The Loneliness of a Long-Distance Runner

[kinboshi]

how was the weather? I raced 10k today and it was so ridic hot, completely unexpected, it nearly killed me. 45:15 with pretty much no training and a rather excessive day of cake and wine yesterday so quite happy

Aren't you a fat lad any more Dan?

Not seen you for ages but if you're running these times I assume you are no longer 90% lard?

Impressive stuff 

not weighed myself for a while but probs about 12 1/2 stone atm, really need to drop a stone off that to be running decent times

Same weight as me then!

[gatso]

how was the weather? I raced 10k today and it was so ridic hot, completely unexpected, it nearly killed me. 45:15 with pretty much no training and a rather excessive day of cake and wine yesterday so quite happy

What time do you reckon you could do with the correct preparation?  I reckon I could get close to 42 minutes, but it would have to be a road race and a fast course at that.  The one Stu's suggesting should be a quick course as it's very flat.

Sounds like you're possibly a naturally faster runner than me, so 42 minutes should be doable?

problem is I'm also naturally lazier than you

42 mins def doable if I drop a stone and train properly though. that was only the 2nd actual race I've run and I've gone from 47:07 to 45:15. really considering going for it properly now as I realised that with a bit of preperation I could've got a top 10 finish yesterday. plus I was beaten by a girl, don't want that happening again

[gatso]

shorter than you though dan and the extra weight is on my belly

[kinboshi]

how was the weather? I raced 10k today and it was so ridic hot, completely unexpected, it nearly killed me. 45:15 with pretty much no training and a rather excessive day of cake and wine yesterday so quite happy

What time do you reckon you could do with the correct preparation?  I reckon I could get close to 42 minutes, but it would have to be a road race and a fast course at that.  The one Stu's suggesting should be a quick course as it's very flat.

Sounds like you're possibly a naturally faster runner than me, so 42 minutes should be doable?

problem is I'm also naturally lazier than you

42 mins def doable if I drop a stone and train properly though. that was only the 2nd actual race I've run and I've gone from 47:07 to 45:15. really considering going for it properly now as I realised that with a bit of preperation I could've got a top 10 finish yesterday. plus I was beaten by a girl, don't want that happening again

You should have run the 10K I did, like I said the course record is held by a girl.  She was there yesterday, a little waif of a thing, and probably weighs less than one of our legs. 

There were about 300 running yesterday (my number was 326 and I entered pretty late), and I came about 50th.  A 42-minute time would have seen me in 23rd.  Next year I want to be in the top 25 in that race.  My preparation will need to be better as well.  No poker the night before (pretty much bubbling the 6-max, sigh) and need to be training for a good month or so before the race.  Some of my times at the tr24 were quicker than my time yesterday, and the tr24 course was far tougher.  Just shows how much fitness you can lose in space of a month of doing next to nothing.

[gatso]

sounds like the same sort of spread of times as my race but we had about 1/3 the number of runners, it was the first year it's been run

http://www.southernrunningguide.com/races/2011/beckton_park_challenge_10k_5k_and_3k/results/beckton_park_challenge_10k_2011_results.pdf

[EvilPie]

how was the weather? I raced 10k today and it was so ridic hot, completely unexpected, it nearly killed me. 45:15 with pretty much no training and a rather excessive day of cake and wine yesterday so quite happy

Aren't you a fat lad any more Dan?

Not seen you for ages but if you're running these times I assume you are no longer 90% lard?

Impressive stuff 

not weighed myself for a while but probs about 12 1/2 stone atm, really need to drop a stone off that to be running decent times

Good stuff mate.

What did you weigh when I last saw you?

Probs about 2 years ago or so if I remember rightly.

[gatso]

probs somewhere between 16 and 17 last time we met up

[EvilPie]

probs somewhere between 16 and 17 last time we met up

I'm genuinely impressed mate. Very well done!!

I've noticed the odd snippet on here where you've spoken about your running and guessed you must've made a few major changes.

Have you changed other aspects of your lifestyle or is it just the running that's made all the difference?

Do you eat a lot better now as well and also drink less?

If so did you do that at the start or has it slowly crept in as you found yourself enjoying a healthier life?

[gatso]

Managed to knock out my first 10k ever on the treadmill on Friday 67mins 40secs, not in your league but pretty proud of myself none the less. Going to keep it up and try and get it under an hour. Toying with the idea of this though, http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/support_us/events/running_events/parkinsons_10k_spooky_sprint.aspx we could stand next to each other at the start and everything, then if you hang around half an hour at the end we could go for a pint ;-)

what's got you interested in doing this stu?

get in a few training runs on the road rather than treadmill and, assuming that the course isn't made difficult by the dark, you shouldn't have too much trouble getting under an hour. just the adrenaline of an actual race and having other people around to pace yourself against is worth a couple of minutes over any training times you might put in

[StuartHopkin]

Managed to knock out my first 10k ever on the treadmill on Friday 67mins 40secs, not in your league but pretty proud of myself none the less. Going to keep it up and try and get it under an hour. Toying with the idea of this though, http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/support_us/events/running_events/parkinsons_10k_spooky_sprint.aspx we could stand next to each other at the start and everything, then if you hang around half an hour at the end we could go for a pint ;-)

what's got you interested in doing this stu?

get in a few training runs on the road rather than treadmill and, assuming that the course isn't made difficult by the dark, you shouldn't have too much trouble getting under an hour. just the adrenaline of an actual race and having other people around to pace yourself against is worth a couple of minutes over any training times you might put in

Obviously been going to the gym a lot since about March time, trying to get fit, shift some weight and tone up etc

Running on the treadmill seems to be what I like to do the most and can push myself weekly to do a bit more.

Friday was the first time I did 10k and it didnt kill me, now its half respectable would like to go out to a couple of runs, not competitively but just because I can.
I was never sporty at school etc and pretty proud that considering where I was 10 years ago.

Would like to build up and do a marathon at somepoint just for self satisfaction purposes.

Be all you can be innit

[gatso]

cool, sounds good

you should enter that race for sure, you'll love it. took a friend along on sunday for his first 10k, he spent the whole journey there moaning about how I'd made him do this then the whole journey back thinking me for making him do it. he'd never run above 6k before and thought he'd struggle to do an hour, ended up doing 53 minutes and now wants to race more

it's strange how enjoyable it can be at an actual race, you really get caught up in it

think I may look to do a marathon some time too, we should look into doing a blonde trip to one somewhere nice next year

[kinboshi]

Do it Stu and Dan!  I'm up for that, and I'm sure some others will be too.

Blonde marathon trip somewhere. 

[gatso]

yep, I'd def be up for it if we can get a few people involved

[kinboshi]

Maybe somewhere like Berlin? Meant to be an excellent marathon, and good for fast times.

Don't think getting places is as tough as London. Alternatively, we could do with less well-known one? There are loads to choose from. Or maybe look at something a little different, like running the Yorkshire Three Peaks, or summit like that...

Would be epic.

[kukushkin88]

NY or Philly in November and go to a Jets or Eagles game would be good.