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

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...

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

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.

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.

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

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!

I was planning a run today but was busy early evening then didn't have time before dh went out to play football so did level 2 of shred instead. Blimey that was hard work! I was very sweaty by the end!
Will hopefully get out tomorrow for at least half an hour. Don't mind if I have a lazy week though.
Oh and I'm doing park run on Saturday. A friend announced on fb the other day that she is going to start running and will lose weight. So I told her about park run and she has signed up and has requested I go with her for moral support. So I will and have said I'll stay with her for at least the 1st lap (it's 2 laps) and if she's struggling I'll stay with her for the 2nd too if she wants me to.

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!

thanks science bint

ps, great news about scan, Rhet

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

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

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 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.

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!

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

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 .

how come you are going to be free of the treadmill, Wheely? what speed were you 1ks at?

do you kids break up this week? here they have absurdly long holidays - secondary schools finished at the start of June, primary at the beginning of July. This is an alarming prospect for working parents . Nice for the kids though.

DD2 will start pre-school 3 mornings in September so I will no longer need to put her in a creche and stay on site. So, the great outdoors for me (which isn't quite as exciting as it could be given I live in suburban london).

I will probably keep to 1 session a week on the treadmill until my year's membership runs out - mainly because its an easier way to do intervals and I'll be there anyway for my swimming lessons.

I was running at 12KPH (I think equates to a 5min/km 8 min/mile) - I had gone to 12.5 but have had a few weeks at lower intensity whilst nursing niggles and hoping not to bring them back. but, I found today's run fine so need to up again I think. Mind you, I had a coffee pre-run, that probably helped .

End of term tomorrow, back in the beginning of September. Yours do sound long. 6 weeks is about right I thnk - nice to have a longish break but not too long !!

Had great running club tonight .another speedy 6 miles (for me!).

Am pondering whether to take running stuff with me when I go on holiday in a few weeks . Never have before but don't fancy taking a whole week off. Always get nervous running somewhere I don't know ....but saying that it's not even abroad so hardly scary in that respect,

futurity take your stuff if it's not a baggage allowance issue. I always reckon that I won't train as such on holiday, but generally just try and do a few easy runs - it can be nice to get away on your own for an hour or so and planning routes can be quite fun. But I rather like route-finding and all that kind of thing and often find my paces improve when I'm not quite sure where I am going!

Glad that you are getting some good paces at the moment - my intervals today averaged about a 10m/m over 5 miles which is spectacular for me!

I took my stuff when we went away last year and went out 3 times in 2 weeks. I did enjoy going out for a mystery run although I hoped I wouldn't get too lost as my French isn't very good!

I've just melted my debit card! £3600 on flights to New Zealand for next Easter We've always wanted to go and got some inheritance money about a year ago and have friends out there (who might not stay there forever) so decided to go for it while they are there as otherwise with accomodation too we would never have been able to do it. Very exciting and a bit scary!

Wow, Debi! The pictures they show of NZ on the telly always look so amazing. Those mountains.... I would love to be walking there! I am also a great fan of hot springs!! I hate longhaul flying, but I think one day will get over myself enough to go there. Perhaps when the girls are old enough or have left home!

I always take my running stuff with me on holiday - part of the holiday experience for me! We tend to go to mountainous/walking type places, so have maps anyway for finding routes. A couple of years ago we were staying in the Munstertal in the Black Forest, and it was really really hot. I used to go after the girls went to bed, so tended to be out about 9pm. Those evenings when it had been hot all day, the sun was beginning to set, the beautiful scenery: fabulous running. I certainly didn't care about times, just wanted to be out there! And DP would have a nice Eiswein ready for me when I'd finished (Lucozade - pah!)

Anyway, back to rainy England. I had a nice 45 mins out this morning (which equates to 4.5 miles for me!) in the shiny new shoes. Looking forward to giving them a longer run at the weekend :)

rhet funny to think of Ireland being full of runners... When we first moved there, no one was on the mountains at the weekends, apart from the odd German or Dutch walker. By the end, it was a lot more popular. Clearly Dublin is finally getting outdoorsy! I guess it comes with growing affluence (ignoring the current dip in fortunes...). A whole running shop :)