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Birch - I'm not aware of the history behind the decision and it's easy for me in my 30's to say this but never say never. I wish my parents were active enough to get around a marathon and it would be a dream to even toed the line of a race with one of them. Sadly that is never going to happen for me but I'd be immensely proud to have even been in the same race regardless of the time or whether we ran together.
Who knows, your daughter my want to do another race later in the year explicitly to run with you.
It's your decision and you know yourself best but it's easy to make a decision off the back of a few poor runs. Take a step back, give your daughter the wealth of experience and then see if it re-lights under your trainers.
Birch - you don't want to make a life-changing decision on the back of one poor long run. I'd sleep on it a few nights. There's nothing wrong with just focussing on half marathons and shorter distances but if you really want to run another marathon you will be able to do so.
Don't get me on dogs either ...
Good to get those tempo miles in Abbers.
Tempo run scheduled today, 18K with the middle 10K tempo pace. Managed a 4:04 m/km average split last week for 8K and desperately wanted a sub 4:00 split today. After a first kilometre of 3:53 I thought it would be a breeze but the next couple came out at 3:59 and then there was a 4:02 that had me worried but managed to hang on in there and complete the 10K in 39:50. Quite pleased with that.
Birch you are a bad boy - I was hoping you might pace (i.e. drag) me round Manchester
Huge respect for what you have achieved as a runner and for doing it so consistently for decades rather than mere years.
TAR - good TV taste. How about the full set of Curb Your Enthusiasm - that would make the miles pass painlessly.
#gymfail: after 13 consecutive doubles (0630 + 1600 gym sessions) I CNBA as there simply weren't enough hours in the day
- this is not what champions are made of.
Birch - A very honest post regarding your decision not to run another marathon. It is entirely up to you and of course you can change your mind if you want to but yes do please stay around.
Dazzal - I wouldn't say 6:40 is my cruising pace, probably about HMP at the mo. I haven't been able to run a lot in recent months and average about 15-20 mpw and some weeks lower but I'm planning on attacking the shorter distances this year and most of my runs are between 5-10k. I've also had numerous run ins with dogs. They are a hazard when their owners are idiots.
SBD - A sub 40 in training is very good and it's still so early in the campaign but a great confidence booster.
OO - Back on track! A Saturday without you doing a parkrun would be weird but maybe you're legs need a break.
Gul - That's stingy if you work full time. Nice 13.
Abbers - Great stuff. I hope you have a good run Sunday.
5.2k lunch hill run for me today. Still very windy and rain too today. Felt good so pushed up the hill and gave it a good crack. Mile splits today were 7:13, 6:28, 6:04 and 5:54 for the last bit, average 6:35 for the whole run. 15 seconds off my best time on that route and about a minute quicker than a normal decent effort on that route, so getting back to where I was before Christmas. That's it for me now running wise until at least Monday.
SBD, quality sub 40 10k.
Abbers - very frustrating, but well adapted.
DazzaL - hope you get your calf sorted today.
TAR - thank you, I don't feel so bad about missing my marathon targets now! I might even improve on my WAVA.
Birch - tough decision to make, but that's a mightily impressive record of which you should be very proud.
SBD - stonking 10k for a training run! You are flying.
GM - nice running. Onwards and upwards!
First long run since the middle of December for me today. 17 miles with 8 @ 8:29 and 9 @ 7:51. Legs are a bit tired after 66 miles in 6 days.
Birch - If you don't enjoy it, don't do it. There's no rule that says you have to keep on running marathons forever. You can still run with your daughter in training, even if you don't do the full distance. Are you a member of your area veterans association? There's plenty of enjoyment and camaraderie to be had in Masters competition and you're easily fast enough to medal even if you have slowed down.
Anyone else confused by the message that popped up on signing in today? The forums will be going down from 1am on Monday until 'later in the week'. I should have paid more attention. Something about posts not transferring over to the new site.
TAR 3 hours on the hamster wheel you need a medal
SBD nice sub 40 in training
Birch you will , you will , you will or maybe you won't run another mara but don't sweat it
Gul great miles and good to see some faster stuff.
12 miles with hills on the mara course , met a buddy at about 6 mile and went a second lap average pace 8:13 m /mile.
Congrats to your daughter Birch, that's a mighty distance, I bet she was well chuffed. I hope also you will stick around whatever you decide.
That's a nice summary TAR
SBD, sub 40 10k outside of a race is pretty impressive.
I went to a retirement 'do' last night and enjoyed 5 pints of Guiness. Needless to say I paid for it at the parkrun today with a 19:50. Still came 6th though.
Will still give 20 a go tomorrow, comfortably over 50 even if I drop a couple.
Didn't get that message Speedy- surely they won't delete all our thread history.
Bonkers week at work, so not checked in at all.
Did 15 miles this morning at 7.24 pace. Did the first 12 miles early then tagged the parkrun onto the back of it. Woking parkrun is 3 laps and today it was a quagmire, so much mud.
Anyway, I felt OK despite fighting off a cold and having just run 12 miles, managed 20.15, finished 12th overall (410 runners), 3rd in age group.
That's a sub-20 performance on a dry course and pleasing to see I had some left at the end. I clicked over to my biggest ever January mileage total on today's run and after tomorrow's 6 miler I'll be on 186 which will be my biggest EVER training month! I told you I don't do the volume you guys do!
Lorenzo - are you doing the Centurian 50 miler in September? My mates are trying to talk me into it.
Time to read back...
GD
Have been reading during the week, but not got around to posting on trips to Cambridge, Norwich and North East London, unlike other who have been bashing out the miles and putting some impressive training runs.
OO - decent post Guinness parkrun.
Birch - any further thoughts? Most important things are a. you only keep running if you're enjoying it and b. you stay on here regardless.
G-Dawg - no plans to do the Centurian at this stage. Might think about a 100miler for 2018!!!
Gul - not surprised you're a bit tired. Good progressive 17 miler.
Speedy et al - looks like they won't delete the thread history but they are saying that any posts between Monday at 1am and when the new website is launched won't be migrated.
Decent week running so far this week for me, including hill work on Tuesday and 2 x 2 mile intervals on Thursday. Easy this morning as a long fartlek session planned for tomorrow.
Hi all forum users - as we prepare to migrate all users, threads and posts on to the new RW site, the forum will be offline from 01:00am on Monday 30th January 2017 until relaunch later that week.
Although you may well be able to post, anything posted during that down time will not be migrated to the new platform. Thanks for your patience during the move.
Best save those historic posts until the end of the week then!
Good luck with the Fartlek session Lorenzo.
Good monthly total and nifty Park Run finish to the 15 miler G-D.
Just think of the Iron OO.
Which marathon course is that Leslie?
Not surprised the legs are tired Gul - an excellent 6 days.
Wokingham HM number arrived today. When I entered, I couldn't help notice that if you gave a predicted time of 1:20 or less you got a number in the 1-300 range. So I'm number "126" - just hope they don't hold me to my "prediction"
6 miles recovery on the treadmill tonight and mulling over plans for the long run tomorrow. The sensible option would be a steady 20 miles but I'm half tempted to try another 22 miler. Will have to see how the legs feel tomorrow
Thanks for all your comments, people - much appreciated and useful . . .
Lorenzo - yes , further thoughts,- I've had the siren voices whispering (although sirens wail, rather than whisper, I think - but I digress) - "you can still do it" - but I'm resisting - but its only marathons I'm done with - time to look for one or two other targets now . . . and for a chap who seems quite sane, that was a 100 miler you mentioned , wasn't it ? . . . .
tks Speedy - yes, will do my daughter's remaining long runs with her, but she can do the first 5 or 6 miles solo or with friends . . .
so, after 2 days recovery from the long run horror and "man-flu", went out at 6pm today for a steady 5 - enjoyed the damp evening air . . .
btw, OO - 21 miles may be a mighty distance, but so is 5 pints of Guinness a mighty volume - each now induce too much suffering . . . .
Birch - having done 100K last year, it seems like the next obvious milestone! There is a 30 hour limit though. Might let common sense prevail though.
Thirty hours Lorenzo?????
Apologies for the shameless copying and pasting:
Nice to see Jools today at the Midland Counties XC ,although I mainly saw her back, and by the second half I could no longer see that either! I did pick up yet more bling though - I was last counter for our team and we got bronze, which was way beyond my expectations. My ground down, bent and incomplete spike pins did me no good at all (they're stuck in there, and the empty holes no longer hold pins in them), nor did the tape that just made it even more slippery underfoot in the mud, so I used the voucher I won a couple of weeks ago to treat myself to a new pair of spikes. They'll only get one outing this season though (the National) as I've turned down my place on the Inter Counties team due to a half marathon that weekend. Having just run on the IC course, I'm 100% certain that was the right choice!
Leslie - good MLR.
GD - that's a great parkrun after 12 miles beforehand.
Lorenzo - 100 miles! That's mega-ultra. Relatively mild day for the Peddars Way Ultra yesterday - most of the week it's been hovering around zero!
SBD - enjoy your long run whatever you decide on.
Speedy - you'll need a new display cabinet! Good work.
6 mile recovery run d&d to bring up 72 miles for the week.
Hope the forum isn't down too long this week - how will we survive?!
Sorry for brevity of post. A read back sees some nice LRs and XC performances. Plus an introspective Birch, to whom I will say you have been a constant source of inspiration on this thread. Whatever you decide, you have left an impression on me with your training and racing. Please don't leave us if you do decide to bow out of marathoning.
Contingency planning going on here. Entered Reading HM as a back up in the event I defer to London from Manchester. Ankle and foot not right so running curtailed but will strengthen like a demon and see what that produces. Happy injury free running all. See you on the other side.
PS If all posts are scrubbed does that mean all injuries pre-30 Jan disappear too?
0054 nice fuelled parkrun
Gdawg good speed after 12 miles
Lorenzo you would need to start building now for a 2018 100 miler ,,unbelieveable distance to run !
SBD run sub 1:20 and sub3 will be a breeze !
Birch we accept the manflu excuse for these recent mara posts we will wipe the slate clean and forget all about this quitting
CC2 more bling well done.
MSE always good to have a plan B, get well soon.
Quite icy this morn lots of slipping and sliding early on but get another 14m done average pace 7:35 m/mile, the last few mile were 7:00 , 6:39, 6:30 with 7:26 to finish .
63m for the week.
Folks - just to stress that I haven't committed to anything for 2018. Just think it looks to be an "interesting" challenge.
We'll all be holding you to the sub-1:20 SBD!!
Congrats on the team bling Speedy - enjoy the new spikes.
Felt like a tough session for me this morning: 5 miles warm up, then 5 miles of alternating reps of 1 min at 5K pace, 1 min easy, followed by 1 mile easy and 2 miles hard finish. The minute-long reps were all in the 6:00-6:15 range (as far as I could tell) and the 2 miles at the end were 6:43 and 6:37 so I was pleased with that and rewarded myself with a bowl of Coco Pops for breakfast.
All in all, 13 miles to bring up 44 for the week.
XC today was a DNF. Good start, best of the season so far, and I was up in the last few races and running comfortably but suddenly I had a sharp pain in the right groin which didn't seem to want to go so I decided not to risk it further and walked back. The pain is still there so it was the right decision, will have to see how the week pans out.
Fingers crossed for you, PMJ. You definitely did the right thing.
MsE: yes, all injuries in place today will no longer be in place tomorrow. Honest!
Mids XC for me yesterday, and nice to see CC2. 23rd for me (I've been 21st the last 2 years): didn't quite have the finishing kick to go with 21st and 22nd when they made a bid for home! Still, I felt much stronger than last week and legs felt pretty ok during today's 15 @ 7.55. 55M done to finish the recovery week.
Well done to Jools & Speedy on the XC results - bling is always nice
Good call PMJ - hopefully it will resolve itself over the next few days.
Quality session there Lorenzo.
Keep the faith MsE - it will all come good.
Good fast finish to the 14 miles Leslie.
A good weeks work Gul
Long run early afternoon in the cold and wet with a few dogs to contend with
The legs were not keen on 22 miles but I told them to man up and get on with it. Although not feeling quite as bouncy as last week (and definitely worse conditions
) the splits and overall time turned out to be almost exactly the same, so average of 7:32 and the last 5 miles at 7:15. It felt a lot worse so I'll take that as a positive. Brings up 76 miles for the week.
Won't repeat SBD's summary, but well done to Jools and Speedy on their xc exploits, and fingers crossed for rapid recoveries for both PMJ and MsE.
Cracking long run SBD - looking really good.
20 for me today consisting of 6 warm up, full effort at the Romsey 5 miles then 9 to round up, all after my first ever sports massage on Friday night. Hamstrings a little tender after that, so while my 33:05 is my slowest time at Romsey on that course, it's only 20 seconds down on last year and just over a minute outside my PB, so not disastrous given the nature of the run at the end of a 52 mile week. Short walk back to the car, then rounded out the 20 with a block of 4 sub-8 miles at the end, so overall feeling reasonably confident that mara fitness is slowly building.
Congrats on the XC ladies and those who hit their Sunday and weekly targets.
I stuck out for 20. A modest 8:35 mile pace but not bad after a heavy back end to the week.
Junior also ran an 18:18 parkrun in Sheffield yesterday so over the injury and on her way back to form.
Hope all you oldies were inspired by the Federer magic today- what a classic match.
Sounds like you've got a great relationship with your kids, Birch. That's much more impressive than your 2.46. If you're spectating at Manchester, give a cheery wave to the fat old bloke struggling with the unfamiliar outdoors terrain. He'll need all the help he can get.
Yes, Poacher, the Curb Your Enthusiasm box is lined up next. Maybe alternating with The Larry Sanders Show. These things seem to suit indoor running, for some reason.
Your confidence appears to be well placed, Abbers.
Fear not, Gul, you're in fine company. Achieving marathon targets is so passé.
good XC racing Jools, Speedy , wise withdrawal from PMJ . . .
you're much more disciplined than many with the strength/rehab stuff, MsE . . .
excellent weekly miles & long runs, Leslie, SBD, Abbers, Gul, OO - and fine parkrun by junior, OO - will she be running in the BUCS XC here next weekend ?
TAR - yes, I'll be spectating at Manchester - need to study the course for multi-point spectating potential . . .
zero today - 33 for the week, 158 for month with 2 days to go.
have a good running week, all . . . .
I echo what Birch said re the XC'ers. We had a few runners at Parliament hill and was nice to see one of our young senior runners place well in 49th after a few years in the running wilderness. He's a very talented runner but seems to have lost his way a bit after years of promise as one of the best junior runners in the UK at middle distance.
OO - 5 pints is a starter portion from where I'm from. Nice LR and good to see Junior back running and running so well too. I too watched the tennis. It was fab and what two great champions they both are and such admirable sportsmanship from both. Anyone who is interested in sport would do well to take a leaf out of their books.
Birch - From memory I'd day Manchester is a good course to spectate. I saw a few people that I recognised from various parts of the course when I ran/walked it last year.
SBD - That sounds like a better run than last week factoring in the conditions and how you felt. I'm sure that tempo 18/sub 40 10k has something got to do with the lack of bounce. Well run.
Abbers - Ticking those runs off nicely!
G-Dawg - Nice parkrun with some nice miles tagged on.
TAR - Have you run Manchester before?
MsE - Plan C! Good thinking. I hope your foot is miraculously healed after the migration of the thread.
Zero running for me as expected this weekend but hoping to get out for a birthday run tomorrow. Turn 43 tomorrow and 6 years as a runner. It's flown by. I'm hoping for a good week of lunch runs and a shot at the parkrun next Saturday. A pb would start Feb off nicely but it won't be easy.
Nice 5k lunch time pace Gerrard, sounds like it's always windy where you are! Happy birthday for tomorrow, enjoy your birthday run!
Sounds like you've been toying with the idea of not running a marathon for a while Birch and that 21 miler probably made up your mind. But you never know, maybe a few good half marathons could reignite your passion again? I think if your mind has been made up, stick with it and remember the good races you put in.
Excellent 10k tempo run SBD, impressive time! Blistering time for your 22 miler there today you're in good form at the moment!
Nice park runtime nonetheless fuelled by the black stuff OO54, nice 20 miler too!
Good contingency plan MsE, sounding positive.
Well done the XC ladies.
Nice session Lorenzo.
Another 20 miler yesterday morning with a steady 7.45 pace for the first 12 then 5 miles @ MP with a steady 3 miles home, expect I squeezed out the final mile @ MP - oops! Finally got round to entering the Manchester marathon tonight using their discount code due to their course measurement errors for the previous 3 years, so only £35.00. Then on a roll I entered the Milton Keynes half as well. Looks like a lot going on that day with the 20 miler starting at 9.50 a 5k starting at 10.00, then a 10k at 10.10 and the half marathon starting at 10.45!