Relativity...

I was pretty pleased with myself lastnight. I decided to get off my arse and play 5aside football, with most of the students and a couple of IBMers - its a game I don't really enjoy playing, because its full of, well fast footballers. This means, when and if you get the ball (very rare) you have to pass it on, or run with the ball as soon as you recieve it. Its also a mechanism to find people's weak spots, and basically, for crap people like myself, to have the piss taken out of me. I felt lastnight I couldnt do anything right, and thats not me being negative, its the trust god damn it. I had my back on goal, had a ball passed to me, knew someone was free on my right, so passed it perfectly, only for him to miss, but - but - people shouted at me that I should have shot. Minutes later, I took a curling in shot from the left wing - and people say I should pass - meh - football for you.

Pete and Vince had invited me to play the slightly later game (8 til 9) so by the time I got home (7.15) I decided that enough was enough, and I wanted to take things into my own hands and I was going to play a 2nd game in 3 hours.

I do like playing this slot (although its a little late in the day for me) mainly because you do get the space, you do get the time on the ball (time & space = more confidence = more time and space .... etc etc ....). Its been a while since I turned up for this slot, but was met by loads of handshakes, welcomes and asking how "Geordie" has been and where I've been. So, we play, I megsy an old bloke, giving me more confidence, had a couple shots on target, and probably had the better game there, even tho I'd ran around for an hour already.

Anyhow, heres where the relativity thing comes in. When I got back, I had a call from a mate of mine, Een. I tend to only ever get calls from him, if his lass is up the spout (hi Sarah), Headley has managed to get himself into even more debt or Big Brother is about to start. Thats not to say we don't keep in touch, its to say, he reads my blog often and doesnt need to call me to find out whats going on.

Anyhoooo, turns out, he was at Gatwick Airport, about to take a flight. Where ? The Sahara Desert to run in a race.

The Sahara Race is a self-supported footrace across 150 miles (250 kilometers)
of the Sahara Desert in Egypt. The race consists of six stages, lasting 7 days,
with distances ranging from 10 to 50 miles (20 - 80 kilometers) per stage. There
will be checkpoints conveniently positioned along the course every 7 or 8 miles
(10 - 12 kilometers). Competitors are required to be fully self-supported
throughout the event and must carry all their own food, gear and clothing, which they will need to complete the 150 mile (250 kilometer) course. Water (including hot water) and a place in a tent will be provided daily. Generous cutoff times will be established daily so that anyone walking the course can complete it. A
limited number of three-person teams and individuals will be accepted.

Excuse me ? Isn't that just mental ? He's a 31 year old man, with two kids, lovely lass of a wife - and he's running 150 mile in the desert. Anyhow, after feeling good about myself, I felt a little deflated, that I've probably done like 0.03% of what he's going to do, in a better climate.

Good Luck Een!

New Year, New Rules

We have MC joining a gym, John going off jogging & Debbie being generally healthy, so I thought I'd get on this bandwagon and sort myself out. Slowly at first of course, after all, I did get back from Newcastle full of cold thanks to my mum's storage heaters, that appear to have sucked every ounce of water out of me. First of all, I started shopping at Sainsbury's, to reduce my weekly shopping (see, bit of CIS too), and also get a wider range of healthier stuff. Yes, I bought some Haribo too, but you have to treat yourself once in a while. I dont know what it is, but of late, I've really got myself into peppers, so appear to be having them with anything that doesn't move. The Haribo thing is Philippa's fault - after the last visit, she had this massive tub of starmix, of which I had to eat the majority, still not making a dint in the mass pile - magic you see. Luckily, I cant find the tubs down here, but prefer SuperMix, less problems with my fillings - anyhow I digress, once again.

So yes, I've been eating a little more healthier, with salad, fruit and veg, and less ready meals and deep fried mars bars (that bit isnt true, snickers maybe). On top of that, having forked out for a nice fancy dan running jacket, I decided to take it for an airing on Monday. It was a little damp, a little rainy and windy, and was worried incase I fell into the canal, but you know, if you dont go out, you wont do it - so I did. The jacket is fantastic, and houses my nice nano pretty well, and to top that, I managed to do from our bridge to the goose bridge without stopping. Being full of cold that I am, I was gasping for air at the other end, with bits coming out of my mouth, which wasnt very nice (sorry if you're eating and reading this).

I'd already signed up to 5aside football on Thursday (which has now been cancelled) and the usual slot on Wednesday night and came back with a tight hamstring - so going to take it easy til Friday and hope I can stretch it out. I havent played football for around a month or so now, so was nice getting a couple of goals, even though I could have easily had a hatrick, if I wasnt looking at the ground while running at the same time - oh well.