Like St. Aines – we sometimes drive through St. Evenage.

I’ve got an iPhone XS Max – that’s got a 6.5″ screen – it felt quite big when it was new, but I soon got used to it, and love it now.
The only problem I’ve got, is that because my hands are so small, with consequently short thumbs,I sometimes need both hands to use the whole touchscreen (my iPhone SE was “just” about usable in one hand).

I’ve got those ridiculous NEXT% in pink (although tbh the colour was a BIG selling point to me); I’ve only worn them once to have a try (I’m crocked at the minute from a cross country race) and although it might be a placebo thing, I ran a hilly club run – normally I would be somewhere around 6:50 pace – but I was nearer 6:30 pace without really trying – they’re really “bouncy”…

That’s 5:30 minute miling TF, that’s completely incomprehensible – chapeau!!

lunge,

Terrible confession – I had little or no interest when the green ones came out as they are a gopping colour, and I already had the Vaporfly 4%. But then one of the little sole elements fell off my 4%s, and I had a key race coming up (I’ve managed to mend the 4%s with SHoeGoo anyway), so I’ve bought the pink ones.
They do feel very fast, but they don’t feel hugely different to the 4%s.
It IS quite a strong look though :-P

Okay…

Deep breath…

Converse x 4
Superga x 2
Birkenstocks x 3
Sandals x 2
Flip flops x 2
Wellies x 2
Oxfords x 3
Brogues x 3
Patent dress shoes x 1
Moccasins type things x 3
Chelsea Boots x 5
Brogue Boots x 2
Generic boots x 4
Salomon Speedcross (various) x 8
New Balance trainers x 1
Sidi disco slippers x 4

So 49 so far, which is perhaps excessive, but then…

Nike trainers various from floral skate shoes to Barbie pink Vaporfly Next% x 16

Which makes 65 pairs, I am a MONSTER!!

I started running with a local 5k when I was 45, joined a club, slowly increased the distances I raced – did my first half marathon at 46, and my first (and currently only) marathon at 47. Compared to a lot of marathon runners I didn’t do that much training – perhaps 45 miles per week… But managed a (relatively) conservative 3:13. I’m now as of last Sunday a sub 90 half marathon runner planning for a London GFA next year (3:06), with a sub 3 hopefully in the next year or two.
I’d always been a rotten runner – but I watch my weight now – I’m 5’11” and 9st 8lb; and do a LOT of Pilates – and especially barre, which is like a ballet influenced Pilates with lots of squats which helps hugely with core strength and flexibility.
Your goal is absolutely achievable – you’ve got loads of time; just don’t increase distance or pace too much too fast – I’ve been really conservative; and touch wood, I’ve been injury free for a year.
Good luck though – keep us all posted :-)

I carry one of these:

15 Inch Classic Batchel in Leather – Vintage

It’s NOT a handbag (it is totally a handbag!)…

And one of these:

Also NOT a handbag (definitely a handbag!)…

I hate myself ;-P

My mate is a HUUGE Disney fan – to the point that every holiday was Disneyland Paris, Disneyworld etc… An opportunity came up for a rolling contract with Disney, working 40 weeks a year on a Disney cruise ship – he snapped their hand off; and now spends his holidays in Disneyland Paris, Disneyworld; but on a cheap staff rate… Bonkers!

Blimey TF – that is stellar!!

Ovett was magnificent…

I’ve got my first track race next month – the MK 5000 http://www.mkac.org.uk/mk5000/ it’s also the UK Athletics 5000m champs – although I didn’t know that when I entered. I have absolutely no top end speed at all – my 10k PB is my 5k PB twice! So I’m getting my bum handed to me on a plate – I’ll be complete dogs***. But I’ve got some spikes and some VERY short-shorts, and there’s a beer tent so bring it on! And I get to watch some proper runners after my terrible race ;-P

I was wearing Adidas Stan Smiths, but after a run in these bad boys at lunch I am NOT taking them off now – they are so comfortable. Nike Epic React Flyknit 2 with no filter – they are really that colour – cliched early 90s tattoo model’s own!

I’ve got friends who have done both York and Chester – they’re very complimentary about both. I’m doing Abingdon about the same time to (hopefully) get my London GFA (I was less than 4 minutes off at MK)…

First ever marathon in MK yesterday – aimed for 3:30, (secretly) hoped for 3:20 – managed 3:13! I am absolutely buzzing! 20 second positive split, and I’ve still got all my toenails! What next – mebbe Abingdon?

Repping the City of Dreams in the MK Marathon!

As you can see (this was a couple of week ago – I’m REALLY hench now ;-P

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^photoshopped ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Or do you really have a bow shaped femur ?

Absolutely not photoshopped – my Photoshop skills are not up to that – although it IS a very unflattering photo – and I do have quite bandy legs. There was a photo of me at Christmas 2016 with a little pot-belly, so I made a concerted effort to lose weight, which coincided with joining a cycling club and running club. My results improved enormously, and I just conflated the two things… It’s really easy to get carried away, and I wouldn’t normally describe myself as an obsessive type.

Bit of honesty here as we’re amongst friends, I’m quite careful with food, so I have to be really quite cautious that I don’t get too thin – there’s a sweet spot when I feel light enough to be fast (for me), but not so light that my performance suffers. This pic was a bit of a wake up call though… I’m now a HUUUGE 60.5 Kgs now (9st 7 in old money) at 180cm (5’11”) – I do not have trouble getting my thighs in jeans :-(

7:30 min miling that should be…

YES! Thank you – that’s what I was hoping someone would say – the old school race pace calculators get me in the mid teens, but the new supposedly more accurate Slate calculators put me much nearer 3:30. &:30 min miling it is then, and we’ll see what happens – if the wheels come off, I’ll book another marathon and have another go.

Can I pick the collective brains of the STW marathon runners please…
I’ve got my first ever marathon coming up in 3 weeks – training is going pretty well – 40-50 miles a week mostly (and I accidentally got 2nd V45 in the County 20 mile champs in a training run); but I’ve never run further than 20 miles in training, and have no real idea how fast to go out in the marathon.
Everyone says that you should go out super, super easy; which I did at the Oakley 20, but ended up running sub 3:15 marathon pace with an average heart rate 0f 135, and I felt pretty fresh at the end (negative split too)…
Do I try the same pace for the marathon, or do I go out 10-20 seconds a mile slower assuming that it will suddenly get much harder at sometime in the last 6 miles?

If you want to enter MK (AND WHY WOULDN’T YOU WANT TO VISIT THE CITY OF DREAMS!) – the entries had closed, but have re-opened – if you use the code MKAMBVIP2352 – then you get 15% off (I’m an MK Marathon Ambassador – http://mkmarathon.com/ambassadors/ can you guess which one?)…

High fives nickc!

I’m not sure how current the autism-spectrum quotient test is, but I’ve done it a couple of times and scored really quite low – 6 out of a possible 50 (men are typically 17, women 15 in control groups). I’m not that surprised at my score, but I work (accidentally) in engineering (I wanted to be a nurse – long story) and LOTS of my colleagues display typical traits – they’re really nice people, and often super-bright; but struggle interacting with people they’re trying to help – they might understand the problem or fault in huge detail, but just can’t see the problem from a user’s perspective. However, we work well together as a team – in my experience you need that mix; I tend to work as a buffer, I’m not great at deeper analysis of a problem, but I do know everyone’s kid’s names and I can tell if they’ve had their hair done… but if you need an emerging pattern noticing – I’m lost. I should probably do something else :-(

I’ve got a 13 plate 1.6 diesel – absolutely love it – we’re on 83,000 miles and it has been (touch wood) no trouble at all. LOADS of boot space, loads of storagey cubby holes :-)

I learnt my German in the NRW, so I am completely unable to say “nein” – NEE ALL THE WAY!

4th round of the Three Counties cross-country at Ampthill yesterday for me – relentlessly up and down the same hill – 2 of us on our team saw our breakfast again. Nice selections of rolls though afterwards ;-)

I’ve got some skin in this game – as I am a “veteran”, but I’m also a pro-EU left-leaning centrist and THE most dreadful ponce… Maybe they mean “different” veterans? I can’t keep up…

Blimey TF! That is astonishing – I was thrilled to bits with 1374 in the country for V45 10k 😂

However, Carney is not a failed politician – he was the Deputy Minister of Finance at the Canadian Finance Ministry – which unlike a Minister in the British Government is a civil service role, not an elected political role. JRM didn’t appear to know the difference.

stumpy01 I’ll bet you’ll be surprised at how much you improve – I was a truly rotten runner as a kid – and when I ran a bit in my 20s I never broke 48 minutes for a 10k and my Half Marathon PB was 2:15.

However, I’m 46 now – and have been running for just over a year, went from 48:00 in October to 45:00 in December; and got down to 41:09 a couple of weeks ago – and I’m definitely still improving – I’m no stronger – but I’m much happier suffering now!

Same for my half, I’m at 1:32:00 and it’s still dropping – there appears (for me anyway) a lot to be said to coming into running later in life…

I use one of these because I am well alpha male innit (I really do carry one of these – but I am a massive ponce though!)

https://www.cambridgesatchel.com/collections/mens-satchels-batchels/products/15-inch-classic-satchel-in-leather-vintage-1

I think you need to be in a club – as (at least here) they’re run on a League basis; however, if you know someone in a club – I believe you can run as a “Second Claim Runner” for their club – a bit like being a ringer. but you’d need to be nominally registered with them and wear their club colours. TBH it’s a good reason to join a club anyway :-)

Cross country for me too – first time in the top 100 which was my goal for some point for the season!

Absolutely rinsed myself. We’ve got a much stronger team this year – so we’re 7th in the league so far (it was 13th last year!).

Type 1 fun though – definitely… Look at my happy face ;-)

This is like cross country bingo – short-shorts – check! Vests over old smelly-hellys – check! Gloves – check! Stupid hats – check!

A headband too? Epic! :-)

Or arm-warmers, vest and shorty-short-shorts for the kinkiest look… I really have the scrawniest, bandiest legs imaginable!

For shame – I actually DO wear a bobble hat and gloves with my vest – I hate myself :-(

I know what I’m doing – Cross Country is BACK!!! We’re in the Three Counties Cross Country League, so I’ve got my very shortest-shorts and my spikes ready to go for the first race in Dunstable!

Jumping back a bit to Brakes post – if you follow slowpuncheur’s time extrapolation of 2 x 10km + 3 x 1km to get your half marathon time… Then mine should be 2 x 41:09 + 3 x 3:52, which is 1:34:54; whereas my ACTUAL half marathon PB is 1:34:14 – an entire 40 seconds different – not even close ;-)  !!

So realistically, you probably need to be able to run a sub 40 10km to run a sub 90 half, which is normally roughly equivalent to a 19 minute 5k…

But… That said… Some people overachieve at one end of the distance scale – for instance, my friend Dom can run 5km in 19:00, but his half PB is 1:35:00 – so you never know – you could be the other way around. But it’s a big ask, as it’s 13.1 miles at 6:51 pace which isn’t hanging about (and would put you in the top 1500 fastest half marathon runners in your age group in the UK on RunBritain Rankings).

I’m going for sub 90 next year too; but I’m planning to run 5 days a week – a tempo (or a race), a hill session, an interval session, a long slow run and a recovery run…

That said , I know a fella who pulled a 3:00 marathon in Brighton on 30 miles a week – which shouldn’t be possible, so good luck and chapeau!