Jack

Top work Keith, great effort. It's good to have that benchmark now for you to consider your pacing for future events.

That's all good then. A friend said that she'd not taken an iPod to a local 10k after seeing that they were not permitted, but said there were plenty of people using them. I'll go with that then, I won't be anywhere near the club runners so shouldn't be an issue.

Haha. That's not just a stick to hit them with because we think they're c*nts, they really do live in a sh*thole.

Thanks WC, will give that some thought. Although you say I had some in the tank, I was absolutely f*cked at mile 9, it took loads to keep going at that pace. When you know you've only got a couple of hundred metres to go you find that little bit more, there's no way I could've managed even another half mile of that though. Something I've noticed about these smaller events is that they all state no iPods/headphones, but I've heard that it's not always enforced? Does anyone know much about that from experience? I've always got my headphones in when out running, it's a good distraction and keeps me from boredom on those longer runs.

Top work Minty! I need to start looking for some smaller events over the winter to keep me focused. I've got the London marathon to look forward to and I'll do the Reading half on March 2nd, bit they're a long way off so need something to keep the focus. I hear the Stubbington 10k is a decent one, that's Jan 19th. I was thinking about the Gosport half but that's only 3 weeks away and I've never run a half. I imagine I'd be fine if I dropped to 9 min miles but still seems a bit soon. Anybody know of any good local 10m or half marathon events over the winter?

1:19:54 for me. The start and finish were hideous! Hailstorm between the warmup and start, the wind and rain on the last 2 miles was something else! My target was 1:20, had to really get my head down and sprint the last 3-400 to beat it, amazing feeling getting over the line though! Never been more exhausted at the end of a run. St John's ambulance were busy today.

I wasn't slating him, I think he's useful enough on his day. I just hope we get the skates away in the cup at some point, Guly comes on as a late sub, Guly scores, you know the rest...

How is do Prado doing? Famously scored a hat trick away at Palamos in pre season causing wild pitch invasions from the travelling support, and had about 3 touches of the ball in competitive games since. Cult hero

Great South Run will be fun on Sunday...

It's no surprise that plants like that lose money. I've worked in Fawley refinery and a couple of gas plants in Scotland and seen how little work actually gets done. The majority of the workers who've been in that game a long time have got so used to having it easy, the still want the world when it's not economically viable, but they'll never give that side of the argument a thought. The unions have still got a lot of power, although they dispute that. They're too militant. On a job I was on in Hull we were walking out almost every couple of weeks over 15 minutes a day for the time it took to get bussed from the car park onto the site. So narrow minded, and that's from someone who's supposed to be on that side of the argument.

Some good fixtures this weekend. Saturday: Crystal Palace v Arsenal 12:45 Aston Villa v Everton Liverpool v West Brom Man Utd v Stoke Norwich v Cardiff Southampton v Fulham 17:30 Sunday: Sunderland v Newcastle 13:30 Chelsea v Man City 16:00 Swansea v West Ham 16:00 Tottenham v Hull 16:00 Can see wins for Arsenal, United, Swansea and Spurs, plenty of games could go either way. I've gone for draws in the Villa and Norwich games, as well as Barnsley v Sheff Wed, Huddersfield v Leeds and Bolton v Ipswich. All the doubles, trebles, 4 folds and acca. Also done United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Reading, Derby, Forest, Posh - 5 folds, 6 folds & acca.

Oct 26: Fulham (h) D Nov 2: Stoke City (a) W Nov 9: Hull City (h) W Nov 23: Arsenal (a) L Nov 30: Chelsea (a) L Dec 3: Aston Villa (h) W Dec 7: Manchester City (h) D Dec 14: Newcastle United (a) W 14 points, holding our own in the race for top 6 with United, Everton, Spurs.

Seagulls. Gobby c*nts.

That's what I'd like to see. With JWP's set peice ability Lambert will surely have some chances. It's a bit championship but plenty of balls to the back stick if we're struggling to play through them, I don't really rate their back 4.

Getting Astori would be ace, but it's not as high a priority as other positions. I agree about upgrades on KD and Fox. A new wide man if we're pushing it. Would be funny to test Arsenal with a bid for Oxo. He really needs games.

Apologies for my mistake, and my realism.

It is funny. Don't like Holloway and don't particularly like Palace, despite always enjoying trips to Selhurst. They'll have a good race for the wooden spoon with Sunderland IMO

9th?

Nothing like Vegard Forren's situation then.

This. They had a shockingly weak squad that got them promoted. They'd have a much better chance of survival if they used the money wisely and got promoted again. Holloway clearly isn't the worst manager, just a clown who can't handle a bit of banter when it's thrown back at him.

They're going out less since Guly stopped offering to drive.

No thanks.

No. Just no.

Which got me thinking, who would you actually take from United for a best XI? -------------Boruc Clyne--Evans--Lovren--Shaw ----Wanyama--Schneiderlin Lallana-----------------Januzaj ------------Rooney -------------RVP

It we could just sign Vidic, Carrick, that Turkish/Bosnian/Serb/French/English bloke, Nani, Welbeck, Rooney & RVP?