Fetcheveryone Member of the Month
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Interview with Carpathius




Carpathius says: Thanks Fleecy *wraps self in bunting*


Carpathius says: Thanks Linds! Hmm, ultras. *thinks*. I don't think I ever really decided anything. I fell into ultra running by mistake. I'd done a bit of plodding around, hated most of my first half marathon training and thought short distances were plenty for me. I then met loads of other runners through parkrun, joined a club and went to watch the London marathon. I wondered if I could actually run a marathon and pretended to train for one to see if it was possible. I loved the long runs this time and when I got to 20 miles it was a pity to waste the training and so I looked for a marathon to enter. A clubmate posted the Stort 30 ultra on Facebook and it lit a small but smouldering fire. I entered, loved every second, and have been easily led into signing up for long races ever since.
In my head - oh wow. My head is a very weird place. I have conversations with myself. I have conversations with my knees and feet. I start writing blogs in my head. I often get annoying earworms - on the SVP it was a song from Les Mis. I have conversations with people who aren't there, sometimes out loud. I can spend several miles deciding whether or not I actually like running (jury's still out on that one). Oh yeah, and I also have conversations with the wildlife. They're the best; I don't have to think of comebacks.

Carpathius says: Thanks pedro

I'm like a magpie - I see a race advertised (usually ultras) and think "Oooo, shiny! I want to run that!" and then realise it's totally impractical for various reasons. There are so many, and I want to do them all!
But I think the Spine race would be utterly amazing. It appeals to me because I struggle with running in the heat, and maybe because it's slightly bonkers. I don't just want to do it; I want to be at a level where I'm capable of doing it (if that makes sense).


Carpathius says: Cheers Pimps


Carpathius says: Cheers Rich



So...you're on a desert island. You can take one Fetchie, one item of clothing, one kind of food and one household item. Discuss...
Carpathius says: Thank you UltraBintyOne

Hmm. Desert island. I think I would take Fleecy because she's very practical - although rubbish at putting up tents - and she's nice and cheery. And sweary. I would take a sarong because according to Wimmins Magazines there are all sorts of outfits you can make out of a sarong even though I've never been able to make them. Let's hope Fleecy's good at origami. Also I could make a tent or a sail out of it if the need arose. One kind of food...



Carpathius says: Thanks Corrah



Carpathius says: Thanks GM



Carpathius says: Why thank you Mrs Leaves

I started running, sort of, in 2011. I can't actually remember why; growing up my entire family were runners and I was crap at it and apart from the odd fun run attached to a race (and a particularly horrible memory of the 1500m at school) I never did any. All of a sudden I decided it was a good idea and began doing a 2.5 mile route from home, getting a little further each time before walking. There was a 4k fun run attached to the local half marathon which I entered, and struggled with (I had to walk) but I felt very silly doing the fun run at my age and wanted to be like all the proper runners doing the half. I also seriously doubted I'd ever be able to run *that* far. So I entered a 10k in November 2011.

Carpathius says: Cheers seratonin

I would invite Stephen Fry because he's not only interesting, well read and very funny, he's also sexy as hell *swoons*. Oh hang on, you said three didn't you? *puts candles and champagne glasses away*. Sir Ranulph Fiennes because he'd have the best stories to tell and because I want to see him eat yoghurt with a fork. The third would be Velociraptor because I haven't met her yet and I reckon she's a cracking dinner guest. She might also bring cake



Carpathius says: Bless you FML


Carpathius says: Thank you so much switts. I'm joining some proper notable names in the dock.
I really don't know. I might do something properly mad, like Comrades *gales of laughter float across the internet*. Ok, maybe not Comrades. UTMB possibly. Either something like that or I'll go back to the beginning of my running hobby and do a 10k. Perhaps I will come and race in your local 10k - if I do, you have to run it with me!

Carpathius says: Cheers Som


Carpathius says: Cheers Dio

There have been several, for various reasons. I think the most memorable for good reasons was the Kings Forest 50k in 2014. It's four laps and I'd missed the cut-off for starting the fourth lap but they let me through anyway because I felt ok and was determined to finish. About ten minutes later, in the middle of nowhere, I wondered what the hell I'd been thinking - I was on my own, there was nobody behind me and the chances of catching anyone up were stupidly small. I'd forgotten my Garmin that day so I had no idea how far I'd gone, how far I still had to go, what the time was or anything. I decided I'd quit at the point the course crossed the only road where there was a shortcut to the finish.
For some reason I didn't. I kept plodding on, alone and so tired I didn't even recognise some of the course (I thought I'd gone wrong at one point and doubled back on myself). All of a sudden I realised I was jog/walking through a beautiful, silent forest under the power of my own legs and felt very peaceful, very happy and almost strong and there wasn't anywhere on Earth I'd rather have been at that moment. It's a good feeling, I don't always get it, but I'm always chasing it again.

Carpathius says: Thanks Lalli!
I have no idea (or I can't remember - one of the two). My family have been runners since I was little - back in the Dark Ages when runners were stringy men who wore shorts and vests no matter what the weather and women were viewed with high suspicion my dad was chairman of the club I'm now a member of. My mum still runs - I run with her often. My sisters run (they run a lot faster than I do which I will admit isn't difficult). I however did not run. I remember the beginnings of becoming a runner, I just can't for the life of me remember why I went out on that first run.

Carpathius says: Cheers Bru-Bru

I think rose-tinted spectacles make a favourite race a lot of the time. I remember the good bits and forget about the points at which I either wanted to cry and scream or actually did. A good course definitely helps - for me that's rural with not many long straight bits, preferably off-road. I think my favourite races have been hard but rewarding for some reason, either distance or time or feeling good about running.


Carpathius says: Thank you HappyG(rrr)

My favourite thing about the website is that it's so different from any other social forum I've been on. I would never have considered meeting up with people I knew as only an avatar and username until I found the awesome people that inhabit Fetchland but I have met people through here that I genuinely consider to be friends even though I have to remind myself that I've never met some of them. The ones I have met have lived up to expectations and each time I've met Fetchies I have had a fantastic time. The last two years' worth of RNR, Hell Down South, Endure 24, St. Neots, Brighton, Kent Roadrunner, all wonderful memories which make me grin like a loony.
As for Fetch the man... well since you ask, I can't help noticing that he has a cracking pair of elbows.


Carpathius says: You're too kind Baroness *curtsies*
I don't actually follow a schedule at all, I'm crap at training plans. I make up my training as I go along and don't often know what sort of run I'm going to do until after I've done it. My training consists of going out there and running, mostly at a slow plod, using any excuse to get out there. Club runs, social runs, parkruns, races, back home after shopping, to and from parkrun etc. I have often decided on races at short notice (I entered the Dig Deep Suffolk Intro Ultra about four days before the actual race) so I suppose my level of fitness is such that I can do that. I do believe a lot of it is mental though. People have said to me "you can't do all those races, you have to choose" and I started wondering "well, why not?".

Carpathius says: Aw, thank you minardi

I wish that someone would ask me how I manage to look so fantastically gorgeous all the way through races, and have I considered taking up modelling in exotic locations. Sadly I have reviewed the photographic evidence and that question will remain unasked


Carpathius says: Thanks Tigerlily

Not yet - I live dahn sauf - but there are several races I'd love to do. I've never been to Scotland and a race would be a great reason to go and see the beauty of it.

Carpathius says: I still haven't managed to finish a race longer than 50k, so I don't. Yet. Or maybe never - I found SVP100 hard enough and thought to myself more than once"If I finish this, I need never do it ever again". But then again I said that during my first half marathon, so I'm a pretty unreliable source


Carpathius says: Thanks m_t

Plans? No, but you've given me the idea now! *reminds self that self hates hills*

Carpathius says: Thank you Owly

That's an interesting question actually. Several people do, mostly Fetchies. Bint inspires me because I want to be like her - she's a great runner, fast, and she loves it all and is full of positivity and sensibility which I can be a bit rubbish at. Plodding Hippo because there are many times in races where I've felt rubbish and then thought "What would PH do?" and knowing that I've usually only got one race to finish and thinking of her determination helps me get on with it. Flanker and KinkyS because they do multiple ultras as if they're 5ks and then turn up at St Neots to run the half and still manage to come in an hour before me



Carpathius says: Aw, bless you .B.

HDS is the most fun I have ever had while running. You don't even notice the cold and the mud because you're too busy trying to splash the nancies who are mincing around the edges, laughing at Fleecy falling over on the only flat, even path in the entire race, giggling wildly while flinging yourself down hills on your arse, snort water out of your nose when Pimps loses his skirt and has to wear it around his neck for the rest of the race, practically cry at the look on CStar's face when Fleecy bounces up behind him and grabs his coconuts, spend the whole race making references to Bint's "snug moustache" and suggest that Linds and Fidgety Midget might want to build a raft before disappearing under the water in Lucifer's Lake and see who gets to the umbrage first. Then for the rest of the year all you have to do is think of it to bring a


Carpathius says: Aw, thanks Lills

One of my go-to routes is laps of Alton Water (hilly end first). My favourite so far has been the recce of the Stour Valley Path from Bures to Cattawade but I've only done it once. Otherwise the River Gipping path is one I do regularly because it's easy to get to and there are so many options of loops and distances with that one.


Carpathius says: Cheers sparky

Not unless you are kneeling before me to present me with a platter of cakes. In situations other than cake, a curtsey will do.