Official Running Thread

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Slow, clogging centre back. Half decent in the air with a tendency to "get rid if it". However, despite being utterly terrible at football I played Premier League and have played several times in an international stadium!

It helped that I moved to Taiwan for three years so I played ex-pat football in The Tavern Taipei Premier League. I played for Carnegies (anyone who has been to Taipei has probably danced on the bar at some point) although the league was named by the main league sponsor, a fat Swiss bloke called Michel who owned the bar where most people watched English football - hence the Premier League.

The usual winners of the league were the Taipei Red Lions. Because Taiwan's national team hardly ever played and were only amateurs they used to lease the national stadium pitch and changing rooms to all comers and the Red Lions made it their home ground. We also used to train there with them on a Thursday night. Every now and again the Thursday training sesh would be replaced by a friendly, and so it was here that I played against someone who had played for Bayren Munich (I've told this story on here before).

He'd been an integral part of the Bayren youth team but had suffered a horrific knee injury which ended his career in football, and found himself in Taiwan, teaching. He played very occasionally for the Red Lions but not often because a) he was brilliant but b) he could normally only last about 2 minutes.

In this particular game I was moved to the unfamiliar environs of right back and he was playing left wing. At the time I had no idea he'd played pro, nor that his knee was dodgy and the lads didn't tell me because they thought it would be funny. A long diagonal ball came out to my wing, he got to it first, killed it with one touch, moved inside with his second touch and put it in the opposite top corner from about 35 yards with his third. Cue lots of laughing.

My mate then two footed him He went off screaming and never played again. Apologies for those that have now read this twice but it is very definitely my sporting claim to fame

Here the stadium is in all it's glory. I can't emphasise enough that it was EMPTY when we played and spectators for the Premier League games would have been outnumbered by your average Sussex Sunday League Under 11s Division 3 game.

View attachment 123190

I was also shit at cricket but all my funny stories about that actually involve [MENTION=29192]Brighton Lines[/MENTION]

World Class anecdotage.

But your reference to playing in an 'international stadium' reminded me that I can go one better - football in an Olympic stadium, no less.

Well, not quite. I played at a ground in The Wirral called the Bebbington Oval. The film Chariots of Fire had to find a stadium that could pass for the 1900 Paris Games - and chose Bebbington Oval. (We won, by the way.)

 

[dazzer6666]

Isn't obese a 30% plus BMI?

So, if you're in the 24's you're close to overweight not obese surely

Fair point - I'll reclassify myself as 'just about overweight (and closing in fast)'

 

[Guinness Boy]

Fair point - I'll reclassify myself as 'just about overweight (and closing in fast)'

Tell me about it. I'm twice the man I was in March.

 

[Simgull]

Keen but not very good at most sports, I can though look proudly at my honours board which shows:

Winner 4th Year Egg and Spoon - Moss Hall Junior School Finchley
3rd place Barnet Under 14 Scouts Table Tennis Championships
99 SCUBA dives
Er that’s it

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Keen but not very good at most sports, I can though look proudly at my honours board which shows:

Winner 4th Year Egg and Spoon - Moss Hall Junior School Finchley
3rd place Barnet Under 14 Scouts Table Tennis Championships
99 SCUBA dives
Er that’s it

You are clearly a late bloomer: the best is yet to come...…………..

 

[Greg Bobkin]

It just occurred to me: we spend a lot of time on the thread talking about running (doh!). But what other sporting interests or achievements have we managed? Could we put together a decent football team between us? Has anyone played representative sport to any sort of level?

I'll start the ball rolling. This would usually give me a platform to boast - but I've got naff-all to boast about, as you'll see. So I'm selflessly putting the bar very low. That's the sort of guy I am.

Football - utter gash. Couldn't head, tackle or even see much of the pitch. 5-a-side was better as I had a decent engine.

Cricket - mad keen but pretty crap. School 2nd Xl. Played some village cricket. Bowled flighted filth and had one decent shot; I was hard to get out. Highlight: I once played for an Invitational Xl (the invitation was made through pity) and played in the same side as someone who played alongside Richard Hadlee.

Squash - played a bit at university. Crap.

That's about it. Running is just about the only sporting thing (some would say the only thing) I've been half-decent at. Indeed, were I to be honest, I might be tempted to say that part of the motivation lies in thinking of all the lads at school who were good at everything but now couldn't keep up with me (I hope).

So - no false modesty. What have you got??

Good question.

Football: never really played for a team, but used to play loads at school, with mates, etc. Pretty mediocre in most positions.

Rugby: Got into it in secondary school (which is probably why football never took off) and was pretty handy. Got asked to play up a couple of years and our year won/got to the final of the Brighton cup a few times. Outside of school I played for Hove (normally the second team, but did manage to play and score for the first time. I think I played pretty much every forward position, but my best season was at No. 8, where I was top try scorer (basically wouldn't give the ball away at the scrum if there was a sniff of a score) and player's player of the season.

Snooker: nothing competitive, but we had a half? size table growing up so I spent a LOT of time on there. Played on full size while at Uni a bit. As a result, played a lot of pool in working men's clubs, pubs and pool halls (including that one where Sports Direct is now, whose name escapes me).

Golf: Not very good at it, but Iove it. Sadly, I don't have the time for it nowadays. Was never really good, but loved to play and managed to remain pretty calm, which I think is one of the most important attributes. The highlight was an event organised through work, where Lexus organised a golf day at Wentworth and I (playing off 22 or 24) won the thing! Retief Goosen was there the first year and handed over the trophy to me at the dinner after all of the groups played a few holes with him during the day. I have the claim to fame that I matched his four on one of the holes! The next year they got Lee Westwood and I was in a fourball with him for the first three holes. We were first group off in the morning, so we were standing on the first tee of the West course, players stopped waiting and watching on the putting green, cars stopped on the road that cuts through the hole while everyone watches him (and also us) hit our balls. Thankfully mine was ok, but one of the group shanked it straight into the rough! Top blokes, the two pros.

Darts: as per snooker, I had a board in my bedroom growing up so spent time I should've been doing school work throwing arrows! The kids have recently got a board, so getting back into it, but nothing competitive, apart from a few nights of Killer at a pub in Worthing.

Hockey: played for a season for Southwick while at school. Enjoyed it, but other commitments got in the way.

Running: gave up rugby to properly train for London 2003 – before that I'd never run at all – and haven't looked back since.

Ironman: Don't really like to talk about it...

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Isn't obese a 30% plus BMI?

So, if you're in the 24's you're close to overweight not obese surely

Oops, sorry Bob. You're right – I'm overweight, not obese.

Just checked and it says 'Healthy weight range for your height: 9st 11 - 13st 3' Pretty sure I'd be dead at 9st 11!

 

[knocky1]

Another for Team Mediocre.

Following up on Rugby I never played any format till I was 22 in Sydney. A work friend coached an U-15 League squad and needed a team for a friendly. Thinking it would be easy I volunteered. Early on the ball came out to the wing and I smugly caught it and sprinted off with just a load of 12 stone plus kids wallowing towards me. Head down I gleefully got up to full Knocky 22 year old speed and went for the line.

**** knows how they got me but they swatted me down like a fly and I never got round them all game (at a lesser speed). Good fun but I retired after that.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Some great responses to the 'what other sports have you played' question.

So far, in the collective opinion of the panel of judges, the Bobkin is the thread's top 'All Rounder' (no reference to current body shape intended) and The Gaffer is the 'One Trick Running Pony' albeit a rather fast running pony. Still awaiting the contributions of others. Ironman Bobkin can still be knocked off his perch.

PS Simgull looks nailed on for the Saddest Bloke in the Universe title.

 

[Fitzcarraldo]

[MENTION=11816]Artie Fufkin[/MENTION] takes pole position in the newly named NSC Mile Challenge.

Now a few others have said they were going to give it a go...........................

NAME	NSC Mile AG	NSC Mile Time
Artie Fufkin	80.57%	4:59
Knocky	77.74%	5:56
GNT	73.65%	6:33
Big Nuts	73.15%	5.22
Anchorman	69.36%	6:39

Did my re-attempt at the mile this morning with (nice and flat) loops around the Emirates stadium. Very pleased with 4:55 and a Howard Grubb AG% of 75.53. Not sure I could go much faster to improve my AG% at the moment, but with a few more weeks/months lockdown and plenty of high volume slow running, who knows.

This is the Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3411701238

 

[knocky1]

Did my re-attempt at the mile this morning with (nice and flat) loops around the Emirates stadium. Very pleased with 4:55 and a Howard Grubb AG% of 75.53. Not sure I could go much faster to improve my AG% at the moment, but with a few more weeks/months lockdown and plenty of high volume slow running, who knows.

This is the Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3411701238

Wow. Looks like you win on getting the pacing right too. I’ll have a VAR check when I get home as you may be a few seconds faster.

Think we’ll switch the table to show time rather than AG for a few days...sorry [MENTION=11816]Artie Fufkin[/MENTION]

Good mile from [MENTION=11716]penny’s harmonica[/MENTION] to go on as well.

Come on we need a few more to try the mile of pain. ����*����

 

[BrickTamland]

Any good hamstring stretches beyond reaching for my toes? Been plodding along doing around 30k a week with a mix of 5k and 10ks, but progress has been stalled this week due to a really tight left hamstring which no amount of my normal stretching or warming up seems to quell. It’s nothing stopping me from getting out and running, but certainly stopping any progression and is very annoying

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Did my re-attempt at the mile this morning with (nice and flat) loops around the Emirates stadium. Very pleased with 4:55 and a Howard Grubb AG% of 75.53. Not sure I could go much faster to improve my AG% at the moment, but with a few more weeks/months lockdown and plenty of high volume slow running, who knows.

This is the Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3411701238

Awesome.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Did my re-attempt at the mile this morning with (nice and flat) loops around the Emirates stadium. Very pleased with 4:55 and a Howard Grubb AG% of 75.53. Not sure I could go much faster to improve my AG% at the moment, but with a few more weeks/months lockdown and plenty of high volume slow running, who knows.

This is the Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3411701238

Fantastic effort

 

[knocky1]

Did my re-attempt at the mile this morning with (nice and flat) loops around the Emirates stadium. Very pleased with 4:55 and a Howard Grubb AG% of 75.53. Not sure I could go much faster to improve my AG% at the moment, but with a few more weeks/months lockdown and plenty of high volume slow running, who knows.

This is the Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3411701238

VAR has found 2 seconds! Mile reached from standing in that time. So an incredible 4:53 at 76.04%, if your 29.

You ran it home at sub 4" mile pace.

 

[Artie Fufkin]

Did my re-attempt at the mile this morning with (nice and flat) loops around the Emirates stadium. Very pleased with 4:55 and a Howard Grubb AG% of 75.53. Not sure I could go much faster to improve my AG% at the moment, but with a few more weeks/months lockdown and plenty of high volume slow running, who knows.

This is the Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3411701238

That is phenomenal pace! Fantastic running!

 

[Artie Fufkin]

VAR has found 2 seconds! Mile reached from standing in that time. So an incredible 4:53 at 76.04%, if your 29.

You ran it home at sub 4" mile pace.

That is rapid!

 

[Artie Fufkin]

Any good hamstring stretches beyond reaching for my toes? Been plodding along doing around 30k a week with a mix of 5k and 10ks, but progress has been stalled this week due to a really tight left hamstring which no amount of my normal stretching or warming up seems to quell. It’s nothing stopping me from getting out and running, but certainly stopping any progression and is very annoying

Here's a few hamstring stretches that you might want to try - https://www.verywellfit.com/hamstring-stretches-2696359

The standing hamstring stretch where you cross one leg over the other leg and bend down to try to touch the floor is good. Best to do both legs.

If you have a resistance band (or a long piece of fabric will do) #5 is also a good method to stretch your hamstrings and calves out while sitting on the floor. Again best to do both legs.

Another good one is the wall hamstring stretch - while lying on the floor raise either one or both legs up against the wall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U4ChnuL3JM

If you don't already have a foam roller it might be worth looking at purchasing one. They're very good to roll your hamstrings to loosen any tightness or knots.

 

[Bozza]

The Man Who Runs 365 Marathons a Year >>> https://www.outsideonline.com/2412303/mike-shattuck-running-bipolar?utm_source=morning_brew

His Strava >>> https://www.strava.com/athletes/25498768

 

[dazzer6666]

Did my re-attempt at the mile this morning with (nice and flat) loops around the Emirates stadium. Very pleased with 4:55 and a Howard Grubb AG% of 75.53. Not sure I could go much faster to improve my AG% at the moment, but with a few more weeks/months lockdown and plenty of high volume slow running, who knows.

This is the Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3411701238

I can't cycle that fast