Moraghan Training - Stevie G

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  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    *not Winchbottom...Tiffield...near Silverstone.

    sorry, I'm off for a bit now! tata!

  • You already have a niche SG, it's your beautiful, prosaic & unfiltered ramblings image

  • It is a shame about Wycombe Half, but at least it's given me a reason not to go for my 15th in a row image

    To be fair to HXR though, numbers were well down, and they had to do something. I'm not sure what they have done is right though - certainly the off-road bits will put me off. I like off-road races and I like road races, but not so keen on hybrids!

    As for Marlow Half, adding in two crossings of the main road is just plain bizarre! 

    The loss of Risborough 10k is a real shame as that was a great little race - slightly undulating, but still a fast and interesting route. Just the hassles with road closures and TVP lead the organiser to say "sod it". It might come back though if enough people badger VOAAC I guess.

  • Jeez Louise- just noticed the price of Wycombe Half - it's leapt up from £14 last year to £24! Reedickless!

  • There are an awful lot of races and choice in this area, the odd ones might fall away but on the whole I reckon we are very lucky. 

  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭

    East/Central Berks seems the place to be now. Off the top of my head there are HM's at Reading, Wokingham, Maidenhead, and Bracknell. 10k's at Woodley, Shinfield, Swallowfield and Mortimer, 10m at Maidenhead; evening series at Dinton. Not to mention Fleet HM & 10k, 10k series at Yateley and Tadley 10 all within a few miles of the border. 

    Why so much in one area and hardly anything in others? Surrey almost devoid of races too other than the rip off Surrey Half that somehow attracts 6000 or so runners!

  • Yeah SG fire away. RW forum is so dull these days, used to be some great arguments a few years ago. The best ones are proper runners against joggers etc etc and gym bunnies etc...



    I quite like it in a weird way when a race gets changed and it falls flat on its arse. The Stevenage 5k series was a great fast moody dark clubby 3 race aeries around the underpasses in November and December. First the course got changed, then they just changed it to one race...in July. Then it died a death. Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!



    Ahem. Anyway yes my pathetic injury seems to be clearing up, definitely just a niggle, forget I even mentioned it. Bit of muscle rolling, few squats etc..seems to have done the trick.
  • I'm not sure what is hotter. The gym here (no bunnies, just hardcore types) or the temps at Dinton 10k series last summer.



    I tell a lie, there is one gym bunny who stops here treadmill and stretches, placing her leg straight on to the treadmill control panel. Flexibility.



    Well done all at Wokey, even to Bus for not getting hypothermia. Good luck with the bathroom.
  • The missus is the same for stretches, makes my eyes water sometimes!



    Is that Dinton Oxon/Bucks way? Remember seeing a sign for Dinton Cricket club on the way home from Abingdon last week.
  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭
    Andrew G wrote (see)

    Which races Ric? I love steep downhills.

     

    Watford HM, Pednor 5/10 and Marlow HM for starters, or rather finishers. Ricky 10's another. Ironically, the Harrow Hill 10k isn't a problem seeing as the hill is all of one mile from top to bottom so quite shallow.

    It's those cliff  'drop offs' I can't cope with.

    It's a question of how your body can take that sort of eccentric loading. At my age, the bounce and elasticity has largely gone, my joints are too loose, and having slightly flat feet doesn't help. 

    On the subject of races. Around my way nearly every local event has disappeared due to traffic problems. Now that the Sunday trading laws have been relaxed, there's no reason for the consumerist dullards to stay at home bored out of their minds.

    Instead they can drive about looking at sofas and doing the rounds of food outlets.

    And getting in the way of runners.

    But it's really the Police who kill them off. They say 'You need our assistance & oh, it's £10,000". No thanks say the organisers. The Police then say, 'You don't understand, you really do need our assistance, and it's £10,000. If you don't need our assistance and pay us £10,000, we'll stop the race going ahead under 'the xyz public order whateverwecanthinkof offense'.

    That killed off the Harrow Marathon/HM event. 

    Mind you, I calculated the route cut 28 major road junctions so it wasn't ideal.

    As for an anecdote. The Police turned up for my clubs Summer League event and tried some leverage but failed miserably. It was explained that 'It wasn't a race, it was a group of people out for a run who just happened to be starting and finishing in the same place. 

    We didn't have numbers on, so there was bugger all they could do.

     

    🙂

  • The Bus wrote (see)

    Jeez Louise- just noticed the price of Wycombe Half - it's leapt up from £14 last year to £24! Reedickless!

    Cabbage Patch 10 this year has gone the same way, 2011 it was £17 with a long sleeve top in the goody bag, this year £26.50. Best part of £10 more in 5 years.

    I feel the basic issue is down to the market place splitting up. Historically there were a lot races organised by clubs and they were all pretty much the same, so if the odd person wanted to run a half marathon then they picked one that was close and so you had a bunch of club runners and a bunch of others. Now, if you are a casual runner, you can find one of these big events close by, so why run a half with a few hundred people in it when you can run in a big city half with 10s of thousands of runners. You get a big goody bag and for a one off experience it is far better. This means the small, local races lose that padding they always used to get, so they get smaller and the big races get bigger.

  • Question for Bus who is hot on rights of way. I run on a footpath alongside the Thames, so if there are tree fellers (and I can't resist the old one: Paddy and Mick are at the job centre looking for work. They come across a sign that says "tree fellers wanted". Paddy says to Mick, "Ahhh, what a pity there's only the two of us!") can they ask me to stop going along the path? As far as I see, it is a public right of way and if they want to close it then they need a temporary closure and as such have to have paperwork to prove such.

  • DachsDachs ✭✭✭

    Ultimately, there are probably too many races.  The number of races is worlds away from when I was a youngster, and, with an increasing focus for beginners on marathons, and London in particular, there aren't really enough people around to support, or marshal, the number of local 10ks and halfs that there are.

    Although I'm a beneficiary of the watering down of the top end that happens as a result of there being so many races, it's kind of a good thing if a more focused series of events results in a stronger front end in local races.

    Some of those London events must fall victim to the decreasing patience of drivers.  I really didn't enjoy the Finchley 20 at times due to the way drivers in the area clearly resented the runners being there at all.  Including one of them punching a marshal. 

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    Cuttin in here Phil, I assume the tree guys were trying to avoid you getting taken out by a large piece of wood. But this assumes they were giving you the option.

    Decreasing patience of drivers is another assumption. As if these dorks had any in the first place.

     

    🙂

  • I think we should ask Pete whether he thinks the tree fellers should be able to get on with their job?

  • Unfortunately until these idiots who pay £30 to do a 'Colour Run' or 'Run for Chocolate' stop paying it, companies will keep trying to make a quick buck out of the running scene. They don't do it out of the kindness of their hearts - and they don't even time the thing either..bloody con.

    Belgrave enquired about trying to get the London to Brighton road relay going again, but were given short shrift by the Police. I think we just ought to turn up with out numbers and do it anyway..

  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭

    Good point AG! I'm all for the tree fellers doing their job unhindered by runners after my Wokingham experience (head graze reducing a bit now but still having to explain to people how I can into a tree branch!). Still if Philip wants to take his chances whilst they are at work that's fair enough too I guess.  

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    The race, ahem run which I mentioned was in danger of being struck from the list of Summer League Events due to the two lap course having to cut across the mouth of busy junctions on eight occasions. 

    I fixed the problem by sending the runners down the roads they used to cross, turning the run into a three lapper.

    It's a bloody awful course with 28 right angled turns in only 10k. But it was the only viable alternative.

    I'm credited with saving the event every year by the club's secretary. This is ok but how one N. Rackham ran 33:20 on this course at 50 years of age I'll rather not know. At Staines (sold out in days) he'd have been a minute faster.

    🙂

  • RicF wrote (see)

    Cuttin in here Phil, I assume the tree guys were trying to avoid you getting taken out by a large piece of wood. But this assumes they were giving you the option.

     

    The thing is simple. I am on a path and have the right of way. They are trying to cut down a tree and need the path clear. Someone has to wait for the other one, it doesn't follow that I have to concede. Same as these so called banksmen at building sites: they have the same duty to ensure the safety of the public, not stop the public from using a public right of way. As soon as they see a lorry coming they are out in their high-viz trying to stop everyone. I always give a cheery one fingered wave and carry on.

  • Depends on the length of the work and whether or not it is classed as an "emergency". In the latter - say a tree is in danger of falling down, or in a  dangerous state - they wouldn't need a formal closure or diversion agreed with the local ROW dept. In either case they should have advance warning signs advising of the works. The main difference between the tree fellers and the lorry banksmen is, once started, it's pretty tricky to pause felling a tree I guess!

    Sunday trading is a real problem for the smaller races, as is the police being able to effectively hold the RO to ransom through the event licencing process. Problem is, like virtually every public body, they are increasingly being told/forced to think more commercially to make up for funding cuts and will look for any opportunity to try and look for alternative income streams.

    Might try and run tomorrow as the legs feel fine after 3 days of rest. Still no shower though!

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    Discovered in my emails this morning something that will make running 10k's an irrelevance compared to what I'm about to face.

    Bloody nightmare I can tell you.

     

     

    Yes. A notification that my entry to the Abingdon Marathon has been accepted! 

    🙂

  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭

    nice one Ric, had me worried for you for a momentimage

    you must be mad; I periodically think is it worth one last try (but not for long!)

  • DachsDachs ✭✭✭

    Ric, what are you up to?  Marathons?!

    Is this an entry for the Abingdon Marathon?  Or an option for a place in the Abingdon Marathon?

    PMJ's attitude reminds me of my wife (fortunately, there are not many other similarities I can think of).  She will happily cross entrances to roads when cars are approaching, making no effort to hurry, secure in the knowledge that she is in the legal and moral right.  I keep telling her that her legal correctitude will count for little when she is spread all over the tarmac, but she doesn't care.  I can well imagine PMJ similarly standing there on the path, exercising his right to be there, confident in his convictions, right up until the moment that a giant branch wallops him in the face.

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    It's an option to run the thing. It's been paid for. Of course there's another option which is to 'flip' the 'ticket' for a profit closer to the day.

    My inclination is to run the thing in a manner I've never tried which is threshold pace/effort.

    All the others have been blasted, and to hell with the consequences.

    🙂

  • I do that thing with cars, Dachs. In fact the entrance to Waitrose car park is right next to my office so I do it every day. The cars coming out, I wait for but the ones turning in can wait for me. Besides now I have been hit by a car I know it doesn't hurt that much.

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    On the way to a hill session this morning, I ran across the mouth of a junction ahead of a large Mercedes Benz, which wasn't quite able to careen into the road of it's choice at the speed it's occupant wished to.

     

    Clearly having jarred their sense of entitlement; since wiping me out would have  been an even bigger inconvenience, the driver decided to send me on my way with a polite blasting of the horn.

    I returned the compliment with a PMJ gesture. 

    During the session (went well) I noted for the second occasion an old boy walking up the lane I was running on. There's sections with no footpath but plenty wide enough for traffic; or would be were it not for the guy choosing to walk in the middle of the road. 

    I reckon he has what is known as an attitude problem. A van driver came up behind him and he didn't budge until forced to. It wasn't as though the driver hadn't waited.

    The driver finally went past, gestures by the old boy given. Back to centre of the road.

    Odds on he'll be at it again. Next week I'm taking a camera. Watch this space.

    🙂

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    Legendary stuff Ric. Do it, and do it well, I bet you will.

    Chuckled at the idea of Phil stubbornly insisting on his right of way, and then getting a huge bush in his face image

    Not quite sure where I am at the mo. Did a 6 today with two colossal steep arse hills in, and it still came out sub 7, so sort of quite fit, but not that fit at the same time.

    Need to find a better way to spend my evenings than teasing local running legends on facebook though image

  • Thing that gets me is in London there are a load of raised roads so you walk along the pavement, onto the raised bit and back onto the pavement. People assume they are pedestrian crossings so walk straight out onto them. I had someone walk into me the other day at one of these and wanted to give me verbal for walking into my car as she walked along checking her phone. I taught her a new word that day, though some say ninnyhammer is antique.

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    I once heard someone being referred to as 'pernicious Eel shit'.

    /members/images/493151/Gallery/death-angel-heaven-the_afterlife-pearly_gates-clouds-phe1276_low.jpg

     And this.

     

    🙂

  • I'm just thinking Harry Enfield & friends old gits.



    Neeeeeerrr........
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