Paris Marathon 2013

Simon - I only paid £159 with Lufthansa from Aberdeen

via Frankfurt

Thanks for the tips about Spotify..   I've started with the free version for now...   its so good..!   This is going to be heavily used...   

Simon, I've emailed you some stuff. Just check it doesn't go straight to spam...

Just got some pics from Berlin from my friends. Here's me quitting the race at halfway, obviously not living true to the WWKD wristband I was wearing

Simon, I paid £118, easyjet, from Glasgow.

Fine line Dannirr... (but thank for the positivity anyway)

Injury    quitting

I know it was the sensible thing to do but it still stings a bit: 3 maras this year, finished one of them, albeit with a nice PB. Off to see the surgeon on Monday. My Baker's Cist is classically swollen right now. I know they can drain it again but I want to get the root cause addressed. Something in the Tricky knee is erm, .... tricky...?

TD - Good luck at the surgeon on Monday. Fingers crossed they can figure out a way to resolve the issue completely for you.

I'd like to bounce an idea off you lovely people...  this is very much an impulse thought and I haven't actually considered it fully, but I think I have enough of an idea to open it up for wider discussion...

I'm interested in starting a running/coaching group for total beginners...  not a weekly running club as such, but either on a 1:2:1 basis or in small groups a group where I can teach people to run.   I visualise something like putting together a training package designed to take a total beginner from 0 to 10k in 12 weeks.   I would prepare a weekly training guide and people would join for a 12 week programme.  It would cover all the essential bases and at the end of it would be their first 10k.  Perhaps have a 5k as a motivator along the way.  I will organise the 5k and 10k, it doesn't need to be a large organised event as such.

The 10k is simply a motivating target...   something to aim for.  Its not going to be an essential criteria of the course.

Topics covered would be...   everything..   most importantly, the technique of how to run.   I'm sure that many people, especially beginners, don't actually know how to run and perhaps joining an established running club could be intimidating.  Perhaps, therefore, that starting from basics like this might be a popular option..?

I have found a one day course through Run England (part of English Athletics) that I can do next week and it would give me a basic qualification to do this and also have insurance.

It could be inspiring...  perhaps I can actually teach people how to run and they can then go to join a club and take the sport further.

Once I've devised the 12 week programme, I can just roll it out over and over...  and refine it as I go on..

In a nutshell, that's it...   please feel free to offer comments or criticism...  

Very hilly 18 miler done today - all good. Slow but still fun. Ran with best running friend:

Weedy: as if on cue to your question - a stubbed toe results in a torn shoe:

As a self taught runner who knows I am getting it wrong a lo of the time I really like the idea, particularly for beginners.

Thinking back to when I started, I would have struggled with getting to 10k on 12 weeks - it took me 9 weeks to get to 5k on a run/walk basis.  After that it maybe took me another 6 weeks to build my distance up to 10k but it was hard going.  However, I was totally self taught - I just went out there and did it.  If I'd had some guidance, coaching and support along the ay it might well have been very different.

12 weeks is arbitarry I suppose, but I did my first 10k 12 weeks after I started and I think the course needs a target rather than just be open ended...   by the end of 12 weeks I'd hope that people can go on and join a club if they feel suitably inspired whether they are at 10k level or not.

I'd like to provide a focus on technique throughout the course...   use video feedback to help peope understand what they are doing...

I really think I can do this and help people enjoy running... and hopefully avoid injury at the start....

DV - sounds interesting. You looking at this from the point of view of turning it into a profit-making business down the line or as a non-profit thing to give something back?

My first reaction is that it sounds like a fantastic idea.

It might work better if it was loosely connected to, but independent of, one or more running clubs. Any beginners who call the club but are worried about joining could be pointed in your direction, then any graduates from your programme could progress straight to the club. The clubs could then help you promote the course as they'll end up with more members in the long run.

You maybe need to be flexible with the length of the course. For example, you could say to people that they can come and go as and when their lifestyle dictates. Eg if they can't make it one week, they just turn up the next week, so get 12 weekly sessions rather than a 12-week course. It's a lort more attractive to people to know they're not under as much pressure to commit to attending sessions.

You'll probably find if you get, for example, five beginners at one session, they're going to be wildly different levels of ability, so you'd have to sort it so they all feel like they're getting something out of it. Sounds like you've given it all a bit of thought, so you've probably already worked out a way round that.

If you need a volunteer marshal for the 10K, give me a shout. I'm great at standing and pointing.

I am also self taught, so think the idea is ace!

Joining a group, for me, is very intimidating even at the stage I am at now!! So a place where there are beginners only would be excellent.

Shattered.com

Dannirr - ouch, that looks painful - you ok?

DV - Sounds like a great idea. Like yer_maj I was self taught and never have had any coaching or anything like that, so I'm fairly certain I do an awful lot of things wrong. That is one of the reasons why I'm planning on joining a local running club once I can actually run again.

Unlike yer_maj I was (am) an idiot and went from never having to run to a marathon in four months!

Dannirr - Ouch, looks painful.