baRUNNER News Digest

New members and non-members of all fitness levels and abilities are welcome at all of these events. The full diary of club featured events is on the club website at: http://www.barunner.org.uk/Event Diary.shtml.

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On Sat 9th and Sun 10th August, bicycles take over the streets of London for the Ride London weekend.

BAAC will be operating pedestrian crossings on both days close to Westminster station. If you haven't already committed yourself, and you are available on either day, please could you contact me on stevehillier@msn.com.

On Wednesday 20th August we'll be doing a relay in Cranford Park, forming even looking teams on the day, and then going back to the Concorde Centre for a BBQ on the patio. We are keen for as many fellow runners to join us as possible so please make an extra effort. The BBQ will be complimentary for Club Members (full and associates). A small fee may be charged for non-members and entry to the Concorde Centre will be required so Associates and other non-members will need to pay the door fee. We need to order the number of meals in advance so please let us know - if you are a regular then please let us know whether you are or aren't going to attend and if you are not a regular please let us know that you are considering attending.

Everyone was given a target time for the five mile circuit based on their performance in the winter handicap series. But to add a random element each participant rolled a die and tossed a coin. The number on the die times ten was either added (heads) or subtracted (tails) from their target time. But they then had a choice, "double or quits", to toss the coin again and either nullify the addition/subtraction or to double it. We were then started exactly according to our modified starting time and the race was to be the first over the finish line.

Daniela is helping me coordinate who is coming and what info or help do you need and has sent out a mailshot earlier today requesting information. Please respond to Daniela Mayerova <daniela.mayerova@ba.com> with your news. Some people have had difficulty getting through to the registration website - partly due to BA's firewall and partly due to problems with the Aer Lingus site. The following link should work for everyone even if from within the BA network…

02Aug14	parkrunner	time	parkrun	comment	grade
Marion	Woodhouse	33:04	Bedfont Lakes		59%
Joe	Nolan	23:51	Black Park		73%
John	Coffey	23:49	Bushy Park		59%
Ian	Cunningham	21:28	Bushy Park		72%
Monica	Alonso	27:07	Guildford	run #39	70%
Alan	Anderson	28:17	Gunnersbury	best time this year	63%
Kerstin	Luksch	24:10	Gunnersbury	pb	61%
Tony	Hird	24:05	Gunpowder	best time this year	61%
Bill	Byrne	21:11	Richmond Pk		62%
Steve	Newell	30:57	Roundshaw D	park #41	57%
Roderick	Hoffman	24:53	Rushmoor	park #81	67%
Janet	Smith	35:12	Tollcross (Glasgow)	yet another new BA park ! 120?	76%
Alan	Friar	27:40	Woodley	best time this year	47%
Tony	Barnwell	30:42	Wycombe Rye	11th run at Wycombe Rye	51%

BA runners continued to roam far and wide this week with Janet Smith joining top 10 Commonwealth Games marathon finisher Steve Way (England) on the start line at Tollcross in Glasgow - this is perhaps the club's 120th different parkrun but it is proving difficult to keep tabs. Janet reports that she was pleased not to be lapped by Steve (it was a two lap course). Steve Newell made his first ever visit to Roundshaw Downs (Croydon Airport) and Roderick Hoffman chalked up his 81st different park at Rushmoor (near Aldershot).

There was reward for those sticking to their favourite home courses. Alan Friar ran his best time in 2014 at Woodley, Kertin Luksch (pb) and Alan Anderson, both recorded best times of 2014 at Gunnersbury, and Tony Hird also logged his best time of the year at Gunpowder Park.

Tom Rowley's Woking parkrun starts on 16th August (9 a.m.) It is described as three flat laps with a bit of downhill and a very slight incline (up). Free parking for up to four hours so no pressure! See you there ?

What watch do you use to record your running times? I've still got and use my Timex Ironman Triathlon watch with its 100 lap time capability, 2 time zones, 5 alarms but it is no longer waterproof. I'll leave it to someone else to reminisce on why so many of us older runners have a loyalty to Timex.

However I've had a Garmin Forerunner 310 for four or five years now and have used it for all my training times. It was my birthday last week and I treated myself to an upgrade - to the Garmin 620. The Garmin watches have GPS so when you get home you can see a plot of your run on the Garmin Connect website. So how does the 620 compare with the 310? It is a much better watch to wear. It looks better and it is half the bulk and weight and, in a big improvement, you can use it as a watch! In timepiece mode the battery will last six weeks between charges. If it had a single alarm I would be tempted to put my Timex aside. After your run you can also transmit data to an associated WiFi network simply by pressing a transmit button - those with the 310 know how hit and miss the 310 can be! The 620 also seems to pick up the satellites much quicker BUT both watches can lose the satellites and give you misleading results near trees or buildings. The 620 is not a full replacement for the 310. As an example the 310 has a bigger display and this can show the map of your run (walk/cycle/ski etc.). This can be very useful if you are free ranging - for instance it really helped me find a ski restaurant last winter during a white-out. So a discounted 310 could still be a good purchase. I'm still getting used to my 620, and it to me, after today's track session it told me it would take me 16 hours to recover. I was out of breath but I didn't think I was quite that bad!

[My Concorde Centre to Osterley Park run last week recorded on my Garmin 620 and mapped out on Google Earth]

Last week I ran my 88th marathon - the Kamloops Marathon in British Columbia, Canada. I'd never heard of the place until a couple of weeks ago when I Googled to see if there was a marathon on which I could fit into our touring holiday between Calgary and Vancouver/Victoria. Kamloops came up and was ideal as it was very close to our planned route and about half-way to Vancouver.

The weather there had seen highs in the low 30's most days so I was glad that we had a 6am start. Things went fairly well and despite a slight groin strain which I've had for the last 4 or 5 months I managed another sub-3:30 finish 3:28:12 and came 14th overall and ended up on a podium to collect the 1st prize (a second medal) for the MV 55-59 age group.

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