McConkey....you are in the well

Peckham

My extended three days in the well are at an end, and whilst the focus has been in throwing experienced runners into the well, I thought we should try one of the novice runners. So McConkey, even though you're on the sidelines for a short while, you're "it"....

1) Why did you pick running as a sport?
2) Where do you see running taking you?

eliwallach

I knew a guy in college that we called McConkey (after the broth used to detect Faecal contamination).
Are you him?:)

TheRoadRunner

Favourite race distance ?
Favourite training session ?

shels4ever

Training wise where do you see yourself in a years time, do you have long term aims?

McConkey

Ok, no laughing

Peckham: I like to be outside (country girl at heart ), running is free (in theory anyway) though with good runners, forerunner 305, clothes, race fees, physio(!) I'm finding that it's not but I love it so I don't mind handing over the few quid for things that will keep me motivated.

Went to the gym the other day in Salthill and I could look straight out at the beach and the lovely day and it broke my little heart to look out at it from inside cos I'm not allowed to run at the moment (btw those elliptical trainer things are awful, I think I nearly dislocated my hips!!! but I was trying out the HRM for the first time and they are damn good for cardio).

--amadeus--

Good choice

- What are your long term running goals?
- What's your dream race or event?
- Do you think you'll stick to running or will you give Tri a bash?
- Most admired athlete / person?
- What do you do outside of running? Where else on Boards do you hang out?
- Ever been drinking in Sally Longs?

McConkey

Oops, got carried away there and forgot your second question Peckham.

I will never be a fast runner, I will never place in a race (unlike the Grand National one year where the horse I bet on came last, but because all the other horses fell, and I had backed him each way-I won 60 quid woohoo, I'm not very good at betting)

I am running solely to get better, to run a little bit faster than last time and to be honest if I can go the distance and make it to and around Dublin, then I would love to run some of the other marathons that you guys have posted about here I also want to stop smoking but I am not motivated to do it until the day after my Viva (PhD thesis defence) at the earliest-as I would probably cave on that day.

McConkey

eliwallach: do I smell a fellow microbiologist or no? Yes my name is after the agar but I'm a girl. It was just a micro thing that came into my head as I was trying to think of a name and I considered it my little in-joke I suppose.

These days I do my microbiology on the DNA end of the scale having left the smells behind thank God....

eliwallach

McConkey wrote: »

eliwallach: do I smell a fellow microbiologist or no?
These days I do my microbiology on the DNA end of the scale having left the smells behind thank God....

My qualifications would be that way inclined but I find as the career progresses & promotions abound(!) I drift further from my initial qualification and more into the murky world of paperwork, sick notes, leave sheets, conflict resolution.....:(

McConkey

TheRoadRunner:

1) I am pretty new so I have only really done one race (the 5 mile) in Maree where I found out all about plantar faciitis at the 5k mark and for the rest of the 3k walk on the side of my foot back to the finish line (where my car was) I'm not bitter, honest...I'm kind of glad I found out about it sooner rather than later cos if I had trained right up to a 20 before taper or something and got hurt then I would just be so gutted. I don't really count the women's mini as a race, but rather a nice day out There are way too many people there really to call it a race.

In answer, I really don't know yet, I am in love with the idea of collapsing over the finish line after 26 miles 365 yards-no wait not that would have me collapse 20 yards before the line-385 yards on double checking

2) Again I do not have a great selection of training sessions to go on, I have not begun intervels, fartlek or any other of the stuff I've ready about here, for me it really is just getting out there and putting one foot in front of the other

On Wed, my session is always three miles so I have a lovely run mapped, I know I shouldn't always do the same one but I vary the other days. It starts off with a good size hill (steepish) that takes me on a back road looking out over the city for the first 1.2 miles then downhill (steeeep) back into the city, a long straight road that tests my stamina to keep going, and another little hill right before I'm back at my house (3 miles)...sometimes I treat myself and keep going for another serious enough hill (not steep though) cos again it's running out of the city, towards Connemara and Lough Corrib and again you can look out over the city then turn and come back-its all about going the extra mile for the team (Up the Riff Raffers)....and with those views, its worth it. I'll be sobbing here in a minute with what I'm missing out on....

McConkey

shels4ever wrote: »

Training wise where do you see yourself in a years time, do you have long term aims?

Sorry guys I should have quoted yer questions to make it easir to follow the thread...I havn't been logging on as much the last week or so and it didn't occur to me....

Anyhow, back to you Shels4ever:

In a years time, I hope I will have cut maybe 15 min off my 10k time from last year and ran it all (walk and run time last yr) sucessfully completed my first half marathon and first marathon, I should probably go back and do the Streets of Galway to exorcise those demons (very anaemic at the time, too fast getting out and then walking from Eyre Square-very depressing at the time).

A lot will depend on how this foot injury pans out, how quickly can ortoses be made and supplied as I will have to break them in...and I really hope that fast and soon are the answers there. I am going to get a bike to take some of the pressure off. I asked my boss and he is into sports himself (and currently injured) so he likes the idea I think-the accountant whispered something to me so fingers crossed for bikescheme.ie.

If the foot problem was ok maybe I would be in training for the Conemarathon-all those hills though so the foot would have to be 100%

MCOS

What impact does running have on your lifestyle?

donothoponpop

How useful (or otherwise) do you find the 1000 mile challenge for motivating you to go for a run?

McConkey

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Good choice

- What are your long term running goals?
- What's your dream race or event?
- Do you think you'll stick to running or will you give Tri a bash?
- Most admired athlete / person?
- What do you do outside of running? Where else on Boards do you hang out?
- Ever been drinking in Sally Longs?

--amdeus--

1) Long term, again my first marathon, but I don't think I'd just do one and stop-and waste all the training, I think I like the idea of keeping fit, getting better at it and visiting different cities to try out different marathons (great excuse to go on city breaks)-it feels good to feel so enthusiastic about something, I haven't had that in a while.

2) Dream race/event: I suppose London is in the back of my mind, was over there two years ago by coincidence and watched them for a while-I could have stayed there to watch all day-gave me a lump in my throat and although it took a long time, its what started me out running in the first place. I saw more of the fun runner end of it-if you call it fun to run a marathon in full army gear and rucksack, or shackled to 9 of your mates (dressed in convict costumes). I was also alarmed by the big handfuls of vaseline people were putting down their pants-I had never considered that chaffing would be a major issue

Tri: tri actually sounds great and I would certainly be up for giving one or two a bash, if only for the variety, I'd probably be last but I wouldn't mind if I had fun One of the down rivers probably seems more suitable for me at the moment tho my swimming wouldn't be the best-I have a mean backstroke but no co-ordination whatsoever for swimming forwards Backstroking down a river in Mayo would prob get you disqualified from the tri!

Most admired: Hard to say really, I saw Nelson Mandela when he came to Galway which I'll always remember-I watched the programme for hours the day they waited outside the prison in Robben Is for his release even though I was only little and I didn't really know what it was about at the time but I knew something big was happening.

I don't know if it's popular to say fair play to Sonia as one of our great athletes, I often sat down to watch her run and even when she didn't win you could see by her emotions that she had tried as best she could. She was always there or there abouts so fair play Sonia, it was nice to feel like we might win a medal even if it wasn't to be on the day.

Someone has a quote from a dad whose daughter was murdered in a bomb during the troubles in their sig, can't remember it fully but in it the dad says what a nice girl his daughter was but that he bears no ill-will to the bombers-I think regular people like that need to be admired. Also people like the Hoyts whose videos I've seen here, they are amazing! I'm getting carried away now....Jesus, apologies!

Outside of running: Pretend to try finish my thesis...its hard cos I work full time (pharmacy technician-auditing type job) and my PhD supervisor isn't too interested in reading it now the project money is spent Meet up with friends a lot these days as they are all turning 30 this year so lots of parties! If I am left on my own for long periods of time I will go to Argos and buy flat pack furniture and assemble it though these days I run instead Actually I spend ages on boards, like I could doss most of the day on it....I mostly just read threads, mainly in after hours, personal issues, cycling, bargain alerts, adverts but I don't post that often-only here most of the time. Running has added a 3rd dimension to the world for me.

Sally Longs: Been in there a couple of times years ago but i don't really go to the clubs anymore so I don't go to that side of town, tend to stay around Front door, dew drop end. I used to go out with a guy that had a motorbike though so I'm sure if I walked into Sallys with my bike gear instead of my nightclub gear I may have been more comfortable...

McConkey

eliwallach wrote: »

My qualifications would be that way inclined but I find as the career progresses & promotions abound(!) I drift further from my initial qualification and more into the murky world of paperwork, sick notes, leave sheets, conflict resolution.....:(

Ah ok, yeah really I'm away from it myself at the moment, pharmacy work these days as-if I leave Galway my thesis will never be read by supervisor. If I had known I liked pharmacy a bit earlier I think I would have just gone to Scotland and studied that straight after my degree. So I feel your pain...you are moving onwards and upwards through the admin end of the lab so, tough job-keeping everybody happy

cfitz

McConkey wrote: »

I don't know if it's popular to say fair play to Sonia as one of our great athletes, I often sat down to watch her run and even when she didn't win you could see by her emotions that she had tried as best she could. She was always there or there abouts so fair play Sonia, it was nice to feel like we might win a medal even if it wasn't to be on the day.

Sonia is our greatest athlete.

Anyway, my question is do you think that if you stopped smoking and stopped training that you would run faster than if you kept smoking and kept training?

McConkey

MCOS wrote: »

What impact does running have on your lifestyle?

Hi MCOS,

It gets me off my a*** to be blunt. I would just sit at my computer/watch television before but now I get out and run instead...I know it's still only short distances but I'm getting better. I don't really need to shift weight and am generally anaemic which means I find it hard to stay motivated-the weighing scales have gone up since I started running :eek: but logging on here is a big factor in keeping myself at it. Just reading peoples threads makes me want to try harder-everybody is having fun and is so into it

I've been out in pubs a couple of times recently where I've gone home early (still 2-3am!) or taken it easy on the alcohol because I want to run the next day-maybe I'm maturing

I will try not to smoke for an hour or two before a run, but I don't smoke that much anyway ca.5 a day so maybe I've slightly cut down...

I now eat things like porridge that I considered foul before...my diet has improved in that I'm less interested in crisps or chocolate, I don't bother so much to buy them now-until the last few days I suppose, since I hurt my leg-have a 6-pack of crunchies and a tub of ben&jerrys low fat fudge brownie in the press/freezer now

Sometimes I tend to think about things a lot too-maybe too much, so this distracts me from getting bogged and over analysing things

McConkey

donothoponpop wrote: »

How useful (or otherwise) do you find the 1000 mile challenge for motivating you to go for a run?

Very I'm watching myself slip back to where I started at the bottom of the list again-I started with 6 miles I think and was at the very end of the list but everyone was really nice about it. It's funny watching the people around you on the list, trying to remember whose posting weekly cos they will have a big jump when they next post, picking someone who you can aim to pass by the end of the week...even if it's only by 0.1 of a mile

It's a lot like a race I suppose, you are looking to pick the next person off Unless it's ye guys near the top-I'd say the people running the really long miles already find it tougher. It's a bit harder to throw in an extra 50 to catch up rather than the half mile or so I might need to jump a spot. People have settled into it now-the last few times I updated I didn't actually move up any spots...

There have been days where I didn't want to go running but after logging on here have gone out and been glad of the motivation. I don't think about the challenge that much when I'm out running, but when I update my miles I take a look at those around me and Plot only downside is I'm sticking to Hal Higdon miles-wise so I never really do much more than the plan says ergo the plotting comes to nothing

McConkey

cfitz wrote: »

Sonia is our greatest athlete.

Anyway, my question is do you think that if you stopped smoking and stopped training that you would run faster than if you kept smoking and kept training?

Yes cfitz, I would agree about Sonia, I'd say a lot of people are into running today cos of watching her in her hey-day

Your question has me kind of stumped....I think because I smoke only a few a day at the moment I would be faster keeping up the smoking and the training but eventually I guess I will reach a plateau where I just won't improve anymore unless the cigarettes get the bin. Maybe I could start a race fund with the money I'd save...

I should probably not admit this but sometimes I run harder so I can get home for a cigarette I haven't had one since 9 last night but I think I will have one soon.

McConkey

Since I'll be heading away early in the morning I guess I need to pick a new (victim) person to put in the well tonight-hmmmm let me think

*goes to 1000 mile challenge page to take a look*