-
Bob Graham Round, leg 4 clockwise
Last year I ran leg 1 of a friend’s anticlockwise Bob Graham Round with him as a pacer. This was in the catatonic lee of the Fellsman, and I was letting my fitness drain away a little bit, and my Fellsman training had overindexed on distance rather than elevation, and I was also wearing the wrong pair of shoes: so on the descent down Dale Head I sort of fell behind by a couple of minutes and only barely arrived at Honister before my friend set off again up Grey Knotts.
Nearly a year has passed since then, and very little running in the Lakes in the meantime. I have, however, at least started to pay lip service to climbing in Castle Eden Dene and the North York Moors, so I was keen to see whether I could keep up on a group Striders run on a clockwise leg 4 recce over the bank holiday weekend.
Pleased to report that it went well: either due to company, or fine weather, or dry conditions, or judicious use of salt capsules, I finished the 17-mile run in good fettle, a little tuckered out but not unable to keep climbing if necessary. A Bob is not in my immediate future, but I’m glad to know that I can at least dispatch pacing duties without catastrophe.
-
Neptune relays
First ever relay race, a 1.7-mile lap around Hardwick Park in Sedgefield. I love short-distance events like these; I always feel in the lead-up that I’m in the presence of minor Greatness. Young people with joints that can go for days and windswept hair and sunglasses and moustaches and reeking of the privilege of being a lifelong runner. Do I sound bitter.
I finished in decent time, though at the end I felt that nagging feeling that I maybe left a little bit out on the course. Could I have eked another 10 seconds off? Another 20? Maybe. Maybe not. I’ll be back next year to find out.
-
Macbeth (1623, 2025)
Better than I remember. I read Hamlet and Macbeth at around the same time, a long time ago, and I remember disliking Macbeth. Thinking that it was a bit dark and messy.
Still definitely dark. But much tighter than I remember. There's very little fat on the story — it's all propulsive and action-driven. There's not a ton of soliloquising or emotional gymnastics. No scenes where people go off and just mull around. I dig it.
Just after reading it we went to see the film of the production with David Tennant from back in February 2025. It was good but some of the casting choices were weird. David Tennant was actually remarkably not good. Banquo was terrific, and Macduff got better and better as the play went on. The person who played Malcolm gave off the impression that they hadn't rehearsed at all, and in fact that there was a person with cue cards standing just offscreen. Rigid, table-read-type stuff. The visual language was very cool, but maybe not particularly original.
Play, by William Shakespeare |
Show, with David Tennant | -
Kagemusha (1980)
Kurosawa likes to do this thing where he makes a scene three or four times longer than it needs to be just to try and give the audience time to appreciate the gravity of what’s happening. It's on full display here, like during the nighttime battle at Takatenjin Castle, or at the end when the army is slaughtered and there’s like 5 minutes of slowmo shots of horses kicking their legs in the air.
I know that in the 1980s they loved their slowmo shots. I don't mind these big atmospheric scenes, but I don't think that I like them, either. Kagemusha moves along at such a good pace for so much of its runtime, that when we're treated to 10 minutes of men shouting and running back and forth in the dark, you feel it. I wanted to get up and make a cup of tea and then come back when the story got going again.
However, the parts of the movie where the story does got going are a treat. Visually stunning, dramatic, propulsive. And Tetusya Nakadai is a treasure as per. I could spend the rest of my life watching movies where he just stares traumatised into the middle distance.
-
Boston Marathon
Not that one.
After crashing out in spectacular fashion at the Loch Ness Marathon last year, I signed up for the Boston (Lincolnshire) Marathon intending to try and meet my four-hour goal.
Going into February or so, I was well on track. I was ahead of my plan, running consistently and running good distances, feeling positive.
Then, as spring started to blossom, I just kind of… fell off. We had visitors and then I got sick and we had a couple of busy weekends, and then before I knew it the race was two weeks out and it was too late to try and catch up.
The run went about as well as it could have. I ran the first 18ish miles at a remarkably even pace—probably some of the best long-distance running I’ve done. Then things just started to slip. I slowed down; that pain came back in my shoulder. I struggled through miles 19-25, and then sort of rallied just at the end.
Didn’t even feel particularly bad afterwards: Sam and I drove up to Lincoln to do a bit of sightseeing and then I drove us home.
In retrospect I think I just didn’t do enough long running in training. I’m encouraged, however, by quite how relaxed it all felt; how unbroken I felt at the end. After Loch Ness I felt like a bit of a failure; but now I feel like I’m making progress.
Very slow progress.
Archive
Posts Stream Books Walks • Clear filters
2025
April 2025
March 2025
Currently showing latest 20 posts