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Missing In Action
By Andy Blackford on 05/09/2003 11:22:02
Map reading may not be an instinctive skill, but you'd have to practise at being this bad at it
If the ‘World’s Toughest Foot Race’ was merely a race to develop the world’s toughest foot, I’d be laughing. I’d spend a couple of weeks firewalking in Haiti, soak the old plates of meat in permanganate, and bingo! – I’d be quaffing my Special Brew
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Horse Sense
By Andy Blackford on 04/09/2003 16:39:13
Ever wanted to try horse racing - well now's your chance. But the horse always wins
of energy, I trotted past him, waving gaily, only reverting to my leaden-footed slouch once I was safely round the next bend.It was half an hour before he staggered over the line, ashen-faced and wall-eyed. Get us a pint in! he croaked.I bought the beer
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A Bi-Psyche Made For Two
By Andy Blackford on 04/09/2003 17:20:05
Your Official Me Observer can provide you with a whole new angle on doing splits
ahead of Ajdjiti Mbmti, reigning world champion, then collapsing into the enfolding bosom of Shania Twain.Insane optimism is just as dangerous as leaden-footed self-flagellation. Im sure that really great runners dont have OMOs. Theyre just them
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The Loneliness Of The Long-Suffering Runner
By Andy Blackford on 05/09/2003 11:16:48
Sometimes life can seem like one big Marathon des Sables
-Siberian Bare-Foot 500 was a weekend of white-water rhino-wrestling with the Royal Marines. As far as I was – and still am – concerned, the Jordan Desert Cup promises to be like the sort of dreams you get after a pound of Red Leicester. The prospect of running
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Charity Fatigue Syndrome
By Andy Blackford on 09/09/2003 10:30:17
Charity may start in the home, but these days it always seems to end up at a race of some sort
to run for causes. However, this year I’m breaking with tradition. Foot and mouth disease has put paid to almost every race in my calendar – except one. The organisers of the Trans 333 have scoured the entire planet for the place that bears the closest
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Deus Ex Maniac
By Andy Blackford on 09/09/2003 10:38:36
Undergoing a Trans-formation can be a painful process
it will never catch, I am reduced to the ruin who scratches out these sorry lines for you tonight.Was it only 20 years ago that, fresh of face and fleet of foot, I carved out my daily mile around the South Circular, from Clapham Common to Streatham Hill? Behold
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Excuses, Excuses
By Andy Blackford on 09/09/2003 11:49:06
Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction - but mostly it's the other way around
of Blackford has been synonymous in Mauritania with colonial exploitation of the worst or more accurately, the wurst kind. For me to attempt to enter the country would be suicide.Actually, you may be surprised to learn that none of that is true. I invented
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Beach Queens Of LA
By Andy Blackford on 10/08/2004 12:43:50
When the sun comes up on Santa Monica Boulevard... the population of California goes running
. Alex seemed more than ordinarily interested in a blond, six-foot gymnast with a ‘Kiss Me’ T-shirt. It was definitely time for me to turn back.
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Thinking Outside The Box
By Andy Blackford on 08/09/2004 12:48:54
I've found that when it comes to running, less is definitely more
– the Marathon des Sables. (Incidentally, given the recent events in Casablanca, will it ever be run again?)Anyway, I couldn’t train. To put one foot in front of the other was to experience the martyrdom of St Sebastian while having one’s lungs scraped out with a
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