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The Running Master

Stazza

I’ve decided to have another crack at keeping a log. As I’ve publicly announced that I’m going after the Irish M45 5k record of 15:22, I thought it only fair that I document my training and hold myself to account – publicly; at my age I should know better, especially given the current state of my fitness. Oh well.

So, I was out for about 4 weeks during December – small problem with my achilles, peroneals, soleus, and a bit of P.F. to boot. Although it’s all pretty much sorted, there is some residual discomfort. So I need to be careful.

Rather than just log the boring running stuff, I’m hoping to drop in a few accounts of some of my interesting life experiences. I’ve worked in the UK and Kenya as a physical therapist/business owner looking after many household names. I’ve also worked as a journalist, sub editor and editor on a national tabloid in Southern Africa – some great stuff from those days; I spent a day with Nelson Mandela. I went on to own a rather unsuccessful national tabloid in Cyprus – some great stories from my time there, especially concerning The Cypriot Mafia.

To keep things from getting stale, I’ll drop in some anecdotes. Starting next week with, Linford Christie, Doping, The Banana, and Me - Nuff Respect!

The running this week:
Sunday – 8 miles; last 3 miles picked up the pace.
Monday – 6 miles easy with 8x100m pick-ups
Tuesday – 6 miles easy
Wednesday - a.m. 6 miles easy p.m. 6 miles, incl 4 @ LT
Thursday – 6 miles easy with Paddy the Kenyan – PtK’s training for the Tralee Marathon;)
Friday – a.m. 6 miles easy + p.m. 6 miles moderate progression – picked it up from 2.5 miles to 5 miles. Felt laboured.

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kit3

Ososlo wrote: »

And in case anyone misinterpreted that, it's called humour

or a touch of madness .........:eek:

Sacksian

Ososlo wrote: »

And in case anyone misinterpreted that, it's called humour

I don't know any of you on here but this sort of thing seems kind of needlessly antagonistic (AND tedious, ironically enough!), given the drama of recent days.

gerard_65

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPIsTKpAoE4

barryoneill50

tang1 wrote: »

Maybe to some, but its bull**** pure and simple to others.

Nah, hilarious it is......

tunguska

RunForestRun wrote: »

But, the egotism is as such that people like to see a bit more proof.

Yeah, words are meaningless. A person should always be judged by their actions. Stazza it seems to me that theres an easy way to sort all of this out. Get yourself into a race and walk the walk(or run the run). Otherwise you're just writing cheques your ass cant cash.

KillianByrne

Is there anything to be said for saying another mass?

blockic

Stazza wrote: »

Followers of the The Running Master,

It's time to go home, rest up, and reflect. Do not respond to anymore tedious comments. Tonight, I will respond to their Chief-of-Staff: he has contacted me in good faith and I will discuss terms with him.

Thank you for your support, passion, and loyalty. I'm humbled, truly.

Regards

The Running Master

That post is absolutely ridiculous.. Pure bull****..and just as well I spotted this from the log early on.

When will posts of this nonsense be brought to account on boards and we get back to training and running instead of fantasy land. As at the moment this place is on the road to nowhere with posts of this tripe.

Blocked.

kit3

KillianByrne wrote: »

Is there anything to be said for saying another mass?

that would be an ecumenical matter ...

KillianByrne

kit3 wrote: »

that would be an ecumenical matter ...

Feck

kit3

KillianByrne wrote: »

Feck

Drink !

Stazza

The Reveal

My name is John and I’m a writer, runner, and a coach. Stazza is a fictitious character. A fictitious character I’ve utilized for the purposes of research. I’m currently working on a project about a sociophobic marathon runner. The runner is named Gilly and it’s about him breaking 2hrs for the marathon in the Olympics. I can’t tell you any more than that at the moment.

It was necessary for me to go ‘undercover’ so that I could capture the essence of everyday runners, like all the people on here. A sub plot of the project works on something pretty similar to what’s been going on here, especially recently.

As for Stazza, while he is a fictitious character, I loosely based him on myself. To that end, most of what I posted was true. All of the training was true, the two races, Jake, Paddy the Kenyan, and the fact that I’ve worked with and still do work with many decent runners. A few faster than Jake. A lot of the background information on Stazza holds true with me too. I ‘m not prepared to divulge what’s true and what is not.

The clues to all of the above are in my log. But I suppose given what’s happened over the past 24 hrs maybe I should point you to this:

'Did you see what I did there, Pinky?'
'No Brain.'
'I've duped them pinky. All of them.'
'How Brain?'
'They will think I'm a beautiful human being, humble and modest to boot.'
'Yes, Brain, I see.'
'Now then Pinky, I've lulled them into a false sense of security. We can now take over The Boards.'
'How Brain?'
'Well Pinky, when I start my gig tonight, you can start killing them, one by one.'
'What gig?'
'I'm doing Bedtime Story with Stazza.'
'That's very clever Brain, but will they suspect anything?'
'No Pinky, they're runners - self obsessed; they'll be too busy foam rolling their ITB's and admiring their skeletal frames - they'll be too preoccupied to notice you. And they'll be under the spell of my magic words.'
'How nice Brain. What's your story called?'
'Good Christie Hunting.'
'Brilliant Brain. Brilliant.'
'And when they're all dead, we'll bring in Paddy the Kenyan.'
'Is he your imaginary friend, the one training for the Tralee Marathon?'
'He's real. Now, scoot.'

There are many more.

Unfortunately, all of this ended in Andy and Luke leaving today and possibly a few others. To them, I apologise.

Andy has been all over me since day1. He knew something was amiss. He just couldn’t quite pin it down. And in fairness, it was pretty difficult to work out given that I’m a reasonable runner and that I do actually know what I’m on about. (That’s not me bragging in Stazza’s voice; it’s just how it is.) It was important for me to obfuscate a few things. Although Andy and a few others gave Stazza a hard time, Andy is a victim here, as is Luke. But I’ll come back to them in a minute.

Prior to starting on Boards, I was on the Fast Running Blog as a character called Bam. While on there I did a similar thing but the goal was something entirely different. FRB served its purpose for me. One person on there had an idea about what I was at and it came out in a little spat. But nobody really caught on.

So where does that leave us now?

For me, I’ve been amazed by the spirit of this place. Apart from the occasional misunderstandings, the goodwill on here is unbelievable. And nobody on here evinces that goodwill more than ecoli and Ososlo. At least, that’s how I see it.

Ecoli’s unconditional commitment to Boards is incredible, especially given that he holds down a full time job, runs, and is in the process of building a business. Boards offers ecoli a perfect platform to help people with their running and their injuries. Many moons ago, I was a physical therapist and I can tell all of you on here that ecoli knows his stuff. I only wish I lived near him so that I could benefit from his expertise. It’s very difficult to find good therapists with running and coaching backgrounds. If you’re within striking distance of ecoli, I would suggest that you contact him with any injuries.

As for ecoli the coach – I've told many people that I think, in time, he’ll be one of Ireland’s top coaches and maybe even better than that. But in order for that to happen, he needs this place. So, ecoli, please accept my sincerest apologies and I know that you’re a man of principles and to that end, I will be leaving Boards tonight/tomorrow. This should open the door for you to come back without compromising your principles. And when I meet you again in real life, the drinks on me and a meal etc.

That compensation is extended to Andy too. A free meal and drinks etc. Some of you might be thinking, why Andy? Well, Andy has had all of your backs covered the whole time. He’s kept me on my toes. He’s entertained me beyond anybody on here. And given what he’s disclosed about his mental health issues, I feel guilty for not letting him in on what was going on. With hindsight, I should have explained things to him. But that said, I was always measured in my responses to him and very rarely went out of my way to attack him. Yes, I provoked him a few times but mainly in defence. But there’s no excuse for the way I played with him to benefit my own ends. And to Andy, I wholeheartedly apologise. I hope he comes back to Boards as he’s one of the characters that make this place tick. Yes, he can be a bit impulsive but I think in real life he’s probably a spot on bloke. And I really hope you break 2:40. I’ll be watching out and willing you to get there.

And what about Ososlo? Well, the way she’s run the DCM thread is astonishing. Her advice, energy, and encouragement have been breathtaking to watch. I don’t think she should ever need to buy a drink again.

Ironically, Ososlo has been my greatest help on here. When she approached me for help with her training, I didn’t want anything to do with her – I thought she was tRR’s sister – tip of the hat and all that. But, whenever somebody has asked for my help on here, I’ve always obliged – as John.

I’m not going to go on about Ososlo; she knows what I think and has become a genuine friend. And for the record, she didn’t know about any of this – she’s learning about this now, with the rest of you.

To the people I help with training, I’ll shout you today/tomorrow and give you all my details so we can stay in contact and sort things out etc.

So then, it’s time for all the fighting to stop. It’s time for you guys build bridges. You guys need to stick together and go back to helping each other. The improvements that have been made by many of you come down to this place and all the good stuff you guys do. With the autumn marathons coming up, now isn’t a good time for you to be scrapping.

Thanks for all the fun. Sorry to anybody that may have been stressed/upset by the recent shenanigans.

And just to save anybody the bother – I will not be taking questions and pm’s will be a waste of your time.

Good luck.

John

Murph_D

I think it may have been easier than you think to see that something was off about your "project". Very off.

I doubt if one so arrogant can really be a great coach.

Cya.

menoscemo

yeah ta very much for wrecking the place stazza/john, at least your project will benefit from it, very nice of you :rolleyes:
BTW we all already knew your name was John and that the 'Stazza' bit comes from your surname......

KillianByrne

Arse

Pacing Mule

No question just a comment assuming all that is genuine.

You've left behind absolute carnage and lost directly / indirectly the forum here some of it's best members. I really feel for ososlo at this point because this makes her look really stupid despite your praise. I wish you had of come here as the real person and imparted the real knowledge you do actually have. It just leaves an incredibly sour taste now which I believe you didn't intend.

RedRunner

Fascinating stuff. I thought at one point in proceedings yourself and PtK were one in the same.. I liked the Conrad reference too. I read Lord Jim form the Leaving Cert. "The Reveal" makes me think of Marlow and his narrative

"tell you the story, to try to hand over to you, as it were, its very existence, its reality – the truth disclosed in a moment of illusion."

Ososlo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

No question just a comment assuming all that is genuine.

You've left behind absolute carnage and lost directly / indirectly the forum here some of it's best members. I really feel for ososlo at this point because this makes her look really stupid despite your praise. I wish you had of come here as the real person and imparted the real knowledge you do actually have. It just leaves an incredibly sour taste now which I believe you didn't intend.

I don't feel stupid at all but thanks.

pa4

I'm really confused.. So what's actually going on?

KillianByrne

pa4 wrote: »

I'm really confused.. So what's actually going on?

Everyone is going to be in a book. If he sells the film rights do I to chose who plays me?

digger2d2

So, we've had trolls, we've had funny "obvious" trolls, SNIP. Stazza, feel free to hook up with me and I'll help you with your research. Mods, not your best day.

pa4

KillianByrne wrote: »

Everyone is going to be in a book. If he sells the film rights do I to chose who plays me?

Were gonna be famous

pconn062

Mod/

Ok I'm locking this, until we know what's going on. No point saying the Mod's had an off day. We've been tormented with this for two days now and are as much in that dark about what's going on as you guys.

/Mod