Member of the Month - richmac

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fetcheveryone asks: I see you have Major Kong as your avatar - what's your favourite bit from Dr Strangelove?

richmac says: Well, its filled with so many fantastic moments its hard to pick one. I adore Sellers threefold performance from the ridiculous titular character to the sublime Lionel Mandrake, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here its the war room” always raises a smile and I think George C. Scott is excellent. The scene that is my Avatar is probably my favourite as I see it as a bit of a visual metaphor for life really. Major Kong is plunging toward his inevitable doom, as are we all, but instead of being miserable about it he chooses to make the most of his final ride. Not a bad philosophy I think.

Blunderwoman asks: Congratulations Rich - well deserved. I'd like to know if Fat Dog was actually ever fat.

richmac says: Thanks. When she first arrived unfortunately she was a bit portly. She came from a rescue kennel and her incarceration had not diminished her appetite. There was also the incident when she ate a whole Mars Bar cake and poisoned herself, but we don't mention that. Luckily she loves running with me and GM and chasing squirrels.

Don't you owe me a latte?

MazH asks: i have a question.... is Lord Fetch allowed to ask questions!?!??! ^^^^^

richmac says: My view is that its the good Lords site he can do what he wants.

oldbiddynandi asks: well done, what's your next goal ?

richmac says: Thank you Really since the whole stress fracture thing my over whelming goal is just to complete suitable rehab. Rubbish and unispiring answer I know but I'm purposely not setting any goals till I'm 100% Apart from the small matter of the tri - athlon!

Enthusiastic! asks: Huzzah! Congratulations What are your aims (big and little) for this year?

richmac says: Huzzah indeed, thanks, Well Like I said to Oldbiddy, to get the legs straight again, really in running terms. Then in 'other news' to get myself in a situation to make all the changes I need to make in other areas, such as a quite a big career change.

Yorkshire Lass asks: Congratulations! whats your favourite running event?

richmac says: Thanks! I’ve been so lucky with the events I’ve taken part in and the people I've done them with there are some strong contenders. I really enjoyed my early races the Jane Tomlinson 10 K’s in Leeds and the Great Yorkshire in Sheffield. The Stainland Lions Blue Bell trail race is a favourite of mine as is a local race to me the ‘Hepworth dyrad’, But I have to say that for more reasons than I have room for here my stand out event is the Thunder Run, for the atmosphere and the fact that it just about the best Fetchfest around.

snogard asks: Congratulations - No question, sorry

richmac says: Thank you and your excused

swittle asks: What are the components of an *entertaining* blog?

richmac says: If I ever write one I'll let you know! Srsly I'm not sure. I guess keep it light, have a couple of in jokes, have a catch phrase or two, don't take yourself seriously, don't be afraid to say what you mean, know when to make it BO and leave with a killer tune.

Sushi. asks: Congratulations - Flapjack question- Jammy or Bananaseed?

richmac says: Thanks sioUx. What can I say I don't think I've ever tasted better flap jack, I'd have to give 'em both 11/10 but by just the teensiest banana takes it. Was that the right answer?

Argie asks: Well done - what's your opinion on Southpark Fetchies?

richmac says: Thanks. That's a good question and I'm glad you asked it. From one Fetchie who is to gruesome to use their own picture as an avatar to another it's interesting to witness a trend of people de humanising themselves to resemble foul mouthed cartoon characters. But saying that Corona's rocked and I spent a bit to much time looking at Cloggy's.

GimmeMedals asks: Very many congratulations and well deserved What is your favourite type of owl?

richmac says: Thank you L and I believe that the answer you are looking for is 5 x 6 = 31 and 10 x 5 = 31. If not that then small ones of about - 2 inches, why is that table on fire?.

mikep asks: congratulations, how are your legs holding up?

richmac says: Thanks Mike. They have their good days and their bad days, hopefully by the time this is published it will be more good than bad :-/

Lalli asks: Congratulations! What got you running in the first place?

richmac says: Thanks. Its probably a story repeated many times with many people, but when I was younger I wasn't a bad runner and athlete but for *insert reasons here* it all went south in my late teens and through to my mid 30's when I realised that giving up smoking and being fit would be a good example to set for Ginger Monster and also might stop my belly wobbling so much. I was never going to go near a gym and at thet time I shied away from the pool/bike (see answer below) so 'jogging' it was. Then I became a runner......

Brighouse Boy asks: Well done mate, thoroughly deserved. What has replaced La Rouge Petit Voiture?

richmac says: Thanks boss! Well I could give a factual answer to that but I think the answer your looking for is a bit more complex ! Yes I now have a car that keeps the electric inthe battery, the water in the radiator, oil in the engine etc. But nothing can replace le Petite voiture rouge and if I won the lottery I would go and buy it back and do it up properly. What I am doing though is using the time I spent spannering that on all my other improbable projects such as the allotement and lefty the bike. I'm also wondering what to do with the cash I'm not giving the garage:-)

RichHL asks: Very pleased to see a Rich get MotM. How do you propose to ensure that Riches take over the world?

richmac says: Thanks Rich, quite frankly we've been under represented in MOTM for years and I'm glad I can finally redress the balance. I've given quite a lot of thought to your question and even done some research and I've discovered that (until now) Richards have been poorly represented. Let me explain Richard Nixon dead loss, ditto 'dick' Cheny, that Austrian guy and his 3rd Rich, Richard Whitely, Richard III was promising until he got turned into cockney Rhyming slang, which leaves us with Richard Burton (he's dead), Richard Attenborough, Cliff Richard and us. Now I'm willing to start a political movement but I can't get hold of Ritchie Rich to ask for funding so its all off I'm afraid.

Amanda68 asks: Yay well done you :-). So who is your running legend and if given the opportunity to run with them anywhere in the world where would you run?

richmac says: Thanks Afterhours! Wow that's a tough question. I think we all know I'm not wired like most people so while I admire the performances of professional athletes they don't really do it for me. I'm more interested in 'ordinary' people doing extra ordinary feats. For example Phil Packer who completed the London Marathon with no legs, Eddie Izzards marathons, Rosie Swale-Pope, Dean Kanazes and Ranaulph Fiennes to name a few I'd love to spend a few miles running somewhere weird with any of them. Of course I could just say look at my leg and its pheidippides who I could run from Marathon to Athens with. But, this may sound a bit contrived, I'm lucky, I already run with the people I admire the most some of whom are legendary in my eyes, you know the determined people flogging themselves round at park run and trying to make a positive change in their lives. As for location, I'm jealous as hell that I'm not doing the Wall with you guys but I really do intend on running some marathons in some fantastic cities all over the world and I hope we can can have hell of an after party!

Bru-Bru asks: Congratulations! What are your predictions for the rest of the 6n?

richmac says: Thank you, by the time this goes up it will be all over so I'll say no real surprises for the rest of the competition apart from a dramatic France - Ireland Draw but the French will loose a defining iconic match with England, narrow loss to Wales. Ireland to demolish the Scots but loose to Wales and England Heavily Wales to continue in glorious fashion with an incredible last game beating the French in fine style. Scotland and Italy to beat each other to an inch of death with Scotland disappointing. Robinson losing his job and Lancaster securing his and then becoming instantly crap. Bath to win the AP

claramac asks: What have you done with your 'pot'? Hope it went out the window like mine? well done matey!

richmac says: Thanks, nice use of Yarkshire vernacular there. Have to say it was so rancid when it came off I didn't really pay much attention to what happened to it! The smell was awful, even the nurse who cut it off was covering her mouth and she must be used to it! I think it went straight in the incinerator! But the earlier, removeable one that I had, I still have. My theory being that by keeping it 'just in case' will mean that I will never need it as I only hoard useless crap:-) My other plan for it is to turn it into a park run 'injury of the month' trophy.

northernslowcoach asks: Many congrats Rich - what is your favourite yorkshire food/meal/eaterie?

richmac says: Cheers Coachy, thanks. Thats a tough one, required a bit of thought. I'd never thought of eating a pork pie hot, with mint sauce, in a vat of mushy peas till I moved here y'know, it was quite a revalation and so is one of my toppermost Northern treats. I do like tea at betty's and I've also had the best fish & Chips I've ever had at Whitby. There's a vast array of gastro pubs around the Holme valley and my current favoured one is the Fleece at Holme. Probably my most sampled Yorkshire produce is Timmy Taylors Landlord, was that a cheat ?;-)

mulbs asks: Congratulations how are your teeth?

richmac says: Thanks, my teeth I think are like most peoples I've got about 32 of them, a healthy mix of incisors, canines, Premolars and molars, mostly made of Enamel, dentin and Cementum although a few of them have a bit more amalgam than I'd really like. Is this your way of say I montion the dentist to much in blogs?

Sunbed Athlete asks: Congrats mate what Tri-Athlon would your dream one be?

richmac says: Cheers buddy. Wow great question, so many variables. First I'd love to be fit enough and good enough in all 3 disciplines to hammer out a full length Tri in a decent time, second I'd really really love to be fit and tough enough to handle some of the Iron man events. Y'know I'd also love to link it to places I'd love to spend time in so if I could swim in across Sydney Harbour, cycle down the Champs elysee, then run up part of Kilimanjaro I'd be a very happy mac.

Stander asks: How are you getting on with your erection? Tentage base eraction.

richmac says: I've sworn off erections and canvass after having discovered the two just don't mix and inevitably it causes friction somewhere down the line. Amusingly, to circumvent the issues in future I've elected to go the Pitch n 'toss' method to speed up my erection. Sorry I couldn't slip any more double entndres in there.

Karen S asks: Well done richmac, glad you got MOTM! Where does "Shazam" come from - they say that word quite a bit in Ben and Hollys Little Kingdom on Milkshake and wondered if it was from there? Or are you a script writer for that program?

richmac says: Thanks karen and thanks for the yoga tips, they've really helped. The whole 'Shazam' thing, well not sure of where the word comes from originaly but my recent use of it is a Huddersfield park run thing. We we're a bit drunk and decided we needed a word to shout at people and for some reason SHAZAM was selected. Other park run catch phrases are 'One throw away comment', 27%, 'enhecklement and 'you sick, sick bas$rd'. I know its a bit cliquey but its a friendly open clique.

Sombrero asks: Jolly well done. What are your thoughts on top hats in this modern era?

richmac says: Thanks, I think it's terrible that like so many of our indiginous hats the 'Topper' has been driven to earning a living as a wedding prop while half assed foreign caps like the baseball 'cap' and Chullo take centre stage. Wear your British hat with pride I say.

sLickster asks: Well done fella, very much deserved! Legendary performance (with Minnie_Mad) at TR24 last year with your lovely 100k of running. That's equivalent to 20 parkruns! Like me, you do a lot more volunteering at parkrun than running, so when do you hope to have ran 50 and become a proud owner of a lovely t-shirt? PS. You'd be made very welcome if you ever made the trip down to Conkers one day

richmac says: Thanks matey, you've done a few pretty good things yourself recently. I love voluncheering at the parkrun, its a great crowd and its become quite a social thing as well. When will I get to 50? probably sometime in 2013, Minnie will get there way before me. I'd love to bring the Huddersfield parkrun bunny to Conkers one day and you'd be very welcome at Greenhead as well mate!

Minnie Mad asks: Well done and well deserved Rich. How is the Tri training going, and when are you going to accept that in order to swim properly you will need to put your head under the water?

richmac says: Thank you not sure I deserve it though. TRI training is er going! I've mastered the bike, running we all know about and I'm enjoying the outfit, everyone should 'tri' one. I do understand that yes I am mean't to submerge my noggin' if I only I could resist the tempatation to swallow the entire pool I might be a bit better at it.

bigleggy asks: In your old age do you intend to wander around the Dales ala Last of the Summer Wine ??? Or has TV lied to me all these years ?

richmac says: LOL, TV has indeed lied to you all these years, it's entirely flat round here Srsly though come over & I'll by you tea & scones in Sid's Cafe then we can run up 'Holme Moss' for a laugh.

Nywanda asks: Congratumalayshons. Glad you've been keeping the pecker up. Can you translate this for me, any way you can - "Aw manirura, shparaboo, areena shperrabee". Thanks. Oh and which race(s) on the Scottish circuit, tickle your fancy?

richmac says: Why thankingmangynuss very much. I wrote to the researcher on QI and mastermind about the translation and got the following response "Who are you and why do you keep writing to us? we have notified the authorities" which I take as and admission of inadequacy. I was left then with no other choice than to tackle of a bottle of Jura and give this teaser my full attention the only real translation I could fathom was either "There's no soup like good soup" or "Rich why are you so good at everything?" Does this help?

Scottish races, flippin 'eck! I've already talked about the 'wall' but that's borderline Emroro mara is on the list as is the nations finest park run in Aberdeen but, should I ever reclaim full fitness the race in the land of my fathers I would love to be good enough to tackle is of course the Ben Nevis race for all the obvious reasons.

HappyG(rrr) asks: Congrats! Is MoTM a more impressive award than getting Scout badge for Advanced Knot Tying? If you could compete at any discipkine in the world what award or prize would make you most proud to receive? Congrats again! :-)G

richmac says: Thanks HappyG(rr) I've always loved your name BTW. Yes, not to diss the scout's or 'owt I'd rank MoTM a shade above an advance knot tying badge. Crikey what award would I like to win? It's taken a bit of thinking about and theres a few. I'd love to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy, I'd love to take the motoGP title or even the booker prize would be great but these ain't never gonna happen! The awards that I really like are the ones that come from your peers, like runners runner or players player etc. So really MOTM is a bit of an ego trip for me.

Duchess asks: If you could say one thing to your self pre September 2007, what would it be? And how would you have replied to yourself?

richmac says: That's caused a bit of introspection. If I were being flippant I'd say "Watch the shins old lad" But really I'd ell my self that I was about to embark on hell of a journey, that would take me to some amazing places, meet some amazing, inspirational people and achieve things I never thought I could, I'd also have to add that with these highs come some crushing lows and you pay quite a price, but in the end if you last it's worth it. How would I have replied? I have no idea I can't envisage being that guy anymore.

Jerboa asks: Congratulations x What's your pre-race regime? And if you don't stick to it does it affect your performance?

richmac says: Thanks x Oooh pre race regime. Have to say I’ve consciously tried never to have one, i think it come under the heading of not taking it to seriously. BUT I have to admit to gravitating toward certain bits of kit and I do like to lay out the things I’ll take the night before and that I know where I’m going, always a good one that. Actual race day I usually like to relax, soak up the atmosphere and have a catch up with peeps I’ve not seen for a while. It’s only if it’s a dead serious PB attempt or club race that I actually shut up, focus and try to get in the zone and I do this as late as possible by just separating myself from people and meditating for a few minutes, settling myself, visualising the course, imagining how I’ll feel at different points, deciding when I’ll have to push and when I can relax who I should ‘target’ and convincing myself all the tweaks and twinges are just in my imagination. Failing to do this has led to a couple of PB’s which shows how much I know.

runningmumof3boys asks: Well done rich. What was your 1st race ever and how was it ? Also what ate you gonna spend your winnings on?

richmac says: Thanks 1st 'race' was the Leeds Jane Tomlinson 10K back in '08 more of a mass participation event really, I guess I didn't really get racey about things till I joined the club. The winnings I'm gonna be boring and get a noo pair of Brooks Ravena's to replace the ones I have now, I'm sooo tempted to buy some sext fell shoes that I'd never really use though,

Tiggia asks: Well done Rich what's your favourite Yorkshire race?

richmac says: Thanks A and well done to you to. Favourite Yorkshire race is a toughy really, because the county lends itself to so many wonderful scenic trail/fell races it would be breath taking if you weren't almost out of breath from running up those hills! I loved the Ilkley trail race when I did that, Hepworth Dyrad is great, Yorkshireman is magnificent, even Holme Moss fell race is amazing, although for me a shadow will always hang over it. There are some pretty good road races as well, our local 10K's are renowned for their hills and have a couple of good views if you know where too look. I've loved the Great Yorkshire in Sheffield, the Abbet Dash and the Jane Tomlinson 10K's in Leeds for atmosphere. But for a combination of a great views (it makes Halifax look good) great & challenging course amazing support and a top goody bag the race that I most lurve in Yorkshire is ......(drum roll)... The Bluebell trail race.