Out gigging

Yesterday we all drove to Birmingham to see Rizzle Kicks at a gig. So there was only one possible choice “Roaring 20’s“.

What a brilliant gig. These boys really put on a good high energy show; jumping around the stage like there was no tomorrow. They really got the crowd going and it was a fantastic atmosphere. The kids loved it. Played most of their Roaring 20’s album and a selection from their first. I’m still preferring the first album to the second one but seeing the songs live I’ve started to change my opinion.

The only drawback was it finished at eleven but took another two hours until we got home.

This late night didn’t help with my Sunday run. I had a new purchase in the shape of “The Next Day” by David Bowie.

I bought this on the back of all the publicity it has received. The turning point was his award at the Brits (although he wasn’t there). There aren’t many albums that have such a massive impact on their release as this. Quite amazing how Bowie managed to record this in secrecy.

I was feeling tired when out running but somehow managed a very fast time for 6 miles. No idea where I dug that one out from.

A confusing run

Out running today I struggled choosing my music. I have noticed that I am making quite big inroads into the music on my iPod for running. I still found “Changesbowie” by David Bowie. This is a compliation album of his best tracks until about 1990.

I guess I don’t have to say anything about David Bowie, everyone knows about him. His musical past is very well documented. This isn’t a bad collection of his tracks, although there are a couple of obvious ones missing,  “Boys Keep Swinging” and “Life on Mars”.

This provided a backdrop to a difficult run that didn’t go as expected. I’d planned on about 10 miles and set off at an appropriate pace for me. The first mile was like normal, a bit stiff getting into a rhythm. Then my route took me south wards into a head wind. What I hadn’t realised was I was quite sheltered at this stage. A mile further on and I was head on into the wind and it was strong; strong like when running on the seafront.

The next few miles I felt like death and just seemed totally empty. Approaching 5 miles I seriously considered taking a short cut and heading back home. But I’d turned north now and the wind was behind me; although I was running near trees so didn’t get a fair return on the effort I’d used going into the wind. I hit a downhill section, took a gel pack and found my mojo.

What a turn around, I stuck it out and the last 5 miles felt really good. This was really confusing because normally when a run goes bad it’s towards the end; not at the start with a strong finish. I’ve got 3 weeks until my next half marathon so I hope that’s my bogie run done.