Autumn Almanack

Another random update to while away a Friday afternoon.I ran the Kielder Marathon in the pouring rain and finished in 5:17:25. Now this is still slow but timewise it was my fourth fastest marathon of the last three years and 6 minutes faster than the last time I ran round the reservoir in 2011. Consequently I was pretty pleased with myself as I sat with a cup of tea and a Vegan flapjack ( baked by the local WI) waiting for my running buddy, Andy to finish in his slowest ever marathon time. I was however put in my place by another running mate Ed who finished in 4:30. Not a record breaking time but Ed is 70.

I only have a 10k in December so Kielder was my last distance run of the year. Another up and down year of running , a poor Spring marathon in Copenhagen, a good 10 mile run around Northumberland in August and return to form Great North Run in September. But it all means that I have not really made much improvement in times or performance. I need to rethink my running goals and strategy for next year.

Outside of running, work remains the same, that is, tedious. Some Friday's I leave the office dreading the return on Monday. it can almost ruin the weekend.And that isn't me. Bills and mortgage prevent me from jacking it all in as well as sheer bloody mindedness. It doesn't help that my boss is useless. And I am 58, not that old but old enough to be most of my colleagues' Dad. That is sometimes hard to deal with. At least I get well paid for it.

Football wise Peterborough seem to be mounting a real promotion push this year, but I am refusing to get involved. I have only been once this season and don't intend to get overexcited this time round. I will see if I can maintain this detached position if we are top of the League come next February.

Music wise it has been a good year so far , Embrace, Suede, Billy Bragg, Sharon Van Etten and St Etienne. I did miss The Wedding Present though as we were away in Norfolk

My son is currently at home after returning from Poland. He has got overexcited at the prospect of a general election and is disappearing back down to London to campaign in Chingford to support the strong local Labour attempt to unseat Ian Duncan Smith. Talking about Universal Credit that benefit continues to bring misery and uncertainty to claimants here 3 years after it was first introduced in Newcastle. Apart from the still lengthy wait for new claimants and the capricious application of sanctions,structurally the benefit is fundamentally flawed. Here's hoping for a Labour Victory in December. although I am not getting overexcited about that either. My daughter remains in New Zealand but is returning in December for a month. It will be only the third time in four years we have physically seen her, although the internet means we are in touch almost daily.

I really don't like this time of year after the clocks have gone back. A brief respite of lighter mornings but soon get up in the dark, go to work in the dark and leave work in the dark, home in the dark. Dark, dark, dark. It's shit.