runners united (burning up pavement, burning up threads)

Hi Badger! Sorry to hear about your dh's diagnosis. This is a very friendly thread (unlike some of MN). I'm a bit sporadic, both with my running and my posting, but nobody seems to mind! Dd at school, ds at pre-school, so I'm off for a run in a minute in the lovely sunshine - if I can drag myself away from the computer...
Btw, what is this 'Feet in the Clouds' of which you speak? Having read Born to Run recently, I'm quite up for some more running-related reading. Is it good?

Sorry to hear about your DH badger - lovely idea to do London marathon in support of the charity. Stick around here and you'll soon be having crazy enough thoughts about doing it sooner than a few years! What sort of time are you looking for on the 5K?

The Bob Graham round does sound pretty special Hat but even in my most mad dreams, and having read the book, I don't think I could get close on commitment, training or fitness... The bit in the book when he's off to his parents in law and he gets off the train early and loads his rucksack with bricks before running 10 miles uphill - that really is madness! Fantastic idea to set up a Peak District round of some sort though.

What about looking at duathlons Debi? I've got a friend doing the Ironman and sounds like there's a few decent duathlons around as well (which is about all I could ever contemplate!)

Thanks for the advice on Stortford thecoo - much appreciated and very helpful!

Hope you're doing okay Moshi - still finding time to get out and run I hope, and that it's helping a little with everything? Fingers and everything crossed for tomorrow lunchtime for you and your mum.

I'm struggling to keep up with the thread again lately, but wanted to say how fab it is that everyone feels comfortable sharing their problems on here and that everyone is so supportive. This is much more than just a runners thread, though that is obviously what gives us a connection in the first place... Very different from some of the other scary places on MN!

Hat I hope you figure out what's best for you with your MS and running. Your fell run sounded great, so I imagine it's hard to even think of giving up something that gives you so much enjoyment.

Wheely hope the antibiotics knock the tonsillitus on the head quickly...

DoYou glad your physio is fixing you! I've got my next session this afternoon and looking forward to it even though it did hurt on Monday - it just feels such a relief to have an 'expert' sorting it out...

HI all, just catching up with this before I go to work. Welcome to all teh newbies!

Moshi, hope you are OK matey, awful time for you all. Thinking of you xx

Welcome badger. Stick around and keep on running with us. You'll soon learn it means more than what it suggests and we support each other in both the physical sense and metaphorical sense of the word. It's our little secret that keeps us all coming back each time a new running thread is regenerated. I hope we can support you in facing up to the future with what it presents given your DH's recent diagnosis for which I am very sorry.

hatwoman I imagine you are as immaculately groomed as Ms Stefani as you pound the fells - is red your lipstick shade of choice too ? Without wanting to turn this into something more suited to S&B, maybe we should all create stunning alter-egos for each other so we can all imagine each other looking gorgeous whilst running - ha ha... so far from the truth (for me anyway)!

hello, what happened? this has turned into the a most unlike MN love in

hatwoman I am glad the move turned out to be a success, I am sorry about the dreaded flare up, but I agree with moshi, sometimes you have to settle for what you can do, instead of what wish you could do, it is a form of self care I think.

moshi thinking of you and your family I hope you have some answers and get the right support, it is still a total bitch of a situation, use us as you please

hello to all new additions, hope injuries and illnesses are healing.

will continue my recovery programme tomorrow I have been busy with an essay which I typically left to the last minute

as for the rest of MN I post on my local where I have good friends and a couple of special interest threads once in a while, it can be an amusing place but frankly lately seems rather loony and mean, lots of troll

sleepwhenidie (good name btw) you quite often get photographers snapping you at fell races. I've been known to tell them to make sure they get my best side.

cestlavie you mentioned feet in the clouds earlier - it's a fantastic book isn;t it? I am so in awe of the star runners that it talks about. I spent several months after reading it fantasising about doing the Bob Graham and/or creating a peak district based equivalent. Would have take a year's sabbatical from work though (or end up divorced ).

Hello badger, shall we hold hands until we figure out if these scary people are going to be our friends?

drivingmisscrazy I was a bit baffled earlier! I was impressed at you signing up for races while pg but also wondering how you'd race in Sept if you'd be heavily pg by then! A friend of mine did run right up till the day she was due but I don't think she raced!

I'm just back from a swim. Have cancelled my swim membership from the end of this month so thought I'd better make the most of it before then. I need to go twice a week to make it worth it and over the summer I'd rather go for a run or cycle in the evenings. I'll just swim once a week until the lead up to the next tri. My swim is always going to be my worst bit and even if I worked my butt off I'd probably only knock minute off so I'd rather concentrate on the running and cycling.

I have a dilemma- the plan was do to the chichester sprint tri (400m swim, 30k bike, 5k run) but then I stupidly mentioned to my mad friend who is doing it with me that the full tri is 'only' a 600m swim, 40k bike and 10k run. Seems odd that the swim is shorter than Olympic length when the other 2 bits are full length but if I did want to do a full one that one would obvioulsy suit me. So now mad friend wants us to do the full one but I don't know. It seems a bit scary! (Also it starts at 7am and is 40 min drive away!)

badger - I forgot, I have also been taking Glucosamine, Chondroitin & MSM tablets for about a month so that may also be helping knees......

Oh - also, hello badger! I am fairly new here too and also had knee issues like yours but they seem to be getting better with more running and more cross training.

there there paws - that was a bit naive of you...I haven't dared look, I don't know how anyone can have anything but the utmost sympathy for MM's poor parents.

I haven't run since the weekend and am looking forward to getting out tomorrow and seeing (hopefully) how much easier I find running around here on relative flat after the hilly countryside. Our nanny went for a run the other day and passed Gwen Stefani, with big sunnies and perfect red lipstick, also running ...she said she saw her getting back to her house where a pack of papparazi were waiting for her - can you imagine anything worse than that at the end of a run ? The price of fame eh?

I don't look at much of mn anymore, I know there are still the same lovely kind people, but there are also some breathtakingly harsh opinions out there as I discovered when I stupidly read some of the Madeleine McCann thread last night .

driving - I live in an area of London where, apparently, we have the largest population of S. Koreans outside of S. Korea (the smallest population of dogs though - ho ho ho).

Thanks for the sympathy everyone.. am attempting to milk it as much as possible.

Welcome badger !

Hiya badger. As others have said, always worth going to a proper running shop to get your gait assessed and appropriate shoes fitted. Not sure that would solve the knee problem but at least you?d know it wasn?t that causing it!

As far as training goes, it?s really entirely up to you. Quite a few folks here are training for various events which mean that people have more structured regimes, with intervals/ speed sessions/ long runs etc. all woven together with a specific aim in mind. On the other hand, if you?ve got nothing to train for specifically, why not just go out and enjoy yourself? Run as far and fast as you fancy. It?s gorgeous weather for running at the moment and some people (like me!) sometimes end up getting lost in the detail and forget just how much it is to be out there and running however you want.

I ordered my foam roller online from a physio site driving, I can't remember which one unfortunately.

It is very painful but very effective.

Sorry to hear about the MS hatwoman - I didn't know. I guess all you can do is go with the flow and see how exercise affects things. I know for me that I'm so unbearably grumpy when I don't get enough fresh air that DH is virtually pushing me out of the door! I'd be interested to know what the medical advice is? On a happier note I love the sound of your race. I'm up in the Peak District this weekend but sadly I don't think there'll be time for a run.

Welcome Badger - I had a few knee niggles in my earliest days of running, I found changing my shoes completely resolved them. I've also realised that to keep my knees healthy I really need to crosstrain.

peach and the other pregnant laydees - you have a good excuse not to run! How is your DP feeling driving? I had pretty grim morning sickness in my pregnancies - bizarrely the third time round though it disappeared on the dot at 12 weeks. Honestly the things we put our bodies through, it's a wonder we ever do it more than once.

Wheely I used to get terrible tonsillitis as a child, I can still remember that awful pain. Hope the abs kick in soon.

Gotta go, ds2's spellings calling .......

feeling warm and gooey about our little bit of mn. badger and debi - describing this as a group of friends, is, when I think about it, accurate but we are always open to more - so you're definitely not intruding.

thanks for the supportive words everyone. moshi your post is both kind and wise

I saw a foam roller in my local (very small) branch of sweatshop yesterday driving

hat your race sounds awesome. Sorry to hear about your possible MS relapse, do look after yourself.

Physio says ITB problems. She did some ultrasound and some massage and showed me some stretches to do. Also have a weak glute on that side which may be related to a fall off my bike last year so have to do some strengthening work. She was very good, pleased I went, just time and patience now I guess.

Welcome Badger I have suffered from similar problems with my knee's in the past. I think it comes under the generic term of Runner's Knee and may be due to increasing your distance too quickly. I had the same last year which was definitely due to increasing distance too quickly and after a cut back from running for a bit and then increasing more slowly, generally it has been fine. I also had grumbly knee's during my recent marathon training but everything grumbles after 20 miles IME

Maximum of 10% increase in distance per week is recommended although if your knee's are niggly that may be too much. Given you are just getting back into it, take it really easy and I would suggest not increasing your distance too much until your knee's stop grumbling so much. A foam roller is great for stretching out muscles.

If you haven't get your gait analysed also to ensure you are wearing the correct shoes.

I'll stop rambling now

Hello! Room for a little one? Like debi said, I feel like i'm intruding on a group of close friends!

But i'll just jump straight in. Well, I've just got back to running. I last ran when pregnant with ds about 4 years ago. I was going to start again but was then pregnant with dd. So, even though I'm planning a third soon, I've finally got the motivation from somewhere and have been out for a run every other day for the last 2 weeks. I'm really enjoying it and feel quite elated afterwards but not sure whether that's the exercise or just having time away from dc's. I'm not doing any kind of distances as such, just some intervals for about half hour and planning to gradually increase the distance and reduce the intervals over the next few weeks. Does that sound about right?

I've been lurking on the thread for a while and thought I'd finally post as I need a bit of advice on a knee problem please. While i'm running it feels fine but going up or down stairs, crouching, etc is very uncomfortable. It's not sore as such but feels like I've got a really tight bandage on if that makes sense? Would really appreciate any advice anyone might have.

It's nice to have people to ask as no one in my real life has any interest in running at all!

That was quite long, sorry!