Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
A Date With The Doctor
by Russell Turner - 19:16 on 05 December 2018
As someone who’s celebrated 60 birthdays, as well as lots of retirement and pension bumf I receive assorted reminders and invitations for health check-ups (the bowl cancer test is particular fun) but I’ve never had a prostate alert.
Believing that prevention is better than cure, and aware that prostate cancer has overtaken heart disease as the UK’s biggest male killer, today I visited Dr Locum in Cromarty for a voluntary interview.
I’d hoped for a blood test, rather than some undignified poking and prodding, but got neither. Instead, I received a brief, friendly lecture on the causes of prostate trouble and the reassuring news that my lifestyle (non-smoker, moderate drinker, fit and healthy) meant I’m at little risk and won’t need a more intimate examination for many years. Which was a relief. The blood test, it turns out, is not totally reliable.
I celebrated my reprieve with a brisk 40-minute intervals training run, which turned out brisker than I’d intended; the sub-zero temperature and nearby frost-covered fields probably played a part. I had to get out today: rain is forecast tomorrow, plus howling gales on Friday; on Saturday I’ll be begging for marathon sponsorship at Cromarty Market before a gig in Banff. Sunday is set aside for recovery (there’s likely to be another 3am bedtime) so it may be Monday before I run again.
Those four days may be the longest break I have for some time. The London Marathon programme begins after Christmas and I need to be ready to hit the ground running (so to speak). It’s less than 22 weeks to my next big run…
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