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    Missed this thread recently probably as my own running is a bit patchy. I will not be doing a PArkrun on my birthday even if it is offered as, being my birthday, I am already doing church and then the pub. I was wondering whether there was a New Year's Day one as I would think about that.

    It's great getting a free "50" Parkrun t-shirt - I got mine straight away but, earlier this year, Mrs B's took a fair while to get to her. As you say, seems churlish to complain.

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      So far down for a 30 mile trail/OCR race again in April and a 5k/Half marathon weekend at the start of June. I ran the half in ~1.50 this year and would like to get that to under 1.40 this year. The question is a little bit more the how - as I understand it I need to run a lot slower in training (more Z2) to get the gains. Which will be a struggle with early morning cross fit and kids and life and stuff.

      Ran a 5k last weekend dressed as a banana with a Gorilla chasing us. It was a good end-of-season fun event, helped by an open bar for about three hours afterward which descended into chaos.

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        First run in 3 weeks and only the second one in December due to work and Christmas pressures, 53 minutes 11 seconds for 9.62 km, considering I've done nothing for a while and put 6 beers and a load of turkey and other stuff down my throat yesterday I'm happy enough, only had to walk up one hill.
        Since I started back running 5 years ago I always said as long as my time is lower than my age I'll be happy and as I'll be 55 in two weeks time I think I've got a few years running left in me. January's got to dedicated to weight loss and training, whatever the weather.

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          Having had no exercise - aside from the almost purely social 5-a-side - for weeks, I went out for a run today, mainly to try out my Bluetooth headphone which were my only running Christmas presents and, in truth, as I was suffering a bit of post-christmas boredom. Was prepared to do 3 miles but pushed it to 4 which meant my minutes/mile average as increased but, at least, there was a 4th mile and, indeed, a run. Nice and flat along the canal, beautiful weather being dry, sunny and with no wind - a bit too warm in the direct sun if I was being picky. I do wonder if Motörhead realised when they released “No Sleep...” what, ironically, a perfect running album it is. Indeed, a perfect record all around.

          Hip is hurting already so will tick off the aches and pains tomorrow. I am sure we have done this before but what supports do people use? I have been known to wear two knee supports and even, at one stage, a back support while running (and, indeed, doing all exercise at one point). However, I have tried to keep away from this as I feel that, while wearing supports, I am not building up the muscles around the public areas. Also, as my main issue appears to be my right hip, there isn't really any support I can get from it.

          Anyway, with ParkRun on Saturday and me off next week, I may try and do 3 miles every other day as I am doing no other exercise presently.

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            Jeez. If it is a bit too warm in a UK December for you, you might like running here in winter.

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              It was a mild day - 46°F/8°C - for December which is still vest weather for me but it is more the direct sunlight I am not a fan of. When I did the my first Half, it was an unseasonably warm sunny March day which really did for me - otherwise, obviously, I would have won the thing. It's not just the heat either, there is a stretch on my park run where, at certain times of the year, the sun just peaks in and out of the hedge next to the route which cause an annoying and distracting strobe effect.

              Again, I am sure we have done this before but I have find that there are particularly things that annoy me more when running than normal: autumn leaves underfoot, dogs claws tapping the pavement, children chattering, people dying to talk to me, the aforementioned heat and sun, strong winds (I know I am not alone there). On the other hand, I love a bit of drizzle especially towards the end of a run.

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                Direct sunlight? Hmm. None of that namby pamby weather been seen over here.

                I’ve used a back support in the past.
                I did a very gentle two miles on Christmas morning. My calves were fine though it’s in mile 3 that problems tend to occur. However my back ached on Christmas Day - was it caused by the run or by standing in the kitchen peeling veg? I’m not sure.

                We’ve parkrun tomorrow and may use my back support if I still feel uncomfortable. I’m apprehensive yet excited to see how I get on.

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                  Well, 2018 ended really well for me. Did a park run on Saturday (first in a month due to pure laziness) and got 31.11 and was disappointed not to get under 31 seconds. Didn't realise that it was my fastest of 2018 until this morning. Not only that but didn't realise until yesterday that there was an extra one this morning (oddly, persuaded to check by the amount of people mentioning doing the same on the NY matching thread) and, who'da thunk it, I got my best time of this year as well. I am a machine. Only runner in a vest this morning apparently.

                  Have been putting in a couple of 3 or 4 milers in between the Parkruns as well so have done surprisingly well over the festive period. My hip is absolutely fucked but reduces to a dull pain when running so I am just carrying on. Will have to go to the doctors this week about though.

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                    If you are disappointed not to get under 31 seconds you should be trying out for the Olympics not Parkrun!

                    Southport now has a second Parkrun, which started just before Christmas. It's at Kew Woods which is a country park built on what used to be the tip. One of those courses which seems a bit complicated when it's being explained to you but is simple enough once you actually get going. Beforehand when I did it on Saturday everybody had to sing Stand by Me which will somehow stop knife crime.

                    I was up early this morning to get to Leeds to do double Parkrun. First up was Woodhouse Moor which I walked over many times when I was a student at the university. In my memory it was fairly flat but there is actually quite a slope from one end to the other. Probably the best attended Parkrun I've been to - well over 500 I reckon. Afterwards it was a short trip to Armley which was a bit flatter, although about half the course is on grass which was fairly muddy this morning.

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                      199 at Carlisle this morning - feels like it was more than other NYD parkruns I've done there but I've not seen any comparisons (we had 257 on Christmas Day which was the best ever Christmas Day turnout there).

                      I didn't get to bed til nearly 3am last night (though completely sober) but did my best time for a few weeks.

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                        Running tips #429

                        Don't wear your GPS watch when doing a murder
                        The health-conscious assassin was picked up for another death, then investigators found his Garmin.

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                          Next Sunday I am doing the Mad Dog 10k along the front at Southport. The latest email reveals that the starter will be John Barnes. I will be very disappointed if his pre-race advice is anything but "You can be slow or fast but you must get to the line"

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                            Originally posted by Southport Zeb View Post
                            Next Sunday I am doing the Mad Dog 10k along the front at Southport. The latest email reveals that the starter will be John Barnes. I will be very disappointed if his pre-race advice is anything but "You can be slow or fast but you must get to the line"
                            My sister was doing that, assume it was a bit fresh out there last Sunday?

                            Hope everyone is making a good start to the year. I've had a a bit of a struggle, had a "good Christmas" and was struggling to get my head into it early in the New Year. Did a Trail 10K for a change of scenery, and nearly sacked it off half a mile in when I joined a queue of 100 people lining up in single file to climb over a stile. There was also a hill so steep I thought I'll walk it, there's no point trying to run that. Then had to stop halfway up, even when walking it. Just not my thing really but need to do a bit more of it to prepare for something I've got planned in the autumn.

                            I've made an effort to get my act together in the last couple of weeks and this weekend went for the shock therapy of 12 miles yesterday and 12 today, both in changeable weather, came through them well and felt some of the recently missing enthusiasm and drive coming back towards the end of each. GNW Half in Blackpool next week, confronting some demons from last year when I had a nightmare and limped the last two miles with cramp.

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                              Weather for Mad Dog was pretty decent. It was cold but dry and not windy, which was a big plus given that the course mostly goes along the coast road. Pretty much every other day over the last week has been worse.

                              So far this year my running has been going pretty well, after a few months of really only doing Parkrun as I was spending my evenings decorating my new house. Moving house has meant I am now in the process of working out new routes for my evening runs.

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                                In 55 years on this planet I've never had a hamstring injury...until just before Christmas when my left one went changing the bed clothes of all things. I thought everything was ok until last Monday when it went again about 6km into a run so I'm inactive at the moment, very annoying and frustrating.

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                                  I've not been able to run since October with my knee injury (ACL sprain). Every other exercise is basically OK. I can cycle hard. I can lift fairly big weights in the gym using my legs. I can hike (although the knee begins to complain when I do that). But the impact of running is just really painful. Hopefully I'll get back to it in a month or two, but I might be done.

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                                    So, um, yeah. I went for a run this evening. I used to do a bit of running about the streets hereabouts, but I haven't done any for about a year. But I've been doing this health kick thing since before Christmas and it has been working out okay. And we've got a charity 24 hour relay thing coming up, and I always like to run during my slot. So I decided it was time to take this fitness jag out of the garage and onto the streets.

                                    It. Didn't. Work. I elected to try a simple trundle along the road to the primary school my kids attend. About 5K. I used to cope with 5Ks. Not this time. When I set off, for the first 500 metres, I felt god like, as if I was doing something I was always meant to do. By the end of the next 500 metres, I was shattered. I belated recalled I had eaten a big luch a few hours before and - ah - what had come out since did not equal what had gone in. I had also sloshed down two pints of really watery cider and this was perhaps not the best nutritional lead up to such exercise. Meh. You get a lot of hawks out our way, on the edge of town, and I swear the bastards were circling above me, trying to decide if I had stopped moving, I was going so slowly. Little more than walking pace.

                                    By the time I reached the turn around, I was wrecked. I hung myself off a fence and watched the sweat splash off me and soak into the wood, for what seemed a long time, but not long enough. I manaed to walk-a-bit-then-run-a-bit on the way home, and actually felt a bit easier and was running ... jogging ... a bit faster. But I was certainly that middle-aged guy just this side of a heart attack you sometimes see staggering around the streets.

                                    It was awful.

                                    I will totally do it again.

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                                      Excellent, Lurgee. Welcome (back) to the club. When I went on my first run before I started training with a running group for my first half-marathon, I did, I think, 2 miles (in August, to be fair) and my reaction was the same as yours (even with the shorter distance, no big lunch nor cider). Seems amazing now even though I am way off my half-marathon best fitness. You will be fine and, like WFD, doing stupidly long exertive runs in no time.

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                                        Agreed, well done Lurgee, my first efforts at getting back into shape was walking up three flights of stairs and getting the lift back down, repeated three times and I was wrecked by the end. Then I started running and thought I was doing 5 or six kilometres until I got a running app and found out I was only doing three. It takes a little while but you'll get there and it's true what they say about endorphins, it's hugely rewarding.

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                                          I have noticed that my weekends are appreciably better when I do a Parkrun on a Saturday morning. Didn't do one yesterday and regretted it all day - even though I have done two fairly heavy duty gym sessions in the week.

                                          ...and I hate running.

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                                            Well done Lurgee and come on in.

                                            I started the year dying on my arse every time I went out but I'm slowly turning it round. I've been keeping manual records this year and last, and February was my first 100 mile month in the 14 months I've been keeping track, and therefore I suspect first ever. I feel a lot better for it, my six mile neighbourhood run seems much easier than it did around Christmas, and it makes things less unenjoyable every time I run but my pace is no better really.

                                            Today I did the horrendous Haweswater Half, I've done it before and knew it would be bad. The first 5.5 miles is very climby and I was shite, couldn't get it together at all. After hitting the peak of the course at 5.5 you then have a 1.5 mile canter down into a valley to the turnaround point, which made things easier, but then you turn around to face the 1.5 miles hill back up from whence you cantered, but I got it together and ran it without stroll breaks, picked up a few places and hammered it down the other side of the hill and carried the rhythm and confidence to the end. Game of two halves and it's happening more and more, I just hate the first few miles of any run until things click. So instead of doing parkrun recently (which is all the first few miles) I've tended to head out on my own each Saturday morning for longer runs at my own pace, and feel much better for it.

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                                              Well, I did the big run for cancer support last night. I've always had a vague commitment (made to me) to complete a lap for every year I have been alive, and this year that meant 45 (it hurts that my birthday is just before the run - I feel like I am being taken advantage of, somehow, and punished for growing older before I've even had a chance to 'wear in' my new age).

                                              Due to my total lack of training, I was not looking forward to it this year, but it was okay in the end. Walk a lap, run a lap. I think the Swedes call it Fartlek. Over the course of two and a half hours I managed to complete my 45, plus a few more where I just walked, basking in the sense of 'Mission complete.' Astonishingly, that totals 18-19 kilometres.

                                              It helped massively that I was doing my laps at night (it's a 24 hour event) and had not been drinking before hand. The community spirit, particularly the cheers from my students as I staggered past the school team tent, helped.

                                              (My school has about 900 co-ed students. We won the 'School / community' fundraising award, beating three much larger local schools. Go my school!)

                                              Rather sore this morning, but less than I was expecting. Might have gone back to bed after lunch for a nap. All good.
                                              Last edited by Lurgee; 11-03-2019, 03:26.

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                                                Brilliant stuff Lurgee

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                                                  Did the Milano Nord parkrun on Saturday. Unusually there is a little running club shop / office nearby with changing rooms, toilets and showers which you can use before and after. The course was a flat two laps round a multi use park (there was an outdoor velodrome, in use at the same time) and although I was supposed to be taking it easy it produced my fastest time in nearly a year. Before the run I got my photo taken with the Italian flag and the whole field was gathered in for a group photo.

                                                  The next day I did the Milan marathon, obviously the main event of the trip. Very security conscious (metal detectors and bag checks on the way into the start and finish 'village' and another check on the way into the start zones) but it all got away on time and I got across the start line within about five minutes which wasn't bad for a big city marathon. There were occasional cross over points on the course so unusually I got to see the elite group in action, albeit briefly, across the road in the other direction when they were at about 8km (the men's and women's winners each beat not only the course record but the Italian all comers record).

                                                  Was a bit annoyed by the parallel relay marathon - I know it is a way of significantly boosting participation numbers (and entry fee revenue) but it got a bit tedious having people whizzing past (and occasionally elbowing past) when they were basically starting out on a 10k. Made it to the HM point in 2:16 which is around my current HM pace, really struggled from around 16 to 22 miles, started thinking the 5 hour mark was in doubt and then got it back together for the last four miles and finished in 4:50 - my worst time, by a few minutes, of the seven I've now done but I got round.

                                                  Flat and varied course, first 12km or so were round the centre including obvious photo back drops at the Duomo and the Scala, then a long loop out to and around the San Siro area, with two sweeps past the stadium, then a long slog back into the centre with a decent finisher village in a park, including freebie cheese from a sponsor and various kiosks selling Moretti to take away the taste of the alcohol free Heineken that was being given out.

                                                  Next up is the Keswick to Barrow (my 4th go at it, I missed it last year) and working out a plan to build fitness over the summer to take into a busy autumn season based around a local 30 mile race in September and a marathon in Germany in October - though my daughter picked up some flyers at the expo at the weekend and would quite like me to do another in France in November.

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                                                    Went by our old flat. I'm sure that was a highlight.

                                                    The Parco Nord is an interesting place. There is all kinds of stuff there that is relatively little known, especially to residents of the centre.

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