I have 4 friends who are visiting South America at the moment. 1 is in Colombia,1 in Peru and 2 in Ecuador. The other night I got to look at some photo's from Ecuador of them climbing a mountain.
I read a report today that said this was the first January without snow for 75 years. Of course some will say it's global warming, but I can't help wondering if they said that in 1933 when it also didn't snow in January.
The photo is of a swollen river Penk, from about 3 weeks ago.

Things are slowing down a little at work mainly because I have finally caught up with all the things that needed done, I'm sure that will change, but at least I am under control for my part.
The weather is a little warmer and I had a nice run. When I got home I took a shower and it made me rally mellow, so I put my head down for 5 minutes and 2 hours went by. Oh well I guess I needed the rest.

I started sneezing this morning and in the afternoon I had a runny nose, it kinda felt like I had a winter hay fever. I've never had hay fever but that is what it seemed like to me. At one point I thought maybe it was dust at work but it didn't change on my walk home.
I got home in time to check out the mid week football from England. Wolves won on a last minute goal, but the Albion lost. So I was happy, but my nephew and brother in law will not be.
I went out for a run and there were a few aches and pains which felt better near the end. A little while after I got back I took a 1 hour nap and the sneezing and runny nose had gone, so that's better.

I had a lot of things to do today. Worked for a few hours as I usually do on Mondays. When I got home put my washing in the machine 'cause it's Monday. Put my application in for the 10 day race in the spring so now I'm committed to it. managed to squeeze in a chat with one of my friends in Bosnia. Finally bought a ticket for my trip to the Balkans, only cost me $18 more than my trip to England and about $30 less than last years trip. The only thing I didn't do was file my taxes, but I have time.

It was right around the freezing point this morning when Utpal and I went out for our run. Just like last week we went out to Flushing Meadow and ran the longer route this week, which takes us near to Shea Stadium and the new stadium which you can see in the photo. It has progressed quite a bit from when we saw it in November.
Minutes before I left the house to run, Novak Djokovic became the first Serb to win a Grand slam, when he won the Australian Open in 4 sets.

Woke up this morning with a runny, how it got in my bed I'll never know ha ha. I did have a runny nose but only on the right side for some reason.
It was around 26 F when I went out to run the 2 mile race, it didn't feel too bad and I got a good sweat on anyway. Ran 15:50 this week 14 seconds faster than last and it felt quite good.
4th round of the FA Cup this weekend. Liverpool got a bit of a scare from non league Havant & Waterlooville finally beating them 5-2. Wolves their all Championship tie against Watford 4-1, so of course I was happy.

After 5 months of residence in Queens, New York where it was constructed, the World's Largest Pencil was put on to the back of a flatbed truck and set off across country to St Louis. It was cut into 2 pieces in-order to be able to fit on a standard flatbed. It will be put back together, at the City Museum in St Louis and children will be able to climb all over it's 76 feet length.

When I was 7 years old one of my uncles took me to see Wolverhampton Wanderers ( Wolves ) play Sheffield United.
Wolves won 2-1 if I remember correctly, I've been a fan ever since. A little before my time Wolves had a player named Billy Wright, he also played for England and was a real legend of the game. In the photo is a statue of Billy that the Wolves placed outside their ground.
On the day he died so many fans came to pay their respects that the street in front of the statue was blocked to traffic.

This was something I saw one frosty morning while out running in England. Over the weekend and Monday it was like that here, but no frozen pheasant. The last couple of days have been a bit different, with todays temperature reaching 40 F. For Christmas I got a book by Micheal Paling about his journeys through New Europe, in the airport on my way back to New York last week, I bought Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. I have been alternating between them ever since.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr day here in the US, when we celebrate the birth of the civil rights leader. The weather continues to be cold with temperatures only in the 20's F.
I have been back in New York for a week now and I think I am adjusting. Yesterday was the NFC championship in American Football and the team I have supported for the last 30 years,the New York Giants won 23-20 against the Green Bay Packers. They will now play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl in 2 weeks time. The Patriots are undefeated all season, so it should be a tough one, but then no one expected them to get this far.

This was the overturned car I encountered while out on my Sunday run a couple of weeks ago. There was some black ice on the roads. Here in New York today it was a little different. the temperature was 24 F (-4 C) with a really strong wind making it feel like 9 F (-13 C). I ran with my friend Utpal out to Flushing Meadow and around the lake. We were running into the wind all the way out which made it feel very cold. I think we were both happy when we completed around 9 miles. We are carrying on where we left off in 2007 and I think it will help us a lot in the coming year.

Yes it's my first Saturday morning in New York this year and of course there was a 2 mile race. Considering I am woefully un-race fit and the temperature was hovering around freezing, I did pretty well. My first mile was 8:05, second mile 7:59 giving me a time of 16:04. So I set an easy standard for the start of the year.
The Ginger tea I got on the way home was most welcome,

Yesterday I was experiencing some pain in my left arch and some minor pain in my right heel. I changed the shoes I walk to work in today and didn't notice any pain. It's funny how sometimes the shoes you wear can be just fine and then suddenly there can be a problem.
he temperature got close to 50 F this afternoon, probably the warmest day since I got back, it was nice to run not so dressed up for a change.
After working a half day as I do on Friday's, it was nice to stop by old breakfast place and get a late morning bagel.

I did feel some soreness this morning from my first day back at work. We have apparently started to get busy the last few days, so there is lots of work for me to do.
While I was waiting for my flight on Monday I stopped by the "Costa" coffee shop in Manchester airport and had a hot chocolate, I think I like the hot chocolate from stores in Europe better than in the states. That's just my opinion.
Bumped into Utpal when I went out for my run this afternoon and we caught up a little.

I was in bed just before 7:30 last night after having been up for 20 hours. I slept for about 5 hours then on and off for 4 more.
Stopped in at Dunkin' Donuts on the way to work for a hot chocolate and a muffin. managed to work a full day without any problem. I did feel tired during my run this afternoon though. I had a bit of an headache from the flight and that was still there a little this morning, but it went away during the day and I'm fine now.

Up at 4:30 this morning, my nephew drove me to Manchester Airport in 55 minutes. I had checked in online last night so all I had to do was check my bag at the fast bag drop counter. I had a few hours to kill, which in fact became more when my flight was delayed fro a further hour and twenty minutes. They needed to put a new generator on one of the engines.
When I got to New York there was no sign of the 2 to 4 inches of snow that had been predicted.
I am feeling quite tired and will probably sleep well tonight.

It's my last day in the UK on this trip and yes it's raining. I did manage to get a run in before it started to rain today. There was a very strong headwind on my way back, which kind of reminded me of running in Flushing Meadow.
It's been pretty relaxing, but I think I need to get back to work and work on my fitness and strength for the 10 day race coming up in the spring. Hey I'm always think about my running!

Evidence that we did have a lot of rain this week revealed itself when I went down to the village this morning. The river Penk had burst it's banks, but it's not too bad as there is only flooding on pasture land.
Watched the Edinborough International Cross Country this afternoon. Kenenisa Bekele won the main race. Andy Ritzenhiem the American I saw qualify for the olympic marathon team in Central Park last year did really well, finishing 5th I think.

The news of the day is that Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to summit mount Everest has died at the age of 88. I was born the year he summited.
The rainy weather continues here in Penkridge and I noticed this morning that the river is quite high.
I forgot to mention the other day that Sam Allardyce, the Newcastle United manager has left the club. When I was in high school I played basket ball against him as we were in rival schools when we were growing up.
I also heard that a friend of my sister's and one of the volunteer firemen in the village had a heart attack this morning, he is only 47 years old. It makes you think.

For only the second time in the 4 1/2 weeks I have been here, I felt like I wanted to stay in bed a little longer this morning.
We seem to have reached a period when at least some part of the day includes rain. Since I am in a farming area, this is a good thing as it will definitely help the crops come the spring.
My sister is still recovering from her steroid injections and we are trying to help out as much as possible, which included me going down to the market this morning, to do some shopping.

I had this feeling like I had a bit of a food hangover from all the food I've eaten over the holidays. I don't know if I've gained weight because I haven't weighed myself. I thinks it's mainly the richness of the food.
I had a nice run yesterday, running for about 1 hour. There was a light frost and I saw 2 cars that had left the road and ended up in ditches, 1 backwards and the other upside down.
It was FA Cup weekend and my team, Wolves came back from 1-0 to win 2-1 and will go into the 4th round raw later today.
Fabio Capello, the new England manager, officially started his job today. I think the is a lot of optimism, we will have to see.
My sister has gone to get steroid injections in both her feet, to relieve heel pain she has been suffering for some time.

There was talk of snow today and it seems that there was some on the east side of the country. It was quite cold however with a strong wind that made it feel a lot colder.
Being in the countryside you get to experience nature and while out on my run this afternoon I saw a quite large bird of prey. The bird was some kind of hawk but I couldn't tell you what it was exactly.
For the first time I actually thought about New York and the fact that I will be on my way back there in 10 days time.

I forgot to mention yesterday that between Christmas and New Year I went over to the house, where I spent all the years after 7, growing up. It was a bit strange sleeping in my old room. I spent a few days visiting with some of my family and friends and talking with my old neighbours.
Today I had to take care of a few loose ends with regard to my mother.
I also went out and bought a PJ Harvey CD, which was on my Christmas list but didn't get. I have it now and will probably put it on my MP3 player.
They say there is snow coming, but we will just have to see. It is getting a little colder.

HAPPY NEW YEAR IT'S 2008!!! It was a pretty quiet start with my sister and her husband Ray at home. It is a bit overcast but mild and I went for a run this afternoon. Then my nephew came over and we watched some Premier League Football on TV.