Edinburgh marathoners past and present

Are you going to go to Blair Drummond safari park for a bit of training for that one???

I got a good for age time for London next year for the 1st time in my puff so will be there too.  I think after 7 years of rejections I have waited long enough.

I think the constant threat of being eaten will give me that added incentive to strive for a pb!  For training you'll be able to catch me sprinting through Blair Drummond with a pork chop tied around my waist.

Boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's like the old days in here althought I'm noticing that I look a lot thinner in that photo and I have a bit more hair.

Why have I just entered the dundee half marathon for this sunday when my legs are blatantly still stuffed after running a marathon a week past saturday.

It might never happen though we might have been neuked by north korea by then.  Greg I bet you are glad that the trident fleet is based so close to Mount Florida as I think Glasgow is right in the firing line lol

Is doing the devil a euphamism Markk???

I thought I was pushing my luck running the dundee half yesterday a fortnight after stalk home and if it is any consolation markk I too was rediscovering Tony the Tiger's secret formula at the finish.  I had a feeling there wasn't going to be 13 miles in my legs and there wasn't.  There were 8 good miles, a tough 9th one and absolutely nothing for the last 4.  I could have done without having to stop completely at 12.5 miles as this doddering old bloke decided that he was going to go over the one person wide foot bridge over the Dighty burn and I had to stop for what seemed like forever while he shuffled across very slowly.  I have no idea what my time was 1:31ish as I decided for the 1st time ever I think to just run without a watch and not take it too seriously.  Worked for a bit until I ran out of steam when all I really wanted to know was how far my garmin would have said there was to go and how long time wise it would be until the end of the misery!!!!

I'm still not convinced by this ultra running lark.  I might be tempted one day but it just seems sooooooo bloody far it doesn't hold that much appeal.  I do like the way that they aren't too picky about how you get from start to finish and you can "earn" a finishers t-shirt even if you did the full 40 miles in the car.  You never know I may be inspired after my ultraish effort in January in the goofy challenge or more likely I will be put off for life!!!!  I have to admit though I did have a fab day out in the sunshine last weekend with some good company along the way as I entered the magic new world of ultra stalking.  Ultraland does seem like a very friendly place to live.  

having said all that you are a lot more likely to see smiffie rather than me out to play in ultras again in the future.  

Am I dreaming or is that sunshine I see outside...

I finally had what must have been my first run in the warm evening sunshine yesterday evening. After all the miserableness it's good to actually want to go outside enjoy the weather. Here's hoping it lasts longer then just this week.

I did toy with the idea of ultra a couple of years ago and I was close to signing up for the one on the Clyde.  At the moment I'm really not in that frame of mind but who knows, maybe I will get that urge again. For the moment I'll focus on 10Ks and a half marathon or two.

I have no idea if there has been sunshine or not.  I have spent 3 days solid in Asda and other than a 20 minute seat in the sunshine at chocolate o'clock I haven't seen the light of day. The only run I managed to fit in was at 10 o'clock last night when i got home and the sun was already well on its way down.

That was the race Markk, soph and smiffie were running the other week.  DCB is threatening off the poofy lang soaks to take part himself there next year.   I'd stick to arfs, 10ks and marathons if I were you.

Just watching a bit of the olympics highlights now I'm home.  Why does Alison Felix only run 200m and not marathons.  She is so graceful compared to all the powerhouses she runs against I could watch her run all night.  Shame you only get to see her run for 20s.   2nd best athletic performance after Debaba in the women's 10k (although Harting in the discus and Kemboi in the steeplechase had the best celebrations as usual!!!).  I know I'm being unpatriotic here and should be banging the drum for the British athletes but that run from Debaba blew me away.

Helllllooooooo all

I am back ... again and hopefully able to stay injury free and keep running WOO!!!! 

Been lazy, not read back...

Good to see the old die hards are still here lol 
LOVED the olympics, after us discussing the opening ceremony at the tour Can, it turned out to be fantastic  set the scene for a truly magnificent games 

I am training for East Neuk & River Ness 10Ks, so far so good, just building the miles up slowly but surely and the lang soaks are working a treat 
Am loving being able to run again and not feel like an old person the day after!! 

Hiya Bungle,

Nice to see you to see you nice.  Good to see you haven't fallen to pieces again since I last saw you.  I won't agree with you about the opening ceremony it left me cold and bewildered just like every other opening and closing ceremony I have ever watched.  I just thinks they are a load of bollox lol.  Had the best 3 days worth of cancellations EVER and got to vegetate in front of the most vast array of weird sports I have ever watched.  I think even smiffie who has horses would have been impressed by how much 3 day eventing I managed to watch (although I would maybe have watched it for the wrong reasons there is something quite funny about watching posh folk fall in the water!!!!).  I would like to say that it is good that football is back to fill some of the olympic void but after the tanking the dees took off the dabs at the weekend I'm not so sure that is true.  I am very worried by the headline "Dees sign Nish" in today's courier as I'm not sure whether that is the guy that used to play for Hibs or rhyming slang.  Not that that would be news if it was slang we have been signing a lot of Colin Nish for the last 7 or 8 years!!!!!!

I'd love to say that I am feeling as good the day after my runs as you are bungle. Every time I leave the house feels like a tough one at the moment.  Only 7 weeks or so until Munich.  Don't seem to have an awful lot of days off between now and then to get the training in without working and training myself to a state of intense knackeredness even before I get to the start line.  Will I ever learn that me and 6 day weeks make life very dull and tiring.  Might run crathes half (fancy something different to glasgow this year) but other than that nothing planned at all between now and october.  If I don't get to crathes I may join you in anstruther as I think turning up with no races would be a situation doomed to failure as I've a tendency to get a bit overexcited about running with real people and taking off at a silly pace.

After that there is my january blingfest........I can hardly wait.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo must be

Yep!  I'm here!

Oh jings, I have done nothing this week.  I can find no motivation.  I think mine has just packed it's suitcase and headed off on it's holidays   Great for it, not so good for my Nessie training though!  Maybe it's not so bad - I've raced, done "h" words and run loads, so maybe a few days off won't hurt????

Can & Bungee - I am also doing East Neuk 10K!  Will see you both there.  Am also thinking of the Great Edinburgh Run - have either of you done it?  Recommendations?  Or should I not bother?  There's another one I want to do - a 10K somewhere on 14 October, but I can't remember what that is!

Can - I forgot about Munich!  But man, seriously, if you're doing 20 miles in 2h20 I think you're fine!  Don't be so hard on yourself.
So now, I'm away to eat some crisps and houmous and wait for my motivation to return!

Laters

Jac

Jac don't worry about it you are allowed an easy week to recharge the batteries after all the nasty stuff you were doing for the last few weeks.  Ceres on a school night, a half marathon in the sunshine and a monster 3h effort at the weekend all catch up on you eventually.  Just running knackered all the time certainly doesn't increase your motivation.  Not long until you are off to see Nessie  where you should put the rock in rock ness you have been doing fab recently 

If I were you I would leave the Great Edinburgh Run a miss.  Not because it is a bad race although I haven't done it for a while.  More because it is only a week after you have been to see Nessie.  You will be amazed how much only 6 extra miles compared to a long run will destroy your legs and how heavy they will feel for a couple of weeks after the marathon.  The only time I run that soon to a marathon is when I really have to get a bad race out of my system and stop me slumping into the "I give up completely feelings" I have slipped into from time to time.  The course has changed a bit over the years I think but the run up queens drive isn't much fun on bouncy legs never mind knackered ones.  I'd save yourself for Giffordtown if it is not too much of an anticlimax after Loch Ness its only 5k, a week later and pancake flat.  Or you could just enjoy some long lies and vino for a couple of weeks.

Not really sure where that 2:20 came from on saturday night jac and wouldn't bank on me having another one like that again any time soon,  Its unusual that I get a run like that once a year and thats 2 of them I've had now when everything just felt good.  I have to say I am looking forward to Munich as I really want to run round the track of the olympic stadium to finish and the race village is actually in the middle of the field.  I will actually get on the pitch of the Olympic stadium.  Just a shame I have to run 26 miles for the priveledge I could settle for 0.2 miles and a kick-about.  Its not a massive race compared to some I've run but I have been obsessed with this stadium since watching the euro champ finals in 1988 and van basten scoring THAT goal in the final against the USSR I really can't resist the chance to go myself. 

10 year old schoolboy football in the street fantasies that haven't gone away over the years followed by a trip to disneyland in january.  Does anybody think I should maybe grow up a bit???

Not a bad fanish is it????

Evening all.

I am in a bit of pain at the moment after my jaunt around the Great Scottish Run. It's my first proper race in ages and I'm not at full fitness but I thought I'd just go for it and see what happened. I started off with 8 min miles but I was feeling it by mile 6 or 7 through Pollok Park. From them on I just about held it together and finished in 1:49 which although 5 minutes off my PB was a pretty good result given my unexceptional training.  The problem is I seem to have refound my mojo but we're nearing the end of another running season.  I need to focus plan track and get some goals for autumn and winter. 

What else has been happening out there?