Signs O'The Times

Greetings, one and all. Summer’s been and all but gone and I’ve refrained from bothering you…

…well, most of you, anyway. I posted a bunch of garbage at some point but took it down sharpish. Needs a rethink. Whereas another two posts I’ve started but not yet finished. And neither was strictly running-related, you’ll be glad to hear: OK, one was, but at least it had nothing to do with any run of mine, rather the running community as a whole. The great running community as a whole.

Since you so kindly ask, it’s been a good summer, running-wise. Why, thank you! Just the one race, as I try not to race during the school holidays: leg 4 of the Cotswolds Way Relay Race, which I ran for Portishead R.C.. Yes, I’ve joined a second club I never run with – more about that another time. Since my last post I’ve run 761 miles, compared to the 919 over the same period in 2013. 158 fewer miles: I’m delighted! I ran 666 miles over July and August 2013, which was a lot of fun but ultimately of no constructive value. I’ve kept it down to 506 this year: far, far better. Least so I hope. The next four weeks, with the Bristol Half Marathon on September 21 and Chester Marathon on October 5, will determine the accuracy of that statement. Sub-90’ over 13.1 and sub-3:30’ over 26.2 were two of my goals for 2014, along with getting round The Highland Fling’s 53 miles in However Long It Took. These are my last two shots at both my HM and Mara targets, having fallen short in Bath (1:32’18”) and having fallen down in Manchester (after reaching the 20mi mark in an encouraging 2:25’55”). I feel good about sub-3:30’ Up North, less so about sub-90’ Down The Road. I’m not writing it off: I’m just conscious I need to up my pace on the short(ish) stuff and I’ve got less than a fortnight to do so. We’ll see how things go on the day. Nothing else matters.

In the meantime, I’ve bagged a sub-20’ 5k over the summer. It wasn’t a goal at the start of the year, but soon became one once I began parkrunning regularly… As well as my 19’52” PB run (at Chipping Sodbury), August featured a 20’00”, a 20’03” and a 20’04” (all at Little Stoke – where I still need to clock sub-20’!). Need to step up to make sub-20’ a frequent occurrence, not a one-off. It’s all well and good saying “it’s only a few seconds”, but in this game a few seconds are often our personal mountains between success and failure. Oh, and the last parkrun in July took me 53’. But that’s not too bad, what with all the collapsing due to an epileptic seizure, having the medics check me out and letting me out of the ambulance… decent sprint finish, an’all. I was only running for 20’18” of those fifty-three minutes – I spent the rest lying down!

This post, on the other hand, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with running. But the topic’s time-sensitive, so I can’t really delay writing about it for much longer. See, there’s this referendum taking place…

. . .

Yup: in just over a week’s time our friends north of Adrian’s Wall get to decide whether to break away from The Union or stay put. Seems only fair I express some thoughts on the matter, what with being a Yorkshireman who lives in the South West. So here are two “Signs Of The Times” – or, as the Scots would say, “Signs O’ The Times”.

1. SIGN O’THE TIMES #1: WHY WE NEED LOCAL

Growing up in the North-West of Italy, in 1992, aged 16, I became a card-carrying member of the Lega Nord (the Northern League). On many a weekend day when sensible teenagers were doing going to discos, cinemas or arcades, I would be selling promotional items and talking politics on the seafront, having been out late at party meetings earlier in the week. I once wined and dined with the leader, Umberto Bossi, and duly read all his books. The party has since been in Government and, consequently, picked up many of the bad habits that go with being part of the system you once fought. Plus many of its members took the core message and turned it into xenophobia, both at grass roots level and higher up. Not unsurprisingly, as the opposition to illegal immigration was a vote-winner and other messages misinterpreted. Indeed, some might say I alone naïvely misinterpreted the Lega Nord by taking a placid, democratic view of its values and focusing on its core concept of federalism, of fiscal autonomy on a regional basis. A small-scale devolution if you will, recognising the historical differences of a country that was only born in 1861. To put that into perspective, Sheffield F.C. has been going strong since 1857, whereas Italy has long been an amalgamation of regions with different backgrounds, depending on who’d been ruling them: the French, the Austrians (Up North), the Pope (in’t middle) or the Arabs and the Spanish (Darn Saath). All great regions, with historical differences that make for a great mix: but a mix nonetheless.

This will undoubtedly resonate with the people of Scotland, alongside those of Wales and Northern Ireland. But it will also resonate in Catalunya, in Wallonia and Flanders, in Euskadi (the Basque Country)… regions with a very strong regional identity. Regions with their own language, their own traditions and their own cultural hotpot. I myself have often made it clear that my allegiances go from S11 to Sheffield to South Yorkshire to Yorkshire to The North to England to the UK: our sense of belonging goes from our backyard to our community long before reaching national government. As borders fall and we become part of an international community with formal law-making powers and an informal, but even stronger, influence on our economy, an instinctive need to cling on to what is nearest and dearest to us takes hold. It’s perfectly natural. Can be dangerous if not managed, but there is nothing surprising or untoward about it. We are animals, after all.

2. SIGN O’THE TIMES #2: WHY WE NEED GLOBAL

There is more to globalisation, however, than a fart in New York influencing the value of pension funds in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll…

…there is greater stability. Regardless of what makes the headlines on a daily basis, the overriding trend is one of greater peace and more predictable alliances. We know who our friends are, and who’s in serious danger of dropping off our Christmas card list. As a consequence, why increase the number of countries needing a defence budget? Not least at a time when the rules of warfare have changed dramatically – and it’s not the sort of vessels currently housed in Scottish waters (against Scottish wills, granted) that are going to come into the equation?

As an international community, we’re stronger together. Scots, Basques, Catalans, English, Welsh, French, Germans… for all the rivalries, not least when it comes to chasing branded spheres around grassy pitches, we know we can trust each other. We’re not going to invade each other’s borders. We don’t need to waste millions on defence programs when we can come together to fight off common enemies.

The same argument applies to many areas. Public health, for example: why increase the amount of administrative infrastructures? Education – ditto? And why expose two countries to currency fluctuations even more destabilising than the ones to which the pound is exposed today? Just doesn’t seem worth the hassle, frankly. Sure, let’s extend devolution: viva la dévolucion!

. . .

The two realities outlined above both feed and fend off each other. Feeling increasingly small within this global village, we long for tighter communities. Yet seeing the benefits of working together within this global village, we can see the benefits on offer and often grab them. Hearts and minds… emotions and economics… small streets and significant synergies…

…oh – and don’t go thinking that this trend has failed to touch areas where cries of independence are yet to be raised. Take France, for example: the majority of the Basque people live across the Pyrenees, and the rest of its citizens seem fairly happy with the state of the country’s borderlines. But don’t kid yourself that all is rosy in Marianne’s garden: it just means that the local/global dichotomy is revealing itself differently, namely in the Front National’s success. Only this week this neo-fascist party, that has done so well recently in repositioning itself towards the centreground (in the mind of the electorate, anyway), topped the opinion polls. Greece’s Golden Dawn also has a tendency of making the headlines for what I for one am happy to call the wrong reasons; and here in the UK, in areas where people are happy enough to fly the Union Jack rather than the Saltire or the Red Dragon, many are equally happy enough to vote UKIP: indeed, 27.5% of the voters did so in May’s European Elections. Just protest votes? Well, let me tell you: most parties whose results have been labelled as such in recent years have consolidated their success by claiming the fertile centre ground. Dismiss at your peril.

A Scottish runner friend, a very vocal supporter of the ‘Yes’ (as in “Aye, we wannae beggar off”) campaign, asked me a very simple question on that there Twitter: “Name one country that is regretting independence”. My response was Ukraine, although that was just because of the fact that it’s been illegally occupied through the use of military force at the time. Which, of course, didn’t fit on my tweet.

And sure, recent years have seen many new countries emerge from the rubble of the fall of the Soviet Union and its satellite states. This has often followed bloody conflicts, some including the worst genocides known to man. And the new states have a sheer physical size that dwarfs that of Scotland: you could fit 7.66 Scotlands into one Ukraine if you were that way inclined, one for each of the Ukraine’s bordering countries with two thirds of a Scotland left over. That’s six more countries with which Scotland would ever border, unless there are plans afoot in Northumberland that I’m not aware of. And England wouldn’t bother invading Scotland again, right?

So absolutely, I understand why Scottish hearts want independence. And I have no qualms about their right to make that decision. Equally, however, I believe their minds should rule on this one. Both are reasons why, even after my Lega Nord membership has long lapsed, I remain a firm believer in federalism and devolved fiscal powers rather than the dissolution of existing sovereign states. I believe in local people making local rules, absolutely. But Government’s big enough as it is without increasing the size of the bureaucratic machine at the potential expense of services that directly benefit its citizens. Don’t tha think?

My overriding concern over next week’s referendum is the same as it was a few months back. Which, in itself, is a concern…

…I just don’t feel the details of how an independent Scotland would function on matters such as currency, health and defence have been thought through. If they have, nobody’s told us darn’ere. It’s not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing over a plan: it’s the apparent lack of any thorough plan that baffles me. I’m a long-distance runner: I like plans! Training plans, pacing plans… Granted, I often deviate from them, sometimes recklessly, but at least I have something to deviate from! Just seems to me as if I would have been expected to provide greater details when looking for twenty-thousand lire off my Dad aged 8 than the Yes campaign has put forward.

So – that’s my overriding concern. Actually… no, forget that…

…my over-riding concern is that Sassenachs still be allowed to run Ultras in Scotland!

There aren’t many better places for ultrarunning. If there are, again, nobody’s told me. I love the Peak District, as you’d expect. But even that was trumped by the Highlands at this year’s Fling. Hope to make two trips up to Milngavie And Beyond in 2015 – whatever our beloved friends decide next week!

And if you do go your own way… at least use it as an excuse to play a little Springsteen. I was there for this one – and still it sends shivers down my spine!

Emotions do that. They mess with your mind.

Right… that’s me done on history-defining moments… now, if you don’t mind, I’ll go back to worrying about what speedwork session to do tomorrow to advance my chances of sub-90’ in Bristol, about my nutrition plans on the day, about how to then manage the following fortnight ahead of Chester…

…between you and me, Bristol is far more daunting than Chester. No room for error: thirteen miles at 6’45” (leaving 7”/mi to spare), it’s that straightforward. And only 13.1mi off which to shave the 139 seconds by which I was out in March. I royally messed up last year, not least with the fish and chips the night before! I set off at sub-90’ pace, but it didn’t last long…

…besides, Chester doubles up as a social gathering with The Twitter Gang – although the number of people I know at Bristol HM increases every year! Hope to see Tim this year: would be the first time since he moved out to Oz! More importantly, in Chester I’ll ‘only’ need to shave 64 seconds over 26.2 compared to last year’s PB effort. I know the course now, too: I know they’ll be lying when they shout “last hill!” from the sides! Well-intended lying, but that hardly makes it helpful! At least  I know perfectly well where the climbs are in Bristol.

Anyroad. I’ll let you know how I get on. Oh yes I will.

So yes, Sandra… ahem… don’t hold this one against me! See you in Milngavie!