52. Place in top 10% of a 5km run

I figure the first thing I need in order to achieve this is to actually be able to run 5km. I don't know what a kilometre actually is - some European measurement of distance obviously but, frankly, a mile makes more sense. A furlong even. Damn those foreign measurements.

Anyway, I have added running to my gym 'regime' (a word that exaggerates to a considerable degree what it is I actually do with weights). Over the last 5 days I have run on a treadmill twice - 12 minutes each time at 9 km/h. After the first time I ached in places I couldn't begin to describe here - this isn't that kind of a blog. Today's little trot was much less painful, happily.

But how do I progress?

My instinct is to increase the run by a minute on every second run until either I find the gym isn't open long enough to accommodate my session any more or until the effort kills me. (I prefer the former).

On the other hand, the target here is to run 5km quickly - more quickly than 90% of the (as yet unidentified) field. I assume that to be good at 5km you need to be able to run considerably further than 5km in order to gain the fitness necessary to speed up at the lesser distance.

Confused, I've decided to add a minute to my run-time on every second run until I am running for half an hour. I like this approach because it gives me constant improvement which is good for the soul (if not for the soles).

Once I am running for half an hour at 9km/h secondary school maths tells me I will be covering 4.5km in distance. So maybe from there I'll try some longer-distance runs - 6 or 7km - interspersed with shorter, quicker runs. I will have to look into how one increases one's running speed.

And I imagine I'll eventually have to go out and run on the ground too because I'm already aware that treadmill running is way easier than real running.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See all the 101 items on my Life List here
Read about this blog here

Writing that novel

I've written small pieces here and there of an idea that's been floating around in my mind for 5 or 6 years but this week I have settled down to actually pull it together into a coherent story.

And easy it ain't.

Somehow when you're sitting idly and your ideas are running through your mind the story writes itself, the dialogues flow, there's rhythm and order and the words and sentences and paragraphs and chapters merge effortlessly into each other until - voila - it's done and you're up there on the podium accepting your Booker prize and relating to an adoring audience tales of your varied negotiations over the filming rights to your work of art.

Back on Planet Reality you decide you want to bring a couple of characters together so need to decide where and how they should meet - relatively easy - and write a believable, non-stilted dialogue. Which is relatively bloody impossible. I just do not know how to create a setting and a conversation that doesn't look contrived.

Many years ago - perhaps 15 - I harboured pretensions of being a writer and for a period of time I carried a notebook into which I dropped thoughts, ideas, snippets of dialogue and so on. Much of it has little practical application but all of it - I reckon - I could turn into a moderately interesting scene or situation even if that doesn't make it into anything resembling a proper story.

What I am thinking now is that I ought to resume observing and noting because I now have specific scenes in mind and I feel that with them playing in the back of my mind I will be more receptive to examples from real life that can help but which might otherwise have passed me by.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See all the 101 items on my Life List here
Read about this blog here

Things to do with the Mrs

The task here is to find 25 things I can do with Mrs D that are fun or romantic. I would add the word 'new' to that - I don't want a list of 25 things we've done before. These don't have to be challenging, unusual Life List-type items. They can be cheap and they can be easy. They just have to be good for her.

Coincidentally yesterday she mentioned some things she'd like us to do so I have to put them on the list. We've done all three before. She also mentioned when in conversation with a friend that she'd like to see a live cricket match. I'm not much of a cricket fan but would definitely give a live game a try. So that's added to the list.

I don't know if it's coincidence that she's mentioned things she'd like to do at the same time that I'm compiling a list - or whether I'm suddenly paying more attention to her when she says these things. Hopefully it's the former.

The items after number 4 I think would appeal to her - and they also appeal to me. I need though to include a couple of activities that would mainly be her cup of tea.

1. Watch live recordings of BBC shows
2. London walks
3. Comedy shows
4. See a live cricket match
5. Try sailing

The 'problem' with the first three is that we've done them before. But because Mrs D mentioned them herself - unprompted, as it were - they're on the list.

Number 4 we've never done and number 5 I tried (and liked) years before I ever met my wife.

I will add these:

6. Attend an open-air festival
7. Attend a large sporting event
8. Camp overnight in Rhossili Bay
9. Create our own 'favourite things in London' guide
10. Watch a half dozen of the scariest movies in one day

So I have ten things for us to do. I can't pretend it's an impressive list but it's a start and it will undoubtedly evolve. I'll add to it soon.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See all the 101 items on my Life List here
Read about this blog here

Setting the meditation habit

The daily meditation habit is proving a little challenging.

Two things get in the way: first, the conditions aren't always good - I've either had a meal (you can't meditate on a full stomach) or I am evidently distracted by a number of things to do and would be better off getting some of them done first before meditating.

The second obstacle is that I then forget to meditate. Pathetic, I know, but it happens.

Oh, and another excuse valid point: I sometimes only remember to meditate when I'm about to go to bed - a hopeless time to do it since I'll end up falling asleep - then falling off my chair and doing myself an injury. I really don't want to turn up at Accident and Emergency with a broken nose brought about by an unfortunate meditation accident.

My solution is this: my twice-daily meditation habit will be at fixed times by appointment with myself. I will meditate at 7am and - while I don't have a job - 4pm. I hope this helps.

The sessions themselves are 11 minutes long and of varying - though mostly poor - quality. The decision to go from one session a day to two a day was made on my assumption that quality would be improved by more frequent sessions. And then I want to lengthen the sessions - quickly too.

(And yes, I did meditate this morning!)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See all the 101 items on my Life List here
Read about this blog here