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**postman_twit** · 31-10-2011, 10:31

I'd best start learning cockerknee! I've got our club place for 2012. Chuffed to buggery!

**fairmaidofperth** · 31-10-2011, 10:33

Brilliant news! I'm chuffed to bits for you. Watch out for little old ladies force feeding you jelly babies ........

**postman_twit** · 31-10-2011, 10:35

Originally Posted by fairmaidofperth

Brilliant news! I'm chuffed to bits for you. Watch out for little old ladies force feeding you jelly babies ........

I hate crowds so I'm running in blinkers. There's 3 from my club got places. One deferred from last year, one in the general ballot and moi. Plenty of training partners.

**Goatman** · 31-10-2011, 11:59

P-T,

what can I say ? (YA BASSA!).....well done you....and best of luck with the trg between now and April 2012.......you is gonna have a BLAST

Just remember in January , when you are tonking around some dismal lane in the sleet....it will all be worth while......cancel that skiing trip, give up playing squash for the duration - and start taking care of your knees !

Vive le Arrse Roadrunners Club

**postman_twit** · 31-10-2011, 12:42

Originally Posted by Goatman

P-T,

what can I say ? (YA BASSA!).....well done you....and best of luck with the trg between now and April 2012.......you is gonna have a BLAST

Just remember in January , when you are tonking around some dismal lane in the sleet....it will all be worth while......cancel that skiing trip, give up playing squash for the duration - and start taking care of your knees !

Vive le Arrse Roadrunners Club

Have done longer and harder so just treating it as a open top bus sightseeing tour without the open top bus!

**terroratthepicnic** · 31-10-2011, 14:23

I am still waiting for my confermation pack to come through the post from SSAFA, but I know I have one of their Gold places. My training has been quite good so far, my 10 mile time is at about 1:30 and shrinking.

If all goes to plan, I will be be running the full distance mid Feb. Which should allow me to iron out any issues prior to the event.

On the charity front, I will be putting a just giving page up on here as soon as I have one sorted.

**Boozy** · 31-10-2011, 15:34

I've been keeping an eye on today's Dublin Marathon in case I decide to enter next year. It seems if you hang about the start area after the runners have taken off you can get yourself a whole new wardrobe of discarded tracksuit bottoms and hoodies!

Does this happen at most marathons? Seems like a bit of a waste, though the dublin ones are being donated to charidee so not all bad I guess.

**sneak** · 31-10-2011, 15:44

Boozy - Yep that is very common. A lot of people hang around the start in black bin bags or old hoodies etc to keep warm and ditch them just before the start line. I think most events gather them up and give them to charity like you mention.

**fairmaidofperth** · 31-10-2011, 15:59

Boozy, all part of the warm up fun hanging about before the start, at a recent race the game was chucking your t shirt up into the trees, the charities collecting them must have loved that ....It's a good way of getting rid of the naff finisher t shirts you really don't want. At last year's Paris Half it was so cold I started off with an old t shirt and after a few kilometres in I was trying to pull it off and having trouble so some kind felllow runner helped yank it off, without any loss of pace for either of us.Some races also hand out fancy plastic covers to wear on the start line, the Paris Half being one of them. At the Venice Marathon last week I wore an old one and saw several other French runners with the same. The latest fashion in France is to wear the all in one lightweight paperish suits, which I've been told are on sale in poundsaver shops.

**Goatman** · 31-10-2011, 17:08

Originally Posted by Boozy

Does this happen at most marathons? Seems like a bit of a waste, though the dublin ones are being donated to charidee so not all bad I guess.

I'm told that the New York Marathon have a collection of all the discarded gear post Start - and the kit is donated to homeless charities in the city. I suspect the Dublin marathon copied this approach.....makes sense.

What to wear is always an issue - least possible is best for the full distance but you can get a bit nippy waiting for the off..... New York in October is a tad chilly for a running vest and shorts......for FLM 2002 I bought a long-sleeved Tee from Help The Aged or Oxfam which I chucked at Mile 2.....Marine Corps Marathon in Washington used to sell $1 pairs of cotton gloves for their start at 0930....and by 1300 the temperature was around 18C .....

( I'm always frankly amazed at what people run in....my first Winchester 10K in February, just stopped SLEATING....female runner walks past in a crop top and Paula Radcliffe style gym knicks.....I nearly had a cardiac trying to keep her in sight for the first 1500 metres then fell back in order to breathe the frosty air.....)

e.g ( I think they are Canadians hey ? Friend of mine , living then in Alberta, wrote to me that it had 'warmed up' to minus 20 - so he'd washed the car that weekend.... )