On Tuesday morning I did my Twang test , a neat little 13.4 mile half marathon, up and down the hills of North London. Ally pally, Highgate village, Highgate Cemetery and Crouch End, not to mention the dog leg to Finsbury Park and.....  nothing went twang! No ligaments, muscles or other bodily parts were hurt or harmed. My dress rehearsal for the Brighton Marathon on April 10th went well.  I even bumped into Jan, an old friend that we were in a salsa demonstration group with back in 1994!! (We have not changed a bit!) P.S. I don't know the dog it just seemed so happy rolling by the Kenwood magnolia. Happy Feet! Something strange did happen. All my feet aches stopped the next day. Last Sunday, the day before my twang test, my feet, as usual were aching to the point considering withdrawing from the marathon. If they hurt with 10 mile runs what would 26.2 miles do to them? But when I woke up on Wednesday there was no pain at all! Zero, zip, zilch and that's just the Zs. I have ...

It’s just fifteen days from my first, and probably my last, attempt at the Brighton Marathon . The training is going really quite well considering, and the heel problem has stabilised. I’m still in pain between runs and often walking with a limp, but I'm able to do the ten mile runs so my training has not stalled.  On Monday I will do a 15 mile run that I call the twang test. I call it a twang test because if some muscle or ligament is going to go twang then I’ll be close to home.  This is a dress rehearsal where my kit is fully tested. Two years ago I was surprised at the difference between a ten and fifteen mile run, where a seam on my running top was comfortable at ten miles, but it became a bloody chafing mess at fifteen! In the last few days before the big day I’ll just do a few short runs just to keep the muscle tone up but really it’s about recovering so that I’m fully up for the big day. The arrangements for the Marathon are coming together and there’s ...

    It’s been hard to pick a good moment to write a blog. I like writing when things are going well. It’ll make it easier for the Hollywood script writer to dramatise my life for a Netflix's mini series. Considering there’s a 24 hour knitting channel in Norway, I think there’s room for a little me on Netflix? My problem has been that things have been both going, with an intensity that I’m not used to, and things haven't been going that well. As a result there’s a lot of information to share which means there’s a backlog. So first the backlog: Skip this bit if you can’t stand middle aged men banging on about their health conditions! You've been warned!...   Medical stuff  I pretty much had to stop running since last summer. When I ran I had a mild burning sensation in my oesophagus and tingling in my fingers. In my mind that screamed HEART ATTACK! I called my GP who fast tracked me onto several waiting lists! First we got all angina-ery with the corresponding under t...