Runners united: I run, I do running, I am a runner

Great news on the scan rhet !

So, I completed my 6th term of treadmill running today . Feel very pleased with myself for sticking with it so long. A few more sessions to go over the hols and then I'm free of the treadmill . 10K with 4x 1K speed intervals whilst watching the last shuttle land. Was quite excited about it - having had an aspiring physicist as an older brother it was something we followed as kids (saw one lift off in FLorida too). But it was a bit of an anticlimax, not helped by crap pictures and the fact I was on my last interval when it landed .

10.28M av pace 8:00 m/m. 3 miles with dog. Seem to be ticking over nicely. Like your new name rhet!

hello all; am in excellent mood despite it apparently being November outside...went to gym to run intervals and did 3k at HM pace, 2 x 1.5 at 10k pace, and 3 x 800 at 5k pace. It really wasn't too hard - so why do I find it easy enough to do these paces on the treadmill, but not outside?

My new Shock Absorber is just brilliant - I really needed a new one. I have some ancient well-worn Adidas that they don't do any more, so thrilled to find a new one that is so comfy (it's bright red, too).

Going to join local gym - ?90 for three months which will more than cover one interval session and one session of circuits/bootcamp each week.

Thanks for all the encouragement - doing that 5 miler was really great for me. Am also happy and relieved that DD2 is in fine fettle - am so grateful for all the good things in my life.

Will sign off before I go even more all soppy. Happy running!

Emma I have not tried Run4It but friends in my club have and recommended it.

I have bought shoes from Sweatshop (In David Lloyd Monifeith) before and they are really good - they don't do treadmill analysis but they do take alot of time to fit your shoes and encourage returns if they are not suiting.

Also, I really don't like The Dundee Runner (Loons Road) - it is combined with a bowling shop and I think sometimes it is staffed by people who know lots about bowling and nothing about running.

debi - shorts 8 months of the year - blimey! I am making the most of a two month window to wear short sleeve t- shirt - and expect I'll get ohhhh about 5 runs this year in shorts.

Emma I've not been to the Dundee run 4 it but have used the Edinburgh and Glasgow ones. Bought running clothes/ kit in them both - quite pricey but caught the sale in Glasgow and the Edinburgh one had discounts on marathon weekend. Not bought shoes from them - i did try to buy my last pair from them in edinburgh, was just looking for a replacement pair ( same size, make and model) but they didn't have them in stock. They seemed to know what they were doing for others in there - treadmills and cameras to look at gait etc.

The other shops I use for shoes in Edinburgh are run and become and footworks (where my record card was in the box next to the card for the actress in taggart!)

Great news rhet

and good luck at parkrun, Debi, though I have a serious addiction to it and get very upset when I can't go...

ps, great news about scan, Rhet

Emma I have no experience of the chain you mention in Dundee as am hundreds of miles away.....but I don't think a local independent running shop will try to push you into buying the wrong type of shoe. They will want your return business, and they will want you to recommend them too, rather than bad mouth them. With running shoes so pricey they can not afford to be seen to getting you to buy the wrong thing. In my (limited) experience the ones I have been to are owned by runners who are passionate about the sport. (Hopefully the experience that Rhet had is an exception - sounds awful).

Have to confess that the man in my local running shop irritates me intensely, but I can see he knows his stuff.

Thanks for advice on Wooler shop, sticky, am heading that way soon for summer hols so may take a look myself!

stickylittlefingers - we have friends in Newcastle, so might venture that far at some point...good to know. I'm not sure that shop is there anymore - Great Outdoors is generally rubbish - the place I went to today is an offshoot of the (in my view not that great) bike shop on Parnell Street - possibly Dublin city's first dedicated running shop. My first pair of shoes I had fitted somewhere in the outskirts of Bray - Amphibian King it was called, because they were the only people who did gait analysis. Amazing - Ireland is now full of runners - there are at least 5 on my little cul-de-sac alone!

There's a good independent outdoor shop now where Chapters used to be - woman was very keen to tell me that I wouldn't be able to run in the Burren without trail shoes. Well, I couldn't run in the Burren, but no trail shoe could have helped me!

new name, new list (well, both recycled, actually)

24/07/11 - Harrogate town centre 10k - Dr Northerner
20/08/11 - Frank Duffy 10 mile, Dublin - rhetorician
03/09/11 - Dingle Half-Marathon - rhetorician
04/09/11 - Great Scottish Run Half-Marathon: EmmaBemma
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon - thetasigmamum
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon- N4nny
11/09/11 - Addidas 5K: MoshiMoshi
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa, SLF, Fannybanjo
23/09/11 - Notting Half Marathon: cestlavie
25/09/11 - Edinburgh Urbanathlon: backwardpossom
25/09/11 - Windsor Half Marathon: Doyouthinktheysaurus
25/09/11 - London Half Marathon Run to the beat: June2009
25/09/11 - New Forest Half Marathon: MoshiMoshi
02/10/11 - Standalone 10K: Futurity
02/10/11 - Bradford Half Marathon - MrsWednesday
02/10/11 - Baxter's River Ness 10k - backwardpossom
02/10/11 - The Run, Northampton - YeahThatsTheBadger
09/10/11 - Great Eastern Run, Peterborough - Futurity
09/10/11 - Herts 10k - WishIwasCherryMenlove
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
30/10/11 - Great South Run: Wheely, squix
30/10/11 - Nairobi Standard Chartered Half Marathon - M&M
05/11/11 - Glendalough Trail Run - rhetorician
19/11/11 - Maasai Mara Half Marathon - M&M
20/11/11 - Leeds Abbey Dash (10k) - DrNortherner
27/11/11 - City of Norwich half marathon: ibbydibby
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
22/04/12 - VLM: MoshiMoshi, ibbydibby
27/05/12 - London Bupa 10K - Futurity

I think we will manage to find a name - think we probably have, actually

going to do intervals tomorrow - probably in the gym as I just find them easier on a treadmill and can control pace more precisely. I rarely run there, but for this it seems like a good plan

my running shop experience is actually unusual - I've normally had great service, but really, I don't want to be discussing the ins and outs of bounce and chafing with a bloke who is kind of boasting, 'yeah, and then I totally pinged my hammy' . SO that's ?50 of mine that went to another shop. Twits.

that's wonderful news, rhet, great to worry about things like the name! You'll be fine with a girl. If we'd had a boy (with DD2 they couldn't tell because she was shyly hiding her gender from our prying eyes), he'd probably still be called TBA...

Grrr re the running shop. I found out today that there's a shop in Wooler (Northumberland, so not exactly local for you!!) that caters exclusively for women. Brilliant, I am tempted to make a trip over the summer to support them (and them me!), plus Wooler's got some great picnic sites... There used to be a lovely walking shop that catered just for women in Dublin - was it St Mary's Way? I wonder would they also do sports stuff? They were great for fitting me in my walking boots after some horrible bloke in the Great Outdoors told me I had the Wrong Sort of Feet (clearly he had moved from his job on the English Railways).

I didn't run today, because I didn't want to use my shiny new shoes in the pouring rain. How pathetic is that? They are really shiny, though. So it was me and Davina in the front room. My stomach is all the better for it.

I always run in knee-length shorts. I am Mrs Average, neither tall not short, fat nor thin. They are really comfy. I also very much love my Ron Hill sleeveless jacket, which I wear on all but really hot days. It really helps with windchill, and keeps my core fairly dry on wet days, and is very breathable.

Should read "some people may think you should have your own unique name"

That's great news rhetorician!! - it's nerve wracking having a scan anyway - but especially when you're higher risk after nuchal scan. DD1 was ISCI (frozen embryo transfer) and I spent 9 months terrified something bad was going to happen. Would you still not consider using DD1's middle name as DD2's first? I nearly called DD3 DD1's middle name (Elisabeth). I know some people may think you have your own unique name but I think DD1 would be quite touched when she was older...

Ahh, of course, that makes sense!

DD's name was the only one we even vaguely agreed on, oh dear...

well we ended up with 3 different EDD - but because of ahem our method we know that we can't be more than a day or so out. She was slightly ahead of dates, but we've gone back to the original EDD now.

Unfortunately we gave our other favourite name to DD1 as a second name, on the grounds that we weren't sure that we'd have another....it feels like such a big responsibility, doesn't it?

Congratulation Driving, or should that be rhet???

That's great news, you must both be relieved! I thought they never amended dates after the 12 week scan? Maybe that's an NHS Trust thing. Oooh a little Christamas baby!!! I went through the baby name book yesterday and wrote down about 10 possible names. Haven't shown to DP yet as I know that he will laugh at each and every single one. I know I will also think his are rubbish. This is going to ba hard work!!!! Did you and your DP have any leftover names from DD1 that you didn't use?

hurrah, rhetorician! Great news about the scan. What a relief for you both.

Shock absorbers are my sports bra of choice too - I have four! (but I've bought the same model for about ten years now, so I just get them cheaply on ebay)

I've decided to brave a local running shop soon, to see if they can tell me how badly I over-pronate because of my flat feet, and whether I might need sturdier shoes. I'm nervous because of likely bloke-ish factor and also because I don't want to be inveigled into spending £100+ on new shoes I might not really need... but have no willpower and am pathetically suggestible. If I'm not careful I'll end up handing over the entire contents of my wallet and one of my children.

To that end, does anyone local - maybe Chewy, squix or possum, have any experience of the Run 4 It chain? (specifically in Dundee?)

this is actually drivingmisscrazy - have decided to revert to my original mn username...you'll all get used to it soon enough - will cut and paste race list with new name later

hi all

scan all good - heart fine, kidneys, bladder etc - spot on for dates. Thrilled and relieved - back to Dec 3 due date again! Now for the name discussions in earnest.

went to running shop after and there were 4 blokes talking well, blokeishly about running; I asked where the sports bras and was dismissed into a corner; I thought really, I'd like to support my local running shop, but I am not spending ?50 in a shop where one of women runners' key requirements is treated like you aksed for...well...use your imagination. Bought a bright red shock absorber - quite snazzy and will stop me mixing it up with ordinary bras.

debi just saw the picture on your profile of you in a wetsuit...that is very impressive! Was it a maternity wetsuit ??

I agree Wheely...am not going to do anything until later in the year until I find out about my fourth most likely unsuccessful marathon entry. If I don't get in again I will defintely set myself a new goal of triathlon in 2012.