I have run 17 marathons, and the last one was 3 years ago, when I was relieved to announce my ‘retirement’ from ever running 26.2 miles again. I was so pleased that I no would no longer run a marathon I wrote a blog post about it: Sub 3 hour Marathons.

Sean Connery vowed never to play James Bond again, and when he did they called the film “Never say Never Again”. Looks like I should have had the same attitude to Marathons; I have now entered the Paris Marathon which is on 11th April 2010. So what went wrong?

When trying to explain a computer procedure, screen capture is very useful. If you have Photoshop it is also very easy! Just follow these steps:

1) When you have the required image, or page, showing on your computer screen, press the Print Screen button once.

2) Open up Photoshop and go into File – New. Change the Resolution to 600 otherwise the picture quality will not be very good. 3) Once your new file page is open go to Edit, then Paste, and your captured screen image is now on the page.

My favourite deep space image is that of the M42 Nebula in Orion. Purely for aesthetic reasons, as this cloud of gas where new stars are being born, has formed itself into the shape of a horses head! M42 is probably one of the most photographed regions of space, not only because of the Horses Head, but the whole cloud of stellar gas is illuminated in beautiful red and purple colours.

Every Thursday I coach a group of runners at the Edmondscote track in Leamington Spa. They have a broad spectrum of abilities, and ambition, so I give a choice of three programmes; ranging through Silver, Gold and Platinum ‘medals’.

Recently I introduced a new ‘Bronze Medal’ session for beginners. Having new runners join our group has bumped the numbers up to around 20 / 25. I am proud to say that we are now the largest group of adult runners on the track.

The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears is set in France over three time periods at critical moments in history. The 5th century and the collapse of the Roman Empire, the 14th century and the arrival of the Black Death plague and the 20th century  with the second world war. 

This sounds interesting – and it is, however my advice to any new readers would be to skip the first 133 pages, and to start reading the book in ‘Part Two’. The first 50 to 60 pages are some of the most impenetrable and confusing narrative in literature. They would put you off if you attempted to read them, and they don’t really add anything to the novel.

1) Go into your Wordpress Dashboard and look for ‘Users’ click on this and then go to ‘Your Profile’

2) When you are in ‘Your Profile’ you need to tick the first box you see which says “Disable the visual editor when writing”. Click ‘Update Profile’.

3) Go to You Tube to get the code for your video. When you have found the video, you need to select ‘Embed Code’ and copy it.

4) Paste the code into your draft post, in the position where you want the video to show.

One good thing about winter approaching in the UK, is that Orion becomes dominant in the night sky. Finding it is easy – you don’t need to know where it is! Just gaze up on a clear night and look for 3 bright stars slanted in a row. There aren’t any other stars in the sky that resemble this feature.

The three stars are the belt of Orion the Hunter. Framing the belt are two bright stars above; Betelgeuse and Bellatrix, while below the belt are another two bright stars; Saiph and Rigel. Take a look at the pictures above and below. You will have seen this shape in the sky before, now you know that  it’s Orion. 

Speed sessions on a running track are always hard. They are hard for 4 minute mile runners, and they are still hard for 10 minute mile runners. The important thing is that each athlete is giving 100% effort; – Track speed will obviously vary between runners.

Because of this I always offer a choice of 4 different track sessions, rising in intensity. This enables new runners to join the group at a Bronze medal level, and at the same time enables improving athletes to move through the medals from Silver to Gold to Platinum.

Most readers gravitate to their favourite authors or subjects, so I end up reading science fiction a lot. I would like to be more widely read, but have a vague fear that it may be hard work.

Joining a book club was the solution for me. Luckily, Tracey at Spa Striders  started a book club last year and invited me to join.

We meet every 2 months, and take it in turn to host the club in our homes.  Each member picks a book; (any book – a completely free choice). The selections are then sent to each member, and we all read one book to discuss at the meeting.

When I started on the path of Internet Marketing, I wanted to be in control of all aspects of the business. Web Sites would obviously be  vital, so I enrolled at my local college to learn the best web design programme; Dreamweaver. 18 months later I reckon I can create 90% of a site, but it takes me ages, and I need help for the remaining 10%.