One border collie - stressed

Hi all, here's the latest update from my world. I've been confined to barracks with a severe skin complaint apparently picked up last time I went to my other home (the kennels). This is particularly grim as it is in my elbows and restricts my movement. According to the Vet (is it just me or does he look like Anthony Perkins in Psycho?) it could well be stress related. Well knock me down with a feather but I don't recall too much contention going on in my life. Boredom yes, stress no. Wake up, go for walk, eat, sleep, sleep some more, walk or if lucky run, eat, sleep. It's a predictable cycle but one I've grown used to. Admittedly I don't like loud noises and that can, according to Psycho, be a contributing factor. However the principle initiator of it, the other male in the household, has left, so it can't even be that. And anyway, I sort of like Megadeath and Rammstein: all that tuetonic chanting is very disciplined and suits me. So, I am going to have to get better otherwise the running stops. The Master seems to think it is an excuse for him to stop as well. He's such a lightweight. Anyway, I'll fill you in on the progress of my illness over the next couple of weeks or so. So long.

For whom the Fells toll

Well one swallow doesn't make a summer so I'm not going to get over excited, but the master has again put one foot in front of another at more than a walking pace recently. We've been out twice for the requisite jog around the block. Apparently his calves hurt again. So what's new.
He's just finished a book that I would rather like to have read if I could read of course. I know all about it because he has been boring all his friends rigid eulogising its charms. I overhear these things you see. Anyway it was recommended to him recently by another mate who clearly has the same disease of incessant wittering and obsession. But, it did sound interesting nonetheless. It even contained a couple of photos of some border collies like me, so it can't be bad. It tells the story of a journalist who becomes obsessed with fell running in the lake district and who gets such a bad dose of it that he gives up weekend after weekend to drive from the home counties all the way to the Lakes in order to compete in the trials. Though it is a book about one man's obsession, it is also a great rendering of the life and times of the hardy stock of the North who put themselves masochistically through hell and high water to run up and down fells with the energy and grace of antelope. We get to see (or I got to hear actually) of the quintessential hard men of the dales and the fells, who think nothing of setting out for 24 hour runs with little more than a ham sandwich and a pair of old trainers. These are characters, mostly eccentric and some bordering on clinical madness. One doesn't need to be a fell runner, like fells or even running, to appreciate this classic of sports writing. Indeed it is as much a social commentary of the running folk of the Lakes as it is about the art of conquering fells very quickly by foot. My master thoroughly recommends it. Here's the link to it on Amazon. Feet in the Clouds by Richard Askwith

Breaking News......

I can't believe it, but the Master has once again signed up for the London. This time in 2007. He better be more successful in his training than last year. Since he abandoned his attempt (incidently, his second but also my second as I did all the training for the first but wasn't actually allowed to run in it, which was a bummer after all the training, - and I would have shaved at least 3 hours off his time), I put on a little weight. It's all his fault. So I can't wait for the training to restart mid-September. I'll try and write faithfully from then. Over the summer the Master has been concentrating on his squash, whatever that is (at least that is what I think I overheard) and doing the odd bit of cycling. Now this is very interesting because he has found this cool piece of iron mongery which means I can go with him on his bike runs. Check it out, it is wicked. It is called the Springer and it lets me run along side his bike and yet not get in his way or collide with the wheels http://www.bikeyourdog.co.uk/ourshop_68825_5392.html. It restains me pretty well, although I have managed to pull him off once, when I saw this lady border collie in a drive way. I never knew he could use language like that. Shocking. Anyway I'll write again as soon as the training starts. Bye!