#19 Heatwave 1-0 Harry

I was going to run a backyard ultra marathon this weekend... then I didn't! I also revealed my fate for my ballot entry to the Cape Town Marathon, before I chatted about my thoughts on the World Cup so far.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hi there, welcome back to the podcast. Hope you're all well. Um, I'll get straight into it. So I was planning on talking about doing a backyard ultra, uh, which would have been today, except for the fact that I didn't do it. Um, which is yeah, a bit of a shame, but like the long and short of it is like um you'll all be aware that this week we've been in a heat wave all over the UK, and you know, particularly like the last couple of days, it's been so hot and humid that like me personally I've just found it like absolutely unbearable, you know, with like you know, temperatures being plus 30 degrees, and yeah, it really hasn't been great. I mean, I went out for a run at I did a 5k run at half past six in the morning, I think on Tuesday or Wednesday, and even that early in the morning, it was already like very humid and just not pleasant at all. But anyhow, yeah, we'd planned on doing a backyard ultra at Bishop Wood, just outside Selby, and so like yesterday, which was Friday the 26th, um, yeah, I was at work on Friday morning, and yeah, it was just sweltering. Like, even just standing in the car park outside work was unbearable. And then I got home yesterday afternoon, and honestly, I just didn't feel good. I was just like absolutely knackered because I've not been sleeping well recently either, like, pretty much like most mornings over the past couple of weeks. You know, I've been waking up at like three and four o'clock in the morning just because it's been like so hot and then I've been feeling like really tired uh throughout the following day. And yeah, yesterday like I just like lay down on the bed and I just kept like falling in and out of naps, like unintentionally, just um yeah, it was really bad. So yeah, I messaged Max and just said, like, look, sorry pal, I'm gonna I'm gonna sack it off on this occasion, you know, just because it's too hot. I didn't want to like risk making myself feel worse or getting heat struck or anything like that. And I know this sounds like really dramatic, but I just didn't think for me personally it was worth risking anything. So I just decided to call it a day. Um and then I actually slept well last night and I do feel a bit better today, but just still like really tired. So I just think that's part and parcel with um living in a country that is not prepared in the slightest, like for heat waves, you know, where the you know, like my work, for example, only the gym and the spin studio has air conditioning, none of the offices do, and it's just like yeah, really uncomfortable and really like unpleasant working conditions, and some people will have it even worse. You know, I read reports that like some hospitals in the country, you know, in like natal units, for example, where there is no air con whatsoever, and things like that, and yeah, it just sounds really awful. And I think um, you know, I don't want to go on a tangent about global warming, but I think these heat waves are going to be like a common occurrence like every year. So I think like as a country, we need to kind of be proactive and just like um I think the government and the HSE need to introduce like maximum temperature working laws, which don't exist at the minute, so that if like the temperature inside a building exceeds a certain number, then just show up, shop, and and go home because surely everybody's like safety has to be paramount, um, even though it's money that makes the world go round. But yeah, just invest in some air conditioning, like please, it's not you know, I don't think that's me being a genius, I think it's just common sense. But yeah, what do I know? But in terms of like backyard ultras, there is um I do still want to do one, but want to do it when it's a bit colder. So I might do um oh actually, before I go on to that, Max actually did the backyard ultra this morning at Bishopwood. I sacked it off, but he still did it, and he managed to do like 50k. So yeah, like massive fair play to fair play to you, Max, and well done. That's a really good effort, like especially on your own. And um, yeah, he did 50k and he told me that like his legs felt a bit tired, but he said that he actually felt like he could have carried on, but he decided to stop like because of the weather mainly, uh, which is absolutely fair enough. Um, yeah, I don't blame you at all, mate. But yeah, well done, pal. Really, really pleased and really proud of you. And yeah, uh sorry for bailing on you, but um, I hope you understand. But yeah, we will definitely do one hopefully in a few months' time, like after we've after we do Chicago. But um, yeah, talking of like backyard ultra events, there is actually one in February um in South Wales. Um, there's like an event company organiser called Limitless Trails. And um in fact, in February earlier this year, Julia did a backyard ultra there. Um it was called like the Trails and Tarmac Backyard Ultra. So they're doing that again uh next year on the 6th of February, which I'm strongly considering entering. Um, you know, I probably will do to be fair, because like I went and watched it and it was like a really well-run event. Um, really well organised, really good atmosphere as well. Um, and yeah, nice part of the world as well. So yeah, it's something I'm definitely considering doing. I've got it kind of like on the maybe list. Um but yeah, speaking of which, uh yesterday yesterday morning actually got an email from the organisers of the Cape Town marathon, which, as I said last week, um next year will be the first time it runs as an official world marathon major. But unfortunately, my entry was unsuccessful, so I will not be going to South Africa next year, um, which is a shame. But you know, like in terms of like entering ballots for marathons and half marathons, you can't win them all. You you win some, you lose some. But um, as I've probably mentioned a hundred times previously, we are doing Chicago Marathon on the 11th of October. So the 14th of July is officially day one of the training block for Chicago. However, between now and then, I will do a little bit of running kind of like just to keep me ticking over. But yeah, I'm really looking forward um to Chicago, um, and I'll talk more and more about the training block like as the next few weeks and months um go on. Um, and that's kind of it really in terms of my running and the fitness. Um but yeah, obviously the World Cup has been going on, and for the first time ever, really, like on the build-up to the World Cup, I wasn't really that arsed about it and I wasn't feeling that excited for it. You know, there's kind of like um a lot of negativity around it in terms of like the USA hosting it. Um, you know, just like ticket prices, just like astronomically expensive. I read an article a few months ago where like assuming England get to the final and you buy the cheapest possible ticket for every single England game, the cheapest it will cost you is over six thousand dollars, which is just like insane. And I've also read stories about like some England fans and Scotland fans as well, like remortgaging their houses and selling their cars, you like purely to like fund the trip, um, which is like you know, fair play because I guess it is like a once-in-a lifetime opportunity, and you know, memories are better than dreams and what have you, but yeah, it really shouldn't what what was like originally like a working class sport is just like the cost of just like spiraled out of control. So you you might probably already heard this, but like in New York, for example, um the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey is like one of the host stadiums. Um, so normally, like at any other time of the year, if you get a train uh from Penn Station in New York City to the MetLife Stadium, it would usually cost you uh $12.90, which sounds fairly reasonable. However, during the World Cup, that same return journey will cost $105. So that is $105 just to get to and from the stadium. That's not including your match tickets, you know, God knows how much that will have cost, and also like, you know, flights, travel, food, drink, accommodation. Yeah, it's it's just like obscenely expensive. Um, and I just think like, yeah, personally, like, there's no need for it. I think it should be made affordable for the vast majority of people. Yes, I understand that money makes the world go round, but FIFA is supposedly a non-for-profit organization, but we all know that FIFA is like also an incredibly corrupt organization. And also, like, it's obviously like the you know, like the local cities that are dictating the public transport prices, for example, um, there is like a two-sided story because like um, you know, Chicago, for example, declined the opportunity to host uh the World Cup just because it would have been too expensive for them um to host while FIFA reaped all the awards. So I do kind of understand from like um cities' points of views that why they would make things expensive, but I do think like $105 when it's usually $12.90 for public transport is just taking the piss a bit, you know, put it up to like $20, for example, and that's putting your prices up but still being fairly reasonable. But to you know, pretty much like almost ten times the normal prices is just ridiculous. But um moving on to kind of like positive things, I have actually enjoyed watching the World Cup, you know. Um to see um Mirislav Klosa's record of being the all-time top goalscorer already broken is just insane. You know, you've seen like Messi score five goals in his opening two games, like Mbappe has been scoring goals, and even like um last night when France played against Denmark, like Usman Dembele himself scored a hat-trick, and all three of his goals were just like absolute worldies. Um, so yeah, it's been like really exciting to watch. Obviously, Kane scored in England's first match, um, but then England like Drew with Garner nil-nil. I think like the England Ghana game was always going to be quite a difficult game for England because Ghana for me, you know, normally when you've got a really good team versus a team that's not as good, like the team that's not as good, typically will go defensive and put 11 men behind the ball and you know play deep, um, or what's now known as a low block, but I've always said like just play a deep back line. But yeah, it was always going to be difficult uh for England uh to get something, but saying that they still should have won because Cain should have scored, but then also Ghana should have got a penalty. But yeah, England play against Panama tonight in the final uh group stage match. But as you're listening to this on Sunday evening, England played last night and they won 4-0 and Cain scored a hat trick. So that's like what I'm predicting will happen. But yeah, I have enjoyed watching the World Cup, although like with it being in America, like quite a few of the games have kicked off at like two o'clock and five o'clock in the morning UK time. Um to be honest, like any game that's kicked off like after 11 pm, I've not bothered watching, so I've probably like only watched like half of the matches, but the ones that I did watch, I have like to be fair for the most part of it, like really enjoyed it. Um, I personally think France are going to win the World Cup. I said that before the tournament started, and certainly there's no debating that they have definitely looked like the best team so far, and I think like there's even more to come from France, you know, their front four is just frightening. You know, Dembele, Mbappe, um, Deserie Douway and Michael Elisi. When you think that players like Cherkey and Bradley Barcola are on the bench, and we know how good they are, you know, especially Cherky, you know, we watch him play for Man City. When players like that are on the bench, you know that's a very good team. Um, so yeah, I think um I do think France is are going to win the World Cup. Um, I think Spain have a good chance, Argentina definitely can't rule them out. I think it'll be one of those three that win it. I don't think England will win the World Cup, I don't think Brazil will. And after watching Germany the other night, um I know like when Germany played Ecuador, I know Germany were already fruiting the next rounds, and I know that Ecuador had to win, and Ecuador won 2-1. By the way, buzzing for them, they deserved to win, but Germany was just very sloppy, and I don't think even in Germany's opening two games which they won, I don't think they looked that great. Of course, you can't rule Germany out because Germany's Germany, but yeah, I don't think they're gonna win it either. But yeah, I I have been I have been impressed with what I've seen at the World Cup um so far, and hopefully it continues. Um, right, that's it from me today. Um, thanks for listening, thanks for watching, and please like and subscribe, uh, share it with your friends, and yeah, if there's anything you want me to talk about on future episodes, you know what to do. Just comment below or just give me a shout, and I will see you next time. Cheers.