The Three Tenners Episode 1

This a running account of the formation of a new hiking/trekking/camping group called the Three Tenners - otherwise three brothers myself, Robert and Michael.

As brothers we have always had an excellent bond and for years we have each taken our families on an annual summer camping and body boarding holiday together down at Sennen/St Buryan.

A few years ago now Rob was very seriously ill and he has made a fantastic recovery. Our children have got older too - so we thought it was time we did some special brotherly bonding!

Our first outing was a weekend in Brecon where we camped, walked up the highest point in the Brecon Beacons - Pen-y-Fan and cycled the Monmouth & Brecon Canal from Brecon to Crickhowell and back.

It was a memorable weekend.

Putting it in the "Early Morning Bank"

Exercise can be pleasurable but usually the process is hard. For me at least the pleasure - or perhaps satisfaction comes after the exercise when you have that lovely feeling - tiredness and smugness - ha!

Smugness - that is a bit harsh on myself. What I mean is I am pleased with myself. Why? Don't you find when there is the prospect of hard individual exercise sessions ( excluding competitive games ) there is an argument going on in your head. You are laying in bed, or sitting in the armchair or just got home from work - you know you should go for a run. Your head is saying - I don't really feel like it. I did a session not long ago. I shouldn't be so hard on myself. Have a good dinner and relax etc etc. But your self conscious is also saying -you know it will be beneficial to go for a run. You know you will feel better after it. You know if you don't go you will feel you have cheated yourself - let yourself down.

There is only one answer - you have got to go!

Personally I like to exercise early in the morning. It is like putting money in the bank. If you end up being weak willed for the rest of the day - it is not a disaster - you are drawing on what you put in earlier. You are not overdrawn - ha! My experience is if you have been indulgent during the day it becomes very hard to put something in the exercise bank later! Definitely the less you do the less you feel like doing.

One final thought. The easiest way to exercise and certainly the most enjoyable is playing competitive games because you exercise without knowing it. You don't think about exercise in the middle of a squash match - you do going for a run or doing a gym session. (as an aside I cannot understand the popularity of using the gym - not a particularly healthy environment with all that sweat and of course vanity in the air!)

Strawberry plants (my little Tamagotchi's)

I had a lovely couple of couple of hours up on my allotment yesterday. Much needed rain had really softend the soil but it was still friable and warm. There was a strong warm wind too - but some shelter and otherwise very quiet.

My Tamagotchi's were looking a bit sad and it was the right time to give them the little attention these faithful little characters need from time to time. I have a bed of them - 3/4's full. Originally I paid 50p for a box of them as a give away at the end of a local fare. This must be 3 years ago now. I quickly planted them in some ground I had prepared on my new (at that time) allotment.

Every summer since they have produced some great strawberries - and not only that - they produce runners which mean at the end of every season you get some extra plants. In due course my 3/4 full patch will be full.

I think my strawberries are my favourites. They are enthusiastic and non complaining. They hold their ground against invasive weeds. They are hardy and come again in the spring without prompting. They don't need much looking after. Yesterday I spent time down on my knees clearing out the weeds and debris - but it was easy going.  It is very satisfying to see what has been accomplished at the end of the session. Individual little faces are defined again - the patch looks tidy. Affection is borne out of them having recently produced a crop of spectacular red dynamic fruit which comes in all sizes over a relatively short period. Picking them is great fun because they are brilliant at hiding away their red treasures. I go through the patch. Pick the ripe ones. Look again from another angle - and there are some more! Friends and family think you must be a great gardener to produce such a luxuriant crop - but actually they are the easiest to grow. Faithful little friends who will reward a little effort by coming again next year around the same time.

PS although you can now buy strawberries in the supermarket relatively cheaply all year round - they are definitely not the same or anything like as good. Mine are seasonal of course (and all the better for that ) and totally organic and natural - nurtured on hand placed horse manure and comfry liquid. No wonder they taste so good!

#Facebook - should we resist it?

Facebook is a modern phenomenon and of course used by millions - billions of people. Clearly it is an attractive social tool and brings pleasure and happiness to many. It is a positive thing in their lives. But like many others I feel uneasy about it because there are possible down sides too.

I find myself in a simple dilemma. Should I join the flow or not. Do the benefits outweigh the negatives. Am I happy to participate in the knowledge that the more that do the stronger the Facebook culture will become. Clearly Facebook is an easy and effective way to stay in contact, to see what friends and family are up to - to take a positive interest in other peoples lives. To be proactive and supportive.To be engaged. But - is there not a case to argue that Facebook is becoming too significant - too pervasive - too significant in peoples lives to be healthy. Isn't Facebook almost becoming a lifestyle? Is it fundamentally shallow? Will I be happy for instance that my young grandchildren and other peoples grandchildren are likely to find their way to it sooner rather than later.To date I have resisted it - but not without a little hypocrisy!

So why the hypocrisy? Well the brutal truth - we are all susceptible to lets say a natural curiosity (some might see it in more negative terms - an interest in gossip.) It is natural too and not a bad thing - that we want to communicate good news - to show our holiday snaps or enjoyable occasion.This seems to be the Facebook draw and hard to resist.

However clearer headed thoughts - more significant reasons why society collectively and individually should consider more seriously the down side of Facebook (extracted from Wiki).

Envy

Facebook has been criticized for making people envious and unhappy due to the constant exposure to positive yet unrepresentative highlights of their peers. Such highlights include, but are not limited to, wall posts, videos, and photos that depict or reference such positive or otherwise outstanding activities, experiences, and facts. This effect is caused mainly by the fact that most users of Facebook usually only display the positive aspects of their lives while excluding the negative, Sites such as AddictionInfo.org state that this kind of envy has profound effects on other aspects of life and can lead to severe depression, self-loathing, rage and hatred, resentment, feelings of inferiority and insecurity, pessimism, suicidal tendencies and desires, social isolation, and other issues that can prove very serious. This condition has often been called "Facebook Envy" or "Facebook Depression" by the media.

A joint study conducted by two German universities demonstrated Facebook envy and found that as many as one out of three people actually feel worse and less satisfied with their lives after visiting the site. Vacation photos were found to be the most common source of feelings of resentment and jealousy. After that, social interaction was the second biggest cause of envy, as Facebook users compare the number of birthday greetings, likes, and comments to those of their friends. Visitors who contributed the least tended to feel the worst. "According to our findings, passive following triggers invidious emotions, with users mainly envying happiness of others, the way others spend their vacations; and socialize," the study states.

A 2013 study found that the more people used Facebook, the worse they felt afterwards.

Stress

Research performed by psychologists from Edinburgh Napier University indicated that Facebook adds stress to users' lives. Causes of stress included fear of missing important social information, fear of offending contacts, discomfort or guilt from rejecting user requests or deleting unwanted contacts or being unfriended or blocked by Facebook friends or other users, the displeasure of having friend requests rejected or ignored, the pressure to be entertaining, criticism or intimidation from other Facebook users, and having to use appropriate etiquette for different types of friends. Many people who started using Facebook for positive purposes or with positive expectations have found that the website has negatively impacted their lives.

PS I also add :-

Privacy - this well documented. Data mining, Face tagging, Inability to terminate. Friend of a Friend. Targeted marketing. Employment referencing. Security risk etc etc I think we understand these risks and are not too worried about them - (although perhaps we should be more than we are.)

I shall try in future not to be hypocrite and decide once and for all whether to be a user or not - ha!

Happiness and expectations and Thomas Hardy

I am not going to attempt to write a thesis on happiness even if I felt qualified to do so - which I don't particularly. I mainly feel it is an entirely personal thing - and something you have to work out for yourself. (I shall write about Maslow at another time).

My favourite author is Thomas Hardy. Just a quick aside. I have always loved his books. He writes with so much wisdom and insight when observing and describing human emotion and human weakness. (It started with The Mayor of Casterbridge and developed from there.) I have read  a couple of excellent biographies and he has become one of my few heroes. A wonderful, enigmatic and I guess like everyone else, somewhat flawed human being. Anyway - I was on my way down to the West Country - had some spare time - knew he was born at Higher Bockhampton and buried in near by Stinsford Church near Dorchester (a place that features a lot in his novels) - so I decided to visit. It is a lovely place as expected. Stinsford Church is small and picturesque. There was his headstone. To my amazement I discover we share exactly the same birthday - 2nd June. Yes an amazing coincidence. Some would read more into it perhaps. For me it has made an emotional bond - however illogical - even stronger.

Back to my heading - happiness and expectation. Hardy's novel A Pair Of Blue Eyes. His character Mr Knight said to Elfride " I have thought many times lately that a thin widespread happiness, commencing now, and of a piece with the days of your life, is preferable to an anticipated heap far away in the future and none now."

In simple terms I think many people think they can only be happy when they have this, that or the other - particularly in a materialistic sense. Everything is on hold until they get it. Always looking for the adrenalin rush - or the big event, the big statement, the big status. I am with Knight although of course it is good to have a change of scene - something to get excited by - providing the price is not too high in the context of your ongoing daily life.

Running update

Just finished my first week on the half marathon training programme. It consisted of running on 4 days with the main run of 3 miles today. In fact all my runs have been 3 miles and have improved my time from 29.42 to 27.03. This shows me I can do 9 minute miles. Simple maths 9 x 13.1 miles = 117.9 minutes - so a half marathon in less than two hours is feasible. This is my target as I have stated. I now have to build up the miles without my pace dropping off. This will not be easy and will be a big draw on my time and energy levels. About 6 months ago I put my name down for squash leagues and forgot about it. They have just contacted me - I am in - starting in a fortnight. This is good news because I have really missed authentic squash competition but I know while running will build stamina, it will not help my squash much because it is likely it will blunt any speed I might still have left! So a problem - but one I will have to juggle because I want to do both.

Personal running targets

I am writing this particular blog this morning to assist my own personal motivation. Putting my target to paper - even in public (even if nobody reads it - ha!) seems like a positive thing to do - and a commitment.

In the period leading up to my 60th birthday in June I gave quite a lot of thought about the impending decade have a strong sense of positivity and I have always believed in targets or lets say goals.

Several of my family are into running and it has served as a prompt to me. I have decided to have a go again.

In my early 30's I did quite a few half marathons - my best time was 1hr 29mins in the Harrow half marathon but I have never done a marathon and was reconciled to that. The time commitment in training for a marathon is huge and long distance running left me with dead legs on the squash court and I didn't want that.

However my children have grown up now, squash is not so important and I have the time. Last year I rather fell into doing the Istanbul 15K and staggered around in 1hr 37mins. My training had not been very thorough but I really enjoyed the run. My stamina felt pretty good but my legs started to seize in the last couple of miles. I can plod! One thing that I did notice and is very significant for me is subsequently my knees have felt freer - when one of my biggest concerns was asking my knees to do too much and possibly damaging them.

Anyway I have bitten the bullet and entered the Great West Run in October 14 and the Paris Marathon in April 15. I have shaped it to fit in with several other major undertakings. In June 14 I climbed Kilimanjaro with my brother, in November 14 I have signed up for a 20 day trek to Everest Base Camp via Gokyo Lakes and in May 15 I am attempting the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

Back to the running. Last week I did 4 runs of about 2 miles. I am aware that I should be conscious of my age and particularly that there are some risks involved - so I have tried a gentle introduction even if I consider my general aerobic fitness to be very good for my age. Again my stamina seemed ok but speed was non existent.

This week I have started a 12 week beginners half marathon plan downloaded from the internet as a gift from one of my sons. It requires you run 4 days a week. I have just done the big run for the week - a measured 3 miles. I did it ok - in fact really enjoyed it. My time was 29 mins 23 secs - so 10 minute miles.

So with focus on the Great West Run and Paris Marathon I set myself target times. (I know I could plod around but there would not be too much satisfaction in that). So - they are 2 hours for the half and 4 hours for the marathon. There I have said it. It is down in writing.

My thoughts now are I should be able to do the half marathon distance. Can I do it in an average of 9 minute miles. I have done it at under 7 but that was over 25 years ago and almost two stone lighter. I shall see but I think it is possible especially as I am likely to shed some weight.

So there - I have made a commitment. I am in training. I shall keep myself posted!