Back from Kenya

What a place...

I will shortly try to post some of the (hundreds of) photos.

- The Douros

Done! Thank you!

I didn't exactly break any Olympic records, but I did manage to finish my first marathon, at 5:20. It was a very good day, despite starting with really bad weather. Very well organised, excellent crowd support, and it did finish with a sunshine strong enough to give me a bit of sun tan!

The fundraising target was exceeded beyond expectations, £704.50 against an initial target of £500 - and a massive big THANK YOU to each and every one of you who contributed. Then I also discovered that RBS has a fund matching policy, so there's another £500 on its way to be added to the heap. I can't even begin to explain how much of a difference your contributions are making.

It is now three weeks since the marathon, and I have been very lazy - I am itching to get running again, there is another one coming up, in Rome this March.

- The Douros

Ready for the Marathon!

Yesterday morning I had my last training session. Wet, windy and wonderful.

From now on it's carb loading, sleeping well, and staying well hydrated until Sunday.

And the funding target has been well exceeded, which is nice (still open to donations, of course).

All being well, the next posting here will be my finishing time for the real thing!

- The Douros

Of course it hurts like hell, and of course if feels great!

It was quite a lot more hilly than I expected, and the time I did (2:17) was not exactly brilliant, but I am glad I finished it. Now I am ready for Athens. Bring it on!

- The Douros

Getting closer...

Tomorrow I will be running the Worksop Half Marathon. I am so ready I can't wait. And I am pretty confident I will manage it. It will be the longest distance I have ever ran, and a general rehearsal for the full Marathon in Athens on the 8th of November.

Running is highly addictive. Do start.

- The Douros

Twelve Years - Today.

Hong Kong is good...

... I mean, seriously. Perhaps not the kind of place where I would like to live permanently, but good enough to want to spend a couple weeks there, every now and then. It's messy, busy, chaotic, full of stuff to see and do.

Now back home. And preparing for Kenya. Via Athens.

- The Douros

Organic Food

I want to download the rigged FSA report on organic food, make a printout on nice, high quality organic paper, and wipe my ass on it.

Well, they have trampled over every single basic principle of the scientific process in order to produce the misleading "no better for you verdict". They only looked at the nutrients (carbs, protein, fat, vitamins), but when you are assessing the health impact of any piece of food, you have to take into account ALL the ingredients it contains. That includes the pesticides and preservatives and all the other chemical shit that makes the actual difference between non-organic and organic food.

In other words, the study is at best fundamentally flawed and useless, and at worst a deliberate attempt to mislead public opinion.

- The Douros

Google Chrome OS

This is really big news.

It is going to be open source, which suggests that it's probably Linux with a Chrome GUI on top of it. Either way, it would rock Microsoft's boat.

Speaking of which, the bundling of OS+browser seems to ring a bell. I wonder if there is another massive EU court case coming up.

- The Douros

It's all back up...

Hiccups with the server makeover, looks like it.

Anyway, all up and running again, brand new look (which I don't really like very much, but there you go), so if you want to try again, it's http://www.justgiving.com/idouros.

Thanks,
- The Douros