Worn out

I got up at 6:30 this morning to go running - another cab ride up to Park View, and then heading down to Tai Tam reservoir. I was feeling pretty worn out; the long day yesterday wasn't the best preparation for a long run. In the last week the humidity and the temperature have both gone up, and as a result I felt like I was melting as I ran along the trail. Sweat was pouring off my face, droplets dripping down my arms and soaking through my vest.

That on its own wasn't so bad, but in the last week all the spiders of Hong Kong had been busily spinning their webs across the trail, and so every five minutes I'd get another face full of spider web and trapped insects, and I'd spend the next few minutes gagging and trying to wipe them out of my beard.

Fifteen minutes into the run, I saw a strange thing: a bright orange crab, almost the size of my palm, scuttling across the trail. 200 metres above sea-level. How does a crab get that far away from the sea?

Perhaps it flew. In which case we should be worried about flying crustaceans: but that's what cockroaches are, so that's nothing new. But cockroaches don't have big claws like this thing did. Perhaps it was hiking up the hill; crabs might want to get fit too, after all. Although it will be a bit embarrassing if I get beaten in the race in Taipei next month by a crab.

This could be a distinct possibility. Although I managed the first half of my run in the same time as last week, I didn't feel I could run any further, and had to walk up the hill to Park View and take a taxi home; eighteen minutes of more of my body's water supply oozing out of my face and arms. So I might not be capable of running very far or very fast, but I can certainly sweat for England.

Do you get a medal for that?

I spent the rest of the day a broken man; visited Ikea, wrote a few words for The Great Old Game, worried about not rehearsing enough, watched Iron Man. A fairly gentle Sunday, then. Need to get back on track soon and get my stand-up set for October whipped into shape, and start making inroads into the redraft of that pesky novel...