Teenage kicks all through the night.
How old were you when you started running? And why?
I started running just 3 years ago at the age of 43. which is probably late by most peoples standards. Why? There I was sitting in my usual club watching a marathon when I chirped up "I could do that." "SURE," came the sarcastic reply. OK, so I entered the next London Marathon and started training.
Did/do you do other sports?
At the time of the above I played skittles but had to give that up to train. At the moment I am in a pool team. We have done well this year, coming 3rd which was enough to go up next year. I also like to take my boys 10 pin bowling.
What do you do for a living/recreation outside running? How do they
fit together?
I am a baker I have been doing that for 30+ years. I also have a part time job in the afternoon that I have been doing for about 4 years. Luckily, it doesn’t mess up any of my training though you might see me out running at 6am on a Saturday morning.
I collect mind puzzles like rubik cubes, not jigsaws, photography, board & card games.
How does running affect your relationship(s)?
At the present time I don’t have one.
Are you obsessed?
No.
What do you consider your best race(s) so far?
My best race and most memorable has to be the 2003 Barry 40 being Welsh silver medalist 1st Les Croups and every one cheering me on during the last 8 to 10 laps it is somthing I will never for get. Then there are the ones I do just for fun.
Onward and upward -- or all downhill from here?
As I have only been running for 3 years I think I still have a few improvements 1st sub 3:15 marathon, 100k, sub 40 min 10K. Oh yes, and complete the "Tough Guy."
Have you had any injuries?
I have had 2 injuries. Doing the winter training run I hit a concrete bollard which with hind sight was the best thing that happened as I wanted to do the 40 when I was in no way ready for such a distance.
In Mels 3K race I slipped and fell awkwardly and hurt my ankle. It buggered my Cardiff marathon training and had to run walk the race.
What sports (if any) do you follow? What teams/athletes? (if applicable)
F1. I think M schumacker is the best driver there has ever been, and we do the same thing! (go round in circles).
Why did you join us?
When I started training a freind of mine said he knew someone in a running club that could help me (that was Mel James). I was only going to stay for one marathon but like the company so I bought the club.
P.S. In the 80s I did a few 10k races called "around the houses" which were held in Grangetown, the Canton 10 mile and the ast Cardiff Half Marathon. If anyone hase any of the results it would be nice to see how I did. Thank you boys & girls.
Posted by Dave at 08:16 PM
A couple of months ago, John Griffin asked me if I could put a suggestion form on the site for ‘Mug of the Month’ — and being me, I forgot all about it. So this is me doing it the lazy way. Suggestions by comments. You need to give a reason. We’re taking suggestions; it won’t be decided by vote. This is not a democracy, to quote Madonna (or was that Colonel Gadaffi?).
Posted by Dave at 11:09 AM
This is the second in our profiles of members. Mick was, naturally, the person I first thought of, but he warned me that he might go on at great length. And he has.
I’d welcome suggestions for future profiles, just use the comments. I’ve had a request for Alan Mann, so, assuming that he’s willing, he’ll be next.
How old were you when you started running? And why?
I started running competitively when joining Comprehensive School at the age of 11. My brother Keith (he’s five years older than me) had done very well at both cross country and track racing in school, and my sister Jill (who’s eight years older than me) went on to be captain of Manchester University Ladies Team. I was the baby of the family. We’re always likely to be influenced by older brothers or sisters.
However, I would say that the seeds were planted long before that. There were several kids who lived within 100 yards of us who were of a similar age, and had considerable sporting talent. One of them went on to represent Welsh Schoolboys at Football, Cricket and Basketball. We made our own entertainment and were always playing games of one description or another. There were plenty of fields and woods nearby to play in. Also, there were no computer consoles to play with then. Does that make me sound like a grumpy old man? On a serious note, I feel genuinely sorry for kids today that don’t have the facilities that we had. No wonder so few are taking up sport and so many are obese!
Did/do you do other sports?
I tried most sports at school, and in fairness enjoyed most of them. I prefer individual sports to team ones — but that’s just my mentality. I’m selfish — plain and simple. If I do well, I want the glory, and I don’t want to be a hanger-on.
I didn’t have much talent at other sports — my eye/hand co-ordination isn’t very good, for example. Geran shouldn’t have encouraged me to go swimming or cycling when I got injured because, believe me, I’m useless.
Long distance running motivated me because of its relationship between hard work and success. Natural talent, though important, didn’t appear to be as important as in other sports. And the better I got, the more motivated I became. It’s a chain reaction really.
What do you do for a living/recreation outside running? How do they fit together?
I’m very lucky. I’m an administrator for the NHS. I can, for the most part, determine my own work load, which means I can choose to start work at 9.30 AM. So long as the work gets done, my employers are happy, and that, to my mind, is how it should be. I know of plenty of people who claim to work much harder than me, but don’t work effectively. I’m sure you know what I mean.
I’m not at all materialistic by nature: I work to live, not the other way around.
This means I can train twice a day.
I’ve been with the NHS since 1992. Before that, I worked in an accounts office with a heating company in Cardiff. My boss, Harry, a Glaswegian, and I got on very well, but I used to wind him up all the time with my running. “Just remember,” I’d tell him whilst in work “that this is just my rest period between training sessions!” The entire accounts office staff were made redundant in 1991. It was called “rationalisation” but only served to reinforce my philosophy.
Are you obsessed?
…worse than that.
What do you consider your best race(s) so far?
Two in particular stand out. My fastest marathon of 2:17:58 set in the 1983 London Marathon is definitely my finest athletic performance. It was a perfect day. I ran negative splits of 69:07/68:51 — one of only two occasions in my 62 marathons that I’ve managed it. I beat many runners who were clearly vastly superior athletes to myself, simply through self-control and pace judgement, which I’ve always maintained is the single most important factor determining marathon success.
Winning the British Veterans 5000 metres championship at Blackpool in 1997 gave me the biggest buzz. Nothing beats winning, particularly if it’s a very close race and is perhaps, against the odds. I don’t consider myself a track runner and I knew there were athletes in this race who were faster than me.
With 800 metres to go there was still a bunch of six of us altogether. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses in a situation like this is critical. I knew I’d lose if it came to the last 200 metres. I knew I’d lose if I went too early. However, one tactic which I used to use with some success around this time was to throw in a burst of acceleration with 450 metres to go. Rationale: deflate the opposition. Make them think you’re better than them. 450 metres is a long way to try to hold a sprint, but if you hesitate in covering such a break than you’ll find your opposition has suddenly grabbed a 10 metre advantage. So much of running is in the mind.
Anyway, I ran the last lap in 64.2 seconds, which for me is pretty impressive (I was nearly 42, don’t forget!) and my winning time was 15:26.9.
In the same meeting my brother Keith won a silver in the MV45 1500 metres and Eero Keranen won a silver in the MV40 steeplechase. It was a memorable weekend for all of us.
Onward and upward — or all downhill from here?
More of the same, I hope. I need to be realistic though. My body tells me I’m getting old. The stopwatch never lies. I still try to be Peter Pan, but the body clock keeps ticking. It’s still 17 months away, but I hope turning 50 will provide some new goals.
Have you had any injuries?
I’ve been exceptionally lucky. However, an achilles injury sustained in March last year really frightened me. I can usually read my body signs very well, but I genuinely did not know what to do. Healthcare professionals I turned to for advice gave me conflicting information, even though each was justified in what they said. It was a chance phone call to Chris Sharp, my gait analyst in Swansea, which provided the answer. I now wear heel raises in all my footwear (including workshoes) to alleviate any undue strain on the achilles.
I lost my 22 year London Marathon sequence, but fortunately was able to resume training after eight weeks. I still feel that it was a price worth paying.
What sports (if any) do you follow? What teams/athletes?
My wife Caroline and I are both sports fanatics and we subscribed to SKY in 1993. What a brilliant decision! I know not everyone can afford it, and there are compelling arguments on such sports monopolies, but for the £31/month we pay, we couldn’t ask for a better service or choice of sports.
I’m not particularly a team follower, Caroline loves her football, particularly, Liverpool FC. She also thinks Alan Green on Radio 5, is brilliant, both in his commentary and on the 606 phone-in.
Andre Agassi can do no wrong in our house, and tennis will be the poorer when he retires.
We also both enjoy watching the Golf Majors, and think Tiger Woods is perhaps the top sportsman on the planet, although the past couple of years have detracted a little from his world dominance.
And then there’s athletics…
Why did you join us?
Founder member, and one of the original twelve who met in the “Old Arcade". Prior to 1980 there was much less road running taking place, and I was a member of Barry and Vale Harriers very much doing my own thing. The rest is history, and chronicled in back copies of ACE.
Posted by Dave at 05:32 PM
Sorry folks, but I need to make some slight alterations to the social events this weekend. The bike ride will now leave at 9.15 on Saturday from Maindy Stadium, and the group run will now meet at the club for a 10am run on Sunday. The route will be the summer 12 mile route along the taff trail, up to Castle Coch, along the path above the castle and return via the Radyr side of the trail. The changes are due to work commitments and injury respectively.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
Posted by Simon at 02:14 PM
The Social ride ’n’ run returns next weekend (Sat 27th - Sun 28th March) and details are as follows; Cycle ride starts at 9.30am from Maindy Stadium and will take in the Gwent levels. Distance and Ride time, 25 miles/2 hours approx, all abilities welcome. The social run will start outside the sports hall in Heath park at 10am and will be around 10-12 miles in distance, keeping mainly to park and common land. Please keep an eye on the website and a ear to the ground, just in case the arrangements for the run changes (I’m still unsure if my injury will be up to the run!).
Hope to see some new as well as familiar faces at these events, it’s a great opportunity to try some new routes whilst chewing the fat.
Posted by Simon at 03:41 PM
Some of you may have noticed that after a few weeks of unco-ordinated laziness on our part, there was no content whatever on the online ’Ace’ (the page you’re reading now).
To prevent this happening again, I’ve come up with the idea for a possibly weekly/possibly fortnightly regular feature where I ’interview’ various club members.
(I owe the germ of this idea to blogger Norm Geras’s profile. Norm happened to teach member Dave Lloyd "Political Concepts" whatever those are.)
Anyway, Simon Nurse kindly volunteered for the test run.
How old were you when you started running? And why?
I started running in 1994 at the tender age of 24. After a brief hiatus from sport between 91 and 92, I decided the time had come to shift some weight, and took up mountain biking, circuit training and kayaking. A like-minded work colleague of mine saw an advert for the Islwyn half and talked me into running it. After some pretty short training runs (I think I did about 4 or 5 with the longest being about 5 miles) I completed the Islwyn in an unexpected 1hr 32mins. He talked me into taking it up more seriously and I joined Les Croups in January 1995.
Did/do you do other sports?
For 15 long years I played Rugby. I remember being trotted down and dropped off at the Cossacks Rugby Club (above the Gower pub in Roath) at the age of 6 where I became a featherweight hooker. I eventually played rugby as a wing forward (flanker) for St Josephs, Glamorgan Wanderers and Rhiwbina. After becoming a bit weary and despondent with Rugby, I turned to outdoor pursuits and I still enjoy my mountain biking, kayaking, surfing and occasionally climbing. More recently Triathlon has played a part due to constant injuries!
What do you do for a living/recreation outside running? How do they fit together?
Nothing. There is no life outside of running. Just kidding. I’m a big fan of cinema, travel and anything geographic . Fortunately travel fits in rather well with an outdoor lifestyle. Just ask any member of the ’culture club’! When I find some time I’ll be turning my hand to photography.
Are you obsessed?
I’d like to think not, but to a certain extent we all are. Nobody likes it when you can’t run, and we all insist on getting our sessions in. What does that tell you? As long as you keep things in perspective, the obsession can remain healthy.
What do you consider your best race(s) so far?
From a performance point of view, I’m happiest with my 10 mile PB - 55.15 at the handicap in 96 (?) and placing 13th in a Gwent league at Blaise Castle (97). Although I tend to remember races for the challenge, ambience and the memories you take with you. From that point of view, The 2003 KIMM is hard to beat, the Elite section is bloody hard, and I was lucky to have an excellent partner in Julian Carter. I’m also very fond of a race called the "Quantock Beast", a 5 mile multi-terrain race in Somerset in which I finished 4th some years ago. Thinking about it, this list could be endless! there’s winning a stage of the Castles, the Snowdon mountain triathlon, Kona 100km mountain bike race, Llanberis half-Ironman...
Onward and upward -- or all downhill from here?
Sideways. I’ll try and stay fit by avoiding injury and doing more adventure and off-road races.
Have you had any injuries?
One or two...
What sports (if any) do you follow? What teams/athletes?
I’m a big Rugby fan and follow three teams, Cardiff Blues, Auckland Blues and Wales. Never understood that funny game with a round white ball, where all the players dive on the floor and shout a lot. Perhaps Steve Lewis can explain it to me when he’s not swimming.
Why did you join us?
To give me a focus for improving my fitness. Les Croups were the best recommendation I have ever received. A big thanks to the anonymous fella at Sportshoe (used to be on St Mary St) who suggested us.
Posted by Dave at 11:00 PM
Alan Mann.
Alan Mann, again.
Cai Britton, trying a brave face.
Siri Terjesen.
These have to be the last.
Posted by Dave at 10:47 PM
Jim Rogers.
Feet.
More feet.
Gary Hyatt and Amanda Elias.
Dave Coles.
Eventual winner Brian Cole.
Chris Finill.
Frank Moritz.
Gary Hyatt.
More to follow.
Posted by Dave at 06:54 PM
These are just the first few (of the 20 I decided to keep) photographs out of my camera. I’ll add some more tomorrow. Right now, I’m frozen and I want to go to the pub.
Andy Cleves.
Frank Moritz and Dick Brewer in the dugout.
The eager lap counters.
An actual race photo. At last!
Dick, Cai, and John.
Siri and Gil.
Barefoot and blistered Mark Green.
Ramona.
The leaders at full stretch.
Brian Cole checks his lap time as Herman suffers.
Posted by Dave at 06:48 PM
And here we go with Members ad #2. (Most of you will hit this one first; that’s how blogs work. Believe me, when I rewrite this stupid site so it does what I want it to, this won’t be the case.)
Enough prevarication, or if you prefer, faffing around.
Sandy Johnson writes:
I tried this format a few weeks ago, and heard no more, but undeterred, I shall essay afresh. As I then mentioned, Helen and I have been refurbishing a villa in N/E Majorca for the past year, and have now launched it onto the holiday rental scene under the website www.casamariapilar.com (the name of the house).
Everything it says is true(!), but I thought, maybe, to post it on the noticeboard, as it is ideally situated for that warm weather training that we all dream about. Mountains, seaside trails, long rambles into the interior — it’s all there.
Expert advice on training routes available. New ones equally welcome. Perfect for three Daves and a Dick, or other viable combinations.
See what you think — I’ve put a back link to the club website on it, just to tittillate trade. I’ve just run for the first time in 3 weeks after debilitating chest infection — it hurt!
For the monoglots out there, Casa is house in Spanish. Maria Pilar sounds like a name I should know, but doesn’t seem to. It only reminds me of the time I kept an Iberian au pair who’d been turned back by the fascists at Dover immigration warm all night at Calais. Look if Tony Blair can start his re-election campaign with stories of the times he slept rough, why can’t I? I have more of them.
Posted by Dave at 07:27 PM
Clare Johnson had the excellent idea of a ’stop press’ section where I/we could post such stuff as last-minute race changes and so forth. I haven’t worked out what do about this yet. (I am — slowly — working on translating this site into python, where (nearly) anyone will be able to add whatever they like.)
So this is a new feature: the members’ advert. (Don’t push your luck here. I’m not interested in antique fridges or used baby clothes.)
Andrew Holden made the mistake everyone makes once in a lifetime: he bought the wrong size shoes. He therefore has a good and fairly new (14 miles total) pair of New Balance 752, size 10, Width 2E. Runners’ World review. £ 40.
Could be a bargain. Me, I’m 101/2, so y’all get to hear about this.
Update: clearly, some contact information would be useful, so this is his email address: andrew.holden2@ntlworld.com.
Posted by Dave at 07:02 PM
Am I the only person who believes the ’Barry 40’ sounds like a miscarriage of justice? (a la the Birmingham 4 and the Guildford 6?). Clearly it’s not, as none of the entrants appear to have been forced to race. On a personal note I would like to wish all the entrants of the Barry 40 the best of luck and hope the weather reports are accurate for Sunday. An army of lap counters await you!
Posted by Simon at 08:22 AM
The AGM is always a productive day. An opportunity to run your heart out, fill up on a stodgy meal and swig a few ales whilst our esteemed Chairman Mr John Griffin struts his stuff. Some of us like to continue this rich tradition long into the evening, and over a couple of pints in the Conway, Julian and I hatched a plan to organise a fell running weekend.
Sooo....the plan is this. Leave for the Lake District on Friday 21st May at 5.30. Arrive 9.30ish. Runs will be organised for Saturday and Sunday morning, splitting into 2 possibly 3 groups. Saturday evening will involve a pub, a meal and a few ales. Return on Sunday 23rd May after Sunday lunch, back at 7ish. Other possibilities may include a fell race (for those who fancy it) or fell walking if fell running is ’not your bag’.
At the moment I’m trying to find bunkhouse (hostel style) accommodation and will advise when I have found something suitable. In the meantime, stick the date in your diary and let me know if you’re interested. This will be the perfect training weekend for anybody considering or curious about the Karrimor Mountain Marathon. The hills and the fresh air await........
Posted by Simon at 08:01 AM
Last updated 22 September 2006
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