Rest days with 'Roger Moore'

Not the actor, just his voice. It started with a dry throat and slight loss of voice -- just perfect for interviewing people, not -- now I have the full Roger Moore. I phoned Abby to let her know my voice had finally broken.

This happened to me on my last England trip; that time it preceded an intense bout of flu that wrecked the last week of my stay. So I am taking avoiding action and haven't run for the last two days, I'm figuring I'll just look at it as part of the taper for Sunday's 10k.

Sounding like Roger Moore does have its advantages: women love it and waiters snap to my every command. Shame I will have to "give it back", really!

Wondering why it happens, I noticed that the initial tickling in the throat felt like a response to pollution. Traffic here is intense, and although there are no killer fogs here any more, the pavements (sidewalks) now have a new danger. That's because the UK has finally enacted laws to make restaurants, pubs, offices and stores smoke-free zones. Nice idea. Unfortunately, culturally-diverse London is still packed with people who think smoking is a vital part of daily life -- and now they have to do it OUTSIDE every restaurant, pub, office and store, so whatever "fresh" air was available on the street... isn't there any more.

Right on cue to support the idea that pollution is to blame, comes a story in the New York Times that athletes are much more vulnerable to air pollutants than "normal" people. The story, picked up by Runner's World, quotes Dr Kenneth Rundell of the Human Performance Laboratory at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as warning: "Athletes typically take in 10 to 20 times as much air," and thus pollutants, with every breath as inactive people do.

What's more, "a 2004 review of pollution studies worldwide conducted by the University of Brisbane, Australia, found that during exercise, low concentrations of pollutants caused lung damage similar to that caused by high concentrations in people not working out", says the NY Times.

Hmm... I am LONGING for some clean air. I'm getting out of London for a couple of days right now, so I'll see if I can blast some of the crap out of my lungs with some hill reps in the countryside.