Doin' stuff

Morning to you. Why do Irish showjumping jockeys think using a banned substance on their horses is okay? And then get so very angry when they're disqualified for using said substance?? So very very stupid.
Anyway. I will be away from my desk for the next few days doin' stuff. With any luck we might get a few nice days weather wise.
Live long and prosper.*




* makes nerdish sign with fingers.

Motivation for Fatcats and Possibly for Fatcat Chumlies.

You've got to see this.
I laughed so much I almost snorted coffee out of my nose.

Top of Satdee to you. And a fine day it is too. Not sunny but not rainy and my coffee tastes delicious after a good night's sleep. After breakfast I am going to head off to the park to run strides up and down the football pitch, and then I will wake the poor old paramour up and enquire smugly after his hangover- for he went out last night and I didn't. Yesterday I was mildly jealous, this morning not so much. Plus I got to watch Poirot and Elizabth and eat stinky cheese to my blissful heart's contentment, and tonight we will go and see Hellboy.
Huzzah!
My left arm is black and blue from kick boxing yesterday and although I draped it with a frozen packet of rashers last night it remains puffy.
Anyway, let's see how the week went.

I didn't run 30k on SUnday like I had planned, due to the fact that a few miles in my knee hurt slightly and it was down to my runners, which I should have replaced a couple of weeks ago, but being a fool I kept putting it off. So I called it a day after 20k rather than risk injury.

Monday-up at the crack of dawn, had a banana hit the gym.
warm up 1000m row, 4 mins 35. Slower than last time but as I was warming up I expected it to be so.
15k dumb bell swings 21x3.
Cable cross, 7.5k x 10 x 2, tried the 10k, squeezed out 8, but no more than that.
Finished off with an easy 5k on the t-mill, hams singing from Friday's KB class.

Tuesday- 10k new runners, springy!

Wednesday- No running, saving legs for thursday. Walked to gym, 1000m row, in 4:19, onto air squats. Annoyingly I'm still tilting forward when I squat. So I'm trying to use a light bar when I do front squats to counter balance this. Really annoying.
50 in all divided into sets of 10. 150 dips sets of 30 each time, 15k x 10x 2 one armed rows, 17.5x10 last two set. Onto push press- 30k x10 x2, last set was only 8, I wanted to do 10, but my arms, they just wouldn't.
Finished off with a good stretching session, tried a new Finn quoted core exercise which is basically putting both feet up into a Swiss ball and trying to do push ups without your feet rolling off. Hah! Yeah, right. There was spillage, plenty of spillage.

Thursday- 25k okay run actually, although I should have brought a third capri sun for the last stretch home. Should also have been been longer but I took a wrong turn over in Milltown and then couldn't be arsed running past my own home and putting in an extra 5 k. Once I'm near my home my carrier pigeon instinct is head for the gate.

Friday, lot of walking, carrying stuff and of course some intense kickboxing. Black and blue and happy.

Saturday- heading for the park after breakfast.


Sunday. Planning a 20k run up the coast.

Befuddled, Bothered and Bewildered.

Happy Ginger day, although is it? Is it really? My brother mentioned the words existential crisis last night, and I do believe I know what he means.
What the hell I'm going to so with myself without Smurf's later? I don't know. What DO people who don't drink do with themselves? Where do they go? Where do they hang out? Is it true they sleep upside down? And eat only liver and kidneys? Yack.
I have another question, oh yes, but it's a sport question. Actually more a question of food. Oh I don't know what it is. I"m in a questiony sort of mood.
Gimmie is who I'd normally pester with questions but he's still away. So can ANYONE recommend what to eat after a long run or heavy work out? I keep getting conflicting answers on this and I am hoping (Stipes maybe) someone might have an idea. I normally go for protein, like a steak of some description or chicken, but now it seems I ought to be replenishing the carbs I just used. But I understand it's the protein that repairs the damage done to the muscles, so I'm oh so slightly confused.
Having just gone five whole day without sleeping tablets I may have finally eased myself back into to some form of sleeping pattern. I must say I dislike not sleeping like a dead rock, but I suppose I must also admit taking a sleeping tablet every day for the rest of my life is probably not a good idea, even ithough it does exactly what I require it to do. Damn useful things drugs, especially when used precisely for what they were designed to do. I have mixed feeling about not taking them. Very mixed indeed. They work. But off them I shall remain, at least for a while. (see I can't even SAY I'll stay off them for good)

ALSO! Today I have a meeting with a someone who might throw a whole pile of work my way for the next year or so. Naturally this makes me anxious and contrary, I hate meetings, but I like people who can offer me work and money. But I hate meeting people, I particularly hate meeting people who talk and use terminology like 'blue sky thinking'. I must shut up and rein in my usual nostril flaring and eye rolling, and frankly that twiddles my nerves something fierce. How DO people deal with other people on a daily basis? What's the secret to NOT snorting when you hear someone say 'radical departure of self'?? Well? What's a hoochless narcotically deprived Fatcat to do then??
It seems to be that being an adult is a pain in the arse sometimes. No really. A giant pain in the arse. Do you ever get days when you're just filled with...well, befuddlement? When you hear Melvin's voice loud and clear as a bell? "What if this is as good as it gets?"
Well what if it is?
On the plus side it is sunny.
Argh.

Pedometers. Bodily needs and wants.

Ever notice you sometimes crave something you might actually need? Sometimes it's salt, nothing but nothing will do except eating something salty. Other times it's something sweet? I ran a long run today, and by golly I really really would sever a right arm for some chocolate right this second, and I don't even like chocolate. So I'll have to go to the shop and get some. What's good eating in chocolate form? Do they still make minty Aeros?

Oh, and Boots are selling pedometers at the moment for one Euro! I bought one the other day for a laugh to see what sort of distance I'm covering, supposedly you're supposed to walk about 10,000 steps a day if you want to be tickity-boo. Yesterday I covered just over 14,000 steps, So far today I've covered nearly 22,000 although I'm not exactly feeling anything close to tickity-boo. Grab one if you have time and just slot it onto your belt, it's light and small you don't even notice you're wearing it, but it is interesting to see what you're doing in a day.

Gary Glitter, unmoored and unwanted.

Hong Kong says no, Thailand concours. So no country wants to allow convicted paedophile Gary Glitter entry to their country and he doesn't want to return to the UK where he will be monitored and required to sign on to a sex registry. Will this mean he'll have to spend the rest of his life in an airport? Left in international limbo like a character from a Tom Hanks film? Hmm, I'd like to say something smart and pithy, but all I can think of is serves the dirty fuck right. I hope he is hounded for the rest of his miserable life. Yes I am that sort of person.

Segregation in classrooms.

Well this is a tricky one. Fine Gael's education spokesman Brian Hayes TD has suggested students with poor language skills should be segregated from their class mates until they reach a level of proficiency, claiming parents were frustrated at the effect the lack of segregation was having on the education of their English-speaking children.
The teacher unions are up in arms saying this is deeply unhelpful. However if what I read in the Times is true, then there is a decent level of fence sitting going on
'The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) said it supported the idea of separate classes initially for some immigrant children that would focus on English language skills. It said best practice in this field was to provide "immersion classes" when it came to the integration of students.
However, it said it did not support "segregating" pupils and that second-level teachers had been welcoming students from diverse backgrounds into schools for many years."

Hayes own party, Fine Gael have stated it is not their views but his own he is expressing.
And more from today's Times.

"Lucy Gaffney, chairwoman of the National Action Plan Against Racism, accused the Government of "sitting on its hands for the last decade" on the issue of guidelines for teaching immigrant children in schools.

She said the classroom was the ideal place for children of different cultures to mix and criticised the Department of Education for failing to show leadership on the issue. "We should be doing all in our power to promote integration rather than separation," Ms Gaffney continued.

"I find it incredible that after 10 years of net immigration into Ireland, of families and children from all over the world, the Government is still waiting on the publication of reports and research before it decides on the best approach for teaching immigrant children in our schools.

"What has the Department of Education been doing for the past decade if it finds itself unable to provide clear guidelines on this important matter?"

So what do you think? Personally having lived abroad I don't think anything in the world helps
learn a language quicker other than total immersion. But then again I wasn't trying to learn a subject on top of a language. On the other hand I don't have children in a classroom who might be held up because one of their class mates is struggling.
Then there are teachers, some are frustrated due to lack of support and find it difficult to deal with children who don't speak a word of English, what options do they have? Ignore the child and carry on teaching whatever subject they teach, or hold up the class painstakingly explaining every word and comma?

A lot surely depends on the age of the child too. Younger children are like sponges and can pick up a language quickly and without to much difficulty, but after 12? !5? Is it air to throw these children in at the deep end and expect them to swim?
Integration is new to Ireland, there are bound to be hiccups and mistakes made along the way. But in the real world ideas that may not be palatable to our emotions might not always be the wrong ones. If a child can develop faster in a shorter language intensive class is it wrong to consider it before allowing that child to blend into the mainstream classes of a school? Or is it better to allow that child to immerse his or herself in the day to day class, but perhaps suffer and fall behind in terms of the curriculum.
Like I said, it's a tricky one, but it needs to be discussed-I feel- without everyone yelling racism at the outset.

Bear catches Geebag.

Huzzah for this bear.

From the Guardian

"Emma Sampson, 21, set out to catch a thief after her grandmother, Thelma, 75, noticed the money missing from her home in Walton, Liverpool. Emma Sampson and her father, Robert, 46, installed a miniature camera in the eye socket of the bear and marked three £20 notes in the purse, catching Yvonne Allen red-handed.

Allen, 28, of Oakwood Road, Halewood, Liverpool, was jailed last week for six months after admitting two counts of theft, and agreed to pay £60 to Mrs Sampson.

Mr Sampson said: "My mother has end-stage leukaemia and we had to get a carer in who worked for the primary care trust [PCT]. The next day my mum said £40 had gone out of her purse.

"I said 'are you sure?' and she said 'I may be dying but I know how much money I had in my handbag'.

"Emma wrote down the serial numbers on three £20 notes in my mum's purse and we got a £55 camera from the local DIY store. Emma said the camera lens was just like the eye of the teddy bear in the house so we put the camera inside.

"We thought it would be a long process but [Allen] was greedy. We called the police and showed them the footage and gave them the serial numbers."

Filthy greedy heartless bitch. Stealing from the dying. Is there no level some people will stoop to? I'm delighted she was caught, and red handed to boot.

Celebrity Slim Diet....the new Lipotrim...the old Slim Fast.

Oh for the love of marmalade. Lipotrim- that ridiculous starvation diet that was much lauded here last year- has got some competition. Trumpets please....
Welcome to 'celebrity slim' -ain't the name catchy? Don't it exude glamour and high society? Celebrity? Slim? Why it is irresistible. And best of all it's SOLD in Chemists- like Lipotrim!! That means it must be super duper and medically sound, right? Right? It must have mystical magical scientific properties, because if it didn't it woudl be sold in shops, right? It wouldn't be just yet again another Slimfast pile of crap. I mean with 'Celebrity Slim' you only have to replace two of your daily meals with a disgusting, sorry, I mean delicious nutritious shake. Why this is progress! With Lipotrim you don't eat at all! Huzzah Huzzah!
Only two shakes. And you can have an apple! Or maybe even a piece of carrot during the day!!!! You can 'loose' one million pounds on this amazing life altering diet. You only need to not eat very much at all and drink gallons of water every day. Not eating to lose weight...it's revolutionary. Everyone knows that's super healthy. Fark me, I don't know why I bother going to a gym at all. I mean it's so obvious isn't it? All of these amazing diets out there and I just keep going and doing stupid shit like exercising and, oh I don't know, eating actual food. I mean you can 'loose' about 8 pound of fat a week!! Pure fat. I mean everyone know the scales are what shows how healthy you are right?
Celebrity Slim, oh where can I sign up... Oh yeah, local chemist. Huzzah.

Night and Day, pretty much the same.

What the F? Oh this sucks. No sleeping tablets + no hooch= no sleepies, or at the very least no delightfully deep comas. I don't know how other people do it. I'd rather take a sleeping tablet every night for the rest of my life and be SURE of sleep than spend a night half awake, dreaming, waking every time I turn over, waiting for dawn, waiting for the alarm. But oh no, I've got to make life difficult. I've got to say stupid stuff to myself like 'maybe I ought to not take sleeping tablets every night'. Why do I even listen to myself? Phooey.
Devil's smegma. This. Is .It.

When a bullet behind the ear is preferable.

From the Dail Mail.

"Fifteen children have been saved from abuse at the hands of a worldwide internet paedophile ring, it emerged today after the network’s British ‘librarian’ was jailed.

The capture of Philip Thompson, following the largest ever deployment of undercover officers in the UK for a child protection inquiry, led to dozens more arrests.

The 27-year-old, who thought he was operating ‘below the radar’ was one of the kingpins behind an abuse ring that spanned 33 countries, a court heard.

Thompson, who lived with his mother, pleaded guilty today to a total of 27 charges and was today given an indeterminate prison sentence of a minimum of 45 months.

Thompson was the moderator for an online forum used by paedophiles across the world to trade in child pornography, the court heard.

Charges against Thompson included 16 counts of making indecent photographs of children, seven counts of distributing indecent photographs of children and one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

Mr Hadfield told the court: ‘The defendant’s role was to police the website, which gave him the opportunity to transfer these images to his computer.

‘The evidence recovered from his computer showed he had amassed a vast collection of indecent photographs of children.

‘It appeared the defendant kept some of the most serious images to use as trading chips.’


Seriously, I'm a moderate person, mostly. But this person- and I use the term super loosely- is the type of scumbag that I wouldn't mind seeing executed. People like him, who feed off the innocence of children for sexual gratification, don't deserve to live. I hate the fucking thought of how much damage this piece of shit has done to children over the years, the amount of heartbreak he might have caused, the abuse he has dished out willy nilly. It makes me sick to my stomach that someone like him is able and capable of operating so long and so easily. That he feeds the appetites of other pieces of shit. Two hundred and fifty thousand images the dirty fuck was caught with. Two hundred and fifthy thousand, That's a lot of little kids.
That thing needs to be put down.

Shock to the system.

Getting up early has never been my thing. Ever. It's the middle of the night as far as I am concerned. Only ten more weeks until Marathon day. I'll be fine, why yes I really will be...
The little Goth kid has a new hair cut. It is considerably shorter. This is our actual conversation over the phone on the weekend.
'I don't know if I like it. It's so short.'
'Just give it a chance Gothy. I'm sure it's lovely.'
'I look like one of those people who collect kids from school, what do you call them?'
Pause.
'Mothers, Gothy, they're called mothers.'
'Yeah, one of them.'

And I may need glasses- well I already have glasses, but I may need to wear them more often. ANd by more often I DO mean all of the time.
'Look Paramour! A rabbit!! At the bottom of the garden, look.'
Paramour looks, laughs.
'Honey, that's the Marklar.'
'Really? Are you sure?' Squints. ' Is he nibbling grass?'
'He's licking his read rocket.'
Puts glasses on. World swims comfortably into view.
'Oh.'


Also, my washing machine door won't open, and all of my socks are in there. They have been washed three times now in my imbecilic attempts to open the blasted thing. Anyone any idea how to solve that one?

Bah.

Motivation for Fatcats and possibly for Fatcat Chumlies.

Arp, happy Satdee to you. I had a relatively quiet sort of week in terms of exercise, mostly due to extraneous circumstances, or as it is also called, work. But hey ho, next week will be much harder.
So,
Monday, I was in Belgium, no running.

Tuesday, I was SWAMPED work wise, no running, bah.

Wednesday, 10k, finished up running strides in the park, 6 in all. Found a pull up bar in the woods- don't ask. Performed 10 negative pullups. Tee-heed, ran off.

Thursday, 16k Phoenix park. Sun? What's that?

Friday- 1 hour 20 of high octane kickboxing, LOT of bag work, and punch combos, and running, lots and lots of running. Punching off the wobble board too, which makes coughing or sneezing today very amusing in a completely non amusing way.

Today I must help the spaniard move furniture, this involves me doing the moving and her 'directing'. I may take CG's dog out later as he is a mite poorly. CG, not the pooch.

Sunday- I plan my longest run thus far, a 30k whopper!! Assuming I am of sound mind and body of course, which I will be because I'm funny that way.

There is a very visible lack of weights this week, but running came first in a week of time constraints. Next week however, I will up the ante and put in at least two good sessions. Damn time, why can't I bend it to suit my very self?

How you doin'?

A present! For ME? Why thanks.

Oh joy, the bigger of the cats just brought in a live mouse into my office and released it under my desk. This resulted in my bolting, but then seeing the poor stupid thing standing up on it's hind legs trying to fend the cat off. Poor creature. So I locked the BOTC in the living room-yowling his head off- and caught said mouse in a pint glass, he had huge eyes and very long back legs. I dropped him out onto the lawn a few moments ago and he just sat there panting, he looked wet but unharmed so I toed him with my slipper and he took off bouncing through the grass and into the hedges, just as the Marklar came up from the bottom of the garden. Now both of them are out there hunting around after it. The bigger of the cats is disgusted with me.
Stupid nature.

Happy Ginger Day!

...then Goldilocks leaped out of the cupboard with a blood curdling shriek and injected the unsuspecting landlord in the neck. As he sank to the ground he noticed Goldilocks was bollock naked and covered in marmalade, and he heard, 'and this little piggy was juuuuuuust right....' and then he blacked out...



Eek! I"m busy busy today, how very dare they! Don't they know I don't like to be bothered on Ginger day by things OTHER than ginger business.
Couple of things, on Monday, I'm embarking on my drive to run faster for the marathon. Ergo this will involve upping my training and so on. To up my training I will naturally need to....marmalade help me...knock the drinking on the head. (Hey, did anyone hear that crack of thunder?)
I've done this before, it's not the end of the world, but it does make me go funny, so if I sound odd over the next few weeks ignore me. It's just confusion and confrontations with looming reality. Every time I give up drinking my whole system goes haywire, I wake up early-unnatural. I eat less- unheard of. I am more productive-smugsome, I drop weight- welcome, I even- and I'm collie wobbled to write this- have more energy for doing stuff.. It never ceases to amuse me to notice that after a fortnight off any kind of hooch I feel rejuvenated.
Of course this never makes me think, 'Golly, maybe I ought not to drink ever, why I feel so gosh darned good.'
I never think that. I'm Irish, it's against the law not to drink. Plus I LIKE drinking.
Anyway, sacrifices must be made for the greater running good, and in this instance the beloved hooch has to go.
(gentle sobs)
Naturally this means Monday, and not today.
Stopping or starting things on a Friday causes a tear in the atmosphere, and nobody wants that. Things should only be ever be started or stopped on Mondays, that is my ONLY superstition-and I wouldn't even have that if it wasn't for the blasted Spaniard telling me so for so many years.
So this weekend is it until after marathon day. Yikes I say, yikes indeed. Anyone who might want to join this period of dry feel free to join in- but not Medbh, she's rocking the non smoking, and needs at least ONE vice.

Now, today's question, to which I've already yelled at the radio. Would you let your parents or parents-in-law move in with you as they got older?

Wrinkles or Cancer, is that the choice?

God damn it, there's always something. Observe from the UK Indo...

"Moisturisers used by millions every day may be increasing the risk of common skin cancers, scientists have warned.

Most such creams have never been tested for their cancer-causing effect on the skin. Now scientists have found that they increase the carcinogenic effect of sunlight in mice.

The skin cancers involved are common in humans. Although mostly non-fatal and easily removed, deaths do occur, especially from squamous cell cancers. These are distinct from melanoma, the less common form of skin cancer, which causes over 1,000 deaths a year in the UK but was not the subject of the research.

Experiments on mice had shown that when caffeine was given orally or applied direct to the skin, it appeared to inhibit cancer. Scientists at Rutgers University, New Jersey, planned to test caffeine as a cancer preventive in humans by adding it to a common moisturiser, Dermabase. Before starting the study they decided to test Dermabase's carcinogenic activity.

To their surprise, they found that it increased the production of tumours in mice that had previously been exposed to ultraviolet light. They then tested three other common moisturisers, all of which increased the production of tumours by an average of 69 per cent.

The significance of the findings for humans has still to be established, the team reports in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology."

When I was over running in Balmoral I attended an interesting lecture with a lady who really made me sit up an take notice and be aware of some of the products we might use on a daily basis. I was surprised to find that Flora or indeed any kind of 'spread' was so much more bad for you than just plain old butter. I learned the ingredients of soaps and shampoos and deodorants, which to try and avoid, which were safe to use. But it's hard to be pure in our habits, hard to avoid heavily advertised products. Scientific studies such as this one serve to remind us that what we choose to use might have consequences. Certainly studies like this make my shoulders slump.
So moisturisers bad, coffee good? Will another report come out in a few weeks time suggesting coffee is bad again? That not using moisturisers containing SPF is bad for you?
Sigh. Doesn't everything seem to be so muddled today?

Garnish Horror

I've said this on the blog before but it REALLY REALLY bears repeating. Parsley is absolutely fucking disgusting and I hate it. I hate the minging ack-yacking taste of it, the way everything it touches tastes of it and...well I hate it more than jazz but less than Reiki. I am always very annoyed when it is sprinkled all over my food in a restaurant. I didn't ask for it, I don't want it and it SHOULD be not on my plate. Food should be parsley free by default. That way if people DO want the cruddy crap violating their food they can request it and people who don't can enjoy their food with vomiting, sending it back, or spending a long time scraping every filthy green flake of it off their food.
Parsley, I am VERY much against

No Foreigners.

Disturbing to read this morning that a landlord felt it necessary and perfectly A-Okay to put a 'no foreigners' sign up on a house he was attempting to rent in Belfast. His home has been damaged after some bright brave souls had driven his previous tenant- a Romanian- out. So in his wisdom he decided to add to the racist mess by discriminating against foreigner workers.
Observe from the Indo today.

"Chinese-born Anna Lo, South Belfast Alliance Party Assembly member, was outraged.

Ms Lo said: "This is sickening. To treat other human beings like that is simply appalling. I hope action is taken to remove this sign immediately - we must never see anything like this again."

The Donegall Road area is home to a substantial number of people from Asian communities and other migrant workers.

There have been a number of attacks on homes occupied by foreign nationals and the landlord behind the sign said a Romanian tenant fled last week after the windows were smashed and the bin set on fire outside the front door.

Ms Lo said he was still breaking the law as spelt out under the Race Relations Act.

"Landlords should play a positive role in helping migrants feel welcome in the area instead of playing into the hands of racists," she said.

"This despicable matter is unrepresentative of a community which is making significant progress. Migrants play a massively positive role in our community. They bring cultural diversity to Northern Ireland and they contribute greatly to our economy."

Bob Collins, chief commissioner at the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, was equally insistent that the sign was illegal - and said the commission has assisted those discriminated against to take legal action.

When the storm broke around him the landlord who had identified himself on the "To let" sign as Craig quickly changed it."

Poor, very poor. Of course it is up to the individual to decide who they rent their property to, but to be so blatantly discriminatory like that is only adding fuel to the fire of racist and shameful behaviour. It wasn't that long ago that 'No dog No Irish' hung on many a public door, pity some people don't know where to draw the line.

Geel, Beer, Belgium, Athletes, Water.

Tops of tuesday to you. I got in last night near midnight as there is a bloody baggage handlers' strike in Brussels airport so it was chaos. Lucky to have flown at all, most of the other flights out were cancelled.
Excellent trip, I left in the middle of a storm, water everywhere. I flew, caught some trains and thought I was staying in Geel but turns out that I was actually staying in Hententals or Hottentots as I have rechristened it.
'Hello blonde lady' I said, waving a tattered piece of paper at a woman on a bike. 'Can you tell me where this hotel is?'
'Ja' said she, looking impossibly cool and not flustered, 'it is two towns over. In der market square.'
But if course it is, I thought.

Finally got there, dumped bag, had shower and took myself of down stairs with Gore Vidal's memoir. I then joyously took up residence at a table OUTSIDE in the SUN and ordered the first of some fine FINE BElgium beer. Nom nom.

Met Finn, grabbed a bite to eat and we discussed her game plan.
'I plan to run very fast.' She said.
Excellent plan. We then ceased talking about racing and talked of important things like poo jokes and how no matter where you go there are always Meercats.

Next morning up at 5, off to Geel with Team USA.
The day was overcast and drizzly, teams from all over looked skywards and then at the tiny skinny easily slidable wheels of their road bikes.
Tough race, 18k run, followed by a 78k bike, followed by a 9k run. It was quite a nerve tingling race. I watched it with a Doctor from Maine, a German/Kuwait lady who lives in Alaska and a 16 year old kid whose mother was running in the race in the age group above Finn.
Finn started off well, looking strong and comfortable, and then proceeded to nail that race's ass to the flag pole. She gained time the entire race and after the second or third loop on the bikes, she looked to be pulling away. On the last 9k she swept into the town square with a German runner 55 five seconds on her tail.
'RUN YANK RUN!" I bellowed, helpfully.
Clearly that worked, because when she came back around for her final sweep the German was almost three minutes behind and Finn milled up the ramp with a big grin and the promptly won her age group.
There was much cheering.
What a bloody run she put in. And this is coming off the back of some seriously tricky months of injury when her foot had a cracked bone, her quads were hissing at her and she had to wear 'Das Boot' just to walk sometimes.
There was other stuff, mostly related to beer and spanish talking and climbing over reception desks to steal hotel phones to make free calls to sleeping paramours. There were more poo jokes and some wandering about and then some passing out, and a car journey that aged me twenty-five years.
But it's not about that, it was about watching someone accept a challenge and then pull out a performance that would make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. 4 hours of grit determination, pluck and brilliance.
Finn is now a champion, she has a medal to prove it. And I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Congratulation Miss Finn!

Motivation for Fatcats and Fatcat chumlies (possibly)

Gonna be a bit early as I am away to bed for tomorrow's early start. Gonna be in Belgium until Monday night, so adios.


Monday- nada, Mamma Mia. It is essential you support friends in watching movies they think they might like.

Tuesday- Gym, 1000m row warm up, 24k over head push press x 10 x4
15k DB swings, broken into sets of 10 x 4 in
120 dips off bench, sets of 30 each exercise.

FInished off with gentle ( slow 8.5) 5k run on the TM, just to ease the kinks out of my legs.


Wednesday- wet, so 12 k run in the gym, finished off with 1000m row in 4 mins 15 seconds. Aw yeah! I will have it under 4!! (someday) Old lady watched me dribbling across the floor to the changing room, says, 'You'd want to be careful you don't do yourself an injury.' Quite.


Thursday- 10k run, finished off with 100 metres dashes for endurance- 5 in all down in the park- then jogged home. Felt rather good, had some old boy on a bench commentating the whole time, 'You were a bit slower on that one now.' Took off well that time' . Funny old duck.

Friday-Kickboxing. 'he's trying to kill us' one of my fellow KB-ers said tonight. 'Oh Memnoch', I thought, 'what folly they speak.'

Satdee-
AWAY IN BELGIUM WATCHING FINN KICK ASS IN DUATHLON!!!

Sunday- DITTO ABOVE. It is vital, nay essential to support one's friends in physical endurance and this lady will rock the race BUT large. Back Tuesday. Kick ass chumlies and be safe.

A question of cannabis.

"Gardai yesterday seized over €500,000 worth of drugs at a number of rented houses being used as DIY cannabis factories.

Landlords were warned last night to be vigilant after gardai uncovered the scheme and arrested three Vietnamese nationals who are believed to have been used to house-sit the plants.

Criminals were using three separate houses in two neighbouring counties to grow cannabis crops.

An intelligence-driven search operation led gardai to properties in Stokestown and Lisacul, both in Co Roscommon, and a house in Drumlish, Co Longford, early yesterday.

Gardai wore protective clothing as they entered the house and found thousands of euro worth of cannabis, specialised growing equipment, fertilisers and heat lamps."


There's a debate on Newstalk at the mo, about cannabis. I'll try condense it into a question.

If a person was to grow their own plant/plants, say in a green house or under the stairs, or in a conservatory, purely for their own personal use, ought it be made legal?

Should growing cannabis for personal use be made legal?
	yes
	no
	don't know
pollcode.com free polls

Beyonce Knowles sees the light.

Oh there's all sorts of sniping and giving out about Beyonce Knowles new L'Oreal advert. I don't know if you've see it or not so look to the top of the post. Folk are angry because they believe the singer's skin has been lightened to make her appear more white.
What evah!
People people people, tisk tisk. Beyonce has not be lightened to appear more white, it is quite clear to me that she had been enhanced to look more ginger. L'Oreal have obviously realised that if you really want to sell something to the masses then you must cast aside the dull browns and black and blondes and submit to the one true colour, the tingular titian, the dazzling coppers, the flaming tresses of ginger!
Don't despair dull doody heads, accept it, get yer freak on with it. If L'Oreal have, why can't you?
Beyonce may be a talented singer and an actress, but clearly L'Oreal thought without that ginger hue nobody would have the slightest bit of interest in what she was flogging. Imagine what you could achieve with the same forward thinking? Imagine what you could accomplish in life if you would convert! Why you too could be a world class comedy God with right angle arms, the wind might be beneath your wings, you could say lines filled with dry portents while removing and THEN replacing your sunglasses. Who wouldn't want that power?
Give it up plainhairs, your days are numbered.
Oh yes.
Numbered.

Wedding Costs.

My oldest friend is getting married next year and as we are wont to do we have been discussing it a great deal lately. ( such is the demand for hotels and what not she has practically everything booked) Her wedding is a large affair, and costly, oh so very costly, so costly she laughingly says she lies awake at night staring at the ceiling gibbering softly to herself in terror.
She laughs when she says this, but there is a base note of hysteria in that laugh.
I've got to be honest I too would be gibbering if I was gearing myself up to pay the HUMUNGOUS sum of money she's prepared to spend on just one day. I'd be gibbering and cutting up my credit cards.
How is it possible that a wedding costs so much money in this country? 30, 000 euros is apparently the AVERAGE cost for a wedding, 30 grand! For one day. That's three zero.
Why are we so prepared to put ourselves into so much debt for one day? What should a wedding cost? Why do we put on such a big production anyway? Why spend 5000 euros on flowers? 4000 euros on a photographer? Who is it all for?
I love my friend dearly, however I can't help but get anxious and fretful when she talks wedding plans. Not because I think she's a foolish woman- she isn't- but because on this one issue she seems to have developed a blind spot and I worry she's going to be paying for that one day for years to come.
When it comes to weddings, what do you think the average wedding should cost? And would you be willing to put yourself into debt to get married?

Single sex schools.

Interesting case this morning in the newspapers, a 12 year old girl, Megan Lynch has won her battle to get into Nagle Community College in Mahon Cork. The 'news' part is based on the fact that NCC is an all-boys school of 400-pupils, run by the Cork City Vocational Education Committee. This now forces hundreds of single-sex schools to review their admissions policies.
Strange that her mother Gillian would be so adamant her girl is the only girl to attend this school-I am assuming there are plenty of schools for girls in the area.
I don't have a problem with single sex school I have to say. I went to one, so did the Paramour. (For that matter I don't have a problem with single sex clubs in general. If a private golf club wants to have a men only policy or ladies only day I think they should be allowed to do so.)
There are many people on the radio now giving out stink about single sex schools and how it 'stunts' children socially, but I don't think does. Children find ways and means to play with other children and as they get older children male and female alike, seek each other out. If there is a touch of awkwardness it is soon over ridden in a wave of hormones.
No this is about choice and while I understand that, what about the choice of the 400 parents who made the choice to send their sons to a single sex school? Not that having a girl in their mix will do them any damage- of course not. But why are their wishes and expectations over ridden?
Brave child, I would have hated being the only girl in an all boys school at 12. I hope this stand doesn't back fire.

Chi Bollocks.

It's highly annoying to discover you've been doing something quite naturally and then have somebody else point out that what you had been doing quite naturally is in fact a big load of new age bollocks. It really funks up the morning of a Fatcat.
Specifically I'm talking about running here. I run long distance, anything from 10k to 50k a week at the moments, and I will be upping that to 60k a week over the next fortnight. I have noticed over the year that I have developed a very distinctive running style, in that I am inclined to run head down and tilted forward-almost running over my knees, so to speak. I do this because gravity being what it is the more weight I put ahead of my stride the easier it is for me to self propel, the easier it is to self propel the easier the run. Not exactly rocket science. Nothing woo about it, right?
Well wrong, because I have since discovered that this is 'chi running' .
Now I no more believe in 'chi' than I do unicorns, to me running at a tilt makes perfect sense, plus I find it much easier on the joints, I could wax lyrical for quite some time about why running at a tilt helps me- the long distance runner-but I can't now because I am in a total and utter bluesy fucking crank. I wanted to impart my learned wisdoms to Andraste and Grims, all the better to avoid knee damage, all the better to avoid aches and pains on the longer runs. I would like to expound on WHY tilt running is brilliant on hills, especially if you hate hills like I do.
But I can't, because everything I naturally learned over the last 24 months has now been CONTAMINATED by fucking woo. I can't really have just stumbled literally into something helpful, oh no, it's a mind body connection of ancient wisdoms and inner harmony. It a spiritual awakening, it's a GIFT, it's a balancing harmonious combination of the mystic and the physical.
Except it is not.
I do NOT chi run. I tilt run. Nothing woo about it.
Woo, I am against firmly it.

Friendship is....

...going to see this on a perfectly good bank holiday Monday.

Conversation Stopper.

'You know,' said the Paramour loudly as he pushed the trolley laden with groceries towards the car, 'I have an EXCEPTIONALLY itchy anus.'
I turned to him to say... something, and noticed the woman directly behind him drop her jaw and stare.
'Thank you for sharing that Parmour' I said. 'With me and the lady behind you.'
But he just laughed.
He doesn't care, but I know that shocked women will doubtless say to her mother or husband later today, 'You'll never guess what I heard some man tell his lady today...'

Motivation for Fatcats and possibly for Fatcat Chumlies.

Top of Satdee morning to you. And I hope you're all having a fine bank holiday weekend. I am NOT hungover and I managed to eat a burger the size of my head yesterday evening after kickboxing. For those you you interested in doing the same BoBo's of Wexford street is the place to go. Nom Nom.

My week was good, and I am guilt free-ish.
Monday- nowt, needed a rest after Sunday's 12k hill run.

Tuesday, ran a steady 6k, then to the park to run 'strides' I did 6 of these up a hundred metre football field, jogging back slowly to the starting point after each one. Following Gimmie's (thank you) useful advice I ran them split at 25/50/25, easy run for 25, fast for 50 dropping back to an easy run for the last 25 metres. it was tough enough but I felt good, even if I did notice it in my legs for the 2k jog home. I tried to keep my form pretty loose too.


Wednesday- 15k, as rxd from crossfit. Damn, I wasn't prepared for that. Shins were wonky for the first 3k, better thereafter. Feeling the strides a little in the thigh muscles.

Thursday- gym, I had to walk there and back because the car's in the shop. So for the kick off we can put on 3 miles, lugging a gym bag.
Right, warm up of 1000m row, and then on to the cable cross,
set 1= 6.5k x10, set 2 was 7.5 x 10, feeling good I decided to go to the highest weight I've ever done on this and lo, set 3 was 10k x8 (2)
Huzzah!
Off then to do a circuit of pullups (50 in total, grav at 20k for first 2 sets at 15 for last three set) Knees to chest (50, hate this, it actually wrecks my elbows) 15 kilo db swing done in 9/12/15 x4 ( there are no kettle bells in my gym so I have subbed using the DBs), air squats (50). Everything with the exception of the DB swings was broken into sets of 10 and continuous, no stopping.
This might not read like much but I nearly puked at the end of it and my heart was trying to leap clean out of my chest. I finished off hanging from the pull up bars, just letting my bodyweight stretch me straight, trying to stop my shoulder from having a spasm. It was tough but very very bloody good. Me likey actually. Cooled down with a stretching session that I had to cut short as my arms were trembling so badly I couldn't even hold my self up for downwards facing dog.

Friday!! - Kickboxing, lot of cardio and painful stuff, like squatting on a wobble board while holding a 10k medicine ball away from my chest. Very good for the core and stability, but ouch. You should see the spectacular bruising beginning to form on my lower shins from belting the crap out of the heavy bag. Good work, but my technique for side kicks leaves a lot to be desired, left side kicks all the moreso. I'm going to spend some time practicing those this week. Also I need to learn to shut the fuck up when my instructor asks me how I'm feeling. It has just dawned on me now that I keep saying 'fine' and he keeps upping the tempo. I obviously need to say 'oh christ I'm wiped, you're killing me here'. I am Melvin's screaming wally.

Today, nowt, I'm all squatted/punched/lifted out, my legs are jelly and my limbs and torso are complaining. I need a rest.

Tomorrow however I have a 25k run mapped out. It's pretty flat and hopefully the weather won't be terrible. I'm way ahead of last year's training in terms of running long distance, I think it was late September or early October before I'd managed 30k, this year I think I can pull it off this month-assuming I stay injury free- in August. I surprised to say I'm even looking forward to it.

Barry George.

A question. If Barry George didn't kill poor Jill Dando, then who did? And why was this man's conviction so easily overturned on appeal?

Ginger day is upon us!

(Jordan, not a ginger-indeed nobody really knows what she might be- but I'm feeling a little bland today and need a shot of 'high glamour'.)


Oh thank marmalade, I never thought Friday would come this week, and bank holiday to boot. I am furiously freakishly busy today, so I want to take the opportunity to welcome Gimmie back, I missed his espresso shot posts.
bank Holiday weekend here, that means bugger all to me, but many of Dublin's denizens will be hitting the roads and getting out of the city. Drive safely if you're traveling. No point rushing you'll get there eventually. Stay safe, have a good weekend.