Fetcheveryone Member of the Month

Interview with GlennR

Dr PhFleecyD asks: Latte or cappuccino?

GlennR says: A cappuccino is perfectly acceptable providing a) it is no later than 10:30 in the morning and b) the milk proportion, steamed milk and foam combined, does not exceed the quantity of espresso. In practice this means you have to buy it in Italy.

Latte is milk and that's what anybody who asks for it should be given.

Diogenes asks: You are asked to join a triathlon relay team. Do you choose to swim (open water), cycle, or run?

Also, what is your favourite thing about Croydon?

GlennR says: For the sake of the team I'd have to give the swim a miss, unless it was a choice between me and Gobi. I would be happy with either cycle or run.

I have to confess to having a soft spot for Croydon. I lived there for a while in the 1980s and it's where I started my accountancy training. Surprisingly, there's a huge amount of green space in the borough, of which Croham Hurst is my favourite part.

Nicholls595 asks: In your opinion, what would make the ideal "baton" for a Christmas themed 4 x 100m relay?

GlennR says: Even you might find it hard to break a frozen turkey. Personally I would go for a slab of Christmas cake, but I can't promise that I wouldn't eat it.

fraggle asks: Would you share your music with the world of Fetch ?

GlennR says: If you wanted to hear something tolerable I'd have to make some recordings for you all. Somewhere on Facebook there's a video of me singing The Cold Room with MNOP STUV XYZA, once described as "a more depressing Joy Division". I was responsible for the 'melody'.

Valyrian Plastic asks: If you had the time/energy to take up another athletic discipline, which one would you pick?

GlennR says: VP, what I would due if I had the time was go back to something I've done before, which is scuba diving. Madame and I both got our open water qualification in 2010, but we haven't done anything since my accident in 2013. Ideally I'd find a way of living on a warm island and dive as much as possible.

RichHL asks: Finally! How has becoming Member of the Month changed your life? (You may use a spreadsheet for statistical illustrative purposes.)

GlennR says: I am now bathing in the warm glow of embarrassment, not a sensation that I'm familiar with. What I do (or don't do) for a living usually means I'm utterly shameless.

Doctor K asks: Well done! Which runner most inspires or inspired you?

GlennR says: Doc, I started running with some degree of seriousness in the mid-1970s. Inevitably my inspiration at the time was David Bedford. I've never had the moustache, although I did used to have red socks.

pedroscalls asks: Congratulations on a well deserved MoTM win. My question is if money and time were no object what route or race would you want to do?

GlennR says: Thanks Pedroscalls. I fancy a go at the Tromsø marathon if I'm ever fit enough.

At the level of pure fantasy I'd also like to do the Kona Ironman in Hawaii, but the main problem with that is not money or time, but a complete absence of ability.

ChrisHB asks: Given your profound loathing of Mr Putin, please share your views on Mr Trump.

GlennR says: I'm already too scared to visit Russia any more because of what might happen to me there. I'm not going to get myself banned from the US as well.

Drell asks: Congratulations! Run or walk, and if so, why?

GlennR says: Thanks Drell. Although run-walk is my main training method I'm not really keen on walking far for its own sake, although the hills can be pleasant. Give me a run any day!

richmac asks: Now you have joined the hall of dubious fame, what goals for the future? Age Group qualification? Also cold soup? really ?

GlennR says: My current goal for the future - pretty short term - is to complete Vitruvian and not die in the attempt. I have more chance of winning the lottery than of getting age group qualification, despite the fact that I don't buy lottery tickets. In the longer term I would like to become solidly mediocre at Olympic distance triathlons, which itself means that I will have to improve my swimming.

Presumably the cold soup is a reference to Russian okroshka? It really is very good. Other cold soups you might like to try are vichyssoise and gazpacho. If that's too exotic you could always go for Heinz Cream of Tomato straight out of the tin.

.B. asks: Congratulations on motm. Russia has featured in some of your blogs, what three recommendations would you make for someone to try/see if they visit? (Can any food recommendation be non-meat, thanks). On the running theme: after trying Galloway and Maffetone, which is best?

GlennR says: One slight problem with Russia is that it is rather big. If we're talking about Moscow then the churches within the Kremlin walls are very impressive, but so are some of the smaller ones you can find by just walking the streets. There's a good one on Novy Arbat. A manageable train ride out of Moscow will take you to Sergiyev Posad and the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, the heart of the Russian Orthodox church and gobsmackingly spectacular. If you make the trip to St. Petersburg then a river trip is a good option. However, I'd recommend getting out in the sticks - you don't have to go far out of the big cities - and taking a look at the way ordinary Russians live. Quite an eye opener.

Food wise, pirozhki filled with cabbage might be a good option for you, usually very tasty if bought fresh from a Babushka on a street stall. Rather like the Germans, Russians have a habit of adding something meaty into salads and soups that don't really need it, so be careful.

You don't have to choose between Galloway and Maffetone. If you work out your Galloway pace and run-walk ratio you'll probably find that you're within some minor tweaks of the Maffetone heart rate. That's the way it's been for Madame and I anyway.

crjeanes asks: pb listings

GlennR says: I think they're all there on my user profile.

Wriggling Snake asks: As a non triathlon person who runs quite a bit cycles well but infrequently and swims like an iron dumbell, what advice would you give me if I were to want to dip into triathlons next summer?

GlennR says: Pick an event as a target. The Dorney events at Eton are really friendly, and if you go for the super sprint you only have to swim for 400m. In the meantime try to cycle more, take some swimming lessons and put them into practice at the pool two or three times per week.

Alternatively you could come to your senses and take up basket weaving.

Nightjar asks: Mo Farah - will he win THE marathon?

GlennR says: Not really my specialised subject, but my guess is no. I'm not (yet) convinced that his head works right for the distance.

Carpathius asks: Good, you won Now, what on earth do you put into Google which results in your contributions to the Meaningless Product Descriptions thread?

GlennR says: Carpathius, a lot of my odder contributions to that thread originate from Skeptoid skeptoid.com and I tend to pick those up from Twitter. I must make it clear that I am not actively googling for this stuff - that would be weird.

Serendippily asks: Who was the first fetchie you met irl. What do you love more - abbreviations or history?

GlennR says: This is an easy one: Charlie Chaplin and I went the same school from the age of eleven. Back in those days there was no Fetch, no internet and, quite a lot of the time, no electricity.

There is also quite a long list of Fetchies that I first met back in the RW days: Veolocirpator, Evil Pixie, Plodding Hippo, Fraggle and Running Duck are the ones that spring to mind and I may have, unfortunately, forgotten others.

I like history and am not a particularly big fan of abbreviations. Like many of the ills of this world they are mostly the fault of Greppers.

Night-owl asks: Congratulations, about time. You are part of a fetchies team event for the Decathlon which event do you pick to do?

GlennR says: Thanks Night-Owl. The only decathlon event that I could even consider entering is the 1500m. I have never been very good at throwing or jumping over things.

runnyeyes asks: Congratulations on MOTM

You put a lot of thought into your sport.. have you ever looked at Pose or Chi or similar? Any thoughts on efficienct running/style?

GlennR says: Thank you runneyeyes. I did study Chi running properly some years back and it's still the main guidance point for what I do today. I've never been evangelical about the different methods, the main things are to stay in alignment, generate movement from the core and not to overstride. If I had a piece of advice it would be to listen: if the footfall is heavy then something is wrong.

McGoohan asks: Opera. Ballet. Free-form Jazz. Which is best and why?

GlennR says: I don't mind a bit of opera in moderation. TBH I don't usually get ballet, but I'm happy to concede that the problem is with me, usually. IMO the ancient Greeks had it nailed when it came to combining music, dance and drama though. Jazz is something that I know about, up to a point, and I tend to prefer material that is more arranged than free jazz, Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus for example.

There's a quote from Roy Eldridge on Ornette Coleman: "I listened to him all kinds of ways. I listened to him high, I listened to him stone cold sober. I even played with him. I think he’s jiving, baby.”