Black and White Town - Doves

Lyric:- 'There's no colour and no sound' - Goodwin, Williams & Williams

Song Choice:- I remember listening to this during the Flora 1000 Mile Challenge back in 2003 but on checking Wiki it says it wasn't released until February 2005 so maybe my memory jukebox is playing tricks on me. What I do know, is that I heard it running through the underpass at the old London Marathon 20 mile point, going towards the 19 mile mark      further down the Isle of Dogs. Maybe I've lost the plot...but if you ever need a lift during a run when you are flagging, get a load of this one down your lug-holes as it's never failed to lift my running cadence. Try it for yourself here.

Anyway, it's the Black and White bit I'm really interested in today because if you know me, you'll know I'm a very Jet Black, Snow White kinda guy. The thing is, I'm trying to be a bit more Midtown Grey nowadays if I'm being honest; only it's not as easy as I thought it would be as I'm getting even more dismissive of things as I get older.

Now, before you say I'm becoming a 'Cantankerous Old Git', I don't think I am, it's just that I'm seeing life post GBS (SIDP) with far more clarity and with far less procrastination. Being 'Middle of the Road', just isn't me and probably never has been. I'm finding being AVERAGE, well arm very AVERAGE indeed.

I don't think I'm programmed that way. Why is so much of our everyday lives so mundane I'll never know? Why do we put up with mediocre standards and service. For instance, my local Citroen dealership phoned me offering me a cheap deal on an engine service - good for them as I'm always impressed by companies being proactive with their sales and I took them up on their offer. Then low and behold, when I take it in today they are quoting me £15 more and only agree to the original price when they've listened back to the September telephone conversation between myself and their sales representative to make sure I'm not LYING. Shame on you +Evans Halshaw . If I was them, I wouldn't be sending me a Customer Satisfaction Survey.

I think it only makes me more monochromatic.

What am I mean't to do here? Lower my standards, go Grey or Greyer in my case and yield to the masses? Or in a very 'Black and White' kinda way - Keep on with my one-man crusade; like asking the bloke in the Co-op why he thought it was ok to leave an unleashed fully grown Rottweiler to roam at the front door, yesterday . (FYI he said it had never bitten [yet] so there was nothing to worry about!!!). 

You can only guess what I said...nowhere near the dog I hasten to add.

Yikes, can you tell I've struggled? So for now, and safety's-sake, I'm going back into full contrast mode until I can pluck up courage to 'Fade to Grey' once more. I'll give it a few years perhaps...

But more tomorrow.

Rory Coleman
976 Marathons - 241 Ultras - 13 1Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records
www.RoryColeman.co.uk

Move On - Fashion

Fashion - But they weren't FASHION for too long...

Song Choice:- I bought Fashion's Fabrique Album way back in 1982  and I thought 'Move On' was a great single at the time. It sounds pretty dated now and see for yourself here. It's sad they never really made it, maybe being compared to their Brummie counterparts Duran Duran didn't help, what chance did they ever have eh? I wonder what they think now some 34 years on and whether they are still beating themselves up about what could have been...

And that leads me into my question to you tonight... Are you someone that continually beats yourself up about stuff that doesn't go your way or passed you by? Are you someone that can't draw a line in the sand? Are you someone that just HAS to say something, when you know it's not going to get you anywhere, but you say it anyway, because you HAVE to.

Well, I'll own up to the last one, although I didn't say anything to the pillock that parked right next to me in the massive TESCO Car Park in Cardiff we use for parkrun on Saturday, when he could have parked in hundreds of other places without nearly dinking my doors (Why do people do that?).

Anyway, before I go off on one about car parking, what I'm really good at is 'drawing a line in the sand and moving on'. I mean, just how long after you make a good old cock up do you let it go. An hour, a Day, a week, a month, a year, years, NEVER!!! In my experience you may as well as nothing ever gets things retrospectively right.

Yikes, Religion and our Judicial System would crumble if we weren't able to FORGIVE each other. Being able to start-over fresh is the way in my book. A few minutes on the bottom stairs always worked wonders in my patriarchal role, although I'm not sure if my elder children would agree. A good 'timeout' really helps though and a system reboot can soon get you back on track.

Being able to let things go really makes a difference. It's so liberating, I'm just flabbergasted sometimes that folk spend years wasting their emotional energy on things that they know they will NEVER make right and that will NEVER be right. It's SO corrosive to the soul.

So here's my advice. If you've recently 'Fucked Up', it's ok. 'Own up and Move On'. Set yourself and everyone around you free and you can then start again. 

Life is far too short...I know.

More tomorrow.

Rory Coleman

976 Marathons - 241 Ultras - 13 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

www.RoryColeman.co.uk

Flawless (Phunk Investigation Mix) - The Ones

Lyric:- 'Life Perfection'

Song Choice:- I thought I'd pick really upbeat, uplifting, humdinger of a song for a Friday as I've had such a great week back doing what I do best. Have a listen here and make some shapes.

Yep, it's been a great five days back in the saddle following the Cardiff Half last Sunday but has it been FLAWLESS... absolutely FLAWLESS? Well hell No! For a start, some sleep would have been a real bonus, I'm super-tired. I feel bad saying that as Lady Coleman gets half the amount I do, but somehow, we seem to have produced a child that just doesn't need any sleep at all. If Charlie has an off-button somewhere, please let me know... he's killing us!!!

But then why care, he's growing at a rate of knots and when he smiles at me, well he lights up my world, just like his brothers and sisters, all five of 'em. Are they FLAWLESS? Well hell No! But I don't care, they are my kids and in my eyes, well I forgive and love their quirkiness. In fact no-one I know is. FLAWLESS. I'm a long way off perfection, but again, it doesn't matter and that's where I believe folk get it all wrong.

We're not FLAWLESS, we are about 80% FLAWLESS with the other 20% being very nicely FLAWED. But it's OK. No honestly, it's OK. 

Why beat yourself up? Life is far too short. It's my Mission Statement right now. If you have spoken to me this week, I bet I've said it to you, more than once.

So here's my Message to you...

It's Friday. It's the end of the working week and time to enjoy the weekend. Sure some of it will be brilliant, some of it might not be but get the most out of your 80% and park the rest up. Enjoy the 80% with your loved ones and FORGIVE them their 20% as you expect them to forgive you. 'Cos like me, you are bound to cock something up that will drive the folk you love potty, even though you might be trying very hard to be on your best behaviour.

Take it from me, it won't be perfect.

But then 'Life Perfection' just doesn't exist so forget trying to be FLAWLESS,  just enjoy being YOU for once. 

I'm going to enjoy being ME...

Rory Coleman

976 Marathons - 241 Ultras - 13 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

www.RoryColeman.co.uk

You're No Fun - The Tubes

Lyric:- 'How many women tried it too, you've done your best to wreck my life, kiss and smile and twist the knife' - Waybill et Al

Song Choice:- You might not have heard of 'The Tubes' but if you were in the 5th form at school in 1977, like me, you would have as I thought they were just amazing. Banned for being TOO rude on stage, I was lucky enough to see them play at the Hammersmith Odeon in all their splendour, or rather their un-splendour! Anyway, take a look for yourself, it all looks pretty tame now but their double-live album is still up there in my list of all-time best 'Concert' albums.

Anyway, it's the 'No Fun' part of the song that accompanies my Blog post today following a huge amount of feedback from yesterday's ditty about some of my client's sobriety successes and failures.

You see it dawned on me that the folk struggling to beat the bottle just ain't having much FUN. OK, they are numbing out the pain and no doubt every now and again enjoying the escapism from the real world in an alcoholic cloud but in essence, it's not really much if any FUN at all.

I know, I've been there, all those years ago. It's downright miserable actually.

The surprising thing is that the majority of people I coach and speak to about alcohol addiction are FEMALE. Yes, FEMALE and I would have guessed that it would have been more of a male dominated sport if I was being honest, but more and more women are falling into the booze trap I'm finding.

Now it could be down to the fact that men are just rubbish at talking about their problems to another man, (although I have some very sober and happy male clients following our work together) or that women are more likely to want to escape their predicament and are happier to open themselves up to a man.

Also what I've noticed is that ALL my female clients wanting to quit the bottle, drink wine. Usually a good bottle's worth and drink it like pop, sometimes with a bottle chaser. 

The supermarket 'Two for a Tenner' offer has a lot to answer for in my opinion.

Ok, some of you will say there's nothing worse than an ex-drinker... I reckon there's nothing worse than getting hammered every day just to get to the next as that's not living... It's crying out for help, no matter how you see it.

Ask yourself, as you are tucking into your next bottle, are you having any FUN? If not, I wanna know...

Rory Coleman

976 Marathons - 241 Ultras - 13 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

977th Marathon - Beachy Head - 29th October, 2016

www.RoryColeman.co.uk

Let's Go - The Cars

Lyrics:- 'Don't want to break her crown' - Ocasek

Song Choice:- 'Let's Go' was the first single from The Cars' second studio album Candy-O. It was released in 1979 on Elektra Records and written by Ric Ocasek. It features lead vocals by the brilliant, Cars bassist Benjamin Orr who sadly died in 2000, from Pancreatic Cancer. Take a listen for yourself here.

On a day of celebration for two of my clients passing alcohol milestones of 100 days and six months, I found that one of our family friends is struggling with alcohol addiction and will start day one of a new life, alcohol-free, tomorrow.

It's a bittersweet world in Coleman Coaching sometimes, however I feel very privileged that folk let me into their lives, especially in moments when the brown-stuff is hitting the preverbal fan. Hearing their news today, makes all the hard work worth it and it always gets me thinking about my own predicament.

What I do know is that be it 1, 100, 180 or even 8,309 days of sobriety...tomorrow is a new day for all of us and that we are all one step from disaster if drinking alcohol, is our Achilles Heel, or even our Achilles Hell, as my fat-fingered typing spelt first-time.

As I remember, getting that first few days under my belt provided a brilliant springboard to keep the sobriety flame going. Sadly, sometimes, it takes a few go's to get the fire burning bright. It did for me and I'm never one to condemn folk that crack under pressure - I certainly didn't break anyone's crown today.

Rory Coleman

976 Marathons - 241 Ultras - 13 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

977th Marathon - Beachy Head - 29th October, 2016

www.RoryColeman.co.uk

Desert Raven - Jonathan Wilson

Lyric:- 'Let the diamonds make the light' - Wilson

Song Choice:- If you need distressing and need to feel the heat of the warm sun on your skin, then this brilliant song from Jonathan Wilson, will do just that. It's the desert and 1967 all rolled into one and makes me feel glad to be alive and grateful for the things I've been able to accomplish. Have a listen here if you need a good chilax and even better check it out on a 4K TV to get the full HD effect.

I suppose I'm still gushing a bit from the weekend's Cardiff Half Marathon, but it was a wonderful experience where I felt like I was getting back to my old-self once again.

Running, Racing, & Achieving...

You see, it didn't matter about the pace, to be honest, I ran it as hard as I dare and I'll be more honest in that my knees don't lift like they used to, which is disappointing as they didn't raise that much before the SIDP! But hey, who bloody well cares. I'm out there doing MY THING which is the most important to me right now.

Even looking back to the middle of September, I've improved greatly. I'm now able to stand on one leg and not fall over and any 1km I ran in my 21kms at the weekend, I was quicker than any km in my last parkrun 5km, so I know I'm heading in the right direction. Being able to see these quantifiable stepping stones has been really good for my rehab but even I know at some stage they will stop coming and I will plateau at a new level of fitness. Whatever level that is.

How, where and when that will be is yet unknown and I'm not putting any limitations on it right now. I'll do as much as I can safely to get some speed back but if I never improve from where I am now in my recovery, well that's ok too.

Running, Racing & Achieving...is one thing...

Living, Breathing & Functioning...is another.

Maybe when I do plateau, I can look back on this blog post and see just how happy I was to RUN solidly for 2hrs and 51 minutes. You see it was more of a combination of Running, Racing, Achieving, Living, Breathing & Functioning and listening to Desert Raven gives me warm thoughts to achieve anything including being able to run the Marathon des Sables next year, where I can 'Let the diamonds make my light'.

Are your Diamonds lighting up your life?

Have a great day...More tomorrow.

976 Marathons - 241 Ultras - 13 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

977th Marathon - Beachy Head - 29th October, 2016

www.RoryColeman.co.uk

Celebration - Kool & the Gang

Lyrics:- A dedication to last throughout the years'.

Song Choice:- A fantastic Disco classic from 1980 and a song you can't fail to sing along or dance to, especially if you are celebrating like I am tonight.

It's been a great day, you see, and in a weekend of sport, filled with negative boxing and football stories, with much acclaimed Coaches, along with their medal winning athletes being accused of all manner of skulduggery; it's brilliant that Lady C and I could join 17,098 people and make our own sporting news in Cardiff today.

You see there's nothing better than DIY Sport.

Don't even get me going about to day's armchair viewing of the Ryder Cup (yawn) or Malaysian Grand Prix (even bigger yawn), as they are so dull...they make me drop off on the settee... 

No we did sport ourselves at the Cardiff Half, and well that wasn't dull at all. We were lucky to run in the same race as some of the world's most elite athletes, be featured on BBCTV Wales and run our hearts out. Well I did anyway. Lady C provided support for me the whole of the way and made sure I didn't overcook my exuberance in the last few miles when I calculated a sub-3 time was on the cards. Beforehand, I'd worked on a more leisurely sub-4 time with the possibility of beating my marathon PB of 3:24. 

The 2:53 we finally clocked topped off a great run, and yes we RAN all the way, overtaking 1,410 other runners.

Being met at the 1-mile and 5-mile marker by sons Charlie and Jack were also magic moments on a day full of sunshine.

Tell me a spectator sport that can deliver what I experienced in my own home-city today?

Nothing!

Have a go at DIY Sport yourself, it's AWESOME, and you've got nothing to lose...

Rory Coleman

976 Marathons - 241 Ultras - 13 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

Next Marathon - Beachy Head Marathon - 29th October, 2016

www.RoryColeman.co.uk