The 'It’s A Run Not A Race' Concept

MD’s tired after his plodding yesterday and he’s in his basket long before I even leave the house this morning. L says she would love to have been there herself. She’s bluffing because she’s already been for a loosener down the gym and then tonight she appears to be starting her sportive training. She plans to bike over to her parents’ place on the other side of Derby, where I will pick her up from, after dog training.

One of my work colleagues has entered the Kilomathon. This is fine, good even and I’m not worried about him. Problem is that protégé will now feel compelled to enter and racing him really won’t do me any good.

L bestows on me the wisdom that it’s a run not a race. Run, race... is there a difference? She’ll have to explain that one to me over a beer. I’m sure they’ll be awarding a first place prize, which in my book makes it a race.

I recently got a very odd email from an organisation called Green Squeeze urging me to take my knickers to Long Eaton Town Hall on Thursday 24th September at 7pm and present them to Erewash Borough Council. Actually, there’s nothing odd about Green Squeeze themselves, they are an independent campaign group formed to try to affect the plans for a new housing project on the former Stanton Iron Works site and the new road that will be built to service it.

The road is the main problem and the knickers idea is part of their ‘Pants to the Road’ initiative. Their slogan 'Knickers to the road, it's a pants idea'. It likely that the new road will cut an ugly swathe through the Erewash countryside near Risley, on land that is currently green belt. Not a pleasant thought, as it will permanently destroy a large chunk of the countryside and will most likely make the local traffic problems worse; it will also involve a new junction onto the already gridlocked A52.

There are however three other possible routing for the new access road, two of which are much more acceptable to the local community but predictably these are not ones that appear to be favoured by the council and the developers.



As promised L bikes to Derby but has an argument with her toe clips and spills a pint of blood across the road. I think this is an exaggeration but looking at her knee later, not by much.