Runners United - Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

[MoshiMoshi]

All ye fine runners who wish to get together to discuss running-related topics, or otherwise, come and join us here. We are a friendly and incredibly supportive group of runners, varying in ability, but all bonded together by a common theme of loving running, committed to squeezing it into our busy lives and wanting to improve our own PBs. So whether you are a full-time mum, part-time working mum, full-time working mum, working from home mum, mum who is studying, or even a dad , add your race to the list so you can be sure of some moral support and advice along the way. And if you aren't racing, don't worry as you can enjoy the race reports and race vicariously.

03/12/11 - Jingle Bells 5k Phoenix Park - rhetorician
11/12/11 - Stockport 10 (mealworm one) -orangehead
01/01/11 - Morpeth 11k Road Race - AngeChica
07/01/12 - Bupa Great Winter Run 5k Holyrood park - bumply
08/01/12 - Southwest Road Runners First Chance 10k - RunningAllDay
22/01/12 - Four Villages Half Marathon (Helsby) - Fannybanjo
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
04/03/12 - Milton Keynes Half Marathon - pawsnclaws
04/03/12 - Duchy Marathon - RunningAllDay
10/03/12 - Blackpool Half Marathon - DrNortherner, Fannybanjo
11/03/12 - Cambridge Half Marathon - Futurity, Runnerstipple, Cherry (what have I done??), Bonkers20
25/03/12 - Edale Skyline - (21 miles. 4,500 ft climb) Hatwoman
25/03/12 - Fleet Half Marathon- DebitheScot
25/03/11 - Run Northumberland HM - AngeChica
31/03/12 - Olympic Park Run - wiifitmama, runerstipple
01/04/12 - Reading Half-Marathon - RunningAllDay, Tulip27
15/04/12 - Cambourne 10K - Futurity
22/04/12 - VLM: ibbydibby, AngeChica
28&29/04/12 - Wye Forest 50 (miles!) - RunningAllDay
29/04/12 - Shakespeare Half Marathon - FairyBasslet
27/05/12 - London Bupa 10K - Futurity
09/06/12 - Blenheim Sprint Triathlon - Cherry
29/06/12 - San Francisco Marathon - MoshiMoshi

I don't believe those autocorrects are true on that website although they are funny!

Your not you're is the most annoying one to me because I bloody know the difference. It's just done it in rhet you're training should be your

I'm always on here while doing other things (hoovering, cooking etc) so I don't proof read. Really should!

No I don't believe them either, but they made me laugh!

I just accidentally reported a completely harmless post because of my fat fingers careless typing, the poor poster is going to be scratching their head wondering why. Am such a plank sometimes.

Haha ive done that on the app!

Hmmm a tip from moi... If you run out of dishwasher tablets DON'T use fairy washing up liquid in your dishwasher ...

Ha ha fanny, was it an Ibiza foam party in there?

Go rhet!!! ace result, looking forward to the details!

peach dishwasher sounds very poorly. . I've taken a photo and sent it my friends. They're used to such dickhead behaviour.

wheely, oh that takes the bloody biscuit!!! How annoying. Amnot surprisedDH used Costa as a flak jacket!!!

Well done rhet, that baby can come now.

wheely I would not be happy at all at that! He's got a lot of making up to do I think!

Sounds yuck Futurity, hope you're better soon. And you monkey.

I didn't do parkrun this morn, got up at 9.30 instead. I cycled a whole 2.7 miles to the post office & back with the boys and did level 2 shred though. My sinuses didn't like the jumping up and down.

Well done santarhet and fingers crossed for an imminent arrival. You're due quite a weekend. (Also don't understand the lactation drug thing - DM didn't bf either me or DB and we couldn't love her more. People are very weird about that sort of thing.)

Sending lots of get well vibes round the country. Sounds like a rotten cold. :(

fanny you total plonker!!

wheely how bloody annoying. Maybe he'll have very dull clients and will have to work for his seat!

DP just got home from Germany, and on cue the weather's changed from bloody freezing but sunny to bloody freezing and rainy/sleety. Call me a wuss, but I don't have to run so I'm not going to

Instead I think a Christmas card marathon might be due....

sticky you DO have to run, you're a Northern lass now chuck. Got to go out whatever the weather.

Dishwasher currently on its third rinse and still full of suds.

rhet keep us informed! I'm knitting booties as I type.

fanny you are so mean! Tho it is looking a bit better now

Have you tried sticking a lump of marge in the machine to give all that soap something to bind to? Should do the trick.

Sincerely hope you are out there sticky!

fanny, you are a maniac. Fact!

It's not even Xmas yet and we have a house full of chocolate. Am obviously not restraining myself what with the lack of sleep and bf new bambina but jeez, I need to watch it. Am sure with DD1 I actually put on weight while bf initially, what with the cake habit etc. Weighed myself yesterday at swimmng pool and have 2 stone to lose, of 3 I put on while pregnant. Luckily don't have scales in the house (as evil symbols of female oppression!!) so will not have to check obsessively. Also fully intending to consume bodyweight in stinky cheese over festive period! Mmmmmmmmmmm stinky cheese

well done rhet on the run and smashing pb ! look forward to reading all about it.

peach I definitely put on weight in the first 6 months of dd1s existence through cake eating, and didn't lose it till she was 3. With dd2 I think it was probably more during pregnancy thanks to the need to constantly eat to stave off sickness. That was my excuse anyway.

Sympathies to the ill people and the daft 'putting soap suds in the dishwasher' people

Thanks for sympathies re DH and his
Tickets. You know, I wouldn't begrudge him them if, during the ticket application process he hadn't been so grumpy about me applying for athletics and I kept saying 'I bet you get to go to something good with work' and he kept saying he wouldn't.'. ah well, I shall just have to hope someone can't make it for some reason and I get to slip into their place.

did 10k with 4 hills in this afternoon. 1 of them was almost a mile long but not sure how you measure steepness. Took 51.51 so was quite pleased. Had just about every affliction during it though - shin splints, plantar whatsit, broken knee etc - I think I might have to accept I'm a running hypochondriac. looking forward to an easy
Cutback week. I think.

ok, taking the chance to write race report while I can.

Didn't have the best night - DD awake at 4 and in our bed, kicking me and poking me. So I went next door...where I slept ok.

Got up at a leisurely pace, had toast (most of which dd ate) a good bit of water, and some tea. Somehow ended up still faffing about and realised that it was 10.47 - race starts at 11. So I ride bike like a bat out of hell, and just screech to a halt at the start line when the first wave is setting off. I lock bike to barrier (always dodgy) switch on garmin and wait to start. It's a cold, raw, and very windy day, although the sun is shining. We start and I am still slightly out of breath from the bike ride and my legs feel like jelly. I rattle off a good pace for the 1st km, although I would have been better to have gone out a bit slower. Km 2 switch from road to path (the big road is being resurfaced) - this is actually too early and the field hasn't thinned out enough to be running on a path that will take 3 abreast at best. I am running a bit too fast here (in terms of heart rate) and am starting to feel it, although I actually lose time in this km, because I can't get clear. I start to feel warm and take off my outer layer.

Seemingly very quickly my Garmin tells me that we are almost halfway - this gives me a good psychological boost (although I notice that Garmin is bleeping off the splits about 100m before the markers). I speed up and my heart rate comes down (I'm running at about 80%). Just after this a very very cross woman is shouting at the stewards about how terrible it is that we are all in her way (Christmas spirit alive and well). The crowd of runners roars in unison 'merry christmas!'...she keeps yelling . We turn the corner (back on the road by now) a few chats, my legs are a bit heavy and I feel I should be able to pick up the pace, although i can't - at least not much. But I am passing people! My frigging shoelace comes undone.

Final km is slightly downhill and I am legging it - my phone bleeps a message about 500m before the end and I am totally distracted - again, I could probably have squeezed out a few more seconds. Over the finish line, chip time was 31:24. Mug, bananas and various goodies that I fail to collect.

I am pretty pleased with that - I haven't been training for speed and this is what I've been running 'tempos' at - about 80% effort. But other than km 2 it didn't feel that hard, but I did feel like I raced this one, even if I didn't run out of my skin. I need to get used to the feeling. I will definitely get it down under 30 soon.

5k is a tricky distance for a runner accustomed to longer runs - if I wanted to get a really good time I think I would need a proper warm up - I started to feel good at about the 4km mark. My fastest splits were 1 and 5, and slowest, 2.

oh and nothing major happening - I almost feel like not posting about it because everything just seems to peter out and we are back waiting again. Grrr.

Great report, rhet! Nice to see you getting into the spirit of this raving business now.

Well done Rhet, you do realise you've just completed your first Accidental Duathlon?!

Just been into town with boys, only a mile each way and I feel pathetically shattered. Meant to get some Christmas presents and somehow came home with two books each for the boys and a pushchair full of cleaning stuff from Wilkinsons. I'm blaming fanny for the latter!

One tiny piece of good news, no weight loss chez monkey but definitely feeling a little flatter of belly and you can almost if you stand very close and squint over the top of your specs see a bit of abs forming though still mostly obscured under a belt of fat. Just measured my waist and it's definitely more than an inch smaller .

ha, like Accidental Duathlon! was the same on the way home too - ended up going to long way round because I couldn't cross the main road. Nice one!

like the accidental duathlon report rhet. Superb crowd reaction to silly shouty woman

And yay to the shredmonkey even though I've not done it anything like as much as you, I'm feeling the difference! So I'm sure you must be strengthening up big time. It must be very good for the running too, especially for the longer distance, all that core strength.

peach don't you worry about weight gain right now, my darling, you'll have plenty of time to run it all off later. You need to keep your spirits up with the lack of sleep and two tiny ones to look after. You'll soon power pram (that's a new one to me, but sounds great) any excess away.

Was getting a bit dark so I just had a quick shoot round my 5k route (this being my only route on pavements) sans nike wotsit. Both yesterday and today felt better for having had a few days off (last run was the 12 miles on Monday), so no harm done.

Great report rhet - I love the shouting
Woman. What were you all doing in her way ?

Well done for getting out sticky

Great news on the width loss monkey. Good to know it works if I ever get it out of the cellophane . It's a weird thing Inch loss. I haven't lost any scale weight for months and months but clothes are much loser especially round waist which must be the swimming for me maybe ?

yes, shouty lady - it's not as if signs haven't been up all week saying roads would be closed, oh no

think I must get going with this shred business - run today gave me a bit of confidence - it wasn't mega fast, but still

I seem to recall DP being very about lack of breastfeeding weightloss (and the opposite happening) - some women do seem literally to get eaten by their babies, don't they? but perhaps they are not the kind who keep a packet of chocolate digestives by their side at all times?

dd is all snotty and not quite well, although she has been great today. She has had a cold since the end of october...I'd take her to the doctor, but not sure there's any point - she's lively, no temp, eating well enough - what would they say? children have colds and they stay for ages?? waste of ?55...or not?

Ha ha, loving the accidental dualathon Rhet, ya plum! Can't believe you almost missed the start. Great race and great report. Take that, shouty woman!!!! I know what you mean about almost needing a couple of km warm up for 5k, I guess that's one of it's challenges as a distance, but I agree, it's kind of hard to just dart out the blocks, so to speak. You'll definitely get under 30 next time.

Agree that the kind of folk who lose weight easily through bf maybe aren't that into food anyway...

it is amazing sticky, how easy runs can feel after a wee break eh? Guess if nothing else it shows the importance of tapering!

After taking ages to fall asleep, K is asleep on my lap as I tipper tap away on my iPhone but her hand is resting on my typing hand and she looks like a marionette!!! Sweet!

Fantastic run today Wheely, you really are one of our speedier ladies! Am sure the ailments are all in your head

monkey, monkey, show us yer abs!!!! Wow! Shredding must be where it's at, I don't think I've ever seen a hint of an ab on me, even at my thinnest! Guess I should Shred up for Xmas eh. Should be able to do when DD1 at pre-school assuming K obliges by sleeping at same time.

Do you have to pay even for the children then, rhet? We left before we had to pay for DD1. God if Cameron and his cronies keep kicking the shit out of the NHS -

Anyway, to the point, I would be guided by DD's general demeanour. If she's jumpy abouty and not at all hot, I would save your money. My DD2 especially seems to have a constant dewdrop through the winter, I think there's constant re-infection from all her lovely germy friends.

you do - it's free until they are 6 weeks old - it's one of the things I can never get my head around. Adults is one thing, children quite another, and there are so many people now who are operating on very narrow margins indeed - it can mount up very quickly - 2 kids, a couple of visits in a month, prescriptions etc and you could easily be looking at ?200. You can claim tax back on it, or claim it under health insurance (if you have it), but there's a tidy excess on that. My GP is very very good and usually will do a follow-up visit for free or at a discount, but still...

I doubt I am going to race now for a bit - but what with reluctant dd2 I might get a longish run in tomorrow...DP very pissed off now (and the due date isn't even over yet!)

wheely that was a great time - we've actually quite a lot of tidy runners on here (exempts self from either sense of the definition). I did notice on the results that one of the ladies in my age group who came in considerably after me belongs to the local running club, so clearly I wouldn't be completely out of my depth...I might join next year. I'll do the outdoor gym thing first if I feel I am not making sufficient progress using the HRM - but whilst I am not super fast, it does confirm to me that my problem with it is partly psychological and the monitor is helping me with that.