Blimey. "Bodyguard" eh? Did anyone else remember to breathe during the first 20mins? And David/Dave is a bit of a rum bugger. And what's with the girl with the black Range Rover? It all looks a bit "obvious" but it won't be, will it? Jez Mercurio is smarter than that....
Hang on.
Wrong forum.
This is running, right? Okay.
Yesterday's rain has cleared for a bit, so I'm off to shake my booty at W8's 28 minutes. (I've missed out W7 since it's the same as W6R3. Please don't try that at home 
)
Brisk walk up to my start point. Couple of (dynamic) stretches. Arms up over my head so I get my hip and pelvis alignment set right, lean forward (not from my waist, doh) and fall into my run. (When you're doing it right, running feels like falling forward.)
Off we go. "In My Time of Dying" from Physical Graffiti. 11 minutes of "Pull the body from the muddy swamp" blues, with a killer central section with a fantastic half-riff. Lads on incredible form. Absolute respect for the source material but they do magic with it. Blues Rock doesn't get better than this.
"Meet me, Jesus, meet me
Ooh, meet me in the middle of the air
If my wings should fail me, Lord
Please meet me with another pair."
No-one around so I can enjoy this and sing along and play the odd bit of air guitar. Toxic 5 comes and goes. All okay so far. No huskies today and no pick ups. So far my wings ain't failing me either. No sir.
"Come on, come on, I can hear the angels singing
Oh, here they come, here they come, here they come"
I nail that first hill. Drop into "first gear". Lean into the hill from my ankles ("Don't bend from the waist you clot..."), use my arms to pump and accelerate, smaller quicker steps. Vroom. I can do hills again now. Cadence well over 160 up that. Nice work Stephen.
First flat I relax a bit. Slightly looser and rangier strides. Keep my cadence up. Breathing all fine. Up to the Green Gate at the end and a quick left to the Big Tree. Bruce and "Death to My Hometown". A bit of righteous anger and a good singalong too.
Slow it down a bit. Get my feet to match my breathing. All good so far.
"Pink Cadillac". It didn't make an official studio release, but a Springsteen cars/girls classic 12-bar. There are hidden marvels in his back catalogue. Nice little rocker. Takes me through a flat and then I drop down into first again up the next hill. I'm bloody nailing these hills today. Woof! Keep that cadence up, lean in, patter, patter patter. Running as falling. Off we go.
"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" from LZ1. What sounds like semi-flamenco guitar into what you think is the big riff and then there's the slow build up to the real deal. Real "bang your head against that tree" stuff. But I control my headbanging. A bit anyway. Get my knees up. "Don't lead with your feet. Lead with your knees." Make sure my foot strike is under my hips, not out in front. Running as cycling, that's the ticket. I'm not getting much push off from my back foot yet. That's something to focus on another day. But I tighten my core and "run tall" and I'm away.
Nearly 24mins done now. Feels good. A Bit of tightness in my hip, but stretching my hip flexor will sort that out later. No knee niggles. Calves know they've been up and down a hill or two tho.
Nine Inch Nails "Closer". Trent Reznor doing his angry self-flagellating thing, but then turns the track into a dance floor groove. Great stuff. Keep the lyrics away from children and those of a sensitive disposition though. (Best NIN track? "Hurt" obvs. Check out Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" on American IV. Breathtaking. And you get his version of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" as a bonus.)
Last few minutes. Down a slope then left and up that last incline. Lean in. Fast feet. Patter, patter, patter. Nailing this.
28mins. Bang. On the nail. Job done.
I blow my nose, have a wee, swagger a bit. Stretch my hip.
So. 28 mins done. Good and sweaty but my HR didn't get out of control. Only 3.7K of running, but that's just fine. Rock on, tiger. Felt good out there.
Still got my final 30mins on Weds. I'll see how that goes in terms of distance and notch it up gradually from there. Keep it steady and under control. Watch my form. Lots of stretching and lot and lots of bridges. Loads of stuff I'm still epically rubbish at. Loads to learn.
Running as falling. Running as cycling. Running's just brilliant.
“If one could run without getting tired, I don’t think one would often want to do anything else.” I'm not sure that C.S. Lewis was much of a runner tbh, but his heart was in the right place.
Have fun running about out there chaps xx
W8 R1 my worst run ever
W8 R1 on grass: horrible, W8 R2 on the road: great!
Back up to 20 mins...again!
W8 R3
W8 postponed 
