Joe (and he's off!) Nation

Heh.

Joe knows I kid. Actually, I personally have never been a runner, although I've participated in athletics my whole life. I hate jogging. When I played varsity soccer in college, in pre-season we would go on 5 mile runs to begin practices. I routinely came in towards the back of the pack. I would probably pace myself at around 8 minutes a mile.

Gee!Don't your feet start sending down shoots at that speed.

Just try and dribble by me, spendi, and you'll see how quickly I can move. :wink:

He might have been talking to Slojo, er, me.

Then again, maybe not.

I'm past my best Tico but in my hay-day I could bamboozle full backs with dazzling footwork and whilst they were still recovering their vertigo alignments I would be sticking it in the net out of reach of the goalie's despairing fingertips.And not one of them took 8 bloody minutes to run a mile.

Just to be clear: I took 8 minutes to run a mile because I chose to take 8 minutes to run a mile. The thing about soccer is while you do run a long distance during a game, this is not a game for long-distance runners. I'm rarely beaten in a 1-on-1 foot race during a game.

In my heyday -- and I'm not that far away from it -- I would goad strikers such as yourself into thinking they had me beat, then once they committed themselves, I'd slide through them with a devastating tackle, leaving them writhing on the ground holding a body part as I headed up the pitch with the ball.

In MY heyday, the entire team could cover the distance of a mile in just under five minutes, whilst carrying Miss Snodgrass who was the team mascot.

Our coach used to use the "synchronised attack" tactic (see below), which meant that the entire team would run around the pitch in closed formation, in order to intimidate opponents.

On the rare occasion that we had possession of the ball, we used to terrify them. Alas, when we DIDN'T have the ball, the opponents found that we had left large gaps on the field, and exploited the situation.

We usually lost 22-0, but our sweaty togetherness caused a male bonding which was the envy of the entire league.

Tico-

These self denigration experts eh?Do you think it's vanity?

You might have been going up the pitch at 8mph with a fat smirk all over your mush but you forgot the ref blowing for a free kick just outside the box and at the perfect angle for my round the wall unstoppable bender into the far corner of the net with the goalie stationary and dumbfounded.

Now don't get all sarkie on me, Spendy......people may think that you don't enjoy a giggle now and then.

You certainly do have a rich, fantasy life, spendi. But then again it does take a practiced eye to see my well-timed tackle was perfect, and not a foul. Often, referees simply aren't up to the task, to my chagrin.

LE: Well, perhaps the "sweaty togetherness" made it all worthwhile for you; but not a very useful tactic ... particularly considering it appears you fielded 18 men on your side, to no avail.

a big congratulations joe!!!
I envy the runners high you got from that . :-)

sharing training stories?
anytime.. ;-)

Tico says:- " particularly considering it appears you fielded 18 men on your side, to no avail......"

In actual fact Tico, that picture contains our team of eleven, plus two substitutes.

The other five (long sleeves) were members of the opposing team who just wanted to join in with the fun.

Tico-

You cant beat having the ref taking a shine to you.It brings out his protective instincts.I never,ever complained about a ref.If I went down it was a foul.End of story.

I should have known there were footballers about, I was a referee for about eight years in the First Division Men's/Women's League. Lord save me from players who only tackle perfectly.

Interesting take on the mothering instincts of refs, Spendius, and I suspect you are quite right.

===
For those of you sneering at the twelve minute miles, please remember that I am a lardass trying to regain my running prowess. In the dim past there were many sub-seven minute miles and a three or four 15k Tulsa Runs at or near an hour. I was never in a prime, but at my best I could trot to a game a couple of miles away from my home, slap on my cleats, out-run the lads for ninety minutes and then trot back home to go on a sixty mile bike ride. I have ridden 50,000 plus miles over the Oklahoma backroads and run a bunch of them just for the fun of it.

I've been running fifteen minute miles in practice to burn fat, seems to be working, I'm down from 240 to 210 in ten months. (slow and steady) So this run was the first where I let the string out. Here are my splits: 14:40,
13:10, 11:05, 10:15, 10:10 and I wasn't breathing hard at the finish.

I'm taking this revival a little at time. The 10K is the next goal (and it is a qualifying race for the NY Marathon) so we will see.

=
Um...running partners, Dag? Only if you wear your Panic headband.

Joe(has the appearance in mid-flight of an out of control SUV)Nation

Go Joe!

hmmmm... taps toe about football

Lord save me from refs who never played the game.

Sorry Tico, I can't save you at this moment in time, as I'm being closely followed by seventeen desire filled team mates.

Joe~
Any training plan for the 10K?
I haven't done one in a very long time.
When is yours?
~George (football (soccer) position: left outside practice cone)