runners united: the one with the time running with other people

[rhetorician]

all welcome to come and join in - we talk a lot on here, and are always glad of new people to natter with about running (and everything else)

Oh well done Fanny, what a great time, I can't believe you are disappointed! Dodging people is quite difficult and frustrating sounds like you managed it pretty well though.

at all the knobs out. Did DH get a photo of you finishing? I think we need to see it...

I am quite surprised to hear that so many people needed help . Do people not really prepare then for these big big HMs? That doesn't happen often here, perhaps because most of the folk are born with super speedy running genes .

And Backward, that too is an awesome result, well done. You have my total respect in dealing with hills (and loving them ?) AND weather.

SLF and Hamster, how did you get on???

Great report fanny - and well done on sub 2 hrs ! Also shocked at so many getting treatment. We were commenting on the fact that it does look like a difficult event to do a good time in because it looks so crowded all the time. I guess the trade off is having the atmosphere and lots going on to distract you from the distance .

Well done too Backward - sounds like a great race for you !

Wondering how Sticky has got on and the others who have been absent of late (esp. Popsy who used to keep this thread going at one point). Pop in and tell us if you're around !

DrNo - You can already sign up for the reminder service if you haven't seen that yet. IIRC the ballot doesn't open until the new year and one of the papers usually does a pre-ballot ballot for a couple of thousand places and if you don't get lucky with that you get put in the main ballot. Mind you, I have been unsuccessful in both twice.

Loved the race report Fanny, yes difficult to find your stride in such a big race but sounds like the atmosphere, if not the willies, made up for it!!!!

Almost all the people I have ever seen flat out being helped by St Johns etc at races have been men, and youngish men at that. I wonder if they sometimes push themselves too hard, rather than adapting to conditions and end up in trouble. When I did the Reading half 2 years ago there were a group of boys in my pen and they were all hungover and I was thinking, you are mental!!!

Hurrah for your PB possum, sounds like you ran a great race, well done!!!

Got an email from the guy organising the Caballo Blanco talk tomorrow eve and he was saying CB is keen to go for a run in Hyde Park while he's here and said we could join him!!! Really wish I was running just now as I would do it if I could, although I would be eating his dust!!!! Quite excited to see what he has to say and see all the crazy runners at the talk!

Peachy you are going to a Caballo Blanco talk? Wow, the real Caballo Blanco? I thought he was supposed to be a huge recluse? Also, in my mind's eye he's about 110 years old.

I should think going for a run around Hyde Park is probably his idea of hell.

Wheely, I too was thinking of Popsy. Come back Popsy it's been too long. Probably about time we organised another Great MN Marathon?

Is it really Caballo Blanco? When I read the book I almost wondered if he was fictional!

I'm not shocked any more by the bare bums and knobs on display at races, though when I did the Brighton marathon I thought it was a bit much that there were people squatting down for God-knows-what literally half a mile into the race. They were literally two minutes away from the porta loos!

Great results everyone, well done. My friend has done every GNR in the last 10 years save one when she was giving birth (!) so I've said I'll try and join her next year. Maybe we could try for a mass mn GNR for charity - ideas for a silly costume theme anyone?!

I'm still suffering badly from my chesty snotty cough. Only three weeks today to the Chester marathon. I've missed out a 10 mile run and a 14 mile run over the past few days and am starting to get a creeping sense of doom over the whole thing ......

Well done Fanny fantastic time considering the overcrowding - I feel I have nothing to add to the comprehensive race report! Yes, I have seen a lot of willies today...

So rhet and futurity - game on. You know how I wanted a sub 2:15? I did it in 2:14.29 according to the text from the GNR. Didn't leave much to spare! It was tricky with all the walkers. It's hard to judge - I had someone just in front of me who was the 2hr pace maker, but then a lot of the people around me started walking at 3 miles

I am so sleepy! Hardly slept last night with the excitement

Haha master I do a lot of hill training - I don't really have much choice where I live. I love hills in the sense that I don't tend to slow down on them, so I often catch up with other runners on them :)

Well done sticky! Enjoy your well deserved rest!

Well done sticky ! Fantastic getting your sub 2.15 however close - sub 2.15 is sub 2.15. Enjoy your sleep !!

Reeeeesult! Sticky, well done, you did it! You must be very proud, and tired!!!!

Yup paws, and master, t'is Micah True, THE Caballo Blanco! Of course, as he is very reclusive/elusive they could trot out any dude and we'd never know. Ha ha. Yeah master, I bet they asked where people ran in London, and everyone said Hyde Park. Am sure if he runs there he'll be . The Copper Canyons it ain't!!

Sticky that is brilliant, well done you!

Backwards, it's all about the hills here too I am mentally (failing miserably) trying to convince myself that I am actually quite good at hills.

Don't you think it might be quite chilly for the old Caballo too? I suspect the challenge of running round Hyde Park for him will be avoiding all the pushchairs, not many of those around the copper canyons either.

sticky and fanny - whoop, whoop! (am doing lots of whooping this weekend - rugby, then the Dubs won by a point with the last kick of the match, and now you guys)

possum well done too on your pb - great stuff. Really raising the bar here!

I must confess that I was looking out for a woman with a fanny on her head when DD and I took at look at the finishers on tv at lunchtime - and I should also confess (if that's the right word) that sticky and I have actually met a few times - her DP worked with me a few years back, so I know what she looks like...

Game on indeed! except that I am not down for another half this year - just don't have the time to train, but definitely going for one next year, probably about this time of the year.

Friend of mine's step daughter did junior GNR in 29 mins - got a medal!

Well done possom on getting new pb.
Well done too sticky. Fantastic time too.
Hope Mo Farah washed his hands throughly after high five -ing all those people as it sounds so many them had thier knobs out .
Great report fanny, think its normal to feel a bit disappointed after there has been such a big build up and planning then its over. But you and sticky did amazing.
paws hope you feeling better soon, im sure you will be fine getting back on track
Well first night of dn staying. Just put him to bed and its all quiet, he in the same room as my boys who have been given strict instructions to show him how big boys go to bed. Sil is up and down to him normally till about 11pm, so see how it goes.

of course, I already have a half marathon pb of under 2:15...2:12 (with toilet stop!), but back in 2008, so I am really keen to get back to that level in 2012. I'm really looking forward to the New Year thread when we can set out our goals for 2012 (and peach you can start running again in 2012!)

I was looking out for a woman with fanny on her head to Rhet. Well done for friends step daughter. How far is the junior one?

4k - she's about 10, I think. Star of the future? she is v. skinny and lithe and looks like a runner

Well done sticky ! Great time!

Oh dear..does that mean I am the only one left of the "we will get sub 2 hour 15min this year club" to do a half this year? Hope I can live up to that as getting a bit nervous despite still having a few weeks to go!

futurity I think you'll be fine, you've been doing some great times lately

Thanks Rhet I think it is in me...would of done it last time (or got close anyway) if I hasn't of fallen apart at 11 miles..that's why this time I am training up to 13 miles just in case!

futurity I think it made all the difference to me that I'd trained properly this year (last years when i was working I could really only fit in 5ks during the week and a LSR at the weekend). I had been running quite slowly, but got my second wind and I think that was all the added fitness. Plus the blessed rain - up to 6 miles I was seriously overheating! So sure you have it in you given the times you've been doing.

Well done your friend's stepdaughter rhet! DD1 is very anxious to do the mini one next year. And of course you'll do 2:12 and better again. Bloody hell, I passed an octogenarian today (glad I did pass him ): he's an example to us all of how you can keep on keeping on running!

Brilliant Fanny and sticky. Well done to both of you I've watched most of it now (lots on x12 speed) and my thoughts were:

1. That girl that won was unbelievably fast.
2. Clitheroe and Pavey were also fab
3. The winner of the wheelchair race clocked 50mph the day before in the tunnel race! (whatever that is) The adrenaline rush from that must have been awesome.
4. Mo Farah must have very sore arms.
5. I can't believe how long it took some people to get to the start.
6. I can't believe people were walking over the Tyne Bridge, that was near the start wasn't it?
7. The presenters mentioned a few times that a lot of people don't prepare properly for it and I was getting annoyed with those people. I want people to say "Wow" when I say I'm doing a HM (assuming I enter one), not "oh yeah my mate did one last week while he was still drunk and he'd never run before"

Well done possum on a pb too. Especially in the wind.

Yes the man that passed me was on a bike, doh I should have said that.

Updating the race list after finally entering the races I said I would do.

18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa, SLF, Fannybanjo
18/09/11 - 10k: Tulip27
18/09/11 - Buckie 10k: backwardpossom
24/09/11 - Nairn Triathlon: backwardpossom (eeeeek!)
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, Tulip27
25/09/11 - Runway Run 10k: Ibbydibby
02/10/11 - Standalone 10K: Futurity, Quenelle
02/10/11 - Bradford Half Marathon - MrsWednesday
02/10/11 - Baxter's River Ness 10k - backwardpossom
02/10/11 - The Run, Northampton - YeahThatsTheBadger
02/10/11 - Great Edinburgh Run 10k -
02/10/11 - Big Fun Run 5k London Victoria Park - Wiifitmama
02/10/11- Camberley 10k- DebitheScot
09/10/11 - Great Eastern Run, Peterborough - Futurity
09/10/11 - Herts 10k - WishIwasCherryMenlove
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
16/10/11 - Aviemore 10K: Piffpaffpoff
22/10/11 - Shockabsorber 10K Richmond Park - sfx
23/10/11- Thruxton Mass Attack Duathlon- DebitheScot
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
13/11/11 - Stebbing 10 Mile - bonkers20
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, MoshiMoshi
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
22/04/12 - VLM: MoshiMoshi, ibbydibby
27/05/12 - London Bupa 10K - Futurity

Thanks everyone! I'm on a post race downer now! I loved it more than a cold glass of wine on a summer evening and that's pretty hard to beat. . It's kind of a weird feeling isn't it, all these people and it takes half the time to run (in your head) as you are carried along with all the euphoria of it. Fabulous. Just bloody fabulous. Ladies will I enjoy all future races the same?

STICKY!!!!! Bloody well done kid!!! You did what you set out to do! Great time. Same time, same place next year hey...?! Errrr race report please Mrs, want all the details. I want to do it again ASAP - do you?

Hahaha at fanny on head - I tell you, it looked like I did come the end - what with the rain, my hair resembled bleached pubes.

Am aching like an overworked donkey on
Blackpool Beach but so worth it.

Wow, congratulations ladies! Those are some amazing runs. I can't imagine running for two hours!

Today I ran 5.5 km in 40 mins

200 posts in 3 days, this must be a thread PB, surely?