A/R/T-ist in the Spotlight: Rainbow Kirby

Oregano_State

This thread is a few days overdue, but I've finally managed to snag the next victim for cross-examination: Rainbow Kirby.

Ms Kirby has been a poster on the athletics forum for a number of years, as well as being a former moderator in the Ladies Lounge forum (@RainbowKirby: feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I've done some basic-level snooping of your profile in order to be able to write a bit of an intro and decide on what questions to ask you, but may have misinterpreted some things!).

Her log can be found here.

Without further ado, I'll get things started with the questions:

1. Your profile location mentions that you live in North London. How do you find life there compared to Ireland, and do you see yourself moving home at any point?

2. The title of your training log implies that you've had a number of injuries in your past. Are you currently healthy? What specifically have you had the most problems with, and from what you've learned about dealing with it, do you have any advice for other runners that might help them avoid similar issues?

3. When and why did you start running?

4. What are your current goals when it comes to training?

5. You swim regularly. Do you find it helps with running? If you had to choose between the two, which would get the chop?

6. Do you have any other non-sports related hobbies?

7. Describe your ideal Friday night.

8. You've been offered the position of ambassador for Ireland in any developing country of the World you wish. What country would you choose and why? What would be your choice if you could choose a developed country?

9. Any thoughts on UKIP?

10. Volunteer a memorable and/or embarrassing story from your childhood.
(this one is optional).


Over to you!

Chivito550

1) Favourite Irish athletics moment and why?

2) Favourite non-Irish athletics moment and why?

3) Favourite East German drug cheat and why?

4) Which 3 elite athletes would you most like to go for a night on the tear with and why?

5) Which 3 elite athletes would you like to sip lattes with and why?

6) Will you and Brian be coming back for the Beer Mile on Sat 28th June? How do you rate both your chances in this event?

7) Favourite and least favourite running training sessions and why?

8) Can't remember if you have done a triathlon yet or not, but I recall you going down that path (Maybe I am confusing you with somebody else though) so I'll throw some Tri questions at you anyway.

Triathlon: A made-up sport for people not good enough to excel at any of the 3 individual sports, or exciting discipline to determine the undisputed best all round endurance athlete?

9) I've never understood the purpose of the Age Group Triathlon World Championships. I can appreciate the need for O40, O45 etc, much like Masters Athletics, but having 20-24, 24-29 etc categories, seems to me like a bit of a joke of an event for people not good enough to compete in the real World Championships. A bit like having world championships in 400m for people who can only run between 48 and 55. Can you explain the purpose of this event to me?

10) Opinions on ultra running? How do you believe the East Africans would fare if they cared? Rewrite the record books, or fade over the longer distances?

rainbow kirby

Oregano_State wrote: »

1. Your profile location mentions that you live in North London. How do you find life there compared to Ireland, and do you see yourself moving home at any point?

Pretty fun actually! Hard to say, we'll probably end up back eventually, but there is little to no reason to move back at present. Not much work for himself and work for me pays more here, plus we live about a mile up the road from the Emirates, we're close to Camden Town, tis fun

Oregano_State wrote: »

2. The title of your training log implies that you've had a number of injuries in your past. Are you currently healthy? What specifically have you had the most problems with, and from what you've learned about dealing with it, do you have any advice for other runners that might help them avoid similar issues?

I've been healthy since about Christmas. I've gotten injured every time I've trained for a marathon, but 2 years ago I injured my back and pelvis after a fall during the Limerick half and I spent a year and a half really struggling with my back after that. Back injuries are a bitch :mad:

I've found cross-training and strength work helpful - doing some lifting and core work and swimming has been very helpful too.

Oregano_State wrote: »

3. When and why did you start running?

Started Couch to 5k in July 2008. Started because I was fat as hell (96kg @ 5'6") and I wanted to get fit again. Kept at it because I really enjoyed it.

Oregano_State wrote: »

4. What are your current goals when it comes to training?

I have two A goal races this summer - the London Triathlon Olympic distance on August 3 and the Great North Run on September 7. Hoping for sub 2 in the half and around 3:10 in the tri.

Apart from that - just get stronger, stay healthy, learn to not suck at hills on the bike...

Oregano_State wrote: »

5. You swim regularly. Do you find it helps with running? If you had to choose between the two, which would get the chop?

Neither. I love the simplicity of running - gear on, runners on and go. I also love how being in water relaxes me and in a slightly girly note I love the lack of bingo wings as a result of swimming

Oregano_State wrote: »

6. Do you have any other non-sports related hobbies?

Erm, not really. I spend an awful lot of time watching sport and reading about sport even when I'm not training. I do read non-sports stuff every now and then, if that counts?

Oregano_State wrote: »

7. Describe your ideal Friday night.

Brewdog and plenty of Punk IPA

Oregano_State wrote: »

8. You've been offered the position of ambassador for Ireland in any developing country of the World you wish. What country would you choose and why? What would be your choice if you could choose a developed country?

Vietnam or Thailand, because food. :pac:

Quite possibly Spain for similar reasons

Oregano_State wrote: »

9. Any thoughts on UKIP?

Racist, homophobic scum who unfortunately appeal to the nasty xenophobic streak that middle Englanders try and deny exists but that appears when things are going wrong with the economy.

vitani

Have you bought your wedding dress yet? What's it like?

Chivito550

Honest opinions on Cristiano Ronaldo?

Brianderunner

1) Does it make you angry that your bf didnt come in to watch your race in town this morning?

2) Did the Bupa10k inspire you to do London some day?

3) Best race you've done?

4) Growing up in a family that hated track and field athletics how did you become such a big fan of it?

5) Favourite thing about this forum?

6) What would you change about this forum?

7) If you hadnt worked in IT which alternative career path would you have followed?

RacoonQueen

Brianderunner wrote: »

1) Does it make you angry that your bf didnt come in to watch your race in town this morning?

2) Did the Bupa10k inspire you to do London some day?

3) Best race you've done?

4) Growing up in a family that hated track and field athletics how did you become such a big fan of it?

5) Favourite thing about this forum?

6) What would you change about this forum?

7) If you hadnt worked in IT which alternative career path would you have followed?

Could you not just close yer laptops and ask her these yourself?

Brianderunner

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Could you not just close yer laptops and ask her these yourself?

In theory all the "in the spotlight" questions could have been asked and answered via pm.

Touche

digger2d2

Beef or Salmon?

rainbow kirby

Chivito550 wrote: »

1) Favourite Irish athletics moment and why?

Toss-up between watching Sonia dominating in the Golden 4 and Rob Heffernan winning the world 50k gold.

Chivito550 wrote: »

2) Favourite non-Irish athletics moment and why?

Hmm... 2012 Olympics in general due to actually getting there for it - but David Rudisha's 800m gold was absolutely incredible.

Chivito550 wrote: »

3) Favourite East German drug cheat and why?

Marita Koch. Extremely accurate name. :pac:

Chivito550 wrote: »

4) Which 3 elite athletes would you most like to go for a night on the tear with and why?

Rob Heffernan, Nick Symmonds, Robert Harting. They all seem like great craic.

Chivito550 wrote: »

5) Which 3 elite athletes would you like to sip lattes with and why?

Valerie Adams, to get some of the real dirt on who is doping in field events, Haile Gebrselassie, Ivan Ukhov.

Chivito550 wrote: »

6) Will you and Brian be coming back for the Beer Mile on Sat 28th June? How do you rate both your chances in this event?

Nope - we're coming home in early June instead for a long weekend. If we were to compete in a virtual championship... he'd probably be better at the actual drinking than me, but English ales don't really lend themselves to rapid drinking! It all depends on which one of us has more of an iron stomach...

Chivito550 wrote: »

7) Favourite and least favourite running training sessions and why?

Favourite - easy run over relatively rolling but pretty terrain, 8-10x400 is usually pretty useful too
Least favourite - long tempo runs, can be hard on the mental side to keep going when it hurts

Chivito550 wrote: »

8) Can't remember if you have done a triathlon yet or not, but I recall you going down that path (Maybe I am confusing you with somebody else though) so I'll throw some Tri questions at you anyway.

Triathlon: A made-up sport for people not good enough to excel at any of the 3 individual sports, or exciting discipline to determine the undisputed best all round endurance athlete?

A little from column A, a little from column B. Some are close to world class in one of the sports - think Non Stanford and Alastair Brownlee at running etc. I don't necessarily think it's a way to determine the best all-round endurance athlete, to be really good at swimming generally requires having swum from early childhood and this isn't the case for everyone and probably misses out on some fantastic duathletes/cyclists/runners as a result.

Chivito550 wrote: »

9) I've never understood the purpose of the Age Group Triathlon World Championships. I can appreciate the need for O40, O45 etc, much like Masters Athletics, but having 20-24, 24-29 etc categories, seems to me like a bit of a joke of an event for people not good enough to compete in the real World Championships. A bit like having world championships in 400m for people who can only run between 48 and 55. Can you explain the purpose of this event to me?

Lot of prize money and it all has to go somewhere. I'm not a huge fan of it either, I don't see the point in separate age groups under 35. I may be a little biased by being in the 30-34 age group despite not yet being 30 though :pac:

Chivito550 wrote: »

10) Opinions on ultra running? How do you believe the East Africans would fare if they cared? Rewrite the record books, or fade over the longer distances?

If they cared/if the money was there, you'd see records tumble. There's nowhere near as much prize money though as there is for the marathon, so there's little incentive to train for it en masse in the same way that they do for the marathon and other road race distances.

For me - it's just too far for me. I break long before those sort of distances.

vitani wrote: »

Have you bought your wedding dress yet? What's it like?

Yes I have! 50s style ivory lace dress with a full skirt.

Chivito550 wrote: »

Honest opinions on Cristiano Ronaldo?

Arrogant fecker who happens to be a very good footballer. I kinda wanted to punch him last night though when he ripped off his shirt after scoring, he looked like an absolute tool.

Brianderunner wrote: »

1) Does it make you angry that your bf didnt come in to watch your race in town this morning?

He needed to sleep. It was fine.

Brianderunner wrote: »

2) Did the Bupa10k inspire you to do London some day?

London has been on the bucket list for a while. Got to see some of the good parts today during the Bupa 10k - the course is not hugely different from the Olympic marathon loop and finishing down the Mall would be great

Brianderunner wrote: »

3) Best race you've done?

Gotta be Barcelona Marathon 2011. Best performance I've managed to conjure up, and a great city to do it in. Very well organised race too.

Brianderunner wrote: »

4) Growing up in a family that hated track and field athletics how did you become such a big fan of it?

Just started watching it at a relatively young age (Tokyo '91 and Barcelona '92 etc) and got into it from there. Tried it at a low level too (Community Games etc) but I had absolutely no talent for it so quit it and stuck to watching it for a very long time.

Brianderunner wrote: »

5) Favourite thing about this forum?

There's a decent chance I'd still be single if it wasn't for it :pac:

Brianderunner wrote: »

6) What would you change about this forum?

More elite athletics coverage, and remove some of the restrictions on ranting about certain races.

7) If you hadnt worked in IT which alternative career path would you have followed?[/QUOTE]
Up until the start of 6th year I had been planning to apply for medicine. Would have actually got it in UCD and RCSI too if I'd followed through with that one. Life would have been massively different.

digger2d2 wrote: »

Beef or Salmon?

Beef. Always beef. Seafood is crap :pac:

Chivito550

You got off lightly! So is Brian next?

rainbow kirby

We'll see :pac: