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The runners' thread... (part II)

Missed Parkrun this morning, taking it easy for a local trail half marathon race tomorrow morning. Haven't been out at all this week other than an easy short trot this morning.
Have entered a 10K and another half marathon in September.
 
Parkrun this morning! Taking it easy, got a few niggles but nothing too serious. Pleased that after a summer of doing some training a 28 minute Parkrun felt easy again. A little way to go to the 25 I got to, but getting there. Spent quite a lot of it pondering trying a triathlon, used to be very good at swimming, 35 years ago…
 
robs said:
Missed Parkrun this morning, taking it easy for a local trail half marathon race tomorrow morning. Haven't been out at all this week other than an easy short trot this morning.
Have entered a 10K and another half marathon in September.
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How did your trail race go?
 
Good thanks, PigletsDad. Nice course and a lovely morning for it. Good surface except a couple of km section along a river bank which was very rough with cracked ground and a few holes.
Was well marshalled and signposted, but even so I managed to miss a turn in the last two km (no sign on that one!) so added a little extra ...which didn't help with the time or motivation... must try harder with the navigation skills! Nobody to follow at that point, but likewise nobody close behind, so whilst I lost a little time, kept the place (sixth) which I was more than happy with.
 
After a tough hilly 10k trail run last Sunday at Leonardslee Gardens (beautiful!), it was Barns Green half marathon this morning. Bright and sunny, perfect temperature and well attended. Took off too fast as always, but ended up with a course PB so very happy.
My legs need a beer now though...
 
Robs.. I've never thought to claim that my legs need a beer, must try that one! Congrats on finishing the half marathon and the course PB.

Lord Summit.. keep chipping away at that Parkrun time, it is an advantage being able to try again most weekends. I'm currently stuck on 22 mins plus or minus 15 seconds. Still, better that than declining.

I did the Vale of York half a couple of weeks ago, a controlled effort close to marathon pace in 1.44.10. I'm doing the Chester marathon next weekend, I turn 65 on the day so hope to be in the top 10 of the senior coffin dodgers.:) 67m last week & 45m this week, just a few jogs to tick over this next week. I did Parkrun yesterday then added a few extra miles to take it up to 11m, my last run of any distance pre marathon. About 13 from my humble home town club are going to Chester so there could be a decent party afterwards. Two of them ran 71 & 74 minutes at the aforementioned half, should be around the 2.40-2.45 mark at Chester. Makes me feel very old & slow!
 
Seeing as we’re here, a little update. Still running, starting to get some fitness back - did my first sub-50 min 10K in ages last weekend (Scottish 10K - 184th of 820 runners, amazingly!) and feeling quite positive about the whole thing. A long way to go, but I’d like to think 2023 will get me back to my 2019 pre-injury level. Might even have a marathon in my future, who can tell? :)
 
JTC said:
Seeing as we’re here, a little update. Still running, starting to get some fitness back - did my first sub-50 min 10K in ages last weekend (Scottish 10K - 184th of 820 runners, amazingly!) and feeling quite positive about the whole thing. A long way to go, but I’d like to think 2023 will get me back to my 2019 pre-injury level. Might even have a marathon in my future, who can tell? :)
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Nice! Glad to hear you didn't pack it in. :)
 
Some really encouraging times here. I was ecstatic to do the GNR in under 2 hours. It was 20 seconds under but it felt like a huge achievement as it was only my second competitive half. Trying to slow the pace now for the Amsterdam Marathon in 3 weeks time - yikes. Got a decent 25k run in today without much soreness.
 
I was 3rd out of 31 in my age group at this morning’s sprint triathlon which I was really pleased with considering I had long Covid from April until the end of July. 35th out of around 250 overall - not my quickest time but I’ll take it. I think the cold bike leg (10C when we started) didn’t help.

It’s great to be healthy again, though - next goal is to try to run the Thanksgiving 5k under 20 minutes.
 
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Oh go on. I've entered the ballot as it's almost impossible to get in! I ran a slow virtual London marathon yesterday in the local park. The virtual marathon has its benefits. There's not all the hassle of getting to the start, running in busy waves etc. The app for the virtual gives updates and encouragement every 1/2 mile. Last did the actual London maybe getting on for 10 years ago, it's a great experience and good luck to all those who have entered the ballot.
 
Odds on being successful in the London ballot are about 20-1 these days. When I was a lad in the early 90's the odds were nearer 3-1, quite simply the ballot size was approx 20 % of what it is now.

3.43 for me at Chester, happy enough with that. It was a strange way to celebrate my 65th birthday but did mean I was competing in new age category. It is a very well organised event, very pretty course and somehow much less hyped and stressful as an event like London. It is a fairly tough course in places. The first 2 miles out of town are very undulating and there were a few testing hills later on, including two before 24 & 25 miles! I reckon that cost me 2-3 minutes compared to a flat course but no matter, I did enjoy it.

That result gives me a 16 mins buffer for a London GFA time so my entry was submitted this morning. My two club fast lads clocked 2.38 & 2.39 so a Championship entry beckons.

Andrew d.. there was a right cock up with the London start on Sunday. For reasons unknown they kept the faster runners at the front of the red start behind for 15 minutes but set off blue & green starts on time at 09.40. This meant that when the red start merged with the others at 3 miles the fast guys off the red start aiming for 2.45-3.00 hrs were stuck behind runners at 4.30-4.45 pace. An awful lot of weaving and overtaking was required, it was also potentially dangerous. There have been a LOT of complaints submitted to the London Marathon. Hopefully they will sort it out for next April.
 
Wine Man said:
Odds on being successful in the London ballot are about 20-1 these days. When I was a lad in the early 90's the odds were nearer 3-1, quite simply the ballot size was approx 20 % of what it is now.

3.43 for me at Chester, happy enough with that. It was a strange way to celebrate my 65th birthday but did mean I was competing in new age category. It is a very well organised event, very pretty course and somehow much less hyped and stressful as an event like London. It is a fairly tough course in places. The first 2 miles out of town are very undulating and there were a few testing hills later on, including two before 24 & 25 miles! I reckon that cost me 2-3 minutes compared to a flat course but no matter, I did enjoy it.

That result gives me a 16 mins buffer for a London GFA time so my entry was submitted this morning. My two club fast lads clocked 2.38 & 2.39 so a Championship entry beckons.

Andrew d.. there was a right cock up with the London start on Sunday. For reasons unknown they kept the faster runners at the front of the red start behind for 15 minutes but set off blue & green starts on time at 09.40. This meant that when the red start merged with the others at 3 miles the fast guys off the red start aiming for 2.45-3.00 hrs were stuck behind runners at 4.30-4.45 pace. An awful lot of weaving and overtaking was required, it was also potentially dangerous. There have been a LOT of complaints submitted to the London Marathon. Hopefully they will sort it out for next April.
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Yes the ballot used to be so much easier! 3:43 at 65 is pretty good for age!
Surprised that they are still having cock up at such an established event! It's so dangerous having faster runners over taking slower ones. Disconcerting for slower runners and very frustrating if you're trying to find a clear road.
I remember many years ago before individual chip timing I lined up with a 4 hour paced group. What a disaster! The official pacer said, "right we are going to take 30 mins to get over the start line, which means if we run at 4 hour pace we'll get a time of 4:30 so we'll make those minutes up in the first 10 miles." Unsurprisingly the group fell apart very quickly! Disaster.
 
Fantastic Wine Man, just fantastic!
I am hoping I can still walk at 65, let alone run a marathon, and not a hope anywhere near that time!

That has just spurred me into making a last minute entry to Worthing 10K on Sunday...
 
Cheers Robs, I still seem able to churn out circa 60m a week which helps no end with endurance events. Hope the Worthing 10k went OK for you.
I'm toying with doing the Barca marathon (March) and London (April), they're 5 weeks apart. I have done this before and my theory is that the first marathon acted as a long distance training run for the second one. I was 4 minutes quicker at London than Barca. As long as you get the right balance of rest and mini build up between the two I found it doable. Barca is probably my favourite marathon (done it 4 times) so I wouldn't mind another visit.

Took Mon/Tues off this week, I've just done a few short runs as a recovery week. I did the York Uni (Heslington) parkrun yesterday after my usual Racecourse Parkrun was invaded by horses! Beautiful morning for it, ran about 15 secs per mile slower than my normal speed so had a brisk rather than flat out run in just over 23 mins. 5 x 1k laps of a cycle circuit didn't seem that bad!
 
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