of Dr. Beeching’s axe in the 60s) to the opposite bank. On the way back the sun dipped below the clouds and sat just above the horizon, casting a beautiful golden glow over everything, and picking out the remaining snowdrops and the early daffodils, whose leaves were the most amazing irredescent green. Brief light shower which added a vivid rainbow to a lovely tableau. A real unexpected gift of a run, which I started with no expectations other than continuing the sequence. Such are the ephemeral and serendipitous delights of the One Pound Challenge!

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March 11th - Lammermuirs

A mercy-dash to Cranshaws to sort out the Aussies’ dead oven gave me the chance of a more interesting run. Did the needful in their house, then set out across the hills to Greenhope to photograph Bill Landale’s sun-house and then on to Abbey St. Bathans along the Whiteadder. What a gorgeous spot Abbey is, tucked away in its own little valley and time-zone. Full of bohemians and Dobies, and a lovely atmosphere about the place. Flagging after an hour and inexplicably sore feet. Forgot to carry food, and Landales and Dobies all out at church so I couldn’t scrounge any. Waddled back through the woods along the Southern Upland Way and up over the hill to Cranshaws. About 1 hr 50 in all, but would have been 5 or 10 minutes quicker if I hadn’t wobbled so much on the way home. Lovely run, and a joy to be on old fondly-trodden trails again. Fancy getting the guys up for an ultra later in the year. Either an individual attempt on the St. Cuthbert’s Way record (62 miles from Melrose to Lindisfarne) or a relay along the Southern Upland Way, 212 miles coast to coast, for which Carnethy hold the record at something like 27 hours, I think. Any takers?

Saturday March 10th - Local

Another day, another poodly little excuse for a run. The rest of the guys on the challenge seem to be doing remarkable things. Chris is unstoppable and setting personal bests in every race. Crispin is punctuating his long periods of indolence with mammoth runs in the Welsh hills, Chaz is walking seemingly hours and hours every evening and, I imagine, shifting a fair amount of surplus blubber en route and Dave is training like a man possessed for the London Marathon. By contrast, I’m sneaking out each afternoon for a pretty pointless half-hour trot purely to keep the unbroken sequence going. Today’s offering, like so many before it, was about 35 minutes around the local farmland, neither grindingly slow nor blisteringly fast. Just never seem to find the time for anything else. Business, family and plans for house-build seem to devour every spare minute, and on top of it all I’m continually knackered. Took Hamu swimming this morning and watched delighted as he learned, with several excruciatingly funny early attempts, to dive in the deep end and swim back to the side. Finished with a magnificent belly-flop, the slap from which turned every head in the pool! Definitely a chip off the old block.

March 9th - Local fields

Seem to have recovered almost completely from yesterday’s brief excursion into the real world (although it’s not something I’ll take so lightly again!) and spent today working like a dervish – a sedentary cerebral dervish – until noon when I picked the diddy men up from nursery. Anna had gone for the day to Peebles for coffee with an old Langbank buddy. Collected Hamu from the bus at 3 o’clock and took them all to the park in Kelso. Bitterly cold wind, so we lasted about half an hour then scurried into the nearby Lidl to warm up and buy apple-juice and cakes.

Released from child-minding duties at 5 by Anna and I nicked out for a steady half hour around the fields before dinner. Legs heavy again, but had an enjoyable trundle in lovely evening sunshine. Had a scowling match with a broken-nosed game-keeper who didn’t like the look of Anooshka running free-range so close to his pheasant pens. He followed 10m behind me for the last mile, willing the dog to step out of line, but she did me proud.

March 8th - Road run

Actually went out to work this morning for the first time in yonks, and what a frustrating and unrewarding time I had. The experience left me so traumatised that I knocked off at 2 pm with the job half-done and drove home, collecting Ellie in Melrose en route, barked at the kids for an hour then slipped upstairs for 40 winks. Woke at 4:30 after a 20-minute snooze and felt a lot more mellow. Missed the Gala Harriers track session (couldn’t justify another 50 miles’ motoring) and didn’t get a chance to run until they were all tucked up in bed, then nipped out sans chien at 9 for a steady 38 minutes on the road to the sawmill and back.

March 7th - Eildons

Events, dear boy, (i.e. taxi-ing Ellie home from school) contrived to have me in Melrose in the afternoon, so I downed tools early and scheduled a run in the Eildons beforehand. Legs still very heavy, so rather than plod over the tops as I usually do, I crafted a cunning 45-minute circuit around the base of the hills. Muddy as you like on the north and western slopes but much drier on south and east. Took in the third and smallest top, which I’d never conquered before. Finished absolutely plastered in mud, and carrying about 5lbs of clay on each shoe and another liberal splattering up my legs and back, with which I clumped into St. Mary’s to the obvious embarrassment of Ellie and the amusement of her Pals.

March 6th - Bowmont Forest

Sloshed around the mud in Bowmont Forest for 35 minutes in late afternoon rain. amazed to meet several dog-walkers braving it all. Strange compulsion, but then they probably thought the same about mine!

March 1st to 5th - Lurgy

Running and life in general curtailed by a crappy cold / throat bug that never really came to anything but left me knackered after the most gentle exertion, such as carrying three small boys up stairs at once. Dragged myself out each day for a 25 - 30 minute plod to keep the sequence going. Very busy with work, so runs have been at the arse-end of the day.
Today went for a dental treatment - my third visit in 27 years (the previous one was a fortnight ago) and had a vigorous 45-minute mugging from a pleasant young (ridiculously young!) Belfast lad, who set about my mouth with various tools of torture and considerable gusto, then stuck me for £115 at the end of it. Still - £115 for 27 years' dental care probably isn't too bad! Visit from BT again in the afternoon. Once again, completely fruitless. The engineers come, tell you that the broadband's not working, pass the buck to anyone they can think of, then leave. Have resigned myself to never having a connection while living here. Borrowing access from Jean and the computer shop in Kelso is a pain in the ass, but I don't really have any alternative. It makes me so bloody cross that they're too lazy to do their job and investigate the line prroperly, and dealing with a faceless monolith like BT, there's no chance of ever reaching anyone accountable. All of that set me up for a much better run than of late, and I nipped out in lusty wind and driving rain when the kids were in bed and hammered it along the road for half an hour. Felt much better afterwards.

February 28th - Road

Manic day's work, with both phone ringing simultaneously throughout the day and a stack of orders to shift. Still pretty under the weather. Boys significantly better, although still off-colour and off nursery. Didn't get a chance to go out until 9:30 p.m., by which time everyone else was fast asleep. Took Anooshka out for 25 minutes gentle running on the road towards Caverton Mill. Nice and steady, and didn't feel too bad. The run woke me up completely, and I was buzzing when I got back. Chatted for a while to mum until I had to abort the call and tend to Oscar who was enjoying a spetacular coughing fit. Couldn't get to sleep until well after midnight, then we were awoken by Ellie in the thoes of an asthma attack brought on by playing hockey in the cold weather, and again by Oscar, with whom I eventually swapped beds in the small hours. This musical beds is a fabby game, and I can't recommend it highly enough!

February 27th - Bowmont Forest

Toby sick serially through the night, so Anna and I had a bit of a shocker. Felt pretty crook myself all day with a sore throat, headache and dodgy guts. Oscar deteriorated through the day and by the afternoon was puking profusely, and wretching painfully and tearfully when there was nothing left to puke. Somehow managed to avoid the chundering myself, which was unexpected, as in my student days I was well-known for my disconcertingly frequent rainbow yawns which I performed, I like to think, with a certain panache. Really had to drag myself out for the duty-run in Bowmont Forest, but discovered that running wasn't any more unpleasant than not running. Easy pace for about 25 minutes.

February 26th - Highside

Feeling a bit guilty at having deserted the hills since leaving Whitton, so drove all of three miles to Linton and ran through Linton Burnfoot Farm and up Highside. Enjoyed it so much that I carried on straight down the other side to meet the road at Crookedshaws, then turned on my heel and reversed the route, running out along the ridge for a bit towards Linton Hill before dropping back down to Burnfoot. Nice run. About 35 minutes.