Rain, steam and speed
I needed a Turner prepared to lash himself to one of the cliff top benches, as J M W has himself lashed to a oat's mast to paint Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth, to record today's run. I set off for a variation on the Seaford Head run, along Chyngton Road and up the hill to South Barn. Here I went along the path to Coast Guard Cottages, as seen in the film of Atonement. The view was wild, the sea rough and boiling at the foot of the Seven Sisters. Beowulf might have flung himself into just such a sea to fight Grendel or Grendel's dam. In the half-

From university to university
My conference running habit has not had many outlets in recent years. The days when I would nonchalantly knock off a few miles in Washington DC, or up Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, are gone. I wonder if Sweder, as he lives the rock'n'roll life on the road, has taken his running shoes and kit with him. I have run in Manchester before, and along a similar route, but this morning I set out before dawn from the University of Manchester and ran to the University of Salford. It was a four mile trip there

Come on, Grandad: Brighton 10K
In spite of slight preparation, to wit no running in the precious week and a failure to observe my usual pre-race abstemiousness, I finished the Brighton 10k in under an hour, gun time of 58:26, chip time of 56:41, and placed 1700th. This time is 11 minutes slower than my personal best for the distance, 45:25, achieved over the same course, but I was fitter and better-trained then. Though I drove to Brighton through heavy rain, Saturday's winds had abated, and it was dry by the time I and the others were herded into the starting pens, like so many downland sheep. I passed the minutes before the start in silent speculation abou

The windfulness is terrific
Less than twenty-four hours to go till the Brighton 10K, and this was the scene at Splash Point in Seaford, twelve miles or so east of Brighton. It was barely possilbe to stand.

The cloths of heaven
I ran on Sunday afternoon, after a day of rain, choosing to run the length of Seaford Bay, from home to Splash Point, to Newhaven east pier and back, with a loop thrown in to take me through Tidemills, to add some extra distance to make the whole up to eight miles. There are some possible variations on this theme: I could take in the top of Seaford Head, and make the turning point at the west end the cliffs by Newhaven Fort, or the west pier. The eight miles were easier than I thought they might be, and good preparation for next Sunday's Brighton 10K. The dark clouds out to sea reminded of the lines, The blue and the dim and t