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

[DebiTheScot]

We've run out of room on the other thread so I hope you don't mind me starting the new one.
This thread is for runners to share running stories and chat about life in general too. Anyone with running shoes welcome!

Our latest race list is below. Feel free to add or remove races from it.

06/07/11- Yately 10k: DebiTheScot
10/07/11 - RFL 5K, Kingston & Kempton Park: Wheelybug
10/07/11 - Felsted 10K: bonkers20
16/07/11 - Phoenix park 5 miler - drivingmisscrazy
17/07/11 - RFL St Albans - Pawsnclaws
17/07/11 - Dundee Half marathon - TheChewyToffeeMum
17/07/11- Chichester (Sprint) Triathlon: DebiTheScot
24/07/11 - Harrogate town centre 10k - DrNortherner
20/08/11 - Frank Duffy 10 mile, Dublin - drivingmisscrazy
03/09/11 - Dingle Half-Marathon - drivingmisscrazy
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon - thetasigmamum
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon- N4nny
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa
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
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
30/10/11 - Great South Run: Wheely, squix
20/11/11 - Leeds Abbey Dash (10k) - DrNortherner
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
27/05/12 - London Bupa 10K - Futurity

Well done Debi (I love the idea of a tri too fanny but I cycle like a brick!)

The weather actually turned out lovely today. It stopped drizzling as we drove to the start and the sun came out about mile 3. Ohh - my DH has just come home with McDonald's for me - back later

To continue...

DH dropped me off at the park. The start was a bit confused as the Local Council had failed to unlock the toilets. Luckily there were plenty of big trees and bushes for people to hide behind.

The first couple of miles were quite muddy and uphill along forest tracks. The tracks were narrow at this point so I found myself running a wee bit faster than I might have chosen. After the trees the route opened up and there was a long gradual downhill which I loved. The next part of the route was through woodland and past streams and ponds. The worst bit was at 10ish miles when we looped down off the main route into a new housing estate and then back up the same street again before a long slow climb. From 11 miles it was downhill in glorious sunshine with views over the Tay to Fife. The finish was a straight section along the grass above the beach.

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of spectators esp at the end. I am really pleased I wore my club vest as several people shouted out encouragement when they saw it.

I had my Nike+ set to show pace throughout and tried to keep my pace below 11min/miles. Instead of telling myself to speed up I told myself to keep my feet turning over quickly.

I finished so much faster than anticipated that DH missed me finishing!

I have been absolutely exhausted since the finish but feeling psychologically fantastic.

just updating list - sorry for indecent haste for today's finishers...added in a 15k in November for me - will bring me to my year's total km (83 raced, same age my dad would have been if he was still alive), and I should sneak this one in before DD2 arrives (due Nov 29)

24/07/11 - Harrogate town centre 10k - Dr Northerner
20/08/11 - Frank Duffy 10 mile, Dublin - drivingmisscrazy
03/09/11 - Dingle Half-Marathon - drivingmisscrazy
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
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 - drivingmisscrazy
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

Well done Chewy and debi - great stuff ! Thanks for the race report Chewy - always a good read. Looking forward to debi's too.

Great you feel able to add another race driving - Glendalough is fantastic (during my Archaeology degree, I did a study tour of early medieval Ireland....)

Managed 10K in the gym today whilst dd1 was at a party there. Felt good, other than the large lunch I had at a friends today... but over the bug and back track.

Hang on driving - are you pregnant???

Great report chewy ..love this bit:

I have been absolutely exhausted since the finish but feeling psychologically fantastic.

fannybanjo - No, I'm not, but my DP is...sorry, I usually drop this in at some point to prevent new arrivals. Shame really, it would explain my woeful times, at least!

ooh, archaeology; no better island (friend of mine used to spend his summers getting stoned excavating on the aptly named High Island - off the West Coast). Will have to do a good bit of hill training, but my one mile progress up Khyber yesterday has given me some confidence for that

peach, don't you have a scan tomorrow? if so, good luck! very exciting...

great report chewy, sounds like a great race. I had to laugh at Dundee City Council making a cock up at the start!

So today started off nice and organised and I got down to Chichester 2 hours before my start time. Had a bit of a hassle trying to get parked as they told us to park in a multi story but I couldn't get in it with my bike on the roof! My friend and her boyfriedn arrived and we got registered in plenty time. Then watched some early swimmers and spoke to a few people to suss out how it all worked. Then we went down to the transition area and sorted out our stuff- I then started panicking as suddently I seemed to have no time and I couldn't decide which of my 3 tshirts to pin my numbers to! I was glad of my box with a lid as the weather was pretty awful- wet and windy.

The way the swim 'waves' worked was that there were about 24 people (4 people in 6 lanes) at a time swimming. We were set off one at a time with the next about 10 seconds behind. I was first in my lane and ended up last! But I really didn't care as I could tell from the clock that my time was fine. (my friend afterwards gave me some tips on how to improve my terrible technique)
We then had to run quite far (well 150m maybe) to get to the bikes and I didn't run that bit fast enough. Then it was shoes and socks on, tshirt on, helmet on and out. Again we had to go quite far before we were allowed on the bike and that transition time was 3mins 5 secs.

The cycle was really good apart from the rain which was either spitting, heavy, pouring or torrential all the way round! Gradual uphill to start with but I could do 15-16mph. It was quite busy though with cars which made it hard to overtake other bikes. At about 6 miles (was meant to be 30km but I was measuring it in miles) there was a reasonably steep long uphill and I overtook 3 people on it doing a mighty 6mph. Then onto a single track road where the rain got heavier and the cycling got fun! A long downhill with a couple of steep bits where I flew past people. I think some of the roadbikers were being cautious on the downhills as the roads were very wet and were a bit gritty too. I felt confident on my wider tyres to go a bit faster (wasn't pushing it, that would have been crazy on that section!). There were some very large, very deep puddles, cars that got stuck behind us as it was too narrow to pass and then we met a milk tanker on a bend! Through this whole section (7-14 miles ish) I was in a group of 4 who all started with me in the swim (we started pretty much in number order). We were swapping places a bit but eventually I decided to push ahead to get out of the spray. And then I never saw them again until the end.
At 18 miles I was getting tired and expecting the end to be in sight but we seemed to be nowhere near Chichester! Eventually the cathedral appeared in view and we came back into the town. But there was another mile of streets and the whole thing was 20.87 miles (33.5 km).

Dumped the bike and started running (transition time 36 seconds). As expected it was hard and I felt a bit sick after the energy drink and 2 dextrose tablets on the bike. I seemed to take a while to get going but didn't walk at all. It was an out and back run and so I passed a lot of people going the other way. Everyone was smiley, especially the people I'd seen before. Coming back I felt pretty good- well apart from the achey legs and being a bit out of breath- and I finished well. I was glad of doing interval training as I felt I still had something in me to push it a bit.

So the swim was 10:47 (beat previous by 1 second) and I am happy with that.
The cycle was 1:22:29 and averaged 15.1mph (previous was 14.5) so I am very happy with that.
The run was 26:35 (previous was 31:30) and I am delighted with that.
So all in all a successful race. And the rain made it funny rather than miserable!

oops that was a bit long, sorry!
And I forgot to add that those 3 people I passed on the bike I beat and 1 of them said to me at the end (after a bike conversation while waiting for the swim) "I tried but I couldn't catch you on the bike, you don't need a road bike" That made me chuffed as she was on a road bike. I do though, then I could go really fast!

Great report debi - Am not sure though if it makes me want to do a tri more or less .

DH is

oops posted that a bit soon..

DH is saying he'll take friday off to make up for saturday - its our wedding anniversary so it'd be nice and then we can go and get my blinking bike. But we'll wait and see.....

just signed up for that Glendalough run - it's slightly alarming when you have to accept terms and conditions that say 'I accept that by entering this event I could die or be seriously injured' !!!

debi that report was great and really does make me want to consider (possibly..one day) get into the whole triathlon thing.

Crikey Driving!!! That is some disclaimer!!!! Yes, got scan tomorrow afternoon. Very intrigued to find out sex and start arguing the toss discussing names. Really hope everything is ok.

Well done Debi, that sounds very dramatic. Must be so satisfying to have improved in all areas!

Loved your race report too Chewy! I keep meaning to copy all these into a doc or something as they are brilliant for inspiration and practical advice. Maybe will start with today's!

Wheely, the dream bike will be yours soon! I did Archaology in 1st year at Uni, but was slightly put off by all the lecturers downplaying how interesting it was. They just keep saying "It's not like Indiana Jones you know!!!!".

Well done Debi and great race reports from you and chewy. More inspirational stuff again.

Chewy Well done! I really enjoyed reading your race report. Your splits show you ran at a beautifully even pace, taking into acount the hills etc.

The scenery sounds really pretty. "long slow climb" [shudder].

Enjoy your rest today.

Now to read Debi's

Debi Wow, I feel like I was RIGHT THERE in the rain with you reading that (I'm actually sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and giving DS2 strawberries so he'll let me MN in peace!).

Was it a sea swim? Did you have a special tri-suit or did you just cycle feeing really wet? nb. I don't know much about tris. You sound proper bold with all your overtaking people in the rain downhill! I bet that felt great, but not as great as overtaking them going uphill! Running after really pushing yourself cycling must be very hard. Jelly legs and all that. How far was the run? 5K? I'd want it to be longer so that I could recover more.

Well done!

Thanks everyone!

bonkers20 I know, I was really surprised at how pleasant the route was as it is basically a tour around the outskirts of some of Dundee's less affluent housing areas.

I am sore all over today - how are you Debi? I really enjoyed your race report - with a bit of swimming technique work and a race bike you could be flying!

Driving I just had a look at the website for the Glendalough Trail - looks lovely! If you get weather like last years race it should be a great day.

I am quite achey today, especially my back. Still feeling pleased with myself esp as I think it's the 1st time I've ever done exercise that intense for over 2 hrs.
It was a pool swim, I'm not brave enough to try open water. I wore tri shorts (cycling shorts but with a bit less padding that dries quicker) and a tight vest top with support then put a tshirt over the top for cycle and run. I need to get a race belt (a strap you clip round your middle) though to put the number on as that gives more flexibility over what to wear.
Yes it was 5k, not sure I could have managed 10!

Oh and bonkers, leaving the pool feeling wet wasn't an issue, I was wetter at the end of the cycle than I was after the pool!

Hi all

Been absent of late. Great to hear all the news of race and triathlons - some great results! Still grinding out the miles here. Managed 12.5 miles on Friday on what was a hot day and really felt it. Did it in about 1 hr 50 mins and was really suffering by the end with the heat. Yoga on Saturday and a hard circuits session yesterday (2 levels of the Shred back to back with quite big weights - phew?)

driving apologies I hope you didn't think o was prying - I truly thought you had an older DD2 who was coming to visit !! Huge congratulations to you and your DP - I have 3 DDs, they're the best!!! You'll be kept busy... Longer runs will be needed to have a break from the mayhem!

That triathlon sounds great... So jealous but I doubt I can fit in learning to swim as well...

Going to do a forest run for first time today - beautiful forest called Delamere not too
Far from me, going to do my recovery run there - anyone have any tips - not ran off road before...