I am trying to get back into running again after a bit of a lay off, but until today had only managed a couple of miles. I wondered if I would ever manage to build up to my 6 and a half mile run down to Barnes Bridge and back again or was I just too old now? It's negative thinking like that that sends us spiralling towards our graves. I am old, but I am not THAT old. I felt pretty good as I started out and though once I got to the river a voice in my head tried to convince me to turn back I pressed on. Luckily by the time I was properly tired it would have been more effort to turn back than just push onwards and I kept on running, completing the whole thing in a personal record worst of 81 minutes. But it felt good to have stuck with it and to know that there was life in the old dog yet! As always being down by the river reminded me of both my Marathon training as well as the Celebrity Boat Race, which happened almost seven years ago unbelievably. I thought of Toby Young turning a lunchtime light jog into a race that neither Emma Kennedy or I wanted to participate in. He hared off down the tow path and we just watched him go, bemused by his competitiveness. I thought of the time that my oar jammed in the water and I came within a whisker of smashing myself in the face, but somehow managed to duck. I passed the spot where we embarked after our victory and I hugged Jonathon Aitken as we both wore skin tight lycra. What an odd time it was.
I am sure if I could make this run a weekly fixture then I would soon start to lose weight again and I enjoyed it too. I get to a point where the running is automatic and I have to distract myself with my thoughts and that's all very good for creativity - much better than sitting around and reading Twitter and playing patience on my iPhone anyway. I suspect my legs will be stiff tomorrow and my foot hurt a little bit at the end of the day (I had probably pushed myself a little far - better to build up gradually), but it all did wonders for my self-esteem.
During the run I got a call asking me if I could write an article for the Times about my show. This was all very well and good, except they needed it by 4.30pm and it was 1.30pm now and I was two miles from home. It was worth making the effort for and was only 400 words and fortunately all these years of blogging have made me pretty swift at knocking stuff together. A newspaper article needs a bit more thought and by the time I had had lunch and a bath I only had an hour to complete it, but I just about managed it. Maybe life is just about setting yourself tricky goals with imminent deadlines.
The article was about doing a show about Jesus in Christmas week and I think they wanted me to write about how an atheist view of Christ was an antidote to all the religion going on. But actually it struck me how few Christmas things, on TV, theatre and the cinema are actually about the bloke who we're supposed to be celebrating. Even the churches seem vaguely embarrassed about mentioning him too vociferously. Far from being an antidote to Christmas, my show might be the only place you can go on Christmas week to see Jesus being debated with some intelligence and thought. So do come down to the church of Herring next week folks. And to encourage you, and to attempt to get people in early (there are five weeks of shows to sell and it would be annoying if, as will probably happen, everyone tries to come at the end after a slow start) there is an offer for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week where tickets are just £10 (instead of £16.50).
It's only available from Lastminute.com, so why not take advantage of that and save yourself a few quid and save me from performing to no people!
