Runners United: the one where we talk about running, life, the universe and everything inbetween

[Pawsnclaws]

New thread everyone!

Rest for me today - just six days to go and I've woken with a sore throat .....

Cherry that is so cool posting from the pen. Good luck!

Fanny, yes sub 2 hours for a HM, wish it were for a marathon . PB is 2.04. I've been reading Kenya Runner magazine. It's not good for your motivation. HM speed walking guy is faster than my 10k time.

I fucking did it! Well, it was only a 10k on my own, but it was still a good mantra. I picked a hilly route in readiness for next week, and did it in 58.37, so was pleased. There was so much smiling and inner giggling, thinking of the daft convo last night Thanks!!

When I got back to my gate, one of the ladies from up the road was there wanting to know would I like to train with the local tri club. Apparently they need more women... the thought of me doing tri . Suffice to say, I'm not a bike person. DP laughed like a drain...

Will be back this evening with a cuppa to hear about all the racing!

Ok so I exaggerated a tiny bit, but Grace Njue can do a 20k walk in 1:28. Oh and World Champion Linet Masai only weighs 49kg. I'm hoping the next issue has a section of top tips for slow, veteran foreign runners. Paula R is about to come to Iten in Kenya for some pre-Olympics high altitude training. I've run in Iten, it just about killed me.

Well done sticky you'll knock a couple of mins off that pre-race run in your race next week!!

master how hard is it to run by you and does it take long to acclimatise? at the Kenyan walker's times!!

Fanny we are at 5,500 ft, here at home. Sometimes when I walk quickly up two flights of stairs at work I am out of breath!

Sticky great time. Next week should be even faster.

master what does it feel like to run at high altitude? Is it hard to breathe?

you know with the posts from the pen the next level must be livecasting, sound to type software to appear on the board as you go along

anyway as you were

Mmm there might be more oxygen in the air when it's raining but it's not much use to you when bonded to 2 hydrogens.

Going for a cycle in a min. Not feeling very motivated this weekend to do much.

HAHA "let's fucking do this" is a brilliant title :D

Well done sticky, maybe you should give tri a go, you never know you might like it . I love the friendly atmosphere at races, I met a woman today who hadn't done a 10k for 8 years and beat her pb by around 2 minutes, she was well pleased.

Today's race was very small, maybe 100 of us, I think the bad weather this morning put some people off!!! It stopped raining just as I got there.
The race was really good fun and well organised.

I got there early enough to park right by the complex, didn't have to queue up to register or for the toilet.
Because I got there early and it was a small race it was a little bit boring hanging around waiting for 9:30 warm-up, which only started at 9:45 (I was starting to get worried it had been cancelled and started warming up on my own. Other people looked really chilled, I think I take these things too seriously! :D

This is pure speculation but because they had hyped up the warm up "lead by a fitness professional" it kinda felt like that person did not turn up and that the organiser took to the "stage" (there was no stage as such :)) and did a 1990's aerobic warm up to "S-Express" which was a little bit ridiculous and fun, very dynamic kinda lady. Then she said "OK guys, I'll be back in a minute, listen out for the horn". Next thing you know someone is counting down in a mike "8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2...HORN" and we were all kinda looking at eachother "is that it then, are we going??" We were still in the complex so the first bit was really funny, a bunch of bemused looking people sort of walking/running/wondering where they should be headed .

We ran on pavement, through a lovely wood/park, through a muddy slippery and hilly field (argh, at km 6 as well, the longest one for me I think), back on hilly pavement and home stretch. I did it in 52 minutes, what with the walking at the start and me not being able to switch off my runkeeper a the end because I'd had a text I think this would have probably been a PB of 51 and a bit but without seeing it in writing (there were no chips) then it doesn't count, nevermind, next time ;)
Still I'm really really happy with my time, as always I was anxiously wondering if I could maintain my 5k pace for 10k and I always start the race thinking "Why the hell did I sign up for this?"

I love races, puts me on such a high.

Right, what's next .

oh, Goody bag report: salt and vinegar crisps, a HUGE hard rock cafe t-shirt (? :D) a squishy thing that looks like a euro coin and is supposed to be a stress ball, a pen, a little toy flatpack foam plane that you put together yourself and some literature which I have not had a look at. Pretty random but lovely nonetheless. They were also giving away flavoured water and a cute little medal. It was kids who were giving these out to runners who just finished, it was cute :D

Catching up with the thread with a cuppa sounds like exactly what I need to do right now :D

oh and I found out today that I am a spitter too!!!

Had an ace off-road 10k this morning! I was filthy when I got in (as some of you maybe saw on Facebook!) Up to my knees in mud at one point! Trainers went in the washing machine - am going to Glasgow tomorrow for a few days, so hoping to make it to a running shop to get some new trainers! :) The run was fab, but very hilly. I downloaded the run from my Garmin and the elevation is impressive!

Well done to our runners this weekend - will hopefully catch up properly later! :)

Goodybag update, there are in fact two pencils and not a pen, and a mini twix.
The tshirt is a 2010 hard rock cafe t shirt with details of a hyde park race I think .

Managed to catch up with your shenanigans on the thread last night, just LOL LOL LOL (either you guys are really really funny or these races really do get me high!!!)

June excellent race report - at the start, that would be a bit disconcerting - and wow at your time! That's so good, well done! Love the model aeroplane - very weird...

I've been doing some naughty amazon surfing (I'm meant to be saving money, not spending it. Just been getting a new Mac cos this one's so shite and old (tho I love it still)) - anyway, to the point - had you all noticed there's 20% off all clothes at Amazon? I'd seen that and discounted it because I thought it meant boring clothes, but it also means lovely running clothes and trainers...

I'm hovering over New Balance trail runners, come to £42 with the discount...

oh, I'm glad I saw you backwardpossom - I never said thank you for the link to the plans. Unfortunately I couldn't open them (see old shite Mac reference above) and then I forgot about it... But do appreciate you going to find them. I will try again with new and shiny Mac once it's arrived

Ooh at your new Mac, sticky. Mine is over 4 years old now and it does still run well, but would love a new one. We're talking about replacing it in April, but (stroppy teenager voice) I want one now!!!

I'll PM you another link - I've uploaded it to my Flickr...

sticky you have reminded me that for some reason DD calls the computer the 'compucumber' . Was looking at stuff on decathlon - very cheap.

Well I slogged out my 18km in about 1h 50 which I was quite pleased with - there was a bit of 'you can do this' and lots of singing of counting songs, which helped. I redeployed all the expletives that I used to use in real life but have to store up on account of having a toddler who will repeat them...it was quite fun. Also which pace settings do you garmin users use? I had been using average pace, but actually current pace is better for keeping on target and running steady. So I have concluded that I need to run my shorter (

I reckon she'll just 'get it' one day, rhet - DS just suddenly stopped having accidents one day. :) And yes, I use current pace on the Garmin.

Quick pop in to say I made it..2 hr 16 watch time. I can report no knob sightings (men weeing!) and I did say to myself at 8 mile "let's fucking do this" and then looked like this

Run was fine..afterwards not so much ..got my normal runners bottom (fine..am uses to that) but the retched a few times into a friends toilet...yuk! Think I was in shock and cold..felt better with fleece around me. Must sort out my bowel as it isn't much fun!

Time is PB by 6 mins (go me!) so am chuffed hope everyone else did well..will catch up later x

Well done futurity!

Chip time - 2hrs 17min and 1 second! Think my Garmin lost signal in underpasses!
Splits:
1 10:13.5 1.00 10:13.6
2 10:27.2 1.00 10:27.4
3 10:29.7 1.00 10:29.8
4 10:16.4 1.00 10:16.5
5 10:12.2 1.00 10:12.3
6 10:32.6 1.00 10:32.8
7 10:27.8 1.00 10:27.9
8 10:06.6 1.00 10:06.7
9 10:24.9 1.00 10:25.0
10 10:38.2 1.00 10:38.3
11 10:40.0 1.00 10:40.2
12 10:29.0 1.00 10:29.1
13 10:38.0 1.00 10:38.1
14 1:10.4 0.12 10:00.0

Guess which mile I did the "let's fucking do this" as it obviously worked! :)

Well done june and futurity.

Almost succeeded in enjoying the Eden Project Haf-Marathon today: time (watch; don't have chip time yet) was 2hr03. Am thrilled with my time as would have been happy with 2:15. Here are my splits:

Miles 1&2: 17:25:68 (8:13 average)
Mile 3: 8:15
Mile 4: 10:18
Mile 5: 10:12
Mile 6: 10:12
Mile 7: 9:21
Mile 8: 9:59
Mile 9: 9:15
Mile 10:10:14
Mile 11: 8:40
Mile 12: 10:35
Mile 13: 7:47
Mile 13.1: 51secs

I missed the first milemarker but the first mile was downhill, as was the 13th mile (hence the incredible time). The rest was a mixture of long slow slogs uphill, then mixed up and down. The weather was persisent blowing drizzle, which was a pity as it would otherwise be a totally BEAUTIFUL route. Went through a couple of villages where locals were cheering, but otherwise crowd support limited to the wonderful downhill finish into Eden. Rather muddy thanks to the rain, and some sections were VERY tight, almost single file. They didn't split us according to projected finish time, which I think might have helped congestion a bit. But it was all very good natured - no-one was out for a PB (I don't think) thanks to the tricky course. Great mutual runner support (which is why my Mile 11 was so much faster, I think!).

Race organistaion: very good; although sheer volume of people trying to park and get the park and ride down to the project caused a 10-min start delay. Lots of distance (and slope!) between bag drop/start/finish due to the layout of the place. What was fantastic was that all supporters got free entry to the project for the day, and runners get a year's free membership. So there were TONS of people (maybe 2500 runners, each with about 4 supporters). Goodies were T-shirt, medal, magazines, sports drink, a gel and a free pint and a pasty! Nice touch but I so didn't want a pint OR a pasty and my other half didn't fancy the queue to claim mine! Sweated around the Project afterwards with the kids feeling more and more headachey then drove home. There were loads of things going on for the families: face-painting, medal-making etc etc; the night before there was a 'Pasta Party' and a kids fun run but we're a bit far away for that.

Am seriously considering doing the marathon there next year as it is such a stunning place and I can't be unlucky with the weather two years running, can I?! Has given me renewed courage as I got a good time with pretty rubbish training - onto the next!!!

Hope everyone else had great runs today, races or training. Its such a great hobby.... x

Really well done on the pb futuriry and on the probable pb june . Great time too running . Great race reports - love reading them ! Hope you're feeling less sick futuriry

So (esp you teachers) do you think its ok to go to dd1s parent/teacher meeting tomorrow in running gear (pre run not stinky). It's at 10 am and I have to pick up dd2 at 1215 and need to fit in a run. It's a bog standard yr 2 chat and dh will be there suited and booted.

Sorry for misspelling your name futurity my phone changed it for some reason !

Hi all,
Thanks for your wishes of good luck. After my update in the pen, I did think of doing updates all the way round my 10k race as I was listening to music on the iphone, but sort of forgot - maybe another time?

Well done all the other racers/Sunday runners today.

Anyway, it was a mixed bag on my race. I was completely fine until about 6k, didn't really notice the distance markers, but then came a very long 1.5k hill which I think did me in. After that I found it very hard going. Not in the least because of having horrendous period pains ( bad timing or what?)

I just really take my hat off to anyone that does half marathons/marathons, I don't know how you do it. I did my race in 1 hr 11mins. Really annoyed with myself that I had to do a few walks at the end, and I just feel frustrated that I am not better than I am. On the plus side, DP achieved a new PB of 42 mins and came 73rd out of a field of 2000.

I think I maybe do set too high standards for myself and I should feel pleased with myself for completing the 10k (and to be honest it doesn't help living with DP who has now entered Ironman Wales for next year), but just fed up of being slow and having no endurance.

Feeling thoroughly cross as we came home to find PILs who had been babysitting, had managed to set fire to our kitchen. FIL is getting on a bit in age, and tried to make a cup of tea, but we have one of those kettles which looks like an old fashioned one you would boil on the stove but it's electric ... anyway, he got confused and put it on the gas hob

Sorry for being a grumpalump :( Having cake and now.

June great race report, well done! Sounds like a great goodie bag. Sal and Vinegar crisps. Yum. Agree the model aeroplane is rather random! I take races too seriously too, think it's cause we are pretty new to the racing game, am sure with experience we will chill more. And a fellow spitter?! Yay!!!

Rhet 18K? Wow. I know you give yourself a hard time pace wise but yuo run rings round most of us distance wise. You rock Am sure dd will get the gist of potty training eventually? Perhaps she is not quite ready if she is resisting? Also, having just 1 have no experience of sibling rivalry but regression is common I think when baby arrives.

futurity great time there and fab splits. Good to see the thread mantra is keeping us going out there girls (talking of girls where is cest these days?)

runningallday well done to you too, great time again. Considering the marathon? Wow. Would it be your first? I will do one one day just don't quite feel ready yet......

I think fannys problematic kid issue has some how made it's way to NYorks. Ds has been a pain in fucking arse all day. Cocky, arsey, sullen and unappreciative. Kids hey, who'd have em? By 4pm this afternoon I needed a run but didn't have much time, managed 5k with the dog in the pissing rain and did yell 'let's fucking do this' twice at which point the dog looked at me like this I felt much better when I got home an polished off half a box of Quality Street!