Eat My Dust August

[glaconman]

In my defense MLCM the Landlord of The Falcon at Arncliffe insists on decanting the beer from the barrel into a jug, and thence into the glass. This may be suitable for old ales, or other such esoterica, but for a Timmy Taylors pub it's simple wrong.

Having said all that, in these parts tea (and I'm talking about the unqiue combination of Taylors of Harrogate and the soft local water) stands on a similar footing with beer. Well, it does at 2 O'Clock on a Saturday afternoon.

In my experience the V40 category is the most competitive. So finishing up in the top half of that is a great result. Roll-on Blackmore's Half. Looks like another great city route crossing the Harbour Bridge etc. Incidently, my mate from Bilgola turned-up on my doorstep the other night.

It's the inimitable Burnsall for me on Saturday. A hard 10 miler.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Yeah, Lopes, he broke the world maraton record when he was 40 or something like that.

Spedding runs a chemists somewhere near Newcastle. There aren't any Brits who runs times like him and Steve Jones used to even 25 years later!

Remember Rob de Castella too. Those were golden years for "old-fashioned" marathon running...

Some great names mentioned there ... and (perhaps not) funnily enough the last three white world marathon record holders (De Castella / Jones / Lopes) before the Africans pretty much took control of things.

De Castella made a rare(ish) appearance to fire the gun at the City2Surf last Sunday. Nice to see the great man again. And his words of wisdom to the assembled masses? "Pace yourself" and "stay hydrated"! See? This running lark is pretty simple.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Incidently, my mate from Bilgola turned-up on my doorstep the other night.

Oddly enough I've been out Bilgola way a few times in recent months. Great, great part of Sydney, though normally you have to provide a financial statement and three references to get in. Hugely expensive real estate there

It's the inimitable Burnsall for me on Saturday. A hard 10 miler.

Excellent! Don't forget to let us know how it goes. Best of luck for that one, G'man.

[glaconman]

Cheers MLCM.

Yesterday was a mixed bag. I set off at a pace I'll hopefully be capable of in a couple of months. But not now. I've run over 3,4,5 and 6 miles quite successfully already this summer. And I was sandwiched between a couple of runners who I knew were roughly my standard.

But 10 was a mile or two too far. Particularly on this unrelentingly hilly course. So I started to die at around mile 8. Luckily I only slipped 2 places from my position at 400 meters. Although one was 100 meters from the line. Jelly legs. Nothing left.

10 miles hard effort in the bank though. Next stop the Stainland 7 in a couple of weeks. Another extremely hilly affair but it should be a perfect distance for me to put a more consistent effort together. Happy days.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Some great names mentioned there ... and (perhaps not) funnily enough the last three white world marathon record holders (De Castella / Jones / Lopes) before the Africans pretty much took control of things.

De Castella made a rare(ish) appearance to fire the gun at the City2Surf last Sunday. Nice to see the great man again. And his words of wisdom to the assembled masses? "Pace yourself" and "stay hydrated"! See? This running lark is pretty simple.

On seciond thoughts I don’t actually remember seeing De Castella run. I only remember my dad and uncle talking about him in reverential tones. Lopes was the first marathon runner I do really remember along with Steve Jones and Spedding. Also remember that Steve Jones was a heavy smoker in his youth.

These runners were tough but were not always as naturally talented as athletes in other disciplines. Today the African guys are mentally tough (more hardships to face from day one) and naturally talented as well. Only when the African youth are stuffing themselves with Happy-Meals and going to school in mum’s car every day will the European marathon runner ever become competitive again

And well done on the big race, I’ve just read the report.

Glaconman looking sharp too!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Cheers GM, BB

Unfortunately, like the menacing return of Moriarty or Fu Manchu after years of absence, an old nemesis in the form of the evil Dr Shin Splints has returned to cast a shadow over the MLCM Training Camp in recent days.

I'm not sure how this came to be. Certainly my weekly mileage has not been excessive, and I can only think I've been running perhaps too fast on hard surfaces.

Anyhow, whatever the reason, they aren't fading at all quickly so I have no choice but to rest up for a few days. Lucky I still have 4 weeks before the half marathon... so it's not too serious.

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with training to date, but the weeks and months are rolling by very fast and the circled date with the Mt. Wellington pinnacle is looming large on the calendar. I have to say, even though it's still three months away, I'm feeling just a tad nervous.

Stupid shins.

Internal application of an alcoholic remedy will be applied.

[marathondan]

Hope it clears up soon, MLCM. I can't offer any advice, but your self-prescription seems a good one. Which reminds me... never mind your legs, is your liver in good enough condition to cope with your visitors come November?

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

...Which reminds me... never mind your legs, is your liver in good enough condition to cope with your visitors come November?

I'm not even going to attempt to keep pace with the mighty Sweder/Plodder combo (pictured below)... to do so would be futile, I'm sure. So in that sense, my liver should cope just fine...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

A quick update. After a week off to overcome Dr. Shin Splintz, I went out for three runs in three days:

5km @ 6:15/km
6km @ 5:37/km
10km @ 5:33/km

...which is better than race pace. I am feeling more confident about cracking the two hours for the half mara in three weeks time, even though today I went out for a long slow two-hour jog and chucked in the towel after a couple of kms... just not my day. Never mind, I'll try again tomorrow.

More anon, dear viewers.

[Sweder]

...Which reminds me... never mind your legs, is your liver in good enough condition to cope with your visitors come November?

I'm not even going to attempt to keep pace with the mighty Sweder/Plodder combo (pictured below)... to do so would be futile, I'm sure. So in that sense, my liver should cope just fine...

We resemble that remark

[Antonio247]

A quick update. After a week off to overcome Dr. Shin Splintz, I went out for three runs in three days:

5km @ 6:15/km
6km @ 5:37/km
10km @ 5:33/km

...which is better than race pace. I am feeling more confident about cracking the two hours for the half mara in three weeks time, even though today I went out for a long slow two-hour jog and chucked in the towel after a couple of kms... just not my day. Never mind, I'll try again tomorrow.

More anon, dear viewers.

I´m very glad you´re feeling so well after your injury. Besides, doing ten kilometres at 5:33 the kilometre in training is really amazing. If you go on like this, you will succeed in cracking the two hours barrier in your next half marathon. Best of luck!