So it's the first day of October and I have decided to change my work schedule for a while. I am not working on Mondays at the moment. So this morning I could go for a run nice and early, in fact I went out just before 7 am. It was cool and sunny this morning and on the way back home I bumped into my friend Utpal so I turned around and went out with him for a few extra miles. I am still experiencing some tightness in my hamstrings and my left hip, but I think that will work itself out.

My nephew will be happy because his team West Brom have moved into second place in the Championship, a position Wolves held briefly, not so long ago, before they started slipping down the league. It is still early in the season.I did go out running this morning and ran for about 1 1/2 hours. For those runners out there, Haille Gebrselassie set a new world record in the marathon of 2:04:26 in Berlin. It's amazing they can run so fast over 26.2 miles ( 42km ). It seems that it is also Sufi poet Rumi's 800th birthday today.

I still don't feel 100% after my bout with the stomach bug during the week, so I decided not to run the 2 mile race this morning. I did go out for a run however and ended up running between 3 and 4 miles. I have some lower back pain which I am not sure is a result of my cold and stomach bug, but it is not stopping me running at the moment. I have a month to get myself together before I go to Chicago for the 50k and we will see what I do about the 6 hour in 2 weeks time. My friend Ray from South Carolina is running in a 24 hour race this weekend in North Carolina, I will go with him to the 6 hour if he comes up.

It's been a bit of a strange week, started off with me feeling sick thinking my clod had returned. Then having some kind of stomach bug, which has not completely gone but is feeling much better. I don't think I mentioned it but my agent informed me earlier in the month that I had been passed by the latest set of publishers, that's 21 to date. So it's time to have a crack at the next 10. A friend of mine who is an architect/ designer, has just left for Paris to look at a project he may be working on. He asked me to look after his Bonsai while he's away.

I had one of those strange days. I finally started to feel OK and during the morning my appetite was good and no stomach problems. Then I had a nice salad for lunch, about 20 minutes after returning to work I started to get stomach pains and a feeling like I was going to throw up.I decided to leave work 1 hour early, on the walk home I started to feel a little better. I slept for about 90 minutes and when I got up everything seemed so much better. I was even inspired to go out and run a few miles. My legs felt a little heavy while I was running, but later they felt fine,maybe this time I have turned the corner.

The fact that I still have my stomach problem after 3 days tells me that it is not something I ate. Plus there are a few guys with the same problem.I decided to employ an old eastern european remedy and during the course of the day, I sipped hot water and as I am writing this post I can say I am feeling much better, but I don't really have an appetite.

Still wasn't feeling so great today, did go to work and got through that OK. My appetite is kind of strange at the moment, but there seems to be a positive change this evening and I am hoping things will improve through the week. My nephew will not be happy that West Brom lost to Cardiff in the league Cup 4-2.

I had already decided to take the day off today, but when I woke up I wasn't feeling too good.I had an upset stomach and a bit of an headache. So maybe my cold has come back. It was such a nice morning that I thought I would go for a run and maybe it would clear my head a little. One of my friends who also had a cold a couple of weeks ago said he also felt like his had come back. I got a call late morning from a friend in Chicago saying that it was OK to stay there in October when I go for the race, so I'm all set.Though I am running in the 50k I know at least 2 people who will be running in the 50 mile race, so that will be nice.

last night my right ankle became very weak, it wouldn't bare any weight and was very pianful when I tried to walk. I think this was a reaction to my 2 mile race earlier in the day. Experience has taught me that the problem is actually in the calf muscle, so I worked on this. The Hamstring on that leg also felt tight. Anyway this morning it was still there but not quite as bad and it got better as I walked around which I could do. I decided to run as I usually do on Sunday's and ended up running easy for 2 hours with my friend Utpal. There is still some soreness but I think it will be OK. I have a couple of long races coming up and need to do some serious training in the next few weeks.

I went in on the subway with Sadhak for his gig last night. The Yippie Museum Cafe where he was playing was pretty small, but had a nice atmosphere. There was a band on first and then Sadhak played about 45 minutes, mostly his own songs though he did do Eve of destruction by Barry McGuire and ended with a Woody Guthrie song. The audience was small but they seemed to like him, it was a good night out and I was home by 11. This morning I had a better than expected 2 mile race. I have found a group of runners that run the pace I want to run at, so run with them and hang on at the end. My first mile was 7:24, second mile 7:17, for a finishing time of 14:41 again my best this year. I have signed up for a 50K race in Chicago in October, so now I have 5 weeks to prepare.

One of my colleagues at work is also a singer/ song writer and is performing at a club in the city tonight. So some of us are going in to show our support. It's funny I go about a year and a half without going in to the city and now I'm going in twice in 8 days. I signed up to run a 50 K race in Chicago today, the race is by the Lakefront on the last Saturday in October. I may run in a 6 hour race 2 weeks before out on Long Island, for me the 2 races should just about be the same.

One of my colleagues at work had his bike stolen, he is the second on in 2 months. This is one of the harsh realities of living in New York. He locked it while he went into a restaurant and when he came back 5 minutes later it was gone. I ran for the second time this week in the new shoes I got on Monday, I am beginning to like them and will be happy to see how they hold up and if I will use them in a 6 hour race coming up next month.

This morning I ate 1 1/2 lbs of grapes ( red seedless ) and then had a large salad at lunch. My cold is feeling a lot better. Last night I was a bit spacey and while I was writing something I kept spelling one word incorrectly, I did it 3 times and thought it was OK, until someone pointed out what I had done. Now the Champions League report; Ranger, Man U and Arsenal all won there their match day 1 games, so of the 6 British teams only Celtic lost their first game an this years competition.

I had a huge headache for most of the morning, obviously the result of my coldm it also included a bit of a tickley dry throat. It did seem to get a little better as the day went on. When I got home though I felt really tired so I took a nap.The weather is getting warmer as the days go on his week and I hope that will help my cold. Champions League started today Chelsea and Liverpool both drew and Celtic 2-0 to Shaktar Donetsk.

My friend Utpal had to go to Home Depot to get some garden supplies this afternoon, I went with him and he dropped me of at Sports Authority, which is virtually next door. I found a running shoe I liked at a good price, but they didn't have my size, which is 10 US, 44 Euro. Well I have learned a trick a women's 11 is 43.5 euro and fits fine, it's also big for women so they don't sell so many. The regular price is $65, but they were marked $49.99. When I went to pay for them they had a register price of $39.97, can I shop or what.

It got cold last night down to about 50 F ( 9 C ). For some reason I had a bit of congestion in my head. Ran nice and easy with Utpal for about 6 miles, we stopped for hot chocolate and a muffin on the way back. I've had my windows open all summer with the screens in, it's time to start closing them at night, or put an extra blanket on the bed.I forgot to mention yesterday that Arsenal have gone to the top of the Premiership by 2 points, it's early in the season yet.

This is the Terry Fox track where I ran the 24 hour race last week. This week I once again ran a good 2 mile time, my second best of the year 14:46, my splits were 7:27 and 7:19. So once again I am showing that the races are making me stronger. Basically I am just enjoying myself and getting into race shape, or so it seems.

My hi speed internet service went out this afternoon, so i took a nap and when I came around it was back. So Adele didn't play last night, I don't know why, I saw her there. I had the veggie pie with salad and a root beer at the Australian tuck shop and it was delicious, it only cost me $5. It was only a 10 minute walk to the Bowery Ballroom from there.

I am making one of my rare visits into the city tonight. A friend of mine is going to a club called the Stone and I am going to the Bowery Ballroom to see Adele. He suggested that we go in early so that we can have dinner at the Australian Tuck shop which I am told is very good. OK we will see!

Even though I felt good at work I was really tired when I got home, so I took a long nap. I was trying to follow the England v Russia soccer game but missed the last 20 minutes when the score was 2-0, it ended up 3-0 and England moved up to second in their group. The 24 hour race probably caught up with me and that is why I was so tired. I feel a lot better now.