Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
New Mature Runners Thread
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
I must admit, one of the events I considered was a revisit to the Munich Marathon which, (far from enjoying the event), I liked due to its general laid-back atmosphere. After the Gatwick debacle, I'm glad I didn't commit myself. It brought back memories of some awful flights over the years. So, those of my Christmas card senders who are going on swanky holidays - maybe I don't envy them after all.
I did book a Half-Marathon not too far away from where we live. Mr E asked me when I would start training for it "Err... the week before, probably." I said.
Aquarius: Your description reminds me of our visit to Newcastle last March. It was like Siberia.
Sorry about your leak problem, Columba. I hope you get it resolved.
I've just come back from a two day trip to Cumbria to buy stuff for a hamper from our family farm shop. I say family. It's run by my distant cousins now, but we share a great, great grandfather who started it off. The accent makes me feel Christmassy and brings back childhood memories.
Good luck with your marathon Red and your 9k run Mokshaeight.
Bright and sunny and I was at the supermarket at 6.45am thinking I would beat the crowds, but it seemed that every one had the same idea. It's only closed on Christmas Day, but you would think it was closed for weeks, the amount of stuff everyone was buying.
Moks, thanks, I will start upping my mileage in the new year. Good luck in your 9k.
Aquarius, thanks for your kind wishes x
Exhausted, I've never raced overseas, and am never likely to unfortunately
Damien, sorry to hear about your injuries, but a very respectable time in the circumstance. I haven't run a parkrun for over a year since my knee injury, so would probably find it difficult to achieve that time.
Red, hope your marathon went well, and that you didn't suffer with your cold.
Fingers crossed, we don't seem to have had any spam lately, so hopefully RW Towers have taken notice of our complaints at last. I've still got the last one in my in box which is annoying though. I don't know how it got there.
Oh my goodness I'm glad I chose yesterday to run in sunshine with a light breeze as it's so horrid here today with heavy rain and a cold wind! I started reasonably well for the first 2 laps out and back along Deal seafront with a glorious blue sky. My chest felt nearly OK but I really wasn't going to push my pace but then something very strange happened - I lost my focus and my head decided it didn't want to run a stupid marathon and told me it wanted to stop after the next lap! I tried to ignore it and took a walk break, taking in the views and snapping a few things (I never tire of the changing light at the seaside, so beautiful) but that didn't shift the mood.
Thankfully my favourite young man, James, came along, gave me a hug and took a walk break with me and we had a good catch-up for the remainder of lap 3. When I tried not to go out again for the next 2 laps to reach marathon distance (3 laps more for a 50k but that definitely wasn't going to happen!) he persuaded me to come out again and we ran/walked and chatted together for the rest of it lthough there was more of the walk part for the final lap. Bless him.
I have never done that route in over 5 hours before and we finished in just over 6 hours with marathon 163 for me and marathon 182 I think for him, although it was actually an ultra as
he'd done an extra lap before his care-the-community-for-an-old-biddy stint with me.
TE, I chuckled at your pre-Christms supermarket experience as that's exactly what happened to me several years ago. I was stunned by the crowds of people out shppoing at 5am as I was convinced I'd have the stre to myself!
Damian, oh dear, sorry to hear you took a tumble and hope you recover quickly. Still a respectable time in the circumstances. Take care of yourself x
Moks, hope your 9k was fun.
Exhausted, I love Cumbria and spent many family holidays up in the Lake District. I'm with you on the thought of flying at Christmas, even more so having read the latest about the Chinese developing drones which can bypass the blocking protocols currently in place. Scary stuff.
Red, very well done for completing your marathon, when your brain had told you to call it a day. I just can't imagine running 163 marathons and I'm sure that you have many more in mind.
Sarah and her hubby are on their way to Aussie for a 6 week holiday. She messaged me from Hong Kong airport which was an 11 hour flight, and they have another 11 hour flight before reaching their destination. They are hiring a camper van, so will do a lot of travelling. She has taken her running gear, but whether she will do much running, I don't know.
That marathon sounded awful Red, well done for pushing on and completing it. Everyone should have a friend like James, what a truly selfless act. The time is irrelevant in the circumstances, just celebrate the fact you didn’t give up and drop out.
A five mile run for me this morning, taking advantage of the relatively mild weather.
Merry Christmas to you all.
Times range between just over 21 to over 24 and at the moment am jammed at 22 and some.
Other than that have now fully retired from day job and my 3 grandchildren keep us busy; my grandson took his first steps on Xmas day which was rather nice.
I'll try to check in and mend my ways. You are a really supportive bunch. Happy New Year to all!
Happy birthday for today, I see you are still getting some really good 5k times, sorry to hear about the injuries, but they are inevitable as we get older I suppose. Don't let that discourage you though, everyone goes through bad patches at one time or another.
Congratulations on your retirement. I'm sure you are finding (as we did) that somehow retirement keeps you busier than work did. I don't know where the time goes to these days, although I agree grandchildren do tend to take up a lot of time. How lovely that your grandson took his first steps on Christmas Day, that's a milestone that will be easy to remember!
Red: I was finding that message in my head all too frequently. Why am I doing this? Who is going to care whether I do this or not? There are enough people running in this direction, does it matter if I'm not one of them? and so it goes on. What a lovely bloke James sounds! There should be a Runners World Mature Runners Thread medal that we donate for such selfless acts. Perhaps you could knit a gong for him and arrange (secretly) with the organiser of the next race you are at (maybe one of Travis') for him to have a special award ceremony where you pin it on. Well done you for getting round.
Columba: I hope you enjoyed your collaborative Christmas meal. The Lapland trip sounds lovely, despite its uncertain start. I went to Lapland in 1971, albeit in August (although it was getting rather chilly). I was fascinated by how the Laps followed their herds in an itinerant existence. No part of a reindeer was wasted (skin, meat, gut, bone, antlers, hide).
Oh dear Damien. I think we've all had races where we wished we hadn't got out of bed. I really hope that your bruises heal up soon. I must admit "itching to get back soon." is not in my running vocabulary.
Well done on your 5k race, Aquarius.
John Bateman 6: Welcome back! Happy Birthday.
I spent a great deal of Christmas sprawled across the floor building Brio tracks or playing with other toys, crooning babies to sleep, chasing across parks, wiping mud from hands and all the other things that you do with babies and toddlers. My daughter-in-law produced an amazing Christmas lunch and has lumbered herself with a job for life with her Mary Berry Christmas pudding (I usually buy mine from Waitrose, drown it with alcohol and set fire to it!). She put me to shame.
Welcome back John and happy birthday. Good to hear that you are still running, but sorry that you have been plagued with injuries. I had a meniscus tear in my right knee in June last year and it's still not 100%. I've only managed 3 races this year, all off road half marathons. After months of walk/jogs, I'm finally getting some pace back, so hoping to do better next year. I've managed to exceed 1,000 miles this year, so in the circumstances, can't complain.
Now that you are retired, you will be the same as other retirees wondering how you ever had time to go to work. Keep in touch.
Columba, glad that your elder daughter and family eventually made it to Lapland to see Father Christmas.
Hope you enjoyed your Christmas Lunch with other members of your family!
Aquarius, your Boxing Day charity fun run 5k sounds like a very enjoyable experience. A very good turnout, especially after the Christmas Days festivities.
Exhausted, sounds like you had a very "exhausting" Christmas with your family. Glad you enjoyed the Christmas Lunch, especially the Mary Berry Christmas Pudding.
I went to my Daughter in Aylesbury for Christmas. Drove up Christmas Eve and returned yesterday. We went round to her boy friends parents for Christmas Dinner. His mum is an amazing cook, even providing a special meal for my daughter who has now become a vegan, having been a vegetarian for many years. I don't eat meat very often these days, but did enjoy the turkey. The Christmas Pudding was from Marks and Spenser and very nice. We were joking about when we were children, the pudding always contained silver threepence bits, and where were they in todays
I didn't run over the Christmas, but walked the three dogs twice a day, which was quite tough, as they pull on their leads, especially when they spot a squirrel. One of the dogs is being "minded" by my daughter, and she hopes to return her in the New Year. It's really too much for her walking all three by herself, and I worry that they will pull her over, especially on the slippery mud.
Traffic was very light on Christmas Eve, but much busier yesterday on the return. It was free flowing though until past Oxford on the A34 where it was "crawling" but not stationary, for about a mile.
Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year, and hoping that it will be better that this with all the unrest in the world and the wretched BREXIT!
Sounds like folk have had some good Xmas experiences. My aim was to come out of the Festive season at the same weight as I went into it (as I'm already a few pounds north of my 'running weight') but as yet I don't think I've been wholly successful. I did once read that (OK a bit of a meaningless statistic) the average consumption on Xmas day is 6000 calories. At least us lot (when we are fit) can burn it off - or some of it.
Hope you've all had a lovely Christmas. We've just been at home except for today when we went for lunch to celebrate our wedding anniversary of 3 decades - where do the years go?! No running for the last few days as the niggle I picked up after my last marathon is taking a while to go. Hoping it's healed for NYD and my next marathon but if not then I won't be doing it.
JB6, welcome back, long time no see! Please do not mention weight as I look and feel like the Michelin man at the moment.
Exhausted, I think James and I are about equal on good turns now as we've both helped eachother out on many occasions - I managed to get him round a marathon the day after his very first 100 miler to register my slowest marathon ever of 8.5 hours!!! I also crew for him sometimes when he does long distance stuff so if I'm struggling he comes to check I'm OK. Such a lovely young man. LOL at you being outdone by your DiL and crawling around on the floor sounds like great fun :smiley
TE, glad to hear you had a nice Christmas and dog-walking is excellent cross-training.
Columba, so glad your family managed to get to Lapland. What a mess that was. Glad you're emanaging to get out and run.
Aquarius, your race sounded brilliant and what a fab turnout.
Damian, hope you heal quickly x
Here's to a happy and peaceful 2019 (said with a degree of uncertainty that the peacful part will be achieved).
JB, yes I do remember the Hayling Island 10 mile , where you out sprinted me at the finish. Your speciality 5k racing obviously paid off!
Red, congratulations for your 3 decades wedding anniversary!
Hope your niggle soon clears up, but as you wisely said, you won't run if it hasn't.
The dog walking helped me to maintain some level of fitness.
WtnMel, sorry to hear that Margaret was feeling unwell on Christmas Day, so was unable to travel to see her son. Well done for cooking the Christmas Dinner! I was lucky because my daughter's boyfriend mother cooked ours.
Shame about HMV probably closing the remainder of their stores. The one in Southampton has been closed for several months now which is annoying, as I was a fairly regular purchaser of CD's there. I'm not into streaming so will be limited for future purchases of CD's and DVD's. My DVD player doesn't "recognise" the discs anymore, so is no good. It's hardly worth buying another, if DVD's become obsolete
I ran 6.1 miles in the forest yesterday morning with Giuliana and Steve. That was my first run for over a week, and I was pleased that I was able to get "straight into it." I'm running tomorrow morning with the "other Sarah," the one that hasn't gone to Australia for 6 weeks. On New Years Day, I'm running with Helen, who I haven't run with for quite some time. She has been getting back into running after having her second baby 6 months ago, by doing parkruns. She ran sub 29 minutes yesterday, so is delighted that she is regaining her pace. This will be the first time that I run successive days for well over a year. Hope I can manage it LoL.
WtnMel: I also lament the closing of HMV. There was something about holding a physical CD in your hand and scanning down the titles. There was a classical music shop in Soho called Harold Moores where most of my collection was bought. That closed at the beginning of last year. I used to spend hours in there.
Boston. Burbles along as I don't know the words, bobs head up and down at the explosive guitar bit and then sings raucously MORE THAN A FEEELIIING!
HS: I also remember the threepenny bits in the Christmas pudding. You're really back in the running swing with running every day.
John Bateman: I expect we'll all feel inclined to comment on Brexit in the coming months.
I now consider that I'm a running beginner again, so I downloaded a running schedule and peeped through my fingers in fear at the first week's timetable. 23 miles! That sounds a long way now, even in a week.
HS - Well done on the 6.1 miles. I tried a a similar distance yesterday at snail's pace and it wiped me out for the day. (Perhaps running in a lovely forest helps??) Good to hear you are back at it.
Exhausted - which schedule are you on (23 miles sounds quite precise) and are you after a specific goal? 23 from a low base is quite testing?
Mel - you sound as busy as ever. Like the music choices (well, some of them - was never a LZ fan although all my pals were...…..and maybe still are as far as I know!) I was more of a Fairport Convention man!
I managed a parkrun on 29th. New course, much harder than I expected and I was disorientated to the extend that I miscounted laps (idiot!). It was all a bit hard and I just avoided a PW (23.49), came last (out of 2!) in category woke and up the next day feelng sore - which is why I shouldn't have run the 6 miles and then played with grandchildren all day. (I am usually a flat-track bully and wince at the sight of mud, hills and sharp turns!).
So on NYD will be back of gorgeous flat, straight and firm tarmac desperately chasing a sub-22 (and doubtless failing!).
Happy New Year to all.
Today I am wearing my sensible head and have decided not to run a marathon tomorrow as my foot is sore. Off to see Mary Massage Lady on friday and won't be running until she's had a good prod round in it. Being sensible is a right pain in the wotsit but hopefully I'll heal faster.
Exhausted, I didn't know Harold Moores had closed! What a shame. Mike's first studio was not far away in Lexington Street so we were frequent visitors and we've bought lots of cds from there over the years. Good luck with your sparkly new training regime.
JB6, you are still a speedy boy (I did chuckle at you miscounting oyur laps, sorry)
TE, glad to hear you're running again and I'm sure you'll do well tomorrow.
WtnMel, poor Margaret, hope she's better now and well done you for cooking Christmas lunch.
JB6: That sounds a challenging park run. I always thought park runs were... in parks and nice and flat. I also like Fairport Convention and "Who Knows Where The Time Goes." is up there in my all time top ten. On university outdoors trips we took turns to sing Matty Groves as we drove along in the van.
WtnMel: I hope Margaret is better now and fighting fit.
HS: I hope you enjoyed your run with "the other Sarah."
Mokshaeight: Happy New Year to you, too.
I got up this morning and went to Tesco in my running gear. I shopped and then ran about 6 miles afterwards. Ambled along OK.
Happy New Year to everyone x
I also did one where everyone at the front was sent the wrong way and then had to overtake the slower runners (who by then had received the correct advice) in the last stretch of a 10K. What made it even worse was that it was one of those events where the first 50 got 'golds', the next 50 slivers and so on. So as folk crossed the line the marshalls had to make a judgement on whether the runner was a misdirected fast one or a slow one who got lucky! I have to say that there were many competitors who had a sense of humour failure.
This event was never run again and was organised by a top public school!
My 2019 kicked off with a solid 22.14 which was about as expected.
I've decided that being sensible sucks and am very jealous of my fellow marathoners who are experiencing a glorious sunny day along the Kent coast.
Aquarius, hope the xc was fun. I love 10ks but dislike 1/2 marathons.
Re being sent the wrong way in races, I've been in a few marathons where that has happened - one where the lead bikes took the elite runners 1.5 miles in the wrong direction (the speedy boys were not best pleased!!!), a trail marathon where someone had moved all the signs and us slower runers all did an extra 4 miles having doubled back after 2 miles after realising it didn't seem right and even one of the early Brigthon marathons where some runners were directed to miss out a 1.5 mile section.
JB6 that's a jolly good time indeed.
Exhausted, I have an image of you running along carrying your shopping! The pain in my foot is right underneath the pad part of the heel which I can't locate if I poke it but I feel it when I walk/run. I think it's probably a bit of plantar fasciitis, partly a result of an old ankle injury which happened about 10 years ago (forced to leap off the lane by someone looking at his mobile phone whilst heading right at me!) as the fascias around my heel feel tight and are seizing up if I've been sitting down for a while. Mary will have a good prod round in there and hopefully dislodge any sticky bits. Plus, my achilles is probably tight too.