Norwich's head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup was all smiles as he pressed the starting hooter on the Run Norwich race on Sunday.

It's an amazing event over 10km around the city's streets and almost 7,000 people finished.

It was somewhat sobering for me that the first man over the line completed the course in six minutes less than I took to lumber around half the distance at the Dereham parkrun 24 hours earlier!

Thorup seems to have really taken to our city and he can only have been impressed with what he saw with all those runners filing past after he set them off.

Those of us who are very much club over country fans have been hugely frustrated by the interruption of an international break so soon into the new season.

Just four of the 46 Championship games were completed before a large number of City's players headed off in all directions around the globe.

I can only imagine how much more annoying the disruption is for the boss and his coaching team.

Thorup is still in the early days of his Carrow Road tenure.

Even before the break he had to endure all kinds of issues including a spate of injuries, the circus around Johnny Rowe's departure, losing Gabby Sara and the not insignificant job of having to bring in eight players - several of which after the campaign had started.

While most of us casually sit on our sofas or in the pub watching the various international fixtures, I suspect Hoff and Co must be trying to keep an eye on every match involving one of their players to ensure no bumps and knocks are picked up.

As I type, those who have been away will be driving or jetting back to Norfolk with a pretty short period of time to prepare for the long trip to South Wales on Saturday as the Canaries take on Swansea.

We're nervously waiting for Thorup's pre-match presser for updates on Kenny McLean, who picked up a worrying looking injury on Scotland duty, talisman Josh Sargent, who had to sit out USA's match against New Zealand with "ankle irritation," and full back Ben Chrisene, who pulled out of the England Elite squad.

There are still two more international breaks before Christmas, which seems a nonsense to me.

The end of this current one does seem significant and as I saw Thorup starting Sunday's race, it got me thinking that this seems like the real beginning of the Championship campaign.

The distractions of the transfer window are now consigned to history. The squad we have is the squad we have.

After the dismal opening day defeat at Oxford, things have undoubtedly improved for the Canaries.

The home draw against recently relegated Sheffield United was an improvement on the stalemate with Blackburn.

The first win of the season at Mark Robins' Coventry was crucial and if only we could have got straight back into action to keep up the momentum.

Swansea (A) won't be easy. They have four points from their opening two home games and will definitely be looking to build on that.

Victory for City will really put a spring in all our steps.

We're then back at NR1 to face Watford in another televised lunchtime match.

The Hornets have become something of a bogey team for the Canaries and have won eight of our 10 previous meetings.

In addition they've had a decent start to the season with three wins out of four.

Another tough fixture then awaits as Thorup's troops head over to Derby, who have a 100pc record at home so far.

The relentless nature of the Championship continues with two home matches in the space of four days.

Daniel Farke's Leeds arrive (and there are plenty of scores to settle there after the ignominy of the play-off thrashing four months ago) before Hull come to town.

There's certainly a positive feeling among City fans - much more than five points from four matches would suggest.

We're buying in to Thorup's master plan and on the whole enjoying the footballing dish we are being served up.

Callum Doyle is exciting us and fellow columnist and City legend Chris Sutton was absolutely right earlier this week when he wrote that we need to enjoy him while we can.

One name which is starting to attract more chat is the deadline day signing Kaide Gordon.

My colleague Connor Southwell penned an excellent piece, quoting what footballing figures from Jurgen Klopp to Wayne Rooney have said about him.

Klopp - who gave the winger his senior debut for Liverpool against the Canaries three years ago - said: "I know he is the second youngest goal scorer for Liverpool, which is absolutely exceptional, especially when the other one was Michael Owen."

If Gordon can produce anything like his potential here, he could play a big part.

We all know that the Championship season is very much a marathon rather than a sprint.

On your marks, get set, go for what feels like the real start of the long campaign.

OTBC.

Farewell Richard

I was sad to hear earlier this week of the death of former City player Richard Symonds.

When I was growing up as a Canaries fan I remember watching Richard - and it was always more special for me as he was from my home town of Dereham.

The full back joined the club as a schoolboy in the mid 70s and his 68 appearances came between '78 and '83.

After leaving the Canaries he played for and managed several local teams including Thetford, Watton and Dereham Hobbies.

I saw a great team line up picture featuring Richard and another ex player in the photo was Peter Mendham who wrote on Facebook: "Great team mates ….. special memories. So sad to learn that Richard Symonds passed away yesterday. My sincere condolences to all his family and friends at this tragic time . RIP Richard xxx We love you mate. Richard was from the heart of Norfolk …. East Dereham ….. the quickest player at the Club at that time!"

All the very best to Richard's loved ones at this time.

Results not singing

I was pretty staggered by the venom aimed at interim England manager Lee Carsley after he said he wasn't going to sing the national anthem before games.

I'm a pretty proud and patriotic chap and I quite enjoy banging out the words to God Save the King.

But unless I've missed something, it's not the law that we have to join in.

It's staggering to think that two national newspapers have called for him to be sacked and he got booed by England fans at Wembley when he remained silent as the anthem was played.

Carsley didn't sing the Irish anthem when he represented the country as a player and so will not be singing the English one as a manager.

Despite the vitriol thrown at him, Carsley has remained calm and composed in the past week.

Good on him.

Being a manager is about getting the best out of players and winning games - not belting out a pre-match song.

Of course we'd love everyone to be like Stuart Pearce. But we're all different and we should respect each person's beliefs.

I know Nations League wins over Ireland and Finland aren't the most stunning of successes in world football. However, you can only beat what's in front of you.

Whether Carsley gets the job full time or not has to be based on his ability and nothing else.