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)

just updating list - my race fell off

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
15/10/11 - Donadea Forest Trail 10k - rhetorician
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

I really must go to bed before I collapse head first on the lap top (been doing an internet supermarket order because I can't face having to do it in person tomorrow!)

Fanny so lovely to hear you had a good time. It is the most brilliant thing, isn't it? And yes, you'll get an email saying you can book for the next 3 years because you completed this one. It's not cheap - I think I paid £84 from memory, but I thought it was totally worth it. So yes, I'll be there next year. Going for sub 2 hours (according to my Dad who clearly lives in cloud cuckooland, but you've gotta love his confidence in me :)).

Now I really am going to bed. In my jarmies already so all I have to do is go up the stairs. Wtf didn't we buy a bungalow

Except I forgot to say again well done possum on your PB, sounds like you had a really good race. What a day :)

Well done GNR folk. Great race report fanny, fantastic time and well done you for still having the strength to help other people afterwards! Yes, you will get the same buzz on every other race (well at least i do...) Well done sticky as well - you must be well chuffed beating your target time!

peaches can't believe that the guy is doing a talk tomorrow night in London... Only a couple of tube stops from where I work as well! Do you know any of the details? Would love to run with him but I think my well cushioned Brookes may not quite be his cup of tea

Oops sorry meant to say fantastic race too possum. PB and sounds like you enjoyed it!

ok, 10k felt awful but results just out and my time was 59.30 so I just got under the hour. So my plan for next w/e HM is spinning tomorrow night for an hour with half hour sprints on the treadmill and wed another half hour of run/sprints and half hour on the spin bike.
Do you think that will be ok after this w/e 10k?

cest, have PMd you the details from the email. Go on!!! I don't he's the judgemental type, am sure you can keep your Brooks on!!

possum can't remember (in my GNR drug induced haze...) whether I said well done on your 10k PB!

peach how you feeling - you getting big? I agree, it was ALL men in bad states - saw a few women getting treatment for knees etc but the serious problems were youngish men. Too competitive.

Dr No your SIL did brilliantly! Was she in Orange zone? Bet you she is chuffed to bits with her time.

tulip well done on getting under the hour - you never know, you may surprise yourself on the HM and feel better than you think you will. Fingers crossed.

sticky Really? They give you the option to do the next 3 years!? I cannot wait - will be the highlight of my year... If we both enter next year, we MUST meet at the start somewhere - maybe by the Banana Ice Cream man! How you feeling today?

Can't remember who mentioned me putting a photo on but unfortunately DH and DD1 (who were right at the finish line, same side I was running ) missed me! Gutted! I will see if any official photos come out... Have a couple from the start.

I am a keystroke away from entering the Birmingham HM on 23 October - BUPA have taken it over, heard last years was awful as people had to QUEUE(!) to get over the finish line and they have said they will change this. Will do a little bit of reviewing of it first on Runners World then make my decision later. I have asked a friend to do it with me, however will do it alone if she doesn't want to.

Exhausted today, had huge plate of Fish, Chips, Peas and Curry from Chippy last night with two Corona's. Probably didn't help! Ankles feel sore and obviously muscles are aching. Watched it on playback last night, heard presenter saying that everyone's Garmins etc were saying the route is over 13.2. miles. Mine said 13.23 and time was 1.56.54. Pretty chuffed looking at that on my Garmin today. It may sound daft but I was a lazy teenager, sport and academically and I always copped out of everything for fear of failure. This is the first thing I have ever put proper effort into completing. I do feel quite proud of myself.

Well done, tulip, possum and sticky - great times. Fanny sounds like you had a good feed last night! Hope you do the Birmingham, you are already there with the training, and it is something to keep you going (unlike me - did London Marathon in 2007, went on one run in May 2007 and then did nothing for the next year....

Re HMs and people needing First Aid etc, think that there is a tendency for some people to go into a HM with inadequate training, hence injuries/collapse etc. With a full marathon, as it is obviously a longer distance, people are more rigourous about their training. When I did London M in 2007, was boiling hot (think temp reached 26 in afternoon), I had only got to mile 4 when I saw a young bloke strapped on to a stretcher, swathed in blankets, oxygen mask on etc etc. Horrible for him, suspect he had set off too fast. Was a big frightener for me, and made me realise that my priority was to get round safely, never mind the time.

My Garmin has arrived! Off out now, then have to do teleconference thing for work, so not sure when I will get a chance to explore it (and use it!)

Am delighted to see that fanny and sticky exceeded expectations and achieved amazing PBs at the GNR! Well done, laydees! [need running emoticon here!]

Also, huge well done to possum on your 10K. I find these shorter distances worse in a way as there is more pain and more scope to mess up the race as any minor error is magnified greater.

For those who have not got any races in the calendar, I cannot recommend highly enough getting some dates in your diary. Not only will it give you a focus in your training, but it will give you a huge mental boost (as fanny can attest!) to know that you are strong enough to motivate yourself to achieve a goal you set yourself. After that, the sky is the limit. The only limitations are really those which we set upon ourselves and running makes me realise this every day. Push the boundaries, friends, and find how far you can explore! This is a great lesson in life and running has always served as a great way to remind myself of how to live my life. It's brilliant (sigh).

blimey the whole thread has been overtaken by a runner's high! brilliant stuff. I think my bike cardio (aka my commute under time constraints) will benefit my running - just did 4 miles easy pace - the last mile fastish, but my easy pace felt much easier than before. I had a full day off any exercise yesterday (mostly because wrecked from poor sleep) which probably helped.

DP has started her college course today - poor love, she is very nervous and I think feels a bit self-conscious about her large bump! I hope it goes well - she is so smart and I am so proud of her for doing this. DD said to me this morning 'I will have to be a very big girl to go to college, won't I?' - 'yes, my love, and I will need a very large bank loan...'

loved my run this morning - want to go out and do it all over again. Alas, I have to get ready and go to work. Bastards.

Ibby I agree re training for HM and especially with GNR (as it's more an "event" than a race really) - people just have no idea how much training is needed to complete it in one piece. Problem with GNR is first 3 miles piss easy then it's steadily uphill all the rest - 9 miles is a killer so it's actually not an easy course. I was so glad I live and trained in a hilly area as it stood me in good stead. As they say, you have to respect the miles.

Moshi thanks! I now have a time to work on - I am going to go hardcore training now and get some races in - 5k and 10k also. My aims are a

fanny lots and lots of miles. Some of them fast. That's it, really.

My much more modest (age-adjusted, ha ha) goals are:

Thanks peaches will see if I can get out of work early and go along!

Great goals fanny - sub 1.45 HM is also my current target. rhet you're sounding more and more tempted by a full marathon all the time...!

rhet hope your DP does ok and told you you'd love your run after the break - it's so exhilarating getting back out. Yep, not rocket science is it - miles in, speed up. To be fair, I only was putting in 25-30 miles a week training for GNR so if I up that to 40+ then I'm sure I'll see big difference. Need to search out a 6 week booster training plan if I'm going to do Birmingham half and beat GNR time. My friend said she'll do it with me - her HM PB is 1hr49m so good runner to do it with.

Am good thanks fanny, have just realised am due 8 weeks on Friday. I flipping knew this last bit was going to start going fast. Must mentally prepare for having 2 children.....

Well done to your DP for starting college course Rhet, how does it fit in with DD2 etc, is it a correspondance thing?

Cest, cool. If you make it, and you see me there, give me a shout! I will take a wild guess that I will be the only one with a huge bump!!!

Cest we'll have to see if we fulfil our ambitions!! I'm determined to!

My friend's DH ran a 1hr20m a few years back in the GNR and he said that once I've done this I'll turn from a runner to a racer as I'll just get the bug. So true. I'm so excited to have stepped up a gear and finally found the guts to do it.

rhet I too have a dream of doing Marathon but something stops me. I just cannot imagine running that far but we'll see. What marathon would you enter?

Fanny you've got the bit between your teeth now!

I've just been looking at the website, and my time's been revised to 2:14.03. Hooray!

A small race report: Didn't start the day well - couldn't get to sleep, then some stupid eejit phoned at 3am wanting a taxi and at 4am I developed the galloping quickshits... so by 6.30am I felt like I'd been up all night! Then the bloody train was an hour late (but they were resurfacing the road outside our house so the road was shut). Starting to feel like everything was conspiring against me...

But there was so much banter and good humour on the way up. My mate was miles down the pens (even further than me!) so wished each other good luck and went and did the mad warming up routine with a load of giggly strangers. It's the oddest feeling - and must be such a power trip for the guy that does it - 54,000 people waving their arms in the air because you told them to!

Then the race itself - it got hotter and hotter up to the 6 mile mark and although I started OK (it's always a euphoric moment going across the Tyne Bridge) I was beginning to flag. Then a light rain shower sorted me out and I got back on track. After that it was fine - even the really quite heavy rain shower that came at about 9 miles for me wasn't a problem, I was feeling great. My normal nadir of running uphill through South Shields wasn't a problem either, which made me feel good. Once I had gone past the 10 mile marker and knew that I had more than 30 minutes to finish the race before 2.15 (I had set the ipod to 2.15 because of not having a garmin) I felt really confident and happy.

So I guess what they say about the night before the night before the race being the important one for sleep is true :)

Back to earth with a bump this morning tho - sodding washing machine decided to flood the kitchen floor. Just what I didn't need, especially given the kit I was in yesterday is super stinky (thank god I was born in a time when deodorant was invented, or I'd have no friends!).

I'm just reporting back from the GNR too !

Had a really really good day and achieved my Pb of 2.20.17 which I'm really pleased with (although I'm not in the league of some of you I know my old legs couldn't ever get me round in those amazing times ... Well done !)

I haven't seen any of the coverage on tv but its always a good event to cover. When the red arrows flew over I was choking back the tears a bit.

It was really hot at the start for a few miles and then the heavens opened up half way around which was really welcome and then it was it was a fabulous ending, just coming up over the last hill and seeing the sea in front of you was a fabulous sight, but golly that last 800m seems to go on and on . I crossed the line and watched the red arrows doing their display. Fab.

When I've done it in the past there has always been someone there at the end to cheer me on, but it wasn't possible this year sadly, but the support from the crowd all along the 13 miles was just wonderful, just normal people are lining up to hand out lollies, baby wipes and oranges. It makes you proud to be a Geordie.

I feel really good today, I'm sat on the sofa taking it really easy and just nursing a big blister on my big toe debating whether of not to pop it. What do you think ?

Moshi- I see we are both on for the new forest HM. Have you done it before? This will be my first.

Well done everyone on their amazing times. This thread is so inspiring.

Moshi- just seen your down for the Abingdon marathon too, wow!

Great report sticky

My goals are similar to yours I think Rhet although I will try this year for the 2 hour 15 half and if I get that will got for 2 10.

Also tempted by marathon..even if I don't get London but will wait until ballot results until I decide/commit to anything. Was convinced that if I didnt get a place that I would investigate triathlons but now I am not sure. There seems to be alot of cost involved with them and I am not sure if my second hand £200 road bike would look out of place/silly in an event!

Well done Runforfun! It is amazing how the people turn out to watch, especially when it was pissing down yesterday - I think that's why it's so emotional.

FWIW my rule is never pop a blister. I favour soaking them (in a hot bubbly bath ideally!) and then letting them turn into callous. Callous is great - can't understand why people actually pay to let those little fishies eat it

Has anyone else's Mumnet screen changed entirely?

Ok it's official, I cannot keep up with you people! You post faster than you run!!

Fanny Sticky massive congrats on your race times! Great reports. It's such a fantastic race. I'm so envious of you both!

My running is currently in competition with a kitchen demolition/refurb that's going on at home. Dh practically ground his teeth into powder on Saturday when I announced I was heading out to do 8. Ended up compromsing on 5.

So hard to keep going with life/family/work is constantly stacked against one.

le sigh

Hey Rhet how about those Dubs? What a match! And the rugby, what a fab sporting weekend.

Great time and report runforfun and good for you doing it by yourself with no support as it were. Ouch at the blister though..I normally pop and let it leak (yuk) but I know that is wrong!