on the flight over..

as documented yesterday, it was a pretty sedentary time in France. didn't get much exercise done. apart from the three small runs and some swimming in the pool, which hardly counts. did, however, manage to get an extremely large amount of eating done. and how.. the French do food so well, with the fantastic bread, croissants, cakes, tarts.. then there's the sausage and the cheese.. and what goes so well with all that? of course, a great bottle of wine. i wouldn't say we overindulged but we certainly didn't hold back. and our waistlines have suffered. Polly won't even contemplate going near the scales. i didn't think to do it before i left, but i suspect it's not good news at all.

i now have four weeks exactly to train for and lose weight for the 10k in Orpington. it's the only one booked for the whole of the summer, and the way things are shaping up - weekends getting taken up with visits here and there - there doesn't look like there's going to be many opportunities to arrange more. that's not great - and i should have got it all sorted much sooner. that's life..

had brought my gear to run while i'm here for the few days.. but on the walk to the station this morning i realized that my shorts were left on the drier unpacked.. planned then to buy some at Heathrow, but the sports store i remembered being in the duty-free wasn't there any more. maybe i'm just thinking of another airport.. anyway, going to chance my arm and get some either at SFO or on the way to the hotel in Palo Alto. i remember there being a Nike store in the shopping complex on the edge of Stanford campus, so that may be my destination - hopefully before it shuts. if i can get some, at least i'll be able to get out before the conference starts tomorrow morning. would be good to sit there all day (plus evening event) knowing i'd got some miles under my belt - suitably taxed for the day.

[note from the hotel: shorts found and bought.. disaster averted.. now some Gordon Biersch beer to fuel that run..]