The man that hath no music in himself

I appear to have added a new exercise to my training; dancing. Well, not exactly dancing as that would be well beyond my capabilities; more moving to music. Along with a few running buddies, we’ve signed up to “perform” in a version of Frankenstein to be “re-imagined” at Kirkstall Abbey in March. It’s going to be live on national television – well BBC3 anyway. We’ll be part of a 2,000 strong set of wedding guests dancing with the happy couple. Liz had a look at a video clip of the dance and announced that it was “straightforward” a couple of others posted on Facebook declaring it “easy”. When I had a look at it I thought it was about as comprehensible as a Bobby Fischer chess gambit. This different way of looking at things is a clear case of what my friend Simon would call “bird logic” (he’s divorced now).

We rolled up for a dance workshop yesterday afternoon and went through the routine. There was a really effective warm up, which I wish I could remember as it did the business. Another guy then de-constructed the dance in a way that even I could follow (mostly). We now have to practice until the performance on 19th March, so I’ve tacked it onto the end of my stretching routine. Yes, I know; if I only do the dance when I stretch then I’ll probably only do it twice between now and the performance. Because I have no “feel” for music and I’m so useless at dancing it’ll make me do the stretching as well as the dance. The only downside is we have to dance to this dirge-like torch song by someone called Adele; apparently she’s ditched her second name. It’s probably one of those songs that some people have as their favourites, but I’m sick of it already. At least she doesn’t strangle every note like Whitney and Celine (I’m getting into this single name thing).

I had my first run since Sunday today. Eight miles steady at eight minute miles. Felt a bit stiff, but ok. It was a gorgeous morning with woodpeckers drumming and skylarks larking about, so a good day to be out and about. I want to get a longish run in tomorrow so it’s out of my legs for Saturday when we’re running at the national cross country championships which may be a somewhat chastening experience.