I got to meet a podcasting star!

Nigel, the host of the Running from the Reaper podcast, was taking a class near Heathrow and agreed to come and meet me for a run from home. What should have been a 20 min drive here was over an hour with an accident on the M25! I'm sure he was tempted to turn around and go back to his hotel. But he finally made it and we took a few snaps of the historic event (for me!) and we were off on a 7 mile run in the Chiltern hills.

It took me a minute to re-sync my recognition - merging the complete stranger at my door with the very familiar voice I know from his podcast. I can't quite define difference between the Nigel I expected versus the reality, but perhaps he laughed more than the meditative thinker I expected. It didn't take long for me to feel very comfortable with the genuine article!

In fading light we padded along soft trails, chatting about our training, web of friends online, Nigel's recovery from surgery, Staffordshire vs Buckinghamshire - the time flew. Over dinner my husband Billy enjoyed talking to a kindred soul, sharing conspiracy theories, and sock preferences as they are both pretty picky about what they put on their feet!

Missi and Zach are in London! We've done the tourist thing, and we meet Nick tonight to do the cool Camden Finsbury Park Islington tour. Missi and I recorded this greeting for our sibs, Linnie and Miller.

It was spitting rain when I rode my bike to the station and took the train to London. Getting out at Marylebone it started to rain and I considered taking the underground to work instead of running, but I'd been listening to QN "Sage goes to the Dentist" on the train ( a great episode) and I was in a mood for rain. Maybe it was the coffee, or the podcast or just the quiet London streets, but I felt unreasonably happy. They were setting up the tents in Hyde Park for the Olympic handoff to the London 2012 games and I somehow felt a part of it running past. The only place I had to wait for a light was at Wellington Arch behind Buckingham Palace, and as the rain poured down two other runners joined me, waiting for the light to change. They also had their earbuds in. We stomped around together for a minute and then shared an incredibly warm grin. Crazy people, out running in the rain at 7am - but loving it! (photo from my office on Victoria Street looking at New Scotland Yard)

RRT and Sunday run August 17 2008

The Runner's round table last night was fun and I think with Dr Monte's addition, it had real substance instead of just chatter. I listened to the whole thing on my long run this morning and although my additions made me cringe, it was interesting all in all. It was a brilliant morning for a run. Nelly and I kept to the trees to stay cool, and the 6 miles was almost over too soon.

Oslo Conference 10-14 August 2008

IGC Conference was huge! And covered a vast breath of geologic topics. I thought my talk went well, but looking a the photo, I should have stood on a box! There were only about 30 people that came to my session, but at least I got a question I could answer. I usually just get to oil and gas industry conferences. This one was more academic but fascinating.

Biogeoscience Climate change Coal geoscience Comparative planetology Construction materials Deep Earth Engineering geology & geotechnics Environmental geochemistry Environmental geology Experimental petrology & mineralogy Exploration geophysics Geoarchaeology Geochronology & isotope geology Geoethics

Geoheritage & society Geomagnetism Geomechanics Geomorphology Geoscience education Geoscience information Geothermal energy Glaciology & glacial geology History of geosciences Hydrogeology Igneous petrology Impact structures Lithosphere Marine geoscience & paleoceanography Metamorphic petrology Mineral deposits

Mineralogy Neotectonics New methods and technologies Paleontology & historical geology Paleoseismology Petroleum geoscience Precambrian geology Quaternary geology Remote sensing Sedimentology Soil science Stratigraphy Tectonics & structural geology Volcanology

Prices were unbelievable. Here's a relatively cheap restaurant menu - burrito for 139 Kroners or 13 pounds or 25 dollars! And a small beer was 60 Kronors (6 pounds, 11 dollars!) Strange fish mixtures were offered for breakfast, but I chickened out and went for yogurt and muesli.

I did manage to get a couple of good runs in and Billy had the good sense to send me out with the garmin satnav we use in the campervan. The Nuvi worked great to help me navigate back to the hotel, and its not much bigger than a mobile phone. I'm sure I would have been lost without it. We explored Oslo the last day and saw the maritime museum and the sturdy Fram ship that Admundsen used for his dog sled trip to the North Pole.

9 Weeks till the Mendip Muddle 6 August 2008

Thanks to Nigel, Nick's trendy fixed gear city bike has a WWH sticker. But he's not had any luck in challenges to his buff climber friends to join us. Once he says he's running with his mother.... oh well.

I've built up my base and only occasionally feel the plantar fasciitis tweek, so now it is time to start on the weekly long runs again.

This weekend Billy and I are off to Olso, where I'm giving a paper at the 33rd International Geological Congress. I've never been to Norway, so it will be an adventure.
I've looked at mapmyrun for some ideas of where to fit in a 5-6 mile run before the conference start. I'll get a better idea of the terrain in GoogleEarth but I've not yet had the time to check it.
Worrying more about what to wear... typical. I should be worrying about my talk!

A new plan for training! 29 July 2008

I've been struggling recently to get lunchtime runs in between meetings. And it has been hot in London the last few weeks. So starting tomorrow, I'm going to dress in my running kit and take my usual train ride at 6:30 am, half an hour to London Marylebone... but this is the new part... I'm going to run to work instead of taking the three tube rides I take normally. I bet I can get there in about the same time! OK, I'll have to add a bit of time to shower and change into work clothes, but it just might solve my run/work.life balance problem.
My "body sculpting for women" is not producing the outstanding results promised by the book of that name, either. Probably the same root cause, I'm just not getting the workouts done. I've noticed a woman the last two nights going home on the train who is not young, but looks fit and one can't help but notice that she has arm muscles. Not the super-obvious, Madonna-like "I workout in the gym 4 hrs a day" kind, but just nice "I take care of my body" ones. So, I'm inspired to keep working at lifting, too.