David Guiza II

Not personally, but a few people in my club have done them. I think I'd weirdly prefer it to a standard ultra (having done neither)

Context, though. They had an unbelievable record at the Azteca and we were down to 10 men for almost half the game. It's the sort of game that England sides of the past would have 'bottled' and rolled over in. In a domestic context, I guess it's the equivalent to a formerly flaky Arsenal side going and getting a result somewhere like Elland Road or St James' with their backs to the wall and 10 men etc.

Did my first all out 5k for a while yesterday at a free 5k race in Rugby. Managed to get around in 17:51, which I was really happy with, but I still despise running in this weather/humidity. As an aside - there's a decent feature on Serge from Kasabian in Runner's World this month, featuring some moody photos at Bradgate Park.

Yes, such a good course and getting to wander around Warwick Castle grounds beforehand/Kenilworth afterwards is always cracking! Managed to get round in 38:34 - which I'm really happy with over a course that is almost entirely uphill. Now onto a long block for GNR.

Anyone racing this weekend? I've got the Two Castles 10k on Sunday - a point to point race from Warwick Castle to Kenilworth Castle. Really fun event, but not a PB chaser. Then a big gap before the Great North Run.

I did my first official pacer job for this race yesterday and made the mistake of telling the 20 or so people following me that the next mile was flat - only to discover that HS2 had built a small mountain halfway down the road. It did not go down well. 1:43 is good going on that course, well run!

They did a pretty handy print out for my friend's life coaching business, so they're not all bad.

I believe the best course of action is to contact literary agents with a view of becoming their client, who then in turn contact the publishers. I think the majority of bigger publishers won't deal with unsolicited requests direct from the author.

Whilst slightly more rousing than her usual spiel, I did find the comments from Badenoch on a seminal moment akin to Stephen Lawrence slightly out of touch. His was a case that took decades to get anything remotely close to justice, with some guilty parties almost certainly still yet to face any kind of trial. I'm also acutely aware that human reaction to extremely emotional events like this mean that rationality and sense goes out the window, but I will never understand those that immediately head out to join the protests with tops off and flares like it's a parade. It's just so bleak.

I tried Abbey Park parkrun for the first time on Saturday and came in with a surprising third place, would love to give it a go on a less horridly sweaty day. Anybody doing the Rothley 10k next week? I was considering a late sign up. I did it a couple of years ago and remember it being a decent course, albeit a little hilly!

It's definitely worth a go, but best to only do an all out 5k every so often. I went through stages of trying to beat 20 and then 19 minutes once a week and it was horrid and made me hate running I haven't been that way for ages, but Watermead is a really good parkrun course for a decent time. I think they have pacers for 18 minutes upwards once a month (or at least they used to). As others have said - they're so different as to what each takes but I'd probably agree that the 5k effort is more difficult. Any kind of flat out 5k effort, regardless of your ability, is just awful. You're struggling from moment one until you finish with a super high heart rate all the way through. Whereas a sub 4 marathon, or even anything quicker, you have moments where you just settle in to the rhythm - you can make up time at various points if you have a tough mile or two. So long as you put the 12/16 week block in for the marathon, and fuel properly on the day, then more often than not you'd get a half decent time. Not that it's remotely easy, I guess it comes down to whether you prefer to struggle to breathe or struggle to walk towards the end of a race I'd hasten to guess that I know more people who have done sub-4 marathon than a sub-20 5k (of those who have done both). Particularly the women, for whatever reason.

FWIW it took me ages to get from 24 to 20 minutes and then it's all been incremental since then. Joining a club has been really beneficial in that respect, but you soon also realise the sheer number of quick runners all over the place. I look like Steve Howard joining a Lloyd Dyer led counter attack compared to some of them.

Ran my second quickest ever 5k on Saturday at parkrun in 18:09, with a previous best of 17:45. That time only got me 10th, however, largely thanks to 3 guys going sub-16! The more you run the more you realise how relative everything is - which is the best and worst thing about running. You're always only chasing yourself and therefore every race/run has the potential to be a win, but you're also chasing the other hundreds and or thousands you're running alongside. Non-runners don't appreciate how much work is required to be an average runner.

Yup! I'd definitely recommend parking at the finish and then getting the arranged bus to the start, as the queues for the Metro back to Newcastle afterwards are a nightmare. The final mile down the hill and along the seafront is incredible too, so definitely soak that up. Yep, that definitely put a crimp in the plan . I did look at the Isle of Wight one too before looking at the elevation and terrain (non-closed roads too!). I've signed up for Manchester next year, and the London ballot. A chap who was on the train to the start line with me for London this year had done Manchester the week before and was treating therefore just treating London as a (very long) victory lap.

We've had to put up with some s**t over the past few years, but at least Matt Le Tissier isn't our spokesperson and club legend.