The hills first: early this morning I ran up and down bits of Seaford Head, for a hill session, as the sun came up and light spread. It was cold at first, but running uphill warmed me up very quickly. There's something very agreeable about the pattern of interval running on hills, the hard slog up, and the gentle trot down, over and over again. I could not say I could carry on forever, though. It is taxing stuff.
So much for that; far more exciting news is that today a podcast, in which Julia Armstrong talked to me, went live. Julia has recorded eighty-one of these to date, with far more illustrious runners and artists than me, and I urge you to explore the archive. So wide is her choice of subjects that everyone will find something to listen to with interest.
Recording the podcast, on a beautiful afternoon last week, was a pleasure. I felt no nerves, unlike most interviews, when I identify strongly with the little cavalier boy in W F Yeames' When did you last see your father.
Talking to Julia and Andrew (aka @DoctorPod) was easy, even for a diffident conversationalist like me, and I wished we could have gone on all afternoon. From running we strayed to cover sailing, poetry, our relationship with the natural world and more. Do listen.
