Monthly Archives: February 2014

Carcassonne: A four-sided game review

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Carcassonne is a true modern board game classic, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and released in 2000. The game plays two to five players in about an hour, regardless of player count, while you should be able to find a copy for around £20.

The game comes with 72 tiles, five meeples per player (this was the first game to use the blend of ‘my’ and ‘people’ - meeple - to describe these person-shaped wooden playing pieces), rules and a score track. That’s it - nice and simple, laying the groundwork for its well deserved ‘gateway game’ credentials.

During the game you’ll take it in turns to place tiles on the table to slowly create a map, so you’ll need a decent sized family dining table to play. Sometimes you’ll also place your meeples on the tiles in the hope of completing cities and roads, surrounding monasteries with land or claiming fields - all of which will score you victory points.

While the mediaeval theme is pretty bog standard the colourful tiles are very nicely drawn, while also being pleasingly thick and durable. The four-page rulebook is well written and illustrated (with good examples), meaning you should be up and playing in no time.

Teaching

Set up is wonderfully simple; place the starting tile face-up in the middle of the table, stack the rest of the tiles face down in piles around the edge of the table, and away you go (note: some editions of the game come with a free expansion, The River, which slightly changes the start - but not much).

Gameplay is equally straightforward; players take a face-down tile from the top of a pile, flip it over, then play it to a legal position on the board. A tile simply needs to attach to at least one other orthogonally - with any sides it attaches to needing to share the same attribute (so town to town, road to road etc).

Once you’ve placed a tile, you decide if you want to place a meeple on it. Again, this is simple - if you have a meeple, you may place it on any element of the tile you just placed as long as someone else isn’t already present on that element on an already placed tile (so if you add to a road you can only place your meeple on the road part of the tile if someone else isn’t further down the same road).

This doesn’t mean two people can’t be on the same element; it just means you have to be cunning. If a particular city or field is looking lucrative you’ll need to place a tile near to it, place your meeple on it, then place other tiles to join the high scoring element to yours later - although you can be sure whoever is currently there will try to stop it happening.

Conversely, placing your tile may complete rather than continue a particular element; a road will end at a crossroads or city gate, while a final piece of wall may finish a city. In this situation, any meeples on the completed element will be returned to their owners and the element is scored.

The trick is to always have a meeple in reserve in case of that big scoring opportunity, so you’ll need to recycle your meeples on and off of the board as much as possible - but you can’t take them back when you feel like it, only when they score. This is where the real game lies: both in recycling your own meeples and stranding those of others in impossible to score places.

The four sides

These are me, plus three fictitious amalgams drawn from observing my friends, and their respective quirks and play styles.

  • The writer: I find this totally charming each time I play, as it perfectly balances ease of entry with a little strategic depth. It also boasts short yet meaningful turns, plus the chance for player interaction - all the tropes of a successful gateway game. I personally prefer Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, which is practically the same game but with a couple of bells and whistles. But more importantly it’s not expandable, which helps me resist temptation!
  • The thinker: Carcassonne is a little on the light side for me, but it does still hold some appeal for an occasional play. I definitely approve of the slight variant in which players take their next tile immediately after laying their current one, giving them a whole turn to assess where it will work best. But especially with a higher player count there is far too much chaos to really push my gaming buttons.
  • The trasher: Don’t let the cartoony art and simple mechanism fool you - played properly, this is a nasty area majority style game, which can even feel a bit like a war game. To a good aggressive player, turtling (heavily defensive) players are like lambs to the slaughter; let them build their little empire, then get in on all the good bits with clever play. Despite this, its never a game I ask for - but am still happy to play once in a while.
  • The dabbler: There’s something magical about slowly building up this beautiful visual empire from that one starting tile that makes Carcassonne a joy to play. For me this definitely falls into the ‘experience’ category of board games, where its just nice to sit and chat and watch it evolve - I really don’t mind too much about winning. This can annoy thrashers, who want to feel they’ve vanquished you - not giving them the satisfaction is a win in itself!

Key observations

It’s fair to say that as you add more players to a game of Carcassonne the chaos level ramps up exponentially. If you’re largely playing for fun this isn’t a problem, but if you’re wanting a strategic game experience it goes out of the window beyond perhaps three.

There’s an interesting comparison here to the other gateway behemoths, Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan. Both arguably play better at three to five players, which may be why some people step away from Carcassonne earlier than the other two. This was certainly my experience, but I do still enjoy an occasional game and it certainly doesn’t preclude it from being a gateway classic all the same - especially at its low price point.

Playing ‘pick one, play one’ also leads to some unavoidable rotten luck situations. While this is fair comment, it is easily remedied by using one of the many suggested variants; for example, players have two or three tiles at all times, playing one each turn. While potentially slowing things down a little, this can also add depth for strategic players.

Conclusion

Carcassonne was one of my first buys and it enthralled me for months. It was a large part of drawing me back to the hobby, so for that alone it was worth its weight in gold. But if you’re already past the gateway stage, and don’t see yourself trying to encourage others into the hobby, the days of this being a ‘must have’ may be behind you.

I got Ticket to Ride around the same time, but the latter has seen more than twice the table time in the five years since. I also rate TtR slightly higher, an 8 to a 7.5, largely because I feel it scales better. If I could only have one of the two games on my shelf, I’d choose the trains over the meeples.

But this is in no way a negative review. I’ve still notched around 50 plays, which offers fantastic value for a £20 game - and I’m still always up for it if it gets suggested. Add to this the huge number of small expansions available and you have a game with a lot going for it.

If you are getting back into board games, I’d still put Carcassonne in the top 10 list of ‘must try’ games (now there’s an idea for a blog post…) - its also still just about hanging in the BGG Top 100 list (February 2014) after well over a decade on the market and deserves the massive amount of respect it receives. A true classic.

Anarchy Online: Looking back on a walk on the Wine side, 2001

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NOTE: I wrote this back in 2001, when I was at the height of my obsession with the MMORPG Anarchy Online. I found it in an old docs folder, having posted it before on a long dead website. I feel it really captures what was so magical about MMOs back then - there was very little hand-holding and you really felt there might be something unexplored somewhere out there in the world. Hopefully a few older gamers will get a kick out of it…

In days long since past, a young Algenon (lvl39 at the time) and a slightly older Jayhawk were just chattin’ when I mentioned the rumours about a place called Wine.

It was meant to be way south of Tir, but no one I’d ever spoken to had been there. As we both had a bit of time to kill, we decided a little expedition was in order.

While neither of us had Yalms my reet and speed buffs made us confident we could avoid the hardier foes, so we set off on a trip of a lifetime.

After a fairly uneventful wander south from Newland and a scary stroll around Stret we followed a large river east into uncharted territory.

After a very lucky escape for me and seeing some truly odd beasties (see above) we started to follow the river south toward where wine was rumoured to be (far east on the map).

Here things were far less hostile, but strange and very, very big – I didn’t see anything but reds all trip. Also, we entered some zone names that were truly worrying. After many hours travel, I was beginning to lose hope, but then we saw buildings up ahead…

It was a tranquil place with a beautiful waterfall, a bar, shops and save/mission terminals, plus some very scary looking guns – and it was clan! Maybe it wasn’t the place; how were we to know?

But for us, for that moment, it was Wine. A mayhem area in the wilderness with some of the biggest clan guards you’re ever likely to come across. There were no other players in sight. In fact, we didn’t see a soul the whole trip.

Content, we headed south. Walking back would take forever, so we decided to go out Bonnie and Clyde style after a little more snooping around. On our travels south we found a place we think was called Twin Falls, a cool tree house and some even more bizarre and scary bad guys.

As we neared Omni country, it was either let ourselves be taken down by the enemy or try our hand at cutting back the local wildlife. There was something near us, but we couldn’t see it – even when it was within attack range. Jayhawk built a pet and sent it off to hunt; when it found its prey, my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

If you’ve never seen a Desert Eremite, you want to try to keep it that way - never have I been made to feel so feeble.

From nowhere it rose from the ground, dealing huge damage while our attacks bounced off of it. Our journey’s end was how we had expected it – brutal, and quick.

So in all, it was a highly successful trip. I would advise anyone to head out that way as there are some truly amazing sights to be seen. I will end by thanking Jayhawk, who was such a good companion on this adventure. May we team up again, and soon.

CLOSING NOTE: ‘Jayhawk’ was in fact a guy from Sweden called Janne. We stayed friends in game and in 2002 I went to Goteborg to meet him. More than 10 years later we are still firm friends, seeing each other (on average) about once a year. I didn’t make it over last year; hopefully this reminder will make sure I do this.

Couch to 5K podcast: weeks five and six

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It’s probably fair to say that I’m at least as surprised as anyone - but here I am, two thirds of the way through the nine-week ‘Couch to 5K’ NHS podcast plan. This is my third post about this adventure; there are easy links to the first two parts at the bottom of this post.

In terms of gear, preparation etc, nothing has changed since my last post. One plus note is I’m not getting as much pain in my shins, although I’m not sure why. it could be taking more two-day breaks between runs, trying to change to the mid-foot strike, or my shins just manning-up as they get used to running - or a combination of all three! Whatever it is, it has certainly given me more confidence.

One thing I did do at week five was change my route. I’m still covering about the same distance each session (about 4K), and doing roughly a figure of eight street course, but I changed the direction of most of it. This made a real difference; it’s amazing how something as simple as running on the other side of the road, or reversing hill sections, can refresh your run in a very simple way.

Week 5: You expect me to do WHAT?

In week five you see a break from the ‘three identical runs per week’ routine of the first four weeks. There are three different runs to download instead, which is a bit of a pain in the arse, but once you see them you understand why: things are ramping up, big time.

The first two podcasts are relatively straightforward and I did them confidently without any problems. The first is three five-minute runs, the second two eight-minute runs - similar progressions to the previous week and about what I expected.

But the final run of week five is the big one - a straight 20-minute jog with no walking breaks. So not only is it four minutes more in total than any run so far, but its more than double any single run up to this point - which seems like a really big step!

Thankfully this isn’t lost on podcast voice-over girl Laura. She reassuringly recalls how worried she was when she first did this, but that if you’ve done all the runs up until now then your physical side should be up to it; it’s more a psychological test. Hearing this certainly made me feel better and away I tentatively went…

…To success! It was certainly a thrill to make it the full 20 minutes, even if the last few were pretty damn slow. And when I slowed down to a walk at the end, boy did my calves ache. For a minute I thought I was going to cramp up, but I kept walking and it calmed down. I’d done it! Twenty bloody minutes! And five weeks without injury, or even a stitch - another big surprise. And unbelievably still no rain, despite the whole area being flooded.

The close of week five’s last podcast was also the first mention of failure. this is clearly a place where some may stumble, as you’re encouraged to repeat the entire week if you couldn’t quite make the whole 20 minutes. As I had made it, this of course added to that sense of achievement; I’d succeeded where others may have failed - or maybe they just put that in deliberately to make you feel better!

Week 6: The light at the end of the tunnel

I gave myself three days off before week six, then headed out for the first of the week’s three runs. Week six is essentially week five but with slightly longer runs; the first being a five, an eight, and another five-minute runs.

I went into this a little overconfidently, having achieved so much the week before, and went out on the first five minutes a little quicker than usual. This proved a big mistake, as despite the rest the 20-minute run was definitely still in my legs. I really needed the recover time at the end of it and took the middle eight-minute run much easier. This made the five-minute run at the end to be much simpler, which helped restore my confidence a little.

Learning my lesson I eased into the first 10-minute run of the second week podcast. Despite doing a long uphill stretch I finished confidently and after a three-minute walking break did the second 10 minutes running with very little effort. It felt great to be able to do this, but the joy was tempered by a closing comment from Laura: from now until the end of the nine-week Couch to 5K podcasts, there would be no more mid-run walking breaks!

Oddly, in this last break, she also mentioned drinking water mid-run for the first time. I’d had some dry mouth moments already and have seen some people running with water, but simply hadn’t considered it. It just seems like something else to carry, which can’t be a good thing - and surely I’m not really going far enough to actually need a drink? I shall have to look into it.

The final run of the week was 25 minutes straight - another milestone. But with the 20 under my belt, I was now more confident I could do it. It went without a hitch and I felt I had a bit left at the end, which hopefully bodes well for week seven; three more runs of the same. At the end of this run our Laura announces that, in her opinion, you’re now a ‘runner’. Go me! But still no wet runs - my luck is holding.

I mapped the 25-minute run section as 3.57km, or 2,21 miles. This was a little disappointing, as it means I’m still quite a way from running 5k; a 30-minute run would be just over 4k at my current pace, while running 5k would take me 35 minutes (maths, ladies and gentlemen - and with no safety net) . Hopefully the next couple of weeks will see me work on my speed a little.

Quick links

  • Weeks 1&2 - including links to map and shoe sites
  • Weeks 3&4 - including links to technique sites
  • Couch to 5K - the NHS page with the podcast links

Five reasons board games are better than computer games

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This is in no way serious. Well, maybe a little bit. But for full disclosure I’m a computer gamer too, although not as much as I used to be. Although this may or may not be because modern computer games have left me behind at some evolutionary step involving using more than one button at once…

1. They’re sociable

You need other people actually in the room to play board games. So you’re not going to get ganked by a 12-year-old, unless you invite them round (then more fool you).

If you’re properly competitive, there’s nothing better than winning in person, mano-a-mano - looking on the face of your victims with contempt.

And if you’re not competitive, there’s nothing better than competing while socialising - and laughing about the intensity of the overly competitive guy on the way home. Also, adult beverages tend to be more socially accepted when consumed in company, instead of on your own in a darkened room…

2. They’re inclusive

E3: Men men men men manly men…

As well as being socially acceptable (if not as popular here in the UK right now), board games also offer something close to a level playing field. You can always find a game where people should be able to compete.

And hey - girls like them! When attending the world’s biggest board game show, Essen Spiel in Germany, you’re immediately struck by the diversity: couples, kids, families; a mass of diverse folk, young and old. If you go to E3, the biggest computer games show, you’re immediately struck by the smell of bloke…

3. They work after the zombie apocalypse

There’s no electricity involved! No plugs, no batteries, no charging. So that box price you see? That’s it - that’s all your paying.

Well unless you want to buy board game expansions, or CCGs, but that’s a whole other story…

You can play them non-stop on the train; in power cuts; you can take them camping; head to the garden in the sun and not worry about not being able to see the screen, or fling the windows open in summer and still play. And they’re not going to crash either!

4. They’re compatible

It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a BlackBerry, or an old Nokia, or even a calculator - all you need to join in on a board game is to show up.

If everyone is talking about a brilliant new board or card game, you can simply go and buy it - or borrow someone else’s copy.

You don’t have to buy an ugly plastic box first, then try and work out how to make it be friends with your TV. And then have to buy a new ugly plastic box two years later to play the next lot of new games…

5. There’s something for everyone

From minutes to hours; competitive or co-op; free to expensive; themed or abstract; nerdy or no; silly or serious; quiet or LOUD; even solo. Board and computer games have it all covered - but with board games, only one person needs to buy them - and people are much more willing to give things a go.

Dominion: A four-sided game review

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Dominion is a two to four-player card game that plays in under an hour. In the mediaevally themed box you’ll simply find 500 (yes, 500) cards and a plastic insert that helps you keep all the different (about 40) types separate.

Hey, come back! It’s not as scary as it sounds. You wont use all the cards each game and set up, while fiddly at first, is straightforward. The cards are good quality and while the art is far from spectacular, the card layout and graphic design is. You can buy the base set for less than £30 and while the game has spawned many expansions, none are necessary.

Released in 2008, Dominion was the first ‘deck builder’ - and the fact many games have since borrowed this mechanism pays testament to its importance.

But more importantly, no other deck building game has yet aped Dominion’s considerable success.

What designer Donald X Vaccarino did was borrow the key concept from hugely popular collectible card games (CCGs) such as Magic and Pokemon; letting players construct their own deck from a range of different cards.

But while CCGs tend to reward the player who spends the most money on expensive ‘booster packs’, Dominion sees all the players constructing their decks from one shared and limited central source - and constructing this deck is the game, rather than being what you have to do before you even start playing.

Everyone starts with an identical personal deck of 10 cards; seven worth one money and three worth an end-game victory point (VP).

Players simply take it in turns to draw five cards from their deck and use them to buy better cards from those communally available; these are either more simple money or VP cards, or the more interesting ‘action’ cards.

Of course the thing you want is those VP cards - but during the game these have no value (only at the end), so they simply clog up your hand when you draw them and slow you down. So the key is first building a great ‘engine’ out of cards to turn over a lot of money; and then changing gear to take VP cards at just the right moment.

Teaching

The basics of Dominion really are basic, while the cards (particularly in the base set) are mostly very simple to understand.

Better still the game comes with two eight-page rule books; one explaining the rules, while the other walks you through the early turns and explains all the cards.

In addition the rules include some good examples of introductory card set choices. As mentioned above, the players will be buying cards from a communal pool in the centre of the table.

These will always include three types of cash and VP cards, alongside 10 action cards. There are 25 different ones in the base set, meaning plenty of replayability.

Most cards simply improve your options, but some are ‘attack’ cards which can play havoc with your opponents - doing anything from cursing them to stealing their cards. But you can introduce these at your own speed, or tailor the game to the type of players.

With the game’s simple mechanisms explained, its simply a case of letting players experiment with the cards. Turns are taken clockwise and as all cards are used each turn there’s no harm in playing each round pretty openly, which really helps the process of picking up how the cards work.

Better still, with simple games lasting just half an hour, you can very quickly get a few games in - while keeping the same set of cards out for a few games in a row really helps the set-up time between plays.

The four sides

These are me, plus three fictitious amalgams drawn from observing my friends, and their respective quirks and play styles.

  • The writer: When Dominion was released it brought something genuinely new to the party. And despite the game being a bit of a one-trick pony, that trick has proved good enough to see it stay in the Board Game Geek Top 20 for more than five years. While hardly oozing theme its elegance, variety and simplicity combine to make it a thinky yet family friendly game that plays quickly and cleanly. And with more than half a dozen large expansions available, there’s longevity in spades too.
  • The thinker: What makes the game intriguing is first spotting the best available combinations, and then that tipping point from action engine to VP machine. However, once seen there’s no guarantee the luck of the draw will see you to victory - while seeing the winning formula is more fun than playing the game out to its conclusion. I don’t mind Dominion, but there are more engaging implementations of deck building that have since been built into more complex games.
  • The trasher: Played as a ‘screw with your friends’ game, Dominion can be highly amusing - for a while. But the fact is that the action cards are a puzzle there’s no real need to solve; why not just buy money cards with your money cards and have done with it? Played in the right spirit (ie, nasty) and with the right people (ie, other thrashers) I’m always happy to have a round or two, but its not a favourite or a game I need in my collection any more.
  • The dabbler: I’m always happy to play this and it’s a definite keeper! It can be a really social game, as you can help each other out on your turns - or equally mess with each other for fun. If you’re playing with more players and letting people take their goes, it can just be a chatty game too because you don’t really need to think much between your own turns. It’s also quick, so doesn’t outstay its welcome if it isn’t going down as well as you’d hoped.

Key observations

The word that comes up most often in criticism of Dominion is ‘boring’ - either in theme, gameplay or both. While the mediaeval theme isn’t exactly spectacular, it is functional and the cards make sense. And at its heart the game is very much a mechanism; any other theme would’ve been equally pasted on.

As for the gameplay being boring it’s fair to say Dominion has gotten old for a lot of players, whether they liked it once or not. Its ranking is dropping of late and I won’t be surprised if this continues. There’s no getting around the fact that the game play is essentially repetitive and the combinations available are solvable.

After 50 games I didn’t like it as much as I once had - but 50+ plays of a £30 game is good value in my books. And as I haven’t played it to death, I can revisit it like an old friend from time to time. It is going to very much depend on your group, but for the most part this game has proved a hit.

Interestingly a Dominion clone called Thunderstone followed in 2009, borrowing its core mechanisms wholesale while adding an ill-conceived dungeon mechanic and an equally paste-on fantasy theme. It has taken a ton of work to make it play properly since (arguably its not much better than before), but for some these changes make all the difference. Horses for courses I guess.

Then there are sci-fi deck-builders, horror deck builders, comic deck builders… A ‘bad’ game doesn’t spawn this many copycats - especially not when they’ve all failed (so far) to take its crown. In the end, there’s always going to be a certain amount of overly vitriolic hate for something that has proven so popular.

Finally, an oft heard complaint is that its possible to pretty much break the game by ignoring the action cards and instead just buy money cards; upgrading them, repeating, then buying up the VP cards. You can argue, then, that the game is broken. But equally you can choose (as most people do) to ignore this fact and play the game as it was intended. If you can’t do this then no, the game is not for you.

Conclusion

Dominion is one of the longest standing and most played games in my collection. I rated it an 8 back in 2010 and despite it getting a lot less plays over the last few years I won’t be changing that mark. It earned it and deserves it still.

Where some see ‘boring’ theme and gameplay I see accessibility, which has seen it prove a hit with all the groups I’v played it with over the years - and that isn’t something you can say that often.

While it may not have the glossy shine it had on release more than five years ago, you still won’t find another ‘deck builder’ higher than Dominion in the ratings. So if you want to try this style of game, its hard to argue a case for one of the alternatives unless theme really is a deciding factor for you or your group.

For me its still the only pure game of its type on my shelf; but I can see a little piece of it in several of my current favourites including Concordia, Copycat and Rococo. And with that kind of legacy, I’d say it deserves at least a play or two of your time.

Couch to 5K podcast: weeks three and four

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This is a follow up to a post I did in January talking about my first few weeks, which largely talked about what the Couch to 5K podcast didn’t tell you. Having now completed weeks three and four (go me!), I felt it was time for an update.

I stand by my previous claim that the only thing you need to get going is a pair of ‘proper’ running shoes. However, since then I have spent a few quid on a running jacket and top. There wasn’t really an excuse for the top - it was crazy cheap in Sports Direct, a nice colour, and a ‘proper’ running T-shirt. There’s certainly something to the ritual of getting ready to go out, and however surface and ridiculous it may be having the top makes the whole thing feel a bit more real.

The jacket was more important, as I’d started running at night (in the dark) and had been in all black - so I didn’t exactly stand out. So I went from being the wheezing assassin to the glowing gasper in one easy move, thanks to a super light yellow high-vis jacket. I’m sure I look fabulous as I lurch past worried dog walkers.

Week 3: NOW they give me advice

I was more surprised than anyone when I completed weeks one and two without any real problems. Sure I’m going pretty slow, but my heart was causing me less problems than my shins (and my ego), while I was happy with my recovery time - there has been no stopping and wheezing or having a stitch.

I think a history of doing a lot of walking got me through those weeks, as the runs were so short, but week three did feel like a significant step up. The longer runs go up to three minutes - double those of week two - and I found the final one in each session pretty tough. Tough yes, but also doable.

What was a little galling was getting some running and breathing tips - oh you know, the kind of advice that probably would’ve been useful in week one! They were useful tips (make sure you’r landing on the heel of your foot***; try not to ‘bob’ too much; try and take deep breaths) - but why now?

Alongside the advice were some comforting words - things like, “You’re jogging, not running”; “Go at your own pace and don’t worry if you have to slow right down - just keep going”. This was gold, but it was just as needed in the first two weeks. Even now, doing eight-minute runs in week five, nothing has been harder than those first few runs in the opening two weeks. I’d loved to have heard this stuff then.

Fatigue also started to take its toll. Sadly my other half Zoe had to stop also attempting Couch to 5K as her knees gave out; she’s now doing strengthening exercises in the hope of coming back to it soon. I’d been a little worried about my shins but as they only really hurt a bit during the runs, not after, I just kept going. I did start to stretch my weeks out, so I could leave two rest days between most sessions to give my legs a break.

Week 4: No pain, no rain

This was an even bigger step up on paper, but proved surprisingly manageable. Each session includes 16 minutes of running and after re-plotting my route on Running Map I found I was doing 4K throughout the 35-minute sessions (more than half of which is still walking, of course).

Seeing as we’ve had the wettest January on record, I’ve also managed to run in the dry (with relatively low wind) every time so far - and that’s pure luck; I haven’t put any runs off because of the weather. I guess I’ve got all that to look forward to…

Again my heart was proving up to the task, but my shins didn’t seem to be strengthening as I’d hoped. To the internet! There are millions of runners out there - surely I can find some sage advice on what others with the same problem have learnt from their fellow ‘athletes’? Here’s what I found (abridged… from memory).

Random person’s question: “Hi! My shins hurt after I run. Any advice?

  • Pointless serial poster: Hi! Welcome to the forum. We’re all really friendly here! I’m sure someone can help you with your problem. It’s not something that has happened to me personally though blah blah blah
  • Boot camp asshole: Get back out there you pussy! Just run through it! You’ll never be like ME if you don’t dedicate yourself to the PAIN.
  • The detail fetishist: How far did you run? Was it in the mud? What altitude? Uphill? Were you sweating? Do you wear tight shorts? I like tight shorts. Mmmm.
  • THE answerer: Oh, that’s definitely hansdereptographic hipnotiac disorder. You’d better go straight to the hospital before you die.
  • The trolllololol: Haha no it isn’t you idiot you dont know anything bout runnig haha what an idiot lol.
  • Serial mom: On no! That’s really awful hun. HUGS. You should have a cookie. Can I make you some tea? Take a few weeks off. That’s so awful. I totally feel your pain.

I’m not sure why I thought running forums would be different from any other forums. So, ignoring them all, I just continued spreading my three weekly runs into eight or nine-day weeks, which seems to be doing the trick. It’s not as if I’m in a desperate rush to finish the podcasts; I’ve set myself an initial target of running 5K - if that takes three months or six months, I don’t care.

I’m now into week five and things are getting serious. My next run is meant to be for a solid 20 minutes. TWENTY MINUTES! All at once! I get a feeling I might be on week five for a while…

***NOTE: Running friends have pointed out that since the podcasts were made (back in 2011), the opinion on this has changed. It is now suggested - even on the NHS website - that to avoid injury you’re better off landing with a ‘midfoot strike’, not heel striking. It’s woeful that the NHS has admitted this, but still hasn’t updated its podcasts!