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.

I'd definitely recommend the Pro 4s, I've used them for PBs on everything from 5k to the marathon. Word of advice would definitely be keeping them for races/PB efforts, though. Otherwise you'll end up with achilles issues pretty quickly! As an aside - has anybody ever run the Chester Marathon? I had accepted post London that I didn't want to run another until Spring '27, but the slight disappointment on not going sub-3 hasn't shifted and I'd love to give it a go without the hullabaloo that comes with London. I also miss the structure that marathon training brings, oddly. After a few years of entering races like they were going out of fashion I'm trying to do no more than 6 or 7 across the year and actually stick to decent blocks for each race/enjoy running for what it is without race pressure.

3:14 for me - incredible day, but I do wish April would stop throwing up these unseasonably hot days! I never thought I'd look forward to the couple of underpass sections so much. Beaten by Aaron Ramsey too, so I suspect my days are numbered.

I've been training for sub 3 - but I am the sweatiest man on earth when it's remotely sunny, the anti-Andrew if you will (in many ways). I think I'll settle for finishing in one piece if this weather persists. Also undecided what to do on the Saturday - ideally I'll be in a dark room, eating carbs and not moving. But fear my wife and friend aren't going to be too keen with me dragging them to London for the weekend to sit and stare at a wall.

In full maranoia mode now with a few days to go before the big day. I'm even anxious about the expo for no apparent reason. In other news, a chap from my club came 6th at Manchester yesterday and was "disappointed" with his time. Sickening.

In two minds as to whether to go and add to what I hope will be a torrent of abuse for the regime and current crop of wasters, but overall support for the club that none of us want to die, or to sack it off because it's a 90 minute/2 hour round trip that will make me utterly miserable.

Not particularly relevant to anything - but I have just spotted that he's down as running the London Marathon next weekend. Busy bee!

Given that we've achieved all that we can ever essentially achieve for any club outside the "'big 6" I just want a club that I can take some pride in, and enjoy watching in the most part. The past couple of years have drained my love of football to empty and I just want to feel something that isn't complete and utter apathy when I go to watch us/have any interaction with the club. I remember listening to a podcast with Charlie Baker, who is a big Torquay fan, and he said that he doesn't get any less enjoyment from seeing them win in the 7th tier or whatever level they're at now than he did in the 3rd/4th tier and I imagine there's truth in that. I don't want us to be in League 1, it's embarrassing for a club and city of our size, but if that's what it takes to find even the remotest sense of joy again watching the club then I will reluctantly take it. But we all know what needs to happen for that to be the case. The dream, of course, is to support a successful club that is also at one with the community - but at the minute we have neither. The latter is the starting point, for me. The former may follow.

I'm only staying over on the Saturday night - but have now decided to drive there and back on Friday to collect my number. Plus it means I can avoid the Millwall game, so it's win/win! Weirdly excited for the expo - can't wait to point at my name on the wall like a dork.

I was just about to say similar... Blackburn could quite easily lose on Friday to a Cov side who are looking to get the title sewn up/promotion party (eurgh!). Their penultimate game is then away at Sheff Utd, where they're more than capable of losing too. In this dream world - were we to get 4 points or more from our next three games, then it would put us within 3 points of them whilst facing them on the final day. It's not inconceivable that Oxford get no more than a point from Derby (A) and Wrexham (H) too - so even a fairly meagre 4 points from the next three, with results going our way, leaves us with one game shootout against Blackburn to stay up. I wouldn't be surprised if Cov pulled off a 2014 Brighton at home performance on Friday night to see Blackburn safe - or if Oxford beat Derby and or Wrexham, such is life. But objectively it's still somewhat open. Of course it's all absolutely immaterial because we're beyond pathetic and even on the rare occasion over the past few weeks that results have gone our way we've returned the favour almost immediately by serving up utter crap - but who doesn't love a hypothetical? EDIT - forgot about Oxford playing Sheff Wed also. So, yeah, we'd also need them to lose at Millwall on the final day in the above scenario - or a West Brom points deduction etc.

Due to the number of teams down the bottom, it's not inconceivable that 7 points from 4 games sees us stay up. Given that it would require two of the following: Oxford to pick up no more than 4 points, Pompey to pick up no more than 3, West Brom no more than 2, or Blackburn to lose their final four. 9 points would probably be enough - particularly if we beat Pompey and Blackburn as two of the three wins. However, as has already been covered and will be covered again - we are completely shot in every sense. There's no belief, no talent, no structure, no discipline or desire. As an aside, there could be a really interesting finish to the season across various divisions. From the title race and relegation battle in the Premier League, to the automatic and relegation battle in the Champ, right through to the National League promotion race, and yet I can't bring myself to enjoy any of it because this club has killed any enjoyment of football as it stands.