Joy ride

After many days (and nights) thinking and moaning about my lack of capacity to run and raise a decent £50,000 for the College, I decided to go out and do something about it. Nothing dramatic, but something. So, yesterday around 7am I went out for a run along the Thames. It is with great joy that I can report a 10k in about one hour and a half. My route was pretty straightforward: Russell Square, Holborn, Temple Station, running along the Thames up to Westminster, Westminster Abbey, Victoria station, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, British Museum, Goodenough College. The run included a few short stops at Westminster Abbey to pray, at Victoria to check the trains, in Leicester Square because I lost my way and around the British Museum to breath a bit. This was my first time running around London, so when I left the College I felt as if I was doing the Virgin Marathon then and there. If the final thing is nearly as exciting as this one, let it come!

After the run, I had a podiatry appointment to check my feet. The meeting was very instructive at different levels. Firstly, I realised that my English is not nearly as good as I thought. To my dismay I forgot the name of the mortal disease that brought me to the doctor and after going around in circles for about five minutes we discovered what I was suffering from. It was…blisters! Yes, in an era when people have all sorts of modern conditions with funky names, I suffer from the most banal thing! Embarrassing! This brings me to my second monumental discovery that is related to treatment. Apparently the most efficient treatment against my blisters is…to stop running. The doctor intelligently pointed out that if I want to get rid of any disease I should cut the underlying cause; in this case I had blisters because I ran, so if I cut running, my blisters would be gone. This straightforward, positivist reasoning left me mute for a few seconds. After I recovered I suggested more realistic approaches like referring me to another doctor for a second opinion or meeting again in a few weeks after I buy new running socks. He agreed to both maybe because I explained enthusiastically that I ran for charity and that the charity was Goodenough College. Who knows, next time when I see him, he might even donate some money to support the cause…