3% there

A couple of weeks in and I'm 3% of the way to my goal.

This might disappoint, but given that I've had a brief stay in hospital and that I'm running shorter distances note than I will be at the end (my last run being over 2% by itself) I'm probably doing OK.

Last Saturday I did my first park run at Haywards Heath (Clair Park). It was Easter Saturday and there were lots of other first timers, which meant I could at least hide a bit. I finished a bit below average but with an OK time for someone who's just starting. Probably did quite well considering the weight/body fat handicap. Give a park run a go... they're quite manageable.

At the moment my stamina and strength are better than my aerobic capacity - my legs are not feeling particularly tired on my runs (up to about 6k so far). But if I push the piece any faster I run out of puff.

The good news is that I'm pretty sure I could run 10k quicker than an hour, so my original aim of running the half marathon in February quicker than 2 hours looks very achievable. But I've been told I really ought to be aiming for 1:45 which will require some aerobic improvement.

Hopefully if I keep running and try to at least limit the number of Easter eggs I eat each day, I'll lose a little bit of blubber which will help.

Dream Theater makes me run fast. Flying Colors makes me run at about the right pace. Bands that Mike Portnoy has helped name often have words that Americans spell differently to Brits.

OK, enough rambling for now.

Go and sponsor me. Go on.

Hux will run 500 miles

I've become one of those annoying people who run. Or, rather, I am becoming one. 3km probably doesn't qualify me.

Let me fill you in. A few years ago I ran 10km for Kidscape. Although I enjoyed it, I didn't train a huge amount and still made it round. One friend who sponsored me suggested that I run the Brighton Half Marathon for Off the Fence.

So that's what I'm going to do, several years on. It's a great charity and the added challenge means that I have no option but to train this time. And I've decided to set myself the challenge of running 500 miles culminating in the Brighton Half Marathon next February.

That's simultaneously absurd and achievable. I genuinely hate running, I am awful at following through with plans and this will require a lot of stamina (figuratively as well as physically).

But on the other hand, any serious runner would say this is quite manageable. A bit over 10 miles a week. Even starting slowly and building up, this is possible.

But for me, daunting.

If I write progress updates they'll probably be here. In the mean time, give me some support by sending a bit of cash to Off the Fence. Here's my JustGiving page.

The Educators (BBC Radio 4)

Education - in its aims and methods - fascinates me. A new type of job market is emerging, which somewhat changes the aims of education, and new technology provides more, and cheaper, opportunities for education.

BBC Radio 4 has just finished a series called The Educators, co-produced by the Open University, where eight movers and shakers were interviewed about their ideas for improving our education system(s).

This should be of particular interest to homeschoolers, unschoolers and teachers as well as anyone who's thinking of a non-standard path for their child's education.

If you can, have a listen. Some of them are fascinating, others less so - here are some mini reviews:

Sir Ken Robinson

1/8 Sarah Montague asks Sir Ken Robinson why he thinks schools are a barrier to creativity.

Entertaining and with some useful points (e.g. anti-gnostic views of the body/brain) but probably overstating his case. 3 stars.

John Hattie

2/8 Sarah Montague asks what really makes a difference to a child's ability.

Stats/study heavy, no huge revelations but a few useful bits. 2 stars

Tony Little

3/8 The headmaster of Eton College talks to Sarah Montague about his formula for success.

Very interesting look at a unique school. Some admirable ideas but it's not exactly possible for everyone to duplicate this. 4 stars.

Daisy Christodoulou

4/8 Teacher and writer Daisy Christodoulou thinks children are being taught the wrong things.

Sorry, I just couldn't listen to her voice and gave up after a while. Give it a try though. 

Paul Howard-Jones

5/8 Do we become more effective learners when there's a chance of winning something?

Basically a psychology/neuroscience angle on it all - some useful bits again. 3 stars

Sugata Mitra

6/8 Professor Sugata Mitra explains why children need more freedom to teach one another.

Great stuff on how to use the curiosity and creativity of children to get them to learn. Don't agree with absolutely everything but there's a lot to learn here. 5 stars.

Jo Boaler

7/8 Professor Jo Boaler believes there is a crisis in maths education.

Maths has been taught wrongly, says Prof Boaler. It's pretty hard to disagree with her, although I think there's space for an early 'grammar' stage ( cf. Dorothy Sayers). 4 stars

Salman Khan

8/8 How Sal Khan plans to give the world a free first-class education.

I don't know how good his videos are but it really highlights the opportunities children have to learn now that are unprecedented in human history. 5 stars

Sports Personality Punditry

The last few weeks have been horrible for British sportsmen (particularly English).

The football team failed, the cricket's been miserable. The rugby was plucky but unsuccessful. Murray has, for his standards, done poorly.

So, come December, we might end up scratching around for a Sports Personality of the Year.

As things stand, the top contenders with the bookies (Sky Bet, William Hill) are:

1. Lewis Hamilton (6/4, 11/8)

Despite a rough few weeks, Lewis is back on course to contend for the F1 title. He's the surest hope for a Brit to win a title in a popular sport and is strong favourite with the bookies. But to win SPOTY, he needs to win the drivers' championship and hope no one else does anything spectacular. Hamilton isn't universally popular and has come second in the competition twice when he's had a strong case to win. I'd definitely put him favourite but those aren't good odds.

2. Jonny Wilkinson (6/1, 5/1)

This is an amazing inclusion for the second spot and shows how weak the field is. He's retiring and had a decent season but it's astonishing that a player who's been out of international rugby (and therefore out of the average person's awareness) for so long is the second favourite for SPOTY. I'd need much longer odds to persuade me.

3. Carl Froch (7/1, 8/1)

He won his first big fight for the year (and big it was) and needs to hold off James DeGale. His 8/1 seems a better value bet to me than the other two.


Beyond those three, we're largely speculating that a golfer will win a major (and possibly the Ryder Cup) or Murray will win the US Open.

Can anyone else see a potential winner? (Sky Bet odds, William Hill odds)

Clothed in Christ

Just posting the lyrics to the song Adele and I wrote, in case anyone finds them helpful:



1: In Adam every human fell
Death spread through every race
Now those with faith in Christ are well
Judged righteous by his grace - Judged righteous by his grace

Thank you O God - You clothed me in Christ
Made me your own - For the ultimate price
A matchless exchange! - All my wrongs for your rights
You took my sin - And gave me your life

2: Because in love God overlooked
The evil we had done
Remaining just he undertook
A plan to make us one - A plan to make us one

3: Upon the cross the Son atoned
He bore God's wrath at sin
His perfect life is counted my own
God looks at me as him
God looks at me as him

And the Soundcloud to have a listen (working with a demo recording as of 15 July 2014):

On run outs

'That was bad sportsmanship'

'Not in the spirit of the game'

'He may have been given two warnings but that was below the belt'

'Batsmen step out of the crease all of the time.'

These are the comments being made in the wake of the 'controversial' run out of Jos Buttler against Sri Lanka.

Are we not aware that all of the same points could be made about stumpings? Except no batsman gets multiple chances when they're stumped.

As much as I support Buttler and the England team the solution is very simple. Back up properly. It is not hard.

No one has been tricked or cheated. No one has lied to or deceived the umpires. No one has been rude to anyone else. The Sri Lankan team simply enforced a law. After two warnings.

If you want to talk about the spirit of the game, let's ban sledging and punish batsmen who don't walk when they know they're out. These actions are far more against the spirit of the game.

In the meantime, I'm very happy to apply for the role of England's backing up coach. I will teach all the batsmen how to back up without leaving the crease before the ball is bowled. I will even show the bowlers how to enforce the rule themselves. I did so once in youth cricket.

Can we please not talk about umpires deducting/awarding runs for bad backing up? They have enough to do and it'll be a nightmare for scorers.

All we need to do is de-stigmatise this mode of run outs. Batsmen shouldn't even be given warnings. Very soon, batsmen will learn to back up properly and fairly.

Weekend end reflections

1. There are a lot of awesome people in my life.

2. Can we all at least agree that we're happy that the BNP has been destroyed this weekend?

3. I can't stop thinking about a lady I met at the weekend. Raped when 15 and in foster care and had forced termination. Now looking after her sister's 5 year old boy who was badly abused and bears the (behavioural) scars.

She became a Christian in January. Lord keep her and make her story end well.

4. Well happy for Tim and Sarah. And James and Libby.

5. Drink alcohol when you're happy, not when you're sad. And be happy as much as possible.

6. Listening to Pharrell Williams or Guvna B songs does not aid in this pursuit.

7. There is an enormous difference between a bad latte and an ok one. But there is an even bigger difference between an ok one and a great one. Go to Taylor St Baristas in Brighton.