unironedman

It seems like a lifetime ago when I wrote this post, but according to all of the conventional forms of measuring time and dates, it was only back in June of this year. This year. 2020. No ordinary year. I bring it up not to recall the days when the sun was shining, but more because I knew I had used the ‘sea legs’ analogy previously, and I wondered what the statute of limitations was on rehashing hackneyed old phrases. I decided, in thoroughly scientific fashion, that three months felt about right.

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We seem to be dragging this year to a close, finally. I mean, let’s not wish the time away. Lord knows we don’t get enough of it. And just because the clock ticks past midnight on New Year’s Eve doesn’t mean a universal magic wand will be waved over the planet. Nope. Chances are, if you owe the bank a few hundred grand on your mortgage, well, congratulations. You still owe the bank. Also, the dealer always wins, but that’s another day’s work.

So perhaps the country in which you live (and the current government that is in power there) will have arranged for everyone to get the vaccine. Not all countries have enough, of course. Here in Ireland, we may get halfway towards vaccinating the population in the first batch. As a frontline worker, I expect we’ll be offered it in that first round. But we’ll see. There are, to be fair, a lot of vulnerable groups that need it.

There have been a few bullshit stories trotted out by one or two media outlets as regards the vaccine, of course. One cracker was a normally rational radio station trying to suggest the vaccine should be mandatory. What a load of bollocks. For a start, just about nothing in Ireland is mandatory. But there is absolutely NO chance that the government would try this on; apart from anything, it’s been proven the world over that making something like this mandatory has the opposite effect. It’s fair to say some folks will refuse to take it. That is their right. Hopefully enough will take it and we can get back to some sort of normality. Hopefully too, these same people who refuse won’t end up in A&E. We simply MUST get back to normal in our health services, treating people for all the illnesses that are, not unsurprisingly, still out there. (Also, when you get the chance to have a chat with some of these anti-vax folk, do remind them of the mystery of diseases such as Polio, Mumps, Measles, Chickenpox and Rubella, to name a few. The reason for the mystery is that, on the whole, in developed countries, they are mostly a thing of the past, or at worst, a mild irritation for parents. They aren’t stealing children by the million like they used to. I know. Science. What a drag. All of those modern inventions, saving lives. Even the devices folks use to spread conspiracy theories. Yes, you guessed it. More science was responsible. Incidentally, if by any chance you have a great vaccine story to refute all that science, then by all means feel free to post it somewhere else. Thanks.)

Running continues, and here there is slightly better news. For me, anyway. For you, it’s of no consequence at all. But seeing as you’re here, and we’re chatting, let me just say that I have ‘found my sea legs’. And by sea legs, I mean running legs.

Running continues, and here there is slightly better news. For me, anyway. For you, it’s of no consequence at all…

unironedman, obviously…

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After the Right Royal Triathlon (did I mention I did a triathlon? No? Really? How remiss of me. Here’s the link to the blog post, and here’s the link to the blog post that has a link TO THE FILM OF THE GRAND EVENT!), my running miles evaporated.

So, in August, I managed about 120k. That sank like a stone to a measly 31 odd k in September. October wasn’t much better with about 41k. Hell, that’s not even a marathon. There were times in the last few years when I would have done more than that in one training run. Anyway, I gave myself a metaphorical kick up the hole and dragged my arse out of the house and back out into the park. November’s stats say 123k, and I know the watch missed a run or two. But it’s definitely a positive trend.

I’m now thinking it might be a bit of craic to keep a running streak going for the month of December, so we’ll see how that goes. To be fair, there’s nearly always something that gets in the way of these notions. But I usually finish up the running year with a Lock Up The Year run along the canal (mostly a half-marathon) and this year, hopefully, events will not conspire to deny me this little luxury. Also, two days in a row (the 1st and 2nd of December) don’t really constitute a ‘streak’. Just sayin’…

So, last month was Movember, which for most folks is November. Not only is it my birthday (I celebrated it with an 11k run in exactly 59 minutes. This is not any great standard, but it was pleasing for me to be going past the 10k mark with a decent enough pace. Runners will appreciate that. Others perhaps less so.), I also celebrated the month at work with a moustache.

I don’t like hustling folks for money, so I will quietly leave this here and walk on by…

In other news, there is always a greyhound or two. Odi is still very much here, being Odi, and not really getting too stressed with the world, as long as the world takes him for his walk each day, and feeds him. He is more inscrutable than the Mona Lisa and the Sphinx combined.

And of course there is now Bonnie, who was Suzie, who was a different name again, twice, when she was racing, but seeing as how we detest the racing industry, her racing name will be retired, as she has herself, and we won’t speak of it again.

Bonnie came to us with a broken hock – a common racing injury for greyhounds, and especially the right hock (for humans, think ankle, though the anatomy is somewhat different) which takes all the force when they run counter-clockwise around the track. It’s where their immense power and speed comes from. In some estimates, you are talking about 15 times their bodyweight in force terms. For Bonnie, you are talking close to 400 kilos. That’s a hell of lot of pressure on a relatively small joint.

So Bonnie is effectively under house arrest ’til the new year, when hopefully she can join Odi for walks, and ultimately, runs in the dog park.

All I want for Christmas is two happy hounds!