Sunday 10 April

Wabo - good 10k you must be pleased.

AF - horses for courses - if he tried to run 100mpw he probably would have broken down. I have a relation who was a very good 800m runner, he had enough speed he didn't need all the extra miles - he was a race horse the extra heavy miles broke him down.

Tom answered your question perfectly - "by the time he reached the final he was a spent force - (why because he lacked endurance),  while the old plodder won 5k, 10, and the marathon".

It's like anything, getting the balance right, knowing your abilities and weaknesses and working on them.

Stickless - good to see you still going well.

Mava - congrats - well done. The next bit is going to be tricky, getting yourself up for London. Just make sure you look after your legs and your feet.

Plenty of gentle massage, and go for short walks, let your legs come back, maybe a 20min - 30min jog middle of the week, then a few more short walks, and you just might get away with it. You have done so many long runs, you have heaps of endurance, you just need to let your legs to be able to run for you.

Good luck.

What: Short walk with daughter and gdaughters and Mae - suggesting it to Mava, (hope it works for me)

Good running everyone.

Alan Simpson......local hero of ours!! When I was a kid I lives in North Notts. My other hero of that era was John Whetton - he once told me that I had potential...ah well.

Stickless: re run/walk, each to their own - I hope you weren't offended by my comment. It's fair to say that despite the occasional high points, consistancy has been sigularly lacking over the years.

Tom, I used to run for Rotherham second claim, so knew Simpson and Pete Elliott quite well. Also knew Whetton quite well as he was President of Uni Cross Country Club (a post currently held by myself, and formerly by both Ron Hill and Andy Carter. Spot the odd one out!)

I was serious about the run/walk tomorrow: if it is the only way that I can get a long time on my feet I will do it...used this a few times in January and it was a help, not least in terms of concentration.

Mava glad you are ok and hope you continue to be over the next few days. Great result from you today

Fraid i'm another fan of the run walk didn't used to be  but last 2 years or so i became one and more to do with the old German Coach Van Aaken than Galloway. Certainly got me running the longer distances over the last year or so

Alehouse, when I was in my teens i ran for Worksop Harriers. I was part of a smalltraining group coached by a local secondary school teacher - a guy called George Gandy, who went to much better things. The top runner in that group was a 15 year old called Terry Colton....do you remember him?

Just a thought about core strength and injury proofing. Thinking back over the "running" we did over the last two days. The footing was always challenging. I began wondering, if stats have ever been done on correlations between injury prone-ness and training for some proportion of the time at least on rough ground. It was undoubtedly tough running, but I have the feeling that ankles and knees got a lot of unusual exercise. Wonder if it could be useful cross training as injury prevention strategy.

Just thinking of walking trips in the Rockies as a teenager, with tents and other heavy stuff being carried by horses. I asked how on earth horses managed up trails where from time to time I used hands and knees. Answer: you leave them to pasture for a year on a rocky hillside with a savage slope. They toughen up. Would we?

(I could do with a spot of pasture anyhow, even if rocky and tilted, I think.)

Yes, I remember Terry Colton: was my age group and usually won the north mids league.

You had better get in contact with him: he is the Competition Manager for 2012 Olympics (he is based in Birmingham and runs the major indoor athletics events there including the Worlds a couple of years ago. One of my friends has quite a bit to do with him as he has been the medical officer for some of the events TC has been responsible for).

The other name I particularly remember was Barry Moss from Notts AC. I struggled a bit as a youth/junior: was often last scorer in XC, although sometimes didn't manage that! Ran in a number of English Schools Cross Country, (and inter counties) but never on the track. I guess I was a late developer with my best years at Uni and just after.

And I've met George G a few times too!

Meant to say, the 12 stage yesterday looks to have been one of the most exciting ever with the lead changing hands between 3 or 4 clubs over the last 3 or 4 legs.

Alehouse, where were you at Uni, I was at Birmingham 1966-69, surrounded* by the likes of Malcolm Thomas , Andy Holden and Pete Griffiths. *Surrounded is a bit of a misnomer as I was never in the same league as those guys!!

I also have a dim memory of bumping into Bud Baldaro when he was a student at Aberwystwth, though thats many years ago and may be wrong.

I think you've stayed much better connected with the sport than I have over the last 40 years. I had a break from 1978 to 2002 were I hardly trained and competed never.

I don't remember Barry Moss, though I was always in awe of my Notts AC contempories. I think that Dave Wilcox was their top man in those days (800m runner) and of course Dave Cropper - another quick 800m runner, of Sutton In Ashfield, same as Whetton.

I always felt that Peter Elliot never got the recognition that he deserved, being overshadowed by Steve Cram .

Do you remember Carl Thackeray - a truely awesome runner.

Tom: Manchester 72-76. There is a strong old boys network, at least in part because of the touring team that I started in 75: Alehouse Academicals, hence my forum name. Two of Andy Holden's lads have left Manchester in the last couple of years. Used to be friendly with his sister too...unfortunately not friendly enough! Have always had quite a few Brum connections too as several clubmates or others from local clubs went there. Mike Deegan in particular. And yes, Carl T was pretty awesome, but not someone I knew. And I would agree that Pete E didn't get enough recognition, although I am a little biased.

Currently watching Worksop's finest (Luke Donald) who also has some Rotherham connections!