Running

Ace! I ran it today, PB (my first half) of 1.53.49, it was absolutely soaking.

Nice one!

it was absolutely soaking.

How are the nips? :)

I sorted out that problem last weekend when I went on my last training run where I was wearing a merino top that caused bleeding! This time I wore a top with much less friction and nips are fine.

For me it's a good sign that I need to eat or drink on a long run.

Nice one, you look v.happy :)

Nice one too!

I saw the XC results yesterday and thought that looked like a great run from you. Think I'd be struggling to push the scoring ten so close at the moment!

Some positives from the Great Eastern Run Half Marathon: I managed to finish first V45, and I like to think I helped MsPub to a stunning pb. She caught me at 10 miles and went on to win the women's race in 1:14:07, over a minute off her previous best. Finish time for me 1:14:28, a bit down on what I was hoping for but the miserable conditions didn't do much for the mojo. Hopefully will be a lot more fired up for the target marathon.

@Brum - A similar mental issue I have is the internal jukebox getting stuck on the wrong song. The less familiar the tune, the shorter the loop I have to play with. I ran an entire 10k in Victoria Park many years ago with just the chorus of Kajagoogoo's Too Shy on constant loop. Aaargh!

I'll remember this on my next run, and it'll be ruined........ cheers.

I hope you have fun remembering mulligatawny

I read about your soup thoughts, and thought it sounded like it would fit perfectly in my stride pattern.

Hopefully I'll have forgotten it by tomorrow

Stayed back at my folks for much of this week as my mother was having surgery, and I was there to help out. Been good fun running around Winchester, making every run a 10k and varying pace and terrain day by day. Going to try to get a half in this coming week, but I am in Germany from Wednesday so a bit of planning required.

1 Attachment

Well done!

Yeah it was a wet one. I don't mind it so much during the race but immediately afterwards I was so so cold.

Thanks. Yeah pretty pleased with myself. I was aiming for under 2 hours so this was a good result for me.

First half marathon for 3 years yesterday at Wimbledon Common. Lovely route, not a single road or car in sight.

Trained more for this one and as a result knocked 13 mins off my PB, down to 1.39. I think there's plenty more to give though so I'm off to join a running club, and hopefully get closer or past 1.30 at the Big Half in March.

Pre run and post run absolutely bucketed it down, but during it was pretty much perfect.

Nice one! You'll knock another big lump off that with some structured training, and what with the Big Half being a quick course. Good race. Whereabouts are you based, and do you need any club recommendations?

Cheers!

South London, pretty set on joining Dulwich Runners, on my way home from work and unlike Crystal Palace runners the kit doesn't resemble the football team. As a Charlton fan that wouldn't have been possible.

Cool. I know Dulwich very well, nice bunch. And the red/blue kit is nice. ;) Apart from the training sessions I can recommend getting involved in cross-country with them as well. A winter of Surrey League fixtures and various champs (County, Southern, National if you fancy it) will bring fitness on hugely.

Yeah would like to do a bit of cross-country. Don't think i'd be that competitive, but will be good fun. Who do you run with?

I'm with Kent AC. I think the great thing with XC is, even when it's ridiculously competitive at the front, all clubs encourage everyone to turn out so you're unlikely to be last, and once you've done a few sessions with club mates it's good to have a bit of friendly inter-competition and very motivating when you make little shifts up the pecking order! I just about managed to squeeze into our 'scoring 10' once last season but I'll be happy to contribute to some B-team scores this season.

angry rant time

York Marathon on sunday, 10miler too - i didnt partake but supported,
was a bit of a mess to be honest,
the bad:
huge huge numbers of people seemed to much for the event village, toilets (20 min queue)
tiny signs directing where to go ,
no real official announcement for 10mile runners to gather, just a warmup music started playing
it was p**ing down and there was no cover for anyone
1 food van (bacon, burgers)
hardly any sellers stalls
1 cafe at the uni grounds totally full obvs.
for the runners, post race, no warm drink available, 50min queue in already full cafe.
a goodie bag that was rubbish and was out in the rain all day, so it was soaked through, including t shirt.
buses back into park/n/ride (that cost 15quid each) were not signed - some went back into town, some went back to the park n ride and the queue was about 40mins! so getting in the right queue was critical.
no cover at all while waiting for the buses , it was a muddy grassy verge
people looked seriously hypothermic!
the "commentator" at the line couldnt get anyones names for the runners finishing - even the marathon winners

the good
big fun and smiles and cheering for the runners

what do we pay the "organisers" so much money for?

what do we pay the "organisers" so much money for?

Given what you describe I'd be asking that question of the organisers in this case if I were you.

Yep, if my body sorts itself out, I’m gonna try and avoid corporate events going forwards, participating in club-organised events and volunteer more often at the local Parkruns.

Some cracking photos here of the Surrey League Div 1 XC match that I didn't run on Saturday, just to get us all in the mood for the rest of the season. (When, of course, the sun will go in and the ground will turn into a disgusting quagmire.)

@juanito spotted working hard!

/\ this

The 12 hour I did in Sept was really well organised - just a couple of guys trying to set up their first race and wanting everyone to have a great time. Approachable, friendly people who seemed genuinely interested to know what runners thought of course/facilities/setup etc and were asking at the end how they could improve for next year. Generally similar feelings from other small events I've done. Not so much with RunCorp Generic Half Marathon.

Though I think there is a place for those bigger events, I do Like Reading Half despite the cost of entry.

@Pifko start coming to tuesday training mate, 6 pm from sport BU, showers and all that, free, structured quality training all winter.,