The place where lost socks go...

Dear friends, today is a very special day. Literally a once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

For lack of a better term, today is my "halflife-versary" -- or merely "halflife" for short -- with my beloved cheshcat.

Not familiar with the term? I'm not surprised, as I coined it myself. Allow me to explain:

My relationship with cheshcat began on August 12^th 1994. I was 7092 days old. Today is January 11^th 2014, and my relationship with cheshcat is 7092 days old. (Not coincidentally, I am now 14,184 days old) As you can see, today marks the day where I have been with my dearest life partner for half my life.

If you think about it, this is somewhat of a "lopsided" celebration. I mean, birthdays are clearly about one person -- the birthday "boy" or "girl" -- and relationship anniversaries are generally about a couple. This "halflife" anniversary involves elements of both. The relationship lasting 7092 days is an achievement of both cheshcat and myself... but the "half my life" status is particular to just me.[*]

By the way: If you are aware of an existing term to describe such a day, gentle readers, do feel free to let me know. Otherwise, I am going to continue to use my own makeshift terminology, calling this my "halflife" celebration.

Today is a day that I have been looking forward to for several years, and it marks a significant milestone. After all, from here on, I have spent more of my life in a relationship with cheshcat than not. Not quite sure how to express that transition in words, but it feels like a Big Deal^TM to me.

This is also an achievement that I am rather proud of. It is not unheard of by any means, and I know others who have achieved the same. But not many others. And especially not many who passed this point whilst still in their thirties. So yay for us! Huzzah!

To celebrate, cheshcat and I will be heading into London for dinner in the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, followed by a performance of Cirque du Soleil's "Quidam".

Thus, I will sign off now to spend the rest of the day with the aforementioned cheshcat. I wish all of my dear friends a very lovely Saturday!

---

[*] We will have a different halflife celebration in a couple of years when we reach the point where we have been together for half of cheshcat's life.

(Not to mention three days before Yule!)

Good evening, gentle readers! I hope that you are all having a lovely holiday season so far and that -- whatever Decemberween festivities you partake in -- your plans are coming along swimmingly!

Life here in the City of Dreaming Spires is good, if a bit hectic. Our own preparations have been coming along well, though there is much buying of gifts left to be done! About a fortnight ago, we purchased our Yule tree -- a beautiful Nordman Fir -- so Chiron Beta Prime is well decorated for the season.

Speaking of which, here is a virtual Yule card for all of you who are still out there in LJ-land! This picture was taken in our living room three nights ago, on Sunday evening. Please to enjoy!


(click on picture for full version)




Actually, tis very similar to a shot that I posted in 2011. You can find that entry here. Heh. Is actually somewhat amusing to look at the two side-by-side. Remember those games in the newspaper when you were a kid? The ones where there would be two cartoon panels, and you were supposed to spot the subtle differences between them? This is sort of like that. Go on, click the link and check it out for yourself! (It's okay; I'll wait...)

What else have we been up to besides decorating our flat? Well, last night, my beloved cheshcat and I went to the carol service in the Chapel Royal, at Hampton Court Palace. Built for Henry VIII -- and currently the property of his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandneice, Elizabeth II -- the chapel is a breathtaking setting, with a particularly magnificent ceiling. Again, don't take my word for it; see for yourself here:



The next two days, I will be attending the NuPhys 2013 meeting in London. After that, the festivities really kick in. Yule ritual in Oxford on Friday; Solstice morning at Stonehenge again on Saturday, followed by a carol singalong at the Royal Albert Hall; then a screening of "It's a Wonderful Life" in Greenwich with friends on Sunday. My darling miss_amaranth is hosting a holiday feast at the House of the Rising Bun on Monday evening... which takes us to Christmas Eve and Day. Those will be spent celebrating in Oxford with my dearest cheshcat; then on Boxing Day, we jet off to the States.

For those who are interested in seeing everyone's favourite Nomad during his 2013/14 USA Winter Tour, here is my planned itinerary:

• 26 Dec - 28 Dec: New York City with friends
  
• 29 Dec - 30 Dec: New York City with Mom
  
• 31 Dec - 01 Jan: Philadelpha for New Years at Asylum House
  
• 02 Jan: Driving to Michigan (with gyades)
  
• 03 Jan - 04 Jan: East Lansing, Michigan (to visit the wonderful tawneypup and the rest of the Lansing Pagan Village crowd)
  
• 05 Jan - 07 Jan: Chicagoland
  
• 08 Jan: Flying back to Merry Olde England

Most of this time has already been planned, but if you want to catch me as I zip on through your area, drop me a comment and let me know!

Chicago people -- take note! The Chicagoland portion of the trip is the only bit still entirely unplanned... so that leaves three free days to grab a Nomad! Due to the 2012 decomissioning of the Event Horizon, it has been over a year since I have been back to the great state of Illinois, and there are lots of awesome people there that I miss. So if you are one of them, and you want a visiting Nomad, do speak up!

Right. On that note, I'm going to call it a night. Need to wake up way too early tomorrow morning. So sleep well, dear friends, and I hope to see many of you soon!

Gentle readers, I realise that my recent posts have all been about running. For this, I apologise, as I also realise that the vast majority of you[*] have no interest in running.

That said, dear friends, I am about to make another post about running. So do feel free to skip this one, if so inclined. I will write about something else soon, I promise. For the moment, however, LJ serves as a useful place for archiving some running milestones.

Right. That said, for posterity and the few who are still with me, here goes:

One year ago today,[**] I ran in my first race, an Oxford Parkrun. Parkruns are nifty things -- many places around the UK have these weekly 5K runs in a local park. I approve.

At the time, I was a recent Couch-to-5K graduate and just eager to finish the course, hopefully not coming in last as an added bonus. In the span of five weeks, I did a total of four Parkruns[***]. My times for those four runs were as follows:

• 2012-Nov-10: 34' 44"
  
• 2012-Nov-17: 30' 59"
  
• 2012-Dec-01: 29' 38"
  
• 2012-Dec-08: 28' 36"

Then the December holidays kicked in and, after the new year began, I started the Bridge-to-10K programme. The 5K Parkruns were put on hold during my 10K training and, until today, I never went back. I must confess that this is partially due to laziness on my part -- I finished Bridge-to-10K months ago, but did not return to the Parkruns. Either I was away from Oxford on travels -- a common occurrence in the Summer months -- or simply preferred to sleep in on my Saturday mornings!

Anyway, that brings us to the present. Knowing it was the one year anniversary of my first Parkrun, I made an extra effort to drag my arse out of bed at 08:00 and be at Cutteslowe & Sunnymead Park with ample time before the run began at 09:00.

As always, I set goals for the run. Last year, for my first Parkrun, the goals were pretty basic: (a) finish the course, (b) don't be last, and (c) don't take more than twice as long as the person who comes in first. Simple goals, but at least I met them all.

For today, I knew that I wanted a new personal best (PB). After all, it has been eleven months! All that training should be good for something. I wanted more than that, though. Last month, <a href=">I finished the Rotary Blenhein 10K in 52:48. Surely, I could finish a 5K in half that time, which would be 26:24. Still, not good enough.

As odd as it now sounds to me[****], a 5K run is a pretty short distance. I now run for 60 minutes, covering distances greater than 10K, two or three times each week. With far less ground to cover, there is also far less need to strictly pace one's self. So beating my 2012 Parkrun PB of 28:36 wouldn't be good enough; nor would the 26:24 of half my 10K time suffice. For today, I decided to see if I could run 5K in under 25 minutes, which would be a sustained average of under five minutes per kilometer.

What this means is that, for most of the 5K run, I was pushing myself as hard as I could. Not much "saving a bit for later", as there wouldn't be much later to save for. I was huffing and puffing as I went, and it felt a lot like the early days of Couch-to-5K when I often felt like I would keel over before the running interval -- all of 60 seconds -- was through. I was rather relieved when I crossed the finish line and could finally stop! The only question remaining, of course, was: "Did I do it??"

Several hours later, my legs still ache. However, it was worth it. My friends, I am very pleased to report that your friendly neighbourhood Nomad succeeded! A little while ago, I received the text with my official results for this morning's run: I finished in 46^th place (out of 115 runners), with a time of 24:45.

Very nice! Okay, I'm not likely to break world records anytime soon... but, still: Very nice!

I achieved my goal, averaging 4:57 per kilometer (or, if you prefer 7:58 per mile). This is the first time that I have completed a sustained run in under 5 minutes per kilometer (or, if you prefer, under 8 minutes per mile). My best recorded 10K was only at a 5:14 pace. Also, to be quite fair, I know that I couldn't maintain this speed for a 10K right now -- it was only possible because of the short distance involved. Even so, it feels pretty good to have solidly broken through the 5 minute barrier!

Looking back, one year ago[**], I completed my first Parkrun in 34:44; today I did it in 24:45. That's an improvement of nearly ten minutes[*****], or over 40%, in a year. Not too shabby! Okay, to be fair, the first 12% came almost immediately, when I bought proper running shoes to celebrate my first Parkrun. But the remaining 28% increase in my speed from last year has come purely from hard work and training. If I dare indulge in a moment of self-congratulations: Go me!

If there are any of you left still reading this post, I thank you for your patience. Next entry will not be about running, I promise! That said, I'm sure that there will be other running posts in the future, so I really should get an appropriate icon. (Heck, while I'm at it, I could do with an icon of myself where I'm not overweight!)

Meanwhile, have a great Saturday, gentle readers!

---

[*] Those few of us still on LJ, that is.

[**] Well, fifty-two weeks ago, anyway.

[***] Skipping one because I was speaking at Oxford University's annual Cosmology Day.

[****] And would sound even odder to the me of a year and a half ago!

[*****] Well, nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds. Ah, if only I had come in one second sooner! That would have been an added bonus, to be an even ten minutes under last year's time! Oh well.

First, see last year's entry for the obligatory joke about today's date.

Next, I am very pleased to make the belated announcement that, about two weeks ago, I ran my first "official" 10K!

To be fair, I have been running 10Ks for about four months now -- since early July. Indeed, I have run 10 km or more a couple of dozen times now; my personal best being about 11.5 km in 60 minutes. Those have all been on my own, though. This was my first externally timed race, running with lots of other people.

The race was the Rotary Blenheim 10K, which takes place annually on the grounds of Blenheim Palace, home to the Dukes of Marlborough.[*] The course itself is rather pretty, and can be see here.

Of course, if I ran in this race a fortnight ago, why am I only posting about it now?? Well, dear friends, tis because the results were only posted online yesterday. (Shocking slow, I know -- especially for the twenty-first century!)

So, gentle readers, I know you are all wondering: How did your friendly neighbourhood Nomad do?

The short answer is: Pretty average.

According to the results page, there were 313 runners; yours truly came in 110^th place. On the surface, that looks pretty good, doesn't it?

It does, but tis not a fair comparison. It is a well known fact that, statistically speaking, men run faster than women. Supposed to have something to do with haemoglobin levels and other differences in physiology; across the distances, from 800 meters on up, male world speed records are about 11% faster than the corresponding female records. So, fair is fair -- a realistic analysis would be to compare myself to the other male runners.

If we do that, then I came in 86^th place amongst 170 male runners. Or, to put it another way, I was the fastest runner in the slow half. Had I arrived at the finish line three seconds earlier, I would have been in 85^th place - the slowest runner in the fast half. Basically, I was the median.

From which I get the conclusion: As the median runner, my performance was -- effectively by definition -- "pretty average".

That said, I'm not particularly miffed at this. My overall time of 52:48 makes the Rotary Blenheim 10K a very nice run for me. My goals for the race was to finish in under an hour... and I came in well under the 60 minute mark!

Also, it is worth noting that, a mere 17 months ago, running for 60 seconds was an epic feat for me. Running a 10K that is merely "average" when compared to 170 other runners? Well, considering where I started, that's pretty good! Indeed, it means I'm a real runner -- nothing special, but nothing to scoff at, either! Far from being upset, I find myself rather chuffed at this accomplishment!

So that is the Nomad Fitness News^TM for October 2013. Next goal is to complete my first Olympic triathlon in the Spring. Then, for October 2014, I want to do the British Heart Foundation's Blenheim Palace Half-Marathon!

For now, though, tis best to end this entry... as the time has come to put aside things related to running. The local pool is about to open, and I'm supposed to swim 100 lengths before it closes for the evening!

---

[*] And birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

Returned to Merry Olde England last night, and stayed up way too late being reunited with my beloved cheshcat and my darling miss_amaranth (plus the kitties!).

In my last entry, I promised to resolve The Mystery of the Missing Hair^TM... and, gentle readers, I mean to make good on that promise. Said mystery arose from the picture in this entry, a self-portrait taken six days ago after a run in Gorky Park.

Well, dear friends, I believe one picture can provide the best answer to the question created by another. The following picture was taken the day before yesterday (i.e., on Monday) inside the Suzdal kremlin:

It's BAAAAAAAACK!

(click for full-sized version)

The photograph in question was taken[*] four days after the Gorky Park picture. I believe that it clearly resolves the question of the "missing" hair, yes?[**] In the earlier photo, my hair is simply tied back. Ironically, I had worn it loose all day... tying it back only in the evening, when I went to go for my run alongside the Moskva river.

Normally, my ponytail is visible from the front, even when my hair is tied back. However, the now-infamous Gorky Park pic was taken at night. My hair is dark; the background is dark. Thus, tis difficult to discern. I can see it clearly in that photo -- the ponytail is to the right of my neck (or the left, in the picture's coordinates). But I already knew it was there. If you did not share that knowledge, I can see how it would have vanished. Indeed, it appears that my curly mane seemed to have been functioning as a sort of "dark matter".

I am most gratified by the comments, and to see that so many of my friends appreciate my luxurious locks. Conversely, I was also flattered by the words of bloodsong, who could see beauty in a short-haired Nomad. I will put the collective question to rest, though, by assuring everyone that I have no intention to remove or shorten my hair at any point in the foreseeable future.

---

[*] In front of the Cathedral of the Nativity, within the Suzdal kremlin. I fear this post, so centered on my wild curls, neglects to focus more attention on what is really the most strikingly beautiful part of this picture... and it isn't me!

[**] I was shocked, however, for another reason when I saw this photograph. It was rather startling to see how that shirt, which once fit rather well, is positively swimming on me! Looks huge. May be time to start shopping for new clothing...

I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change.
An August summer night...

—The Scorpions

My evening had an uncanny resemblance to the 1990 song Wind of Change, referenced above. Having been at LomCon-16 for the past seven days, I have not worked out in a week. My darling miss_amaranth and I went for a swim right before I left to catch my flight... but then nothing since.

I rectified that this evening. On this August summer night, I went for a 10K run that started in Gorky Park and followed the Moskva along its embankment, out and then back.

I had been trying to figure out where in Moscow I could go for a run, and Gorky Park was what I finally settled on, partly after serendipitously finding this article in the New York Times on Monday. This turned out to have been an excellent choice... for several reasons!

For example, the Moscow Running Club meets three times weekly in the park and goes for a run. So there are 1K, 3K, 5K, and 10K routes already marked out, including signs to indicate when one should turn around for each distance. That made the logistics of the run quite easy.

Also, the run along the Moskva embankment was absolutely lovely! I don't usually run linearly, going out for the first half and coming back the same way in the second. I normally prefer a circular run, to continually have new scenery during the run. In this case, however, I was willing to make an exception. The park and the river was such spectacular scenery. There were people out for a stroll, other runners, cyclists, skaters... and riverboats. What a fantastic environment! Turns out, most of the boats for the river cruises are faster than me... but only just!

My performance on the run was unremarkable. I covered 10 km in 56:40, which is pretty average for me. When I say "unremarkable", I mean just that -- it was neither particularly fast nor particularly slow. Since I have not exercised in a week and had been walking around all day, I suppose that average is better than I might have expected.

There is also another aspect worth noting about tonight's run. It pertains to just being able to run through Gorky Park and alongside the Moskva. As a US-American citizen, I am well aware that this would not have been possible in the not-so-distant past... within my living memory. Somewhat boggles the mind to think about it. And that's where the song by The Scorpions comes in again.

I've much more to share about this trip, but methinks that will have to wait. I should go to bed now, to be fresh and rested for another day of sightseeing in the morning. So, dear friends, I will leave you for now, signing off with this self-portrait taken not long after tonight's workout, at one of the illuminated fountains in Gorky Park:

Listening to the wind of change...

(click for full-sized version)

As mentioned previously, my beloved cheshcat and I celebrated our anniversary a couple of weeks ago by playing tourist in London. We finally blocked off time to see so many of the things that, because they were so close we could go at any time, we had never made time for.

One of the places that we visited on our anniversary weekend was Westminster Abbey. Of course, you don't need me to tell you that Westminster Abbey is a Christian place of worship that is also the most famous religious building in London, which is one of the most important cities in the world.

Fast forward now to a few days ago. On Friday evening, around sunset, I got my first close look at St. Basil's Cathedral. Of course, St. Basil's Cathedral is a Christian place of worship that is also the most famous religious building in Moscow, which is one of the most important cities in the world.

The parallels may end there, though. I find it striking how two buildings that are so similar in many ways can be so different in others. Take a look for yourself and you will easily see what I mean:



Both pictures were taken by yours truly; both pictures were shot this month. You will pardon me, gentle readers, for not labelling the photographs. Somehow, I have faith that you can tell which is which.

One thing is not clear to me, though: What does "cathedral" mean in the Russian Orthodox tradition?

In many Western branches of Christianity -- including the largest of them all, Roman Catholicism -- a cathedral is named for the cathedra, the throne of a bishop. Unlike a church, which has a priest, a cathedral is presided over by a bishop. As the bishop has authority over a full diocese, a cathedral is the seat of power for that diocese. The Church of England has 42 dioceses, therefore it has 42 bishops and 42 cathedrals. Simple, yes?[*]

To be fair, the Church of Scotland -- which is Presbyterian -- does not have bishops, and yet still has cathedrals. I myself have visited Glasgow Cathedral and St. Magnus Cathedral, in Kirkwall. However, this still makes sense to me. Before the Protestant Reformation, these were Roman Catholic cathedrals, with bishops and all. Although the Church of Scotland broke away from Roman Catholicism -- taking those buildings with them -- the structures retained their original names. Tis historic, with a certain logic to it.

In contrast, I cannot see any such pattern to the Russian Orthodox cathedrals. Between the Kremlin and neighbouring Red Square, I count at least six cathedrals -- all within a ten minute walk! In Red Sqaure, there is St. Basil's Cathedral (above), of course, as well as Kazan Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Epiphany. Next door, in the Kremlin, there are another three: the Cathedral of the Annunciation, the Cathedral of the Assumption, the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael. Surely there are not six dioceses -- six administrative regions of the Russian Orthodox Church -- in such close proximity; thus, I find myself at a loss for what a Russian Orthodox Cathedral really is. Is it just a case of a particularly ornate church being termed a "cathedral"??

Off to bed now, dear friends. Tomorrow is the final day of the Lomonosov Conference... after which my week of sightseeing begins in earnest. I shall try to post again soon, with pictures selected from my first three days in Moscow.

---

[*] Well, maybe not quite so simple as that. This one-to-one-to-one correlation of dioceses, cathedrals, and bishops within the Church of England was true for a very long time... but it is currently in the process of being slightly violated. The C of E is dissolving three dioceses; the diocese of Bradford (centered on Bradford Cathedral), the diocese of Wakefield (centered on Wakefield Cathedral), and the diocese of Ripon & Leeds (centered on Ripon Cathedral) are all being made redundant. Replacing them is the newly created diocese of Leeds. Presiding over this will be the newly created Bishop of Leeds, who will have all three of the aforementioned cathedrae to himself!

Two recent numbers of significance worth noting here:

First, on my most recent run -- earlier this week -- I passed the 11 km mark for the first time.

These days, my standard running workout is a five minute warm-up walk, followed by a sixty minute run, then ending with a five minute cool-down walk. When the workout is over, the running app that I use reports an average pace for each of those three parts; I ignore the walking segments but use the data for the run to work out how far I went. Previously, my best record was 5:32 per kilometer (or, if you prefer, 8:54 per mile) -- set on the 5^th of August. That works out to a 10.84 kilometer run (or 6.74 miles).

When I was new to running last year, I used the NHS Couch-to-5K podcast series. The narrator, Laura, frequently reminds us that some runs will be better than others, often without clearly identifiable reason. (She also points out that a bad run is still better than no run at all -- helpful advice!) Well, I'm not sure why... but my most recent run -- the day before yesterday -- turned out to be a very good run! That was evident early on, as I just felt "in the groove" and the distance reports every five minutes were impressive, compared to my normal pace. I knew if I pushed on, I could likely set a new record... and thought I even had a chance of squeaking past the 11 km mark for the first time.

Turns out, I was doing better than I thought -- my average pace for the hour worked out to 5:19 per kilometer (or 8:33 per mile)! That's 11.28 km -- well past the 11K mark! Tis also well beyond the record set eight days earlier! Measuring in Imperial units, I ran 7.01 miles -- just barely passing the seven mile marker for the first time! As the title to this post mentions, this was indeed a literal milestone for my progress as a runner. Go me!

Next, we get more figurative. On Monday -- August 12^th -- my beloved cheshcat and I celebrated our 19^th anniversary! Go us!

We celebrated by spending a three day weekend in London[*]. Not long ago, right here on LJ, acelightning had a discussion about travel, in which we noted that there are often opportunities to see interesting things without going far from home. For our anniversary this year, cheshcat and I decided to do just that. Next year, for the big TWO-OH, we are planning a two week cruise -- either to Scandinavia or the Mediterranean -- so this year we decided to stay nearby and finally see some of the many things in London that we've been putting off for years because, after all, we can go anytime!

The idea was good, and our weekend was delightful -- we finally visited Westminster Abbey (seeing the graves of Newton and Dirac!), we caught a West End show, we indulged my passion for tall buildings by going up to the viewing platform at the Shard, and more. Hopefully, I can find time for a detailed entry -- with pics, of course! -- before heading out for Moscow next week! Fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, dear friends, I will share one shot from the weekend. Just because. The picture below was taken at Kensington Palace. Construction on this palace began in 1689, on the orders of William & Mary; the motivation was to construct a royal residence closer to London than either Hampton Court Palace or Windsor Castle... but further from the polluted air of the city than Whitehall Palace, which used to sit on the banks of the Thames -- William III was asthmatic and couldn't breathe well whilst at Whitehall.

Over the centuries, Kensington Palace has been home to a great many royals. Princess Di lived there, as did the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret. It is also where Queen Victoria was born and where she grew up. The picture below was taken in the so-called "Red Saloon" room at Kensington Palace, which is the room where Victoria held her first privy council on the morning where she became queen. We heard an excellent lecture in the room, and there were also costumes available for folks to play "dress-up". A common tourist attraction, I don't usually succumb... but I thought this jacket was just too good to pass up! Take a look at the pic itself (try to ignore the fact that I'm wearing shorts and sandals underneath!) and tell me if you agree:


(click for full-sized version)

Oddly enough, whilst cheshcat was taking this picture, one person thought I was a statue in the exhibit! He was visibly startled when the photo had been shot and I started moving and talking -- go figure!

Anyway, a very happy anniversary was had by us! Yay for nineteen years... and yay for the next nineteen years, too!

---

[*] Many thanks to my sweet miss_amaranth for looking in on our darling kitties whilst we were away. And even more thanks for the lovely card and flowers, set up to make for a wonderful surprise when we got home!

Bought a new bicycle today. Somebody has already tried to steal it.

Seriously!

My first bicycle in the UK was a Falcon Adventurer, purchased six years ago. It served me well for a long time, both for getting around Oxford and also, travelling into the back of the Oxford Tube, in London.

Eventually, however, I began to ride it less and less frequently. It was not a particularly expensive bike to begin with (£180 new in 2007), and I will admit that I did not maintain it as well as I might have done. Even so, I continued to ride it until last Summer, when I offered it to my darling miss_amaranth, who had just moved to Oxford. She had no bicycle, and so it seemed to make sense to pass it on to her -- she could fix it up (if she chose) for less than it would cost to buy a new bike... and I could get a new cycle for my own use.

Well, for a long time, the old bike just sat, and neither of us rode. I'm not sure I cycled at all in Summer 2012, and miss_amaranth did not collect the cycle from my storage shed until about two months ago. Since then, I am pleased to see that she has been getting good use out of it.

I have been using the so-called "Boris bikes" occasionally to get around London -- these are short-term hired cycles available from automatic stations around the city centre. They are extremely useful... when they work properly. Unfortunately, the system that manages them still has a lot of bugs to be sorted. In my experience, less than half the time that I need a Boris bike, I am able to actually get a Boris bike. Not good.

The solution, of course, was simple. Buy another bicycle for my own use. Besides making the commuting and the travel about town easier, having a new bike will also help me train for the cycling portion of the triathlon (40km). So "buy another bicycle" is precisely what I did today. I went for something mid-range, spending £249 on a new 2011 model Ridgeback Comet. Thus far, it seems like a very nice ride!

After purchasing it this morning, I cycled directly to the bus stop and took the bike into London. On my way home this evening, an accident on the motorway caused a very long (~2 hour) delay in getting a coach home.[*] Whilst waiting, I lay my new bike against a nearby post. Unlocked, of course, as I was standing two or three feet away and looking in its direction.

Imagine my surprise, then, when somebody walked over to my bike and picked it up!

Being right there and having it in my line of sight, I acted quickly to intercept the guy, of course! He made some lame excuse about how it had been there a long time and he thought it was an abandoned cycle, so he was going to bring it to the police station. Um, yeah, right. And there's a bridge I would like to sell you, too. "A long time"? I had been standing at that particular bus stop for twenty minutes.

Never actually seen a bike thief in action before. Go figure.

All is well, and I still have my lovely new cycle. I just wish that I had some better response than merely stopping him with my intervention. I feel like there was something else that I should have done... though, truth be told, even now I am not quite sure what that "something else" would be. Any thoughts or suggestions, gentle readers?

---

[*] Actually, the new bicycle came in rather handy in this situation, as the few coaches that made it around the accident were filled to capacity. Using the bicycle, I moved to an earlier bus stop on the route... and then an even earlier one! Thus, I was able to finally catch a coach that had not yet filled up. Helpful!

In some sense, I suppose that I properly started my triathlon training tonight. I mean, I've been running and swimming regularly -- about three times per week for each -- for nearly eleven months now. In that time, I have occasionally done both workouts on the same day; however, tonight was the first time that I swam and ran, back-to-back.[*]

Now that I am able to reliably run 10K -- the running distance in the Olympic triathlon -- I have two steps remaining before signing up for an event. One is getting some cycle training in; thus far, I have only focused on the swimming and running. The other is linking the three activities. After all, I can regularly run 10K now... but that's not the same as running 10K after swimming 1500 meters and cycling 40 km!

So tonight was the first step towards linking things up. I went to the pool and swam for an hour, covering 2500 meters (or 100 lengths). Then I came directly home and went out to run for an hour, covering about 10K. I could definitely feel a difference in running immediately after a swim -- tonight's run was the slowest 10K that I have managed to date! My speed was down about 8% from my best-ever hour-long run.

Even so, it feels good to have done the two back-to-back. I should probably start making a regular habit of this -- possibly on Sunday evenings, when the pool closes early.

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[*] Okay, technically the two workouts were not actually "back-to-back". After getting out of the pool, I had a quick rinse-off shower, changed into street clothing, drove home, hung my swimming gear, had a drink, changed into my running gear, and stretched out before starting tonight's run. Adding that all up, there was actually a 40 minute gap between getting out of the pool and starting the run. Even so, nothing happened in that gap except for finishing up one workout and preparing for another -- it's not like I went off to check my e-mail or have dinner in-between the two.