Happy when we are running!

[MoshiMoshi]

Hear ye! Hear ye! All those who want to liberate themselves from the shackles of their domestic and work lives, join us here in our continued bid to run and be happy and feel free !

No we jolly well aren't Hattie cos most of us couldn't even manage the half of it! Gosh you are all quite small. You must have very long legs then.

Inspired by the speedy talk I did my fastest ever 10k this morning in 53mins. I'm determined to push myself a bit harder instead of just cruising along...

What d'ya mean shorties - you're all tall. I'm 5 ft 0 !!! With short legs too (26 inch at most).

Am also in awe at 6.5 minutes .

Hat - we're all be in awe of you having done the race regardless of your time. There's no way I could.

I went to the gym ith the plan to do a gentle 7K but pushed myself and now feeling issues with knee and calf. Eek. Am assuming I should ditch running tomorrow and just hope it sorts itself out by the run on sunday ?? Am feeling cross wiht myself. Its nto too bad and probably if I wasn't doing a race on sunday wouldn't occur to me too much so fungers crossed it should be ok by the w/e ????

Damn, you're all tiny and speedy! Right, ok, I'm going to need to hear you ladies shout CAL, BACK AWAY FROM THE CAKE so that I can actually lose some weight and become speedy!

very impressed with your speedy, if slightly dismayed to hear my excuse go out of the window.

wheely, hope your knee gets better very very quickly - just ditch the run (I promise it won't make any difference to your race on Sunday) and do stretching!

[ETA - sorry for the repetitions of 'speedy' in above post. I do know some other synonyms, honestly]

Consider the run ditchecd Cal oh, and pull me away from the cakes whilst you're at it !!

hat - I need your help and advice on another matter. Have just been trawling through the local site and saw a recommendation from you for Gilbert Giggles for children's parties - what sort of things does he do ? DD1 is starting negotiations already for her party (January !) so am trying to get some ideas to put to her !! She'll be 6 btw.

wheely gilbert has huge presence. he'll fill your house. he is tall, with a lovely Irish burr, and, really quite dishy. he does a daft magic show - in many ways the usual stuff - things go wrong, he pretends it's the kids' fault, they HOWL with laughter. but he has about 10 times more charisma than any other magician I've seen. both dds had a gg birthday party - probably aged 6-8 iirc - and it was their favourite one. He is LOUD and BIG though ... depending on robustness and age of friends he might be best for a 7th birthday...not sure.

in saw Gilbert at friends child party very good but dd not keen at first when he was quite loud (nearly 5 then), although everyone else seemed to like him, also entertained the children while they ate
also like Silly Millie

hello folks

not run since gnr
stinky cold
hideously busy at work and home
persistant drizzle

must run

Can I vouch for Gilbert Giggles's friend, Mr Bash, who does a similar line to Gilbert but is not quite so tall. He kept 20 or so kids aged from 2-11 entertained during our DC's christening party and the adults were able to chat, eat and drink for the entire 2 hours without interruption. Highly recommended!

popsy - you even managed to type like you had a cold 'abnd anyone else doing aby running' . Hope you're feeling better soon !

Thanks for the entertainer info - I vowed last year's was the last big one but I seem to be being sucked in again !!! Her and her friends are quite robust in the main and will include a handful of boys but I will bear your comments in mind. Off to google Silly Millie and Mr Bash !! (any other party ideas I might not be aware of in the local area gratefully received).

Oooh, watch as I tower before before you, tiny speedy folk! I am a relative giant at 5 foot 5 and this must be about the first time in my life where I have been able to say that!

Poor you popsy. be kind to yourself and don't worry bout running till you feel better.

Cal - mmmm cake. I think you can carry some weight and still be speedy (arrgghhh you've got me doing it now!). However, I really noticed a difference in my running when I lost a bit. I now use running (in part) to allow me to eat cake.

are Gilbert Giggles and Mr Bash really friends? Do they live in a very colourful house with spotty curtains and a giant teapot?

Wow - I'm 5 foot 6. Didn't think I was tall! Am carrying plently of weight though . Got down from a size 16 to a size 14 recently, and am trying to lose more. That batch of oatmeal raisin cookies I just made isn't helping though...

Anyone any tips on how to get going - reading with jealousy interest how good it makes you all feel.

I ran a lot when much younger and enjoyed it but had shin splints and I still remember the awful pain in my shins after running sometimes - wouldnt want to revisit that thank you. So what would be best way - brisk walking to start , which me and my shins seem fine with. It is around 30 yrs since I ran - do I just run out of my drive ? Problem is I am a bit of a blob these days compared to my 30 years ago stick insect figure and I live on a main road - just feel ridiculous and dont want to be amusement for the queuing traffic.

Also how far do I run and how fast at first and what level of breathlessness etc - sorry these things must seem really obvious to you lot but I dont want to end up looking a real plonker or having a heart attack or something ! (note stated in order of importance }

hey popsy, hope you're feeling better by now. It's definitely that time of year for colds; my office is full of sickly people this week. And I got my fly jab reminder (I'm asthmatic) from the GP the other day. Here we go with Autumn!

Suda, yey, go for it! Take it easy though, you clearly don't want to wind up with shin splints again. I've recommended the zero to hero 10k plan here to several people because it encourages you to build up slowly, including some pace work so you don't just plod around (I'm a bit of a plodder and am planning on some early morning short and fast runs and hill sessions to develop my speed a bit)

You could just set off from your drive as you suggest. I prefer to develop a loop in my surrounding area so I'm not running to a fixed point and then turning around. Plus, I'm absolutely awful at running in a straight line where I can see how far I have to go!

I currently have a 2 mile loop, a 3 mile loop, and a 7 mile loop but you can of course add little sections if you want to go a bit further.

Also - and I keep repeating myself here so apologies if it is becoming tedious - it's really important to balance running with a short stretching regime. It's great to stretch calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes and hip flexors. The longer you run for, the more you need to stretch. This should help to reduce tightness and pain. Good luck - keep us posted!

Ooh, also, I've been meaning to ask - does anyone have any experience with barefoot running? I read an article here and was intrigued.

My running style is pretty appalling, hence all of the injuries (I'm a bit hypermobile and the repetitive motion of running means that my joints do all sorts of crazy things). I wondered if I had a bit of coaching (barefoot or otherwise), I might have a better idea of proper running posture.

Any tips from anyone?

Thanks Callista thats very helpful - I just need to do something to combat all these awful middle aged feelings getting lately - weight gain - feeling very down/lethargic - bloated - aching joints - just think moping around eating full packets of biscuits accepting all above 'joys' of getting older is not doing me any favours - was extremely fit and healthy a few years ago - just want to rage against my decline really. Course I will keep you posted. Thank you so much

Oh btw funny you should say about the loop vs straight line thing - I hate even walking the dog in a 'there and back' fashion - just feels weird and unnatural somehow - will always come back a different way and go round in a big loop.

suda absolutely agree with the steady as you go approach with a plan to follow, even if it frustrates you sometimes, it is worth it to get to goal without major niggles

am quite sure that at 5 foot 4 or there abouts I am carrying at least an extra stone and that is not helping with speed
and regarding loops v straight lines I have a couple of loops and also straight lines but it depends on my mood which one I choose

any racing this weekend?

and stop talking about the menopause I am trying to ignore its impeding arrival
I am young and in my prime

yes - me! (that was in answer to races this weekend). I'm terrified. I was hoping to recce the bit of it I don;t know but work got in the way (as you can see, I am hard at it ). The bit I don't know is hard to navigate - basically across rocks and moorland with a jumble of barely visable paths...v. easy to lose the correct one and end up wandering all over Kinder. and the weather forecast is awful. dh reckons I'll be in thick clag. and it's from about 8 miles to 16 - so the field will have completely thinned out and I'll be on my own. bugger. bugger. bugger. really really not sure I'm hard enough for this.

hat - you are one of the toughest runners I know with your history and I mean both physically and mentally. So of course you can do it!

Just received my letter from VLM about my application and, amazingly, I have a place and will be running the London Marathon on 17 April! Not quite sure what to do about my place in Paris the week before or the place in Edinburgh 5 weeks later... Marathons - are they usually like buses?!

Anyone else heard back yet?

Sorry about mentioning the turning decrepid menopause.

Hows this for weird - phoned my daughter today after I first posted on here and she sounded out of breath - guess what - she's jogging - nothing strange there you might think - but my daughter just ' doesnt do jogging ' - even as a child (she's 33 by the way) - she begged for a note every P.E. day !
She has never done any form of exercise ever - hates it - but is very active in everyday life - doesnt drive , walks everywhere , physical job etc.

But how bizarre - on same day as my brainwave after 30 years !

Must be a sign ?

Looks like I'll have to follow through my new fitness drive then ! - anyone interested in a half eaten packet of chocolate Hobknobs ?

Daughter has now asked if we can start jogging together.

hee hee, Suda, you have no excuse now!

Moshi. congrats! Someone at my hockey club ran both Paris and London last year to raise money for a charity - two marathons in one week is pretty hardcore! But when you think about it, you've done all the training and will be mostly recovered after 6 days, so it's a genius idea!

Hey, good luck Suda! I started very slowly - walk abit, run a bit, walk a bit. hatwoman - the rocks and moorland sound fabulous and hard work, but I'm sure you're up to it!
Callista - the coach of my running group is very into barefoot running. She has these weird non-shoes which look like gardening gloves for your feet. She got us to do a bit of barefoot running (on grass) and I actually quite liked it, but it wouldn't be do-able on road without the foot glove thingies, which are very expensive! The mechanics of the running style were quite interesting and I could see exactly why it could prevent injury. I think in theory you can run that way, but with shoes on.