If Alfred Tennyson did #janathon…..

January 22, 2014January 22, 2014 ~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 14 Comments

Half a mile, half a mile,

Half a mile onward,

All in the valley of Death

Ran the two hundred.

'Forward, the Janathoners!

Run for your life!' she said:

Into the valley of Death

Ran the two hundred.

'Forward, the Janathoners!'

Was there a person dismay'd?

Not tho' the runner knew

Cathy had blunder'd:

Theirs not to moan and whinge

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs just to run and try:

Into the valley of Death

Ran the two hundred.

Rain to the right of them,

Rain to the left of them,

Rain in front of them

Lightning and thunder'd;

Lash'd at with snow and hail,

Boldly they ran and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell,

Ran the two hundred.

Flash'd all their trainers bare,

Flash'd as they whizz'd through the air

Joining with runners everywhere,

Charging the streets, while

All the world wonder'd:

Plunged down the wooded lane

Jogging through the early pain;

Walkers and cyclists

Reel'd from the moving insane

Shatter'd and knacker'd.

Then they ran back, but not

Not the two hundred.

Rain to the right of them,

Rain to the left of them,

Rain behind them

Lightning and thunder'd;

Lash'd at with snow and hail,

While some of the heroes fell,

They that had run so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of the two hundred.

When can their glory fade?

O the crazy running they made!

All the world wonder'd.

Honour the group of runners!

Honour the Janathoners.

Noble two hundred!

Today's mileage = 3.39

Total Janathon mileage = 70.58

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Running, indulging the doolally and univocalism….

September 8, 2013September 8, 2013 ~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

This morning my 'lovely' half-marathon training plan exclaimed that I should do a long 'steady' run of 12 miles, yes you read that right, 12 miles! Not quite sure why it wants me to run so far considering I still have five weeks until race day. But not wanting to upset the fecking thing, that is exactly what I did.

12.65 miles in a time of 1:38.38. Average pace 7.48 per mile.

Still slightly slower than target pace (although I had to go through various gates, cross roads and climb hills), but it felt good!

I had planned a slightly different route that enabled me to pop into a shop and get a drink at about halfway so that I didn't have to bother carrying a bottle throughout. Also, I had even created a new playlist to accompany me on the run. Get me!

Yesterday included a trip to Peterborough for a bit of a wander about. Once there we stumbled upon The Peterborough Arts Fest – a celebration of Peterborough and its people. With the rather catchy tagline of 'Indulge the Doolally'. According to the programme, we were promised, “jaw dropping spectaculars”, “internationally acclaimed acts” and an “extraordinary finale”. What we actually experienced was an event that nobody seemed to know about, there were very few people about, and actually very few acts performing. So, as you can imagine, we didn't hang around for the “extraordinary finale”. Although I did manage a picture sitting on a massive deckchair (small things and all that)…..

But also, more excitingly, performing in the Talkative Tent (sponsored by John Clare Cottage) were Dead Poets….

Dead Poets are made up of Mark Grist, him of poetry slam fame….

….and DJ Mixy, the pair formed the collaboration to challenge the preconceptions of poetry and hip-hop. If you get a chance to seem them you should, it's a very entertaining performance. Today was no different, Mark performed a piece of univocal poetry entitled 'The Fens' which was very clever. Univocalism is a poem that uses only one vowel, here is a rather poor attempt….

Jog to Morton

Born to jog,

Sort of hobby,

Good to go.

North from town,

Off to woods,

Lots to look.

Dogs too jolly,

Poop on boot,

Not good look.

Cows in fog,

Not to worry,

Jog on strong.

Boozy horror show,

Bosoms and knobs,

Long story.

Grotty old dog,

Soggy from ponds,

Looks odd.

Horror show,

Jog too slow,

School tomorrow.

In other news, Frank Hamilton has released his first, what he calls, 'serious' video….

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Day 6 #juneathon

June 6, 2013June 6, 2013 ~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

Let's start with a few statistics:

20% of Juneathon complete.
27.99 miles completed – travelling west from Bourne would take me just past Melton Mowbray.
49,262 paces

Today's run was again round Bourne Woods and for the first time in this year's Juneathon the last mile tonight was quite hard work. Legs felt very tired and we're only on day 6! However, it was a reasonably warm day without a cloud in the sky….

After yesterday's collection of rather naff pictures, tonight a rather moody one of a leaf…followed by, in an attempt to increase the literary worth of this blog, a poem….