This has been a momentous week; I finally cracked the 3 miles in 18 minutes barrier, then the day after (on tired legs) set a new 10 mile PB on the way to pissing the 12 miles in under 90 minutes task. And I tied my hair back for the first time since I had it all chopped off.
To qualify that; I did about 6 minutes warm up (½% gradient) then straight into 10 mph (6 m/m) on the level. I didn’t stop to catch my breath just took the gradient off and whacked the speed up. For the first two miles I was going amazingly well. I was breathing OK, and it was all going suspiciously well. I had to check to make sure I’d got it at the right speed. I was managing so well I was getting cocky and thinking about knocking off 4 miles or so, to prepare me for next week’s challenge, 5 miles at 6m/m. Then about 2.1 miles it hit me. Like a brick in a sock. Then it was just grit your teeth and don’t give in. Extra kudos is due as after the 3 mile sprint I didn’t just stop the running machine, flop and wheeze, I slowed it down to 6.5 mph and got my breath back on the hoof.
Anyway, I did it. On a flat treadmill, but I still did it. 10 days ago I was wondering if I was physically capable.
The 12 mile run was a bit of a chore with tired legs but I did the 10 miles in 1:08.14 and the 12 in 1:22.15 I had 1:30 to complete it so I had over a mile in the bag.
I’m back on schedule for my training plan. I will have to push harder now, but at least I know I can force myself to maintain that pace. Once you’ve done it once you know you can do it. You know how bad it is, but that it is possible.
Go me!
Also this week I got my papers through for leaving the T.A.. This surprised me a little. I rather thought they were letting it run until I’d been re-enlisted the requisite 2 years then compulsory draft me to active service. I wasn’t making an issue of getting out as I wasn’t that bothered about the thought of a tour of duty. It’s one of those things; you are tempted to volunteer but don’t. If I’d been ordered to go that would have been fine.
Now I have to return my kit and request release from service, or however it’s termed.
Work is a bit of a pain in the arse. They’ve decided I have to share a regular truck with some guy. The trouble is, he doesn’t get back to the yard until at least 45 minutes after I start. Last week I had to wait between 1 – 2½ hours before I could start. I start at 1400, go to Crewe, do a trailer swap, then drive to Cowley, (next to Oxford, Darn Sarf). The Cowley lot want me there for 1800 so they can get the load off, sorted and loaded onto the vans for 0500. I didn’t leave Crewe until 1815 on one day. So less than pleased.
I worry because we have to write all our times down on our worksheet. If they look at mine and it says ‘sat around doing bugger all for 2½ hrs, drove to Crewe –empty- then started to do productive work’ they might just see sense and sack me off and start the run at Crewe. Ho hum.
The week on Twitter:
Commentary on the Leveson inquiry;
It would seem David Cameron’s address is no longer Number 10 Downing Street: it’s now Flat 2, Rupert Murdoch’s arse. #leveson
The spoof Daily Mail account posted:
MODERN BRITAIN: Orphanages, nature reserves and middle-class suburban homes to be bulldozed to make space for immigrants, warns minister.
MAX HASTINGS: “With the publication of the Leveson Report it has become apparent that Hitler has won.”
HEALTH: Could ‘having a generally sunny disposition and being optimistic about most things’ cause cancer
This week’s Daily Mail Cancer List: Mon) Lightbulbs Tue) Paprika Wed) Napkins Thu) ‘The robot’ Fri) Empathy Sat) Casseroles Sun) UKip
There was a timely wildlife warning:
There’s literally no way to know how many chameleons are in your house
An insight into the ethnicity of Jesus:
Three good arguments that Jesus was Black: 1. He called everyone brother 2. He liked Gospel 3. He didn’t get a fair trial
There was a handy flowchart for deciding the gender specific nature of toys in time for xmas:
There were some philosophical insights:
Oprah Winfrey teaches us that the deepest spiritual journeys are the ones taken on private jets.
Why are my Placebo CD cases all empty?
How come there’s no crap or piss in supermans spaceship? He was in that thing from a toddler up to approx 5/6 #superman #shipfullofshit
Some words of belated wisdom:
I wish they hadn’t installed the panic button between the self-destruct button and the soap dispenser.
A top tip:
WORRIED people will frown on your drinking alone? Buy two drinks at a time, and look angrily at your watch as you drink both.
On the same theme;
As I don’t have time to go to the pub these days, I am forced to do all my hard drinking at work.
And then there is this. It’s a Letters Of Note thing. Believe me, it’s worth reading the whole thing. Letter and reply.
In May of 2000, an episode of Will & Grace aired in which one of its gay characters, Jack, joins an ex-gay ministry in an effort to get close to, and seduce, its formerly gay leader, Bill (played by Neil Patrick Harris). Unsurprisingly, the ex-gay community — people who claim to have suppressed or sometimes even "cured" their homosexuality — weren’t depicted in the best of lights. Shortly after the episode was aired, the show’s story editor, Jon Kinnally — himself a gay man — received a letter of complaint from Mike Haley, a "former gay man" and Youth & Gender Specialist at Focus on the Family, a Christian organisation which actively promotes sexual orientation conversion therapy.
His letter and a response composed by the Will & Grace staff, both of which were subsequently published by an infuriated Focus on the Family, can be read below. When later questioned about the matter, Jon Kinnally said, "What [Focus on the Family] are doing is reprehensible, wrong, and fear-based."
Transcripts
June 9, 2000
Mr. Jon Kinnally
Story Editor
Will and Grace
NBC Television Network
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112-0002
Dear Mr. Kinnally:
I am writing to request a meeting with you regarding a recent episode of Will and Grace. The show in question grossly misrepresented thousands of individuals struggling to come out of homosexuality. As a former gay man, and now a national spokesman and expert on homosexuality and youth issues for Focus on the Family — one of the country’s largest organizations who, among other things, assists gays and lesbians who desire to be heterosexual — I know first-hand how frustrating and painful it is to be mocked by those who haven’t taken the time to find out what this process is all about. I’m specifically talking about references in the show to former homosexuals, and those wrestling with their sexual identity, as "freaks," "self-loathing closet cases," "morally wrong" and as members of "cults." Nowhere in this episode are we portrayed as honest men and women seeking help.
You may vehemently disagree with this position, but I’d at least like the opportunity to sit down with you and talk about it. Our conversation may not change your mind about the possibility of coming out of homosexuality, but at the very least it will put a real face behind the caricature you depicted on prime time TV. And in the end, hopefully it will encourage you to think twice before ridiculing the belief systems of those who differ from you. With that in mind, please respectfully consider my request, Mr. Kinnally. I can be reached at [redacted]. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mike Haley
Public Policy/Youth & Gender Specialist
———————
July 14, 2000
Mr. Mike Haley
Focus on the Family
8605 Explorer Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
Dear Mr. Haley,
I received your letter dated June 9, and was very interested in your point of view. The issues you raised are the very same ones that we on the Will & Grace writing staff debate on a daily basis. Our decision to present the story on the ex-gay ministry was solely in the interest of creating the most comedic episode possible. And it was certainly not our intention to offend you in any way. But come on, Mike, even you’ve got to admit that fags trying to pretend they’re straight is pretty darn funny.
In response to your request for a meeting, well, I think I can read between the lines on that one. I’m about 6’1", brown hair, green eyes and I’m into rollerblading, baking cookies, and cleaning up afterwards. My dislikes include game-playing, negative attitudes, and condoms.
If any of this interests you, I can be found every Sunday at the Brunch and Beer Bust at the Motherlode in West Hollywood. I do hope you show, because like you, I am an expert on homosexuality, and in my expert opinion, this "hard-to-get thing" you’re playing is Hot, Hot, Hot!
Respectfully,
(Signed)
Jon Kinnally
Executive Story Editor
Will & Grace
P.S. Keep on watchin’!
Shit like that really gladdens my heart.
Right so I’m off,
Later,
Buck.