Fall out

First light rain for almost 2 weeks, and a very refreshing 25 minutes run.
The catastrophe in Japan continues to unfold slowly and inexorably, despite widespread down-playing in the international media.

Trespass ?

A grey, mild morning, and a good 29 minute run taking in a rugby pitch and part of a golf course. In Scotland we have a theoretical right to roam anywhere, and golf courses are large tracts of under-used grassland, but I still half expected to be chased off by a red-faced club-wielding golfer, even at 7am.
No clear progress in either Libya or Japan, and still massive uncertainty about the outcome of both situations. Today representatives of 40 countries are meeting to discuss the intervention in Libya and to try to agree what to do next, whilst maintaining the fiction that it's up to the people of Libya to make these decisions.

What's in a name

Another beautiful clear morning, frosty and sunny. And a very good 30 minute run.

Yesterday we drove past a Mitsubishi Barbarian (it’s a kind of large and expensive motor car, apparently for people with inadequacy issues), prompting the realisation that a more benign approach to car-naming could simultaneously make a huge difference to road safety and carbon emissions.  For example: the Mitsubishi No No, After You, or the Hummer Sorry About My Fuel Consumption. To get the ball rolling, and to show that not everything has to be driven by profit, the car companies are welcome to use these suggestions for free !

Sunday post

An easy 50 minute run, pieced together with various detours around the park. Not as pleasing as a simple loop, but still almost all across fields and through woodland.

Yesterday was a big demonstration against public spending cuts. This isn’t just whining about the inevitable – it’s justifiable outrage at the billions of pounds of unpaid taxes which aren’t being pursued whilst the government follows its agenda of privatising as much of the public sector as it can, crudely disguised as "getting out of the mess left by the previous Labour government".

Meanwhile the situation in Japan seems no better. Reliable information seems hard to find, especially in the UK media, but for the people of Japan it must be a complete nightmare.

Yesterday was also Earth Hour - an easy but still impressive display of solidarity about energy concerns, although getting nowhere near solving the nuclear vs fossil fuels debate as the global population and it's energy demand keep rising.

Profit rules again. Let them eat profiteroles !

A 30 minute run this morning, and a good interview with a German climate scientist in Der Spiegel . He makes the point that "We only protect ourselves against hazards to the extent that it's economically feasible at a given time, and to the extent to which they can be controlled within the normal operations of a company". In the aftermath of the Japanese disaster and Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill, and as the British government in London invite BP to drill in even more difficult conditions off Shetland, it's a point that should be tatooed on the forehead of every politician.

A moment of calm

A beautiful, slightly misty blue sky, rich with bird song for this morning's 25 minutes. On such a day serenity is easily achieved on a personal basis, despite the unceasingly grim news of suffering and catastrophe. To paraphrase the Dalai Lama, and no doubt many other spiritual leaders too, the important challenge is to share that serenity with other people.

Primates and politicians

And another good 25 minute run. Today the British government is setting out its budget, so we are being treated to the ritual jeering and trading of insults in parliament. The behaviour seems closer to that of rival factions of chimpanzees than the workings of a mature parliamentary democracy, which is pretty depressing after 800 years of practice.

Natural selection 1, Humanity 0

A mild morning with gentle drizzle, and a good 25 minute run through clear signs of returning Spring - green shoots, and a huge skein of wild geese flying northwards.
As the death toll rises in Japan, the business news this morning reported that the dual catastrophe  is being seen by international investors as an opportunity to buy cheap stocks and shares, in much the same way as vultures circling a wounded animal see the opportunity for a meal. The only apparent difference is that vultures restrict themselves to scavenging what they need for survival.

Spring equinox

A beautiful mild sunny morning and a lovely 25 minute run.

In contrast, two days after the UN resolution, the coalition against Gadaffi already seems very precarious. A time for political wisdom and maturity on all sides. Instead, Britain has David Cameron and William Hague. Frankly, I would be more comforted if my dogs were in charge.
Meanwhile, bizarrely, not content with pushing to the front of another very costly and potentially unending military campaign, the UK government is apparently paying US weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin £150m to administer the national census. 

Neither war nor peace

A beautiful clear frosty morning, and a good 25 minute run with Benn & Morven.
Military intervention in Libya has been approved by the UN, which must be better than standing by and letting the revolution fail, despite all the inconsistencies and hypocrisies. The outcome still seems very uncertain though. I wonder how long it will be before we see a photograph of Cameron in a tank, as an echo of Thatcher.

Travelling further

Just Benn & I this morning, so we travelled a bit further in our 25 minutes.

 The issue of a no-fly zone and all it would entail in Libya is still agonisingly undecided. I don't know what the answer is, but I do think that the British government has not earned the right to be trusted. And if Libya, why not in due course Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Ingushetia, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Chad, Palestine.....
We light a small candle for the people of Japan.

And another

And another 25 minutes, through the mud, meltwater and mist, culminating in a grand downhill sprint. Periodic sprinting is said to be very good for improving general stamina, and certainly makes a fine flourish at the end of a run.
The news this morning was again consumed by events in Japan, Libya, and Bahrain, albeit dominated by anecdote and sensationalism rather than clear analysis.

Another gloomy day in Spring

A 25 minute run through the sleet. Benn was as enthusiastic as ever, but Morven was distinctly sluggish today.

 The situation in the Middle East seems to be more & more tense and precarious, as oil addiction conflicts with humanitarian interests. Meanwhile the disaster in Japan continues to unfold. The scale of the damage is becoming clearer, as is the vulnerability of nuclear power production. European governments are rushing to reassure their voters that it couldn't possibly happen here. Maybe not as a result of a tsunami, but they are conveniently forgetting the ability of humans to screw things up, whether by error, folly, or malice.

There is a slightly odd mix in these journal entries: a log of basic running activity combined with a personal record of world events, but no apologies for that either. Everyday life co-exists with global matters, and anyway this blog is an experiment in diary-keeping.

Urban life

A fine 44 minute route this morning, challenging my ingenuity to keep off tarmac and at the same time avoid repetition. Being in the centre of Glasgow is the problem - plenty of streets but very few trails, so a 44 minute off-road route is pretty good really.

Perspective matters

Probably a bit less than 25 minutes today, running hard to keep warm in the heavy snow.
The news this morning is rightly dominated by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the consequent possibility of meltdown in a nuclear power plant.
One small piece of good news is that prime minister Cameron's cynical posturing about military intervention in Libya has been blocked by the European Union.

Not enough left feet

23 minutes over the usual route - I must be getting a bit faster, and should extend the loop a bit somehow. Sleet flurries, black ice, and a very depressing article in the Guardian showing both the epic scale of the decline of the European political left, and the utter lack of agreement about possible ways forward.

March marches on

And another 25 minutes. The kind of blustery morning when showers come for five minutes then disappear, leaving clear blue sky. I noticed that the willow catkins are out, which is very pleasing. Benn was quite exhilarated too.

The Hounds of Spring

A hopefully brief return to Winter's traces this morning, with snow flurries, sub-zero temperatures and very muddy dogs. Still very pleasant though.
The excellent Runners Handbook advocates alternating hard & easy runs, so I extended the loop to about 3 miles & pushed harder to stay within 25 minutes. That said, my edition of the book also suggests about 15 minutes of complicated warm-up stretching, for which I have never had either the time or the patience !

And another one

Another fine 25 minute run in the March morning sun, with the poetic mood only slightly spoiled by a 10 minute search for the car key before I could leave the house.

Just a run

Chilly morning, but some daffodils out. 25 minute run.
Intriguingly, there is an off-road half marathon in Fort William in May, which could be very well timed if I keep up the regular runs. Running on roads is one of the least appealing aspects of racing, but the race part is a great motivator.

Defensive or just living in the past ?

Back in the Highlands. A good 28 minute run on the forestry track, through a refreshing misty drizzle.

Astonishingly, the UK ranks fourth on the planet for military expenditure, and presumably not just because we pay too much for light bulbs and tanks. That's a shocking statistic for a small country no longer defending an empire !

Royals and endocannabinoids

25 minute run and a beautiful fresh morning.

Another member of the British royal family has been shown to be a waste of space (Prince Andrew’s links to Gaddafi’s family and to weapon smugglers) which, whilst embarrassing for Britain, has to be good for republicans. Bring it on, Andrew.

According to the NewYork Times it’s maybe endocannabinoids which make runners feel good, not endorphins or the royal family.