Runners!

And there will be tears by bedtime. Son no1 used to run seriously until he smashed his ankle doing skate boarding. No more London Marathon.

Their generation do seem obsessed by gym , running, etc. We are all different I suppose. Never had the boobs for running myself!!

Okay, jings back to the bike...

Where I live the problem is cyclists, who seem to travel in packs! Living in the country we have narrow winding roads and it is not uncommon to drive around a corner and find a group of 20 or more cyclists spread out across the road pedalling leisurely along completely oblivious to the queue of traffic behind them. Sundays in the summer is particularly bad. Most seem to have no knowledge of the highway code and if they do assume it doesn't apply to them.

And here I was, feeling pleased with myself for having added another mile to my Sunday long run, just to find that I could have knocked j08 if I had only been somewhere else. Well, even if I was annoying people, I still enjoyed it, almost as much as the feeling that I can sit about doing nothing for the rest of the day and feel smug.

One son is a fanatical swimmer; the other still plays hockey and cycles, despite a number of injuries over the past 25 years. DiL plays netball and DS2's partner has taken up running. When I was young and fit, I swam and played squash. All this running and cycling - I blame the Olympics! Round here there is nothing leisurely about the cyclists. Proximity to Manchester suggests the Velodrome effect.

Horses for courses, When keep up the good work.

Barrow one of thems probably the old git next door. The Clevedon cycling club to which he belongs, cycle on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays!
They cycle up to 70k a ride! Stark, staring bonkers[mad]

The local running club sets off past my house most weeks so I'm often sat in my car, waiting to drive off when they have all gone past. A friend belongs to this club - in the past year, she has fallen into a canal, had a tree branch fall on her, been tripped up by another runner and, when out practising for a half marathon with her dog, tripped over the dog and fallen down an embankment! She's 55. Her husband says he dreads Sunday mornings, because she's forever coming home with injuries.

DS2 is training for a 'duathlon' which I think is running and cycling. Then he proposes to do a triathlon for which he has already acquired a wet suit! What happens to them when they turn 40?

I took up running at 40 (24 years ago) - for the first few weeks I could not run around the block without collapsing and my children made fun of me - which just spurred me on. Within less than a year I was running 10 kilometre "fun runs" with ease and even progressed and did a couple of half marathons. I did this for the next 10 years. I was as fit as can be and had residual fitness from those years until recently, I can still outwalk most people, I seem to have some sort of 'muscle memory' and get into a zone where I can just carry on and on.

Those were some of the best years of my life and I still sometimes have "running dreams" where I fly down a road with the wind in my ears to the pounding of my footsteps. We always ran in groups - we'd talk about 'getting on the bus' the groups were that big and then 'off the bus'. Made some life long friends too.

Thank you soop! Grannyknot, you're an inspiration . I took up running at 52, 9 years ago, just because the rest of the family does it and I couldn't stand the feeling of inferiority any more. I've never become a natural runner, as you seem to be, but have done some 10ks - "with ease" is not a description I would use of my wheezing efforts, but someone has to provide the comedy turn for the spectators after all.

wheniwasyourage - I envy you. When I was your age () I was a runner too. Unfortunately I had an injury for several months and never got back into it. A few weeks ago I felt like breaking in to a run whilst out walking, I managed all right but had sore hips for days afterwards so decided not to attempt it again! One of the friends who used to accompany me has recently had both hips replaced, so maybe the pounding of pavements for years did us no favours.
There were 3 of us who ran 6 miles on Sunday mornings for over 25 years, and it only ever rained on about 5 occasions in all that time, but often did if we changed the time or day.
The comment we most often received was 'Can't you go faster than that?' to which we would reply 'Why don't you show us how?' Of course they had never tried or they would have known how hard it actually is. The funniest thing I heard was when I was running alone and heard a young man say to his mate 'Look at the arse on that'!

Ditto shysal similar story. It's great while it lasts :toned legs and arms, a consistent good weight, great companionship.Then the downside:I'm having the hip replacement on Wednesday . Hasn't put me off though, can't wait to gently get running again.

Good Luck with your hip replacement Grannylin

It's funny how you don't notice the actual point in life when you can no longer run easily. I could run for miles in my twenties. Used to love running. Not to keep fit - never thought of that in those days. It just used to be a more sensible way of getting from a to b than walking. I was quite surprised when one day it suddenly seemed like hard work. All the bits had got heavier.

Btw, it was the speed at which the young bloke was running at that caused me to start this thread! He was pelting along! #longlegs

Both my boys keep fit by running the eldest more so than DS2,DS1 rides to work every day a 10mile ride each way then works 8/9hrs when he arrives home he goes to the gym 3/4times a week why I don't know as he has plenty of excercise riding his bike.

They all want to develop their "six packs" Glamma (not absolutely sure whereabouts those are on the bod! Chest I think)

The only "six packs" in this house goes into the fridge for when mr.g fancies a beer when he is watching the football he then become's an arm chair manager.

I have just returned to running after my hysterectomy a week ago. I think its because I'm physically fit that I recovered so quickly. I'm not obsessive, talented or have particularly high endurance levels, but I know women who have taken a lot longer to get back to being fully active after this op.

jingl the last time a young man ran past me at that speed he was carrying a neighbours DVD player under his arm
Will be thinking of you Grannylin and wishing you a speedy recovery

Ds has suddenly taken up running, complete with a track on his MP3 player or whatever that talks him through his training. He and his family spent last weekend with DD - and he insisted in going out for his run on both days!

There is nothing wrong in being active and better done outside where you can feel the weather, see the seasons change and get fresh air than in a gym, but better still to walk where you can stop and watch the world go by (in towns) or harvest hedgerow crops (in the country)