chingford

I'd agree with that, altho... Just hearing his voice on the phone I was certain it was Ben Kingsley doing a reprise of his role in Sexy Beast - the most appalling scary charcter I've seen on screen. I wonder if Fiennes had the same voice coach? (I'm a saddo who stays to read the credits and noticed that he had one for THAT!).

Great pic, Ton! Nice wee dusting of snow - disnae look anywhere near as good for snow as the Cairngorm ski-business punters are saying...? Is that just further north that it's snowed well? I've no been up that Corbett - looks like it would be quiet and pretty unvisited. Were ye solo? I once did a great wander (as seen in the Classic, Wild or Big Walks book) westwards from Ben More/Stobinian over several hills, and dropping down the Allt Glas at Inverarnan. A mega-tiring day - but very interesting and they were satisfyingly rough hills to move among and between. I imagine Beinn a' Choin is much like them - just a wee bit walk too much further south... I love LOVE London - but I do miss the hills and get so nostalgic... And this thread is gee-ing me up, great style

I also thought it pretty funny. Good characters and dialogue. You can see where it's going and THAT can never be a happy ending. Not enough twists at the end to be really satisfying but a well worth-going-to picture!!!

It's a training program/schedule suggested by the Runners World magazine. They have a website - it's probably on there. sign up - no big deal I turned to running as I picked up more and more injuries getting old at fitba... I was slow (compared with real runners) when I started despite thinking myself fit and healthy. If you have the right muscles and blood/breathing systems (which is all down to your family background and dna...) then you'll soon find out how fast you are! Naturally. (I'm not a 'natural' runner - I'm a plodder. ) Otherwise - aye - training will make you faster and you'll find running more natural and enjoyable too, though you might never be a champion. Just enjoy it!

Aye, right! Blame the wean. Apparently my Maw (during Rationing) got an obsession for condensed milk whilst carrying me... Good luck wi your wean! ETA: Cheese and Onion Crisps, Walkers* Calories in 100g of crisps 525.0kcal Calories in a bag of crisps (35g): 184kcal I BELIEVE THERE ARE NO CALORIES IN CONDENSED MILK....

It's always been thus, Rowan! Our bodies need the energy intake for us to keep going - but if we don't do enough physical work/exercise then all the energy intake/the food, just transforms into fat - stored for the day the body reckons will come when we need to draw it down. But... In the modern world that disnae happen. We seldom draw it down. We just pile on the excess pounds and don't stint on the attractive grub. (I certainly don't stint on the beer - which is 300 calories a pint, incidentally!) Exercise is key to losing weight. The diet will always be incidental. No matter how little you eat or bevvy - if you never exercise, the fat will just sit there...

If you're really just starting, Tom - go out on a loop that you'd expect to take you 30-40 minutes - no matter how slow you go. Do that kinda 'distance'... (measure it in time, and as your running improves you'll cover more ground in spatial distance...) for a week and see how it's going and increase... if you feel ready for it. Listen to your legs and to your body - but be consistent! 30 mins is plenty to start. The thing is to try and establish a pattern, a regularity about the running being an integral part of your life.

We were on a couple of times. Obviously, I was wearing a stmirren woolly hat... Mah QoS supporting wummin was the stand-out, stealing all tv attention fae me. And there were some runners, too, I believe... ...but they tended to get in the way.

Your Donald is one way in... You could be like the Cap and run another race fast enough to get in on merit. You can HOPE to get in via the ballot. And I'm not convinced you need to apply and be rejected several times before your number comes up. You could be lucky first time. One limiting factor is when you're likely to finish. When I was running in it, there used to be a glut of finishers between 3.00 and 3.30. For some unfathomable reason, there are thousands fewer reasonable runners in the London now than there was in those days so the glut (and thus less chance of getting accepted) is after 3.30 and much nearer 4.00 Say you'll do 3.15 and you could be luckier, even if you're lying... You can buy a charidee place... If you've run every one since the start, then you get in automatically. (This may not be a help... ) If you're a celebrity - there will be no problem, I can guarantee. Or you can get one of the places given to AAA clubs, if you're a member of that club. (Dunno if Scottish Clubs get London places, tho...) Or you can be in a club that gets extra places cos handsome charming and intelligent StMirren supporters and members of said club organise Drinx stations on the course. We had well over 30 runners yesterday. I hope this helps? There were obviously a whole huge shoal of Bellahouston Road Runers who'd done fast times recently cos I was forever giving them a yell as the front runners passed by yesterday. I'd guess they'd be up for a team prize, if there was one (I just dunno if there is/was) ETA: Bellahouston had 7 sub 3, another 5 sub 3.30 and another 8 up to 4 hours... No bad!

Queen o the Sooth beating aiberdeen fitlike 4-3.... currently.....

It's probably physically impossible to just run one... Cos there's so many unknowns on your first run.. Will I hit the wall? What pace can I sustain? Should I push out hard then just try to hang on? Will I take on a lot of water en route...? Then, after you finish, you always suspect you can do a better time. You've faced the wall, got over (or round) it and you now know how much harder you can try to push yourself. And how hard or easy that might be... And if it had been a wee bit hilly, then you'll look for a flattish course for your next one. Or if you do a flattish course, like London, then you'll look for a race in which there are not too many bloody other runners - one UNLIKE London... cos you'll know you can do better. At least, so they tell me...

A wee Skye tale... (at my embarrassment...) The tall guy, above, was doing the Skye Ridge and stuff with me - and he's pretty good at scrambling now, had been going to a rock wall in order to practice rope-handling, abseiling etc... Anyway, like a lot of people after The Inn Pinn, Sgurr Alasdair, the highest hill on the island is their next goal. It was his. We hadn't done it after a few days... I don't like rushing at it. We did various other tops and routes and generally were enjoying it but... ...I'd not been on those Cuillin rocks for a couple of years (and maybe I AM getting older...) So it seemed that I was forever saying, "This is tougher than I recall", "I don't remember this bit...", "Getting up here was easier last time, I think" "Jeeze! Where did this bit spring from" "I'm sure there used to be more holds..." Eventually, he said to me... "What's the name of the highest one again? Is it Sgurr Alzheimer's?"

Not that trip - I've been up it a few times before with other groups - and like you say, the one they have left to do... Aye - we'll be happily camping, as well. (The Bothies are not greatly sited to pick off hills.) These're a good crowd of guys. One guy always wants to stay in Hotels - so I don't mind... he pays! He's well over 6 foot and in an early trip he didnae really fit in the tent I'd taken... The experience has scarred him for life.

Thanks. A HIGHlight for ever... We'll be doing an anti-clockwise circuit of the Garbh Bheinn corrie. One of the guys suffers a wee touch of vertigo - so it'll be interesting getting him back up onto the GB from the bealach at the top of the Glen. Have you been out on Ben Hiant or wee Beinn na Seilg? I'm going to have a 'day-off' over that area with them (they're birders), but I've never been that far west... Are they worth it...? Any scrambling, really? ETA: And, again - a great pic!

Don't suppose any of you are daft enough to be doing London on Sunday? I'll be there (on The Highway) from 7.00am onwards..(I run the 35k Elite/special drinks post). That's about halfway on your way out to the Isle of Dogs (on your left) and 20 miles on the way back(on your right). Apart from looking for clubmates and clubs I/we compete against to cheer on, I always make a special effort to shout for Jocks! After the fast guys and gals have passed (which is soon), it's a pretty privileged and good spot to relax at - sitting on our now-empty tables... in the sun... Though mibbe no this wet year....

The record for the Nevis run - 10 miles up and down is about 85 minutes. Now that's VERY fit. Brilliant thread, this - and some wonderful pics on it. Thanks, guys! Including a few pics of Corserine which one I've not done.. Yet. Though I've driven past it hunners of times on my way from mah Wumin's home place, Auchencairn and Paisley... well, Love Street... Though I've stopped nearby to wander over Cairsmore fae Scotlandwell a couple of times... I've been going up the hills since 1965. And still do. I take groups fae down souf wherever they want to go... in Sconnie Botland. Last year, one guy, called Alistair, wanted to go up a Skye Hill called Sgurr Alisdair for his 60th birthday. We got there. There's some pix of that trip here I'm usually lucky with sun on Skye. In May I'm taking a group intae Ardgour. Some lovely wee hills in there. I did the below on my 50th birthday in October, 1997. It's not a Corbett.

Gretna 0 StMirren 0 HT I may rip aff mah lugs...

That is all.

End of! Grrrrrrr.

Better qualified than 'a running club member with a trundle wheel', who designed and measured not only the London Marathon course and hundreds of others?! I truly think not. And if the Nike/Garmin boffs are not in Running Clubs, they must be less than human anyway... On flat runs with no tall buildings, or without big hills up or down and without a lot of tree cover they're absolutely.... ok. I've never had one and wouldn't want the slavery. Then again, I've refused to own a Mobile phone and still haven't got the mp3 player that I won on here - working... Perhaps I'm a technophobe. This is VERY true... But it will be a sad, sad world when an auld git cannae play Devil's advocate!

As mentioned earlier, we had a 15 miles xc race on Sat at our club. One of the guys (like you techie lot) had a garmin gadget. He got in touch with me and so I added his map and very interesting data to our website HERE The thing is... it only measured it at 14.34 miles. And we KNOW cos it's been done (by experts!) with a measuring wheel that it's totally accurate 15 miles. We have trees in Epping Forest (surprisingly enough!) and there's a heap of hills - you can check the elevation at the Garmin website, but does that not make you even more sceptical about the value of those gadgets...? I googled.. and it seems that, in test comparisons, the Nike stuff is even less reliable...

I do time in the gym on treadmills also - and setting up wee fartlek (speed) sessions is a great help - but there's nothing in the gym can compare to pounding your legs feet and joints along the roads and pavements in preparation for doing a real race. The wind, rain, hailstanes can also be a refreshing and daunting difference from gym world. Try for the best of both indoor and out. Mix it up! But mainly just enjoy yourself - don't bother with times and targets until you get used to having running as part of the routine in your life.

Good runs, Watty and Cap! Impressive stuff. Thundermonkey.... ...I'm sure enough days have elapsed for the scab now formed on your bloody nipple to be catching on your shirts, jerseys, t-shirts... whatever you wear - oo-yah! I always find that's the WORST part of nipple chafing! Enjoy! (It's not even a nice scab to pick at...) It's our 15 mile xc race on Saturday - a Classic since 1954 - probably 200-300 runners doing every hill in Epping Forest and the mud currently is horrendous... There Will Be Blood... I'll merely be sweeping the final six miles after some trail laying and early marshalling. A long day followed by a cold shower cos all the hot water's used up by the time the last runner finishes. (We've even got a cut-off at 9 miles for too-slow runners) Still... home, after a couple of deserved pints, to see the scores and know Saints are safe for another season of expansion and probable world-domination.

Great moral dilemma for the Cap. Does he cheer on a Fake Saint - or does he see you as a runner? Is that possible? It comes down to the time taken, I guess... 1.45 is still a runner. 1.50 is getting close to jogging and thus you revert to Saintee-ness. Go for it, Watty! Push for a PB! Your team will give you NO further reason for joy and exuberation, this year...

Good guy! There's been a Paisley 10k for a few years now - quality runners up the sharp end... tailing all the way back to us punters... Reasonably flat course actually runs round the 'new grun' in Feegie (corner of Greenhill Road/Feegie Park Ave). Headed west last year into a westerly breeze then back along an old rail line, which is now a footpath and sadly sheltered from any aid from that wind. Mah wummin has dictated that for this year's run I will only be allowed to head up on the LAST Plane on Saturday night to avoid a repeat of all those miles' training being washed down the pan. ETA: Here's a map of the course and I checked my time - OVER 51 minutes - so I'll need to get faster, too....