Running tip #umpteen: don't get obsessive about it, or anything else. Up there is my troublesome tendon today. Hurts more now when running, but less when not.  Might keep working, might not.  Only running will tell, the physio goes on. But fortunately I'm not an addictive chap, and amid the poignancy, perspective wins. Picked up on Teenage Riot by Sonic Youth again Sat. morning, the slow beginning that feels like life just began. It makes most things seem possible (however unlikely). Also tried Nothing's Impossible by Depeche Mode, an old favourite. But my goodness it's one hell of a miserable-sounding ode to potential.

Yesterday the left Achilles got a big workout around London. But the meaningful aspect was seeing Regent's Park, on a grey rainy aft. The wild and deserted sections to the west. The Canada geese who stare you down when you run at them and don't move. The million low white flowers near the lake. All the Muslim ladies exercising quietly in black, near the big mosque.

As a runner now, since last living in this city in '05/6, there's even more dodging of phone-people-in-a-trance, than there is avoiding confident geese and random concrete bollards. After a time away from London, this feels a large change on the street. It sounds old-fogeyish to say so, but it's not. I was a really early adopter of smartphones, they are great, totally unmissable for communications. The addiction feels no better than any other tho, do you think?  It feels .. a little bit phone-y. And the battery life still sucks :-)

Details .. from Hendon to Golders Green yesterday, narrowly escaping a random rage attack (seriously, folks) from an unaccountably shouting loony near the North Circular.  Up to the Hampstead Heath extension, the ponds and the main Heath, fast progress on soft ground. Belsize, Primrose Hill, Regent's Park for circuits, back more-or-less the same way. Forced the pace v. hard up Primrose. Basic fitness, left leg, CV,  asking huge, new questions all the time. I don't know if I can answer them all by July 13th, after such a layoff. But answer them I will, and the walk/run combo feels good again. Come on, Richmond Park.