Funeral for a friend

The good news is I've been out for 4 runs since the infected foot wound healed up. There's no danger of busting open the skin and I'm cosmetically beautiful again with very pale skin.

Beautiful I might be, but the bad news is when I run, the left foot hurts more than ever before. Over the years I've had more than a few aches, pains and strains, and this condition requires some extended treatment.

In the meantime, I'm likely to finish off this blog.
I should emerge, Boo Radley style, to spectate at a few races in my 70's outfits.

Sex v Clothes

Finally, I hope to be running again next week. Trust me.
In the meantime, I'm off shopping.

Sex vs clothes: women come out of the closet.

NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters Life!) - For most women, the choice between sex and a new wardrobe is simple -- they go for the clothes.

Women on average say they would be willing to give up sex for 15 months for a closet full of new apparel, with 2 percent ready to abstain from sex for three years in exchange for new duds, according to a new survey of about 1,000 women in 10 U.S. cities.

Sixty-one percent of women polled said it would be worse to lose their favorite article of clothing than give up sex for a month.

"Some people say clothes make the man, but the right clothes can even replace him," fashion designer, stylist and TV personality Carson Kressley from the reality TV show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" said in a statement accompanying the poll.

The study also suggested that clothes often wear better than relationships.

The average woman between 18 and 54 years of age has hung on to her favorite article of clothing for 12 and a half years, a year longer than she's held on to her longest relationship.

Almost three-quarters of respondents, or 70 percent, also said they believed in love at first sight when it came to finding the perfect article of clothing, while only 54 percent of women were as confident in spotting the right man.

Nearly half of the women, or 48 percent, taking part in the survey by consumer products giant Unilever said their favorite article of clothing was more reliable than their man in giving them confidence and making them feel sexy.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Help, I'm surrounded by Jerks

Late last year The Guardian online (UK) tipped me off on the top 10 internet sites for news.
It included The New York Times, which has been an impressive site. I'm even reading from the Fashion pages after perusing the list of most emailed articles. I am metrosexual and smooth in any event.

This article about dealing with 'difficult people' was interesting. Being 'difficult' to deal with seems to come naturally to some people. I wonder what it is like.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/fashion/18difficult.html?em&ex=1169269200&en=9c412ae51b907411&ei=5087%0A

I saw the surgeon yesterday and progess is good. There's a striders 10km the first week of February which could be do-able.

Blow me away

2.25 am, home

Early this morning I heard my next door neighbour talking on the landing to a tenant who had locked himself out of his flat. About an hour later I woke up to the sounds of breaking glass.

The guy has tried to climb into his flat upstairs, and fell about 6 stories to his death this morning. The ambulance people didn't bother moving him since there were no signs of life.

The body lay there for hours bleeding while the police lit up the front of the building and took all their forensic photographs. It was gruesome. Later in bed I heard the zipping of body bags and the firemen hosing the blood away. Sorry for the imagery. This just blew me away.

In Search of the Perfect Penis

The above title is a serious documentary showing on SBS this Friday night at 10.00 pm in Sydney.

I will actually be 'busy' this Friday night, and miss the show. I think this one was a screen debut, but I forget now; it's all a bit hazy.

I am still confident of a return to action this month. As a perfectionist, I could well be a bit out of shape but I expect the rhythm and balance to come back pretty quickly. I've got an appointment to see my surgeon next week about the foot.

Happy New Year 2007

Running Goals for 2007
An early goal is to run again, which should happen later this month.

It will take me several months to ease back into the running, so the only event I have penciled in for 2007 is Gold Coast. I'll be there anyway for a conference so only the distance is unknown.

I have arranged my Sydney Striders membership renewal and intend to run the ANSW winter cross-country calendar again. I think the shorter ANSW distance events will suit me more this year. Marathons and ultras are for kids.

Blogging Goals for 2007
Thanks for your comments and feedback last year and the unexpected coolrunning blog of the year nomination. Not running for the last couple of months has meant staying up later drinking and dancing with members of the opposite sex. This has reinvigorated the blogging more than the running, and somehow I suspect my 2007 blogging will unwittingly reflect more coarse language and adult themes.

Good night and Good luck

Thanks for your recent comments.

In answer to several enquiries, I am booked in for surgery on the left foot next Monday to remove a large ganglion. Running produces discomfort in the foot and I've lasted longer than I thought. But there's also miminal benefit and pain, and I've virtually stopped running now.

It has been a drama going for a swim with all the additional preparations and travelling, and my pectorals and biceps are almost Ian Thorpe size. Water running is as appealing as listening to the Prime Minister.

I won't blog again for a while. I'm looking forward to surgery, although I have to go under a general anaesthetic for the first time in 30 years. Advances in medicine of course make this a safer procedure than it ever was, nevertheless I'm not feeling quite as indestructible as I was as a young kid doing little athletics.

I hope to be running again by Christmas.