DFW running club mark 3!! ALL ARE WELCOME!!

Idiophreak

catspaw wrote: »

morning all, no run for me today, but I have a gym session and then hr and half of tae kwon do this evening.
Have just entered The Grim on 6th December....love the race....anyone else doing it?

Sounds like fun - I'll see if I can motivate myself to enter

becky_rtw

Morning! Feeling a little better this morning - but last nights 4 hour coach journey was not amusing!!!

Rest today anyway so will go out for a 10k tomorrow

Missing yesterday wont have done much now I've decided to taper for my half anyway so its no big deal!

Well done Uk - great time!

Mascott - that was my first half time too - but the second one I breezed under because I didnt go off to fast the second time having learnt my lesson on that one

Enemies.Closer

Havent been on for a while was off work last week and I have no access to the net at home!!

I was suppose to do a 10k race yesterday but never managed to participate in it as I had not been well Friday & Saturday but theres always next year! Rich if you want to take me out of the list that would be great!!

Got out once last tuesday and done 4.5 miles in 39:13 and got out this morning for the first since last Tuesday doen 4.5 miles in 40:49. Felt very good and well rested!!

I have been running 9 min miles for a while, when does this decrease or do I need to keep the consistance aproach with increase milage?

I will read the back pages today and tomorrow hopefully to see how everyone is getting on !!

redsquirrel80

Morning all, well done Rich for yesterday :T I avoided it all by staying in bed but did see a bit of the wreckage of foil blankets etc in town later! Felt a bit sad not to be running but definitely the right decision for me, had a little jog on Saturday and I knew 10k would be pushing it too much. Not thinking about any races now till I've got back into training 'properly' for a month or so and see how it's going.

Have a good running week everyone!

RichOneday_2

I found yesterday's race interesting in terms of confirming just how much these 'big' events have marginalised themselves as 'last resort only' type events.

Several reasons:

1. Spectators - Very messy to watch one of these events. It is very difficult to work a route through all the barriers/dead ends as well as trying to battle through dense crowds. Not at all pleasant.


2. Fancy Dress Glory Seekers - It seems that there are people who think that if they put on a fancy dress costume that they then have a right to obstruct the rest of the competitors while they wave to the crowds and act like prize plonkers. See the RW thread about the Thunderbirds yesterday.:rolleyes:

3. Competitiveness - From a field of what turned out to be 5231 yesterday there were just 109 runners who broke the 40 minute barrier (and that included the 30 elites). In comparison, the local Rothwell 10K earlier in the year had 173 sub 40 minute runners out of a field of just 798!

4. Cost - This is well known now, but to enter one of these 'big events' you are typically asked to pay THREE TIMES the entry fee of a local road race over the same distance. £25 compared to £8 for a 10K and £42 compared to £14 for a 1/2 marathon are typical examples.


They are really only clinging on to being termed 'sports events' by their finger nails. To do so they have to parachute in an elite field which yesterday consisted of 16 males and 14 females.

Because these races are being shunned by regular runners the inevitable end result is going to be a very small elite group followed by a huge pause before anything else happens. This is all fine and dandy except it doesnt make good TV and I noticed how even the TV companies gave up on trying to make anything interesting out of the 'fun' element in both yesterday's televised events...the Hyde Park Women's 5K and the Sheffield 10K.

In some ways it is good to see because the sport per se may start to get more of a focus again by the broadcasters but for the time being the big events remain in the 'avoid if you can' bracket.:rolleyes:

becky_rtw

It was pretty awful trying to see anything up one side of the finish line as a spectator - partly because the woman who barged in next to me (after I have been standing there for 30 mins) decided to take loads of photos of people she didnt know (why!) and lean over the barrier - one of the elites actually knocked into her (hahaha), but also partly because who puts a finish line up a curved hill?? So you cant see anything because the bend is in the way - very weird!

It also took me 10 minutes to get anywhere near to the finish to find Steve all the while he was getting cold!!!

I did not enjoy that race at all - so glad I didnt run it though - what a waste of £25 :eek:

Ukevas

:rolleyes:...

who woke them two up.... :rotfl:.

but on the upside if they was 4000 pros that would add 4000 to my finish place.

RichOneday_2

At least your next race is a real race, UK .......The Cabbage Patch 10!

If you missed breaking 70 minutes by a few seconds you wouldnt want to know you could have done it if it wasnt for those pesky Thunderbirds getting in your way early in the race, now would you?:p

Ukevas

I know I don't disagree with what your saying.

But its horses for courses. If its a big event its always going to happen nothing nobody can do about it.

If your a 5m pace then someone with 5.5m pace will get in your way who in turn a 6m pace will get in there way and on and on it go's. Yes you can stagger the start if you wish but with the big events VLM & GNR for EG your going have to guess you finish time 6 - 8 months before the day just to get your name in the hat, people start with good intentions with training and what not but it can go wrong or you can get injured.

TBH the spirt of 10,000 - 20,000 people all with the same goal to get the end of a run lifts my spirts more than getting a few seconds of my own PB at these events.

If you wanna go balls out then yes avoid them. but if you want some humanity then join in i say.

Its a lonely sport that we do most the time....... enjoy the company.

RichOneday_2

Ah, but thats the fallacy that the marketing guys of the big events try to portray.

The reality is that the big events are pretty much soulless - just hassle, hassle, hassle. Before, during and after......

In 'normal' races you actually get to know the other guys and have time to talk, have some banter and leg pulling etc.

We'll pretty much always bump into someone we know from previous events now without trying whereas in the big events your chances of finding your relatives is tough enough never mind anyone else.

We've met some really nice people through races over the last 12 months who we now see on a regular basis....that simply doesnt happen in the biggies.