Today I got up and went for a run.

More specifically, the very first Cheltenham Parkrun - a proper timed 5k event, running laps of the lake in Pittville Park.  Along with 233 other people, wow.

I have done one parkrun before - the Forest of Dean one, back in 2010.  But I struggle to find the enthusiasm to drive 20 miles early on a Saturday just to go and hurt my body by trying to run.  It's a very low priority behind kayaking and lie ins!

But Cheltenham is much closer, and after persuasion from a couple of mates I couldn't come up with a proper excuse not to.

looking back at the finish area

I haven't tried running for about six months - and last summer's pathetic 'jog around the housing estate' attempts were hampered by random wheezy asthma type stuff.

So, my aims were low:

1. get round the course without dying/needing inhaler
2. don't come last
3. a time under 40 minutes
4. try not to stop and walk too much

yes, yes, yes and mostly yes!

GPS trace from my phone shows a fairly even pace - I got past half way before having to slow down to walking pace, and the few walk breaks I had were only short.  My calf muscles felt like they were on fire by the time I finished, but all good other than that!

So I'm happy about that - and even more pleased that my official time was just over 34 minutes!

More worryingly, I'll probably go and do it again at some point.  Maybe.

2 Comments

In Gmail, when your bin is empty you get this message:

No conversations in the Bin. Who needs to delete when you have so much storage?!

...and since I first shifted my mail over to google in about 2007, I've mostly gone along with that.

In a fit of organisational madness the other weekend, I realised why this is a rubbish idea.

Mailshots.  "look we have a sale!  daily deals!  come and spend all your money!".  Five year's worth of them.  And as exciting as it is to be able to see what ebay were trying to tempt me with in April 2009, I don't really think I need to hang onto it - especially when a lot of it is crap from mailing lists I unsubscribed from a long time ago.

Reminder emails from Google Calendar also deserve an honourable mention here.

Removing nearly 10 thousand emails took longer than I'd like to admit.  I've also tidied up my filters - so more stuff actually gets labelled on the way in (thus much easier to find and purge at a later date).

What would be nice is a "delete mail labelled $foo after $x days" feature, but sadly that doesn't seem to exist.

No Comments