Things have changed a lot since the 70's

I have been trying to avoid back-to-back running days recently, but as a tiny bit of confidence has crept back in I decided to go out for a run. Sunday is usually reserved for my long run. That is completely out of the question at the moment so I followed a similar route to the one I ran on Thursday.

Tonbridge High Street c.1970's, you can tell it's not the eighties because the people are not wearing shell suits

Firstly, I could not pick up the GPS signal. I stood there, waiting, waiting, waiting. Then I re-started the running app. Still I waited.... Eventually I pressed 'go' on the app to try to force it to pick up the satellite. After a few seconds it picked up the signal. I stopped the app and the signal remained. Finally after ten minutes of standing in the cold I was finally able to start my run.

I took this one today

A few days ago I found a pair of headphones that I thought I had lost. They are the ones that have a bar that goes around the back of your head, the ear-pieces rest on the ears and a little plastic arm goes behind your ear to hold them on. The one thing that caused a problem in the beginning was that the plastic arm caused my glasses to move up and down as I ran. I fiddled around with it and eventually it all settled down.

I headed North. I saw three people riding horses, or did I see three horses carrying people? I think they were the same ones from the first photo, although the ones I saw weren't pulling a fire engine. The austerity measures mean that should a fire occur in Tonbridge, we all have to stand around dancing for rain. As a side note, for some reason Tonbridge council are not collecting any of our recyclable paper. Pretty poor considering the astronomical council tax we have to pay every month. At least we had fireworks to accompany the turning on of the Christmas lights last weekend.

It was quite chilly, but I had doubled up on top and was wearing my gloves so I felt fine. So far I have managed to get away without my tights.

I was worried that the hamstring could flare up again. It behaved.

Anyway, regarding the photos. Because people now have the internet very few people go out, you see modern day Tonbridge is very empty. The shops that are left don't even bother to open anymore. It must have been strange back in the seventies before they invented cats.

I ran a whopping 8.2kmin 43 minutes.

7777777

Wanderings of the mind

I love it when I'm running and my mind starts to wander. It's more common on longer runs but not exclusive to them.

So, I thought I'd share a recent wandering of the mind.

I ran past some new houses and roads and I started to think about the naming of roads.

Sometimes you might find a series of roads named with a common theme. For example, you may find roads named after Prime Ministers and so on.

I wondered if one day there might be a group of roads named with a technology theme. Here are a few that I can remember.

• Floppy Disc Drive
• Gigabyte Drive
• Mega Drive

I thought it would be great fun to live at '1 Gigabyte Drive'!

Then my mind wandered somewhere else, I can't remember where. It takes a lot to recall these thoughts after the run has finished.

Steven@team7t

Taking Responsibility for Your Health

I was talking to my Mum today and the subjects of fitness, health and working out came up, as they quite often do.

Anyway, that got me thinking about each and every person's responsibility to themselves and their families to actively do something (or things) on a regular basis that contribute the their own health and well-being.



Wind the clock back 6 years or so: My waist had started to expand, mostly through eating crap and having an office job where I was desk bound for 8 hours per day (in fact, I still am). All it took was my waist size to increase by one inch and I knew I had to take action.

So why do people who are clearly heading down the path towards diabetes, heart disease and a mobility scooter not take action? Even with all the information out there about exercise and how to eat healthily I find it incredible that they continue on this path without doing anything about it.

I know that it's difficult to break habits, and I know that running seems like a lot of effort when you can quite easily crash on the sofa and watch some TV. But surely a little exercise and a review of your diet isn't that hard when you look at the potential rewards.

People love to take to the easy option, but is it always the right one? Of course not! So I say get up off your ass and do something. Stop sitting there stuffing your face with chocolate night after night and make a change. Eat better food and exercise - Maybe you would like to run but can't or don't know where to start, search the internet (or be retro and buy a book) and you will find the information you need to get started. Make small changes. Find something that motivates you, are you competitive? Enter a race and train for it.

The diseases of affluence are here for all to see, not a week goes by without some mention of them in the news. The funny thing is that it is not inevitable that we'll end up suffering from one or more of them. All it takes is the will to want to be healthy, not just now but way into old age. I do not want to be housebound at 50, 60, or indeed ever! Surely no one actually actively seeks that.

So you have a choice, you can do nothing and most probably fall into the trap of these diseases, or you can do everything in your power to avoid them. You may not want to run a marathon when you're eighty years old, but wouldn't it be great to know that you could?


7t.