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If I only could, I'd make a deal
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27-05-2019 12:55am#1All right let’s do this thing!! I’ve met a bunch of the folks on here, and enjoy reading the logs. Would love advice and tips along the way. I’m mostly using a brute force approach to training.
Who am I?
41 year old male runner. After a couple of false starts I’ve been running pretty consistently for about two and a half years.
How did I get into it?
I was looking for some form of regular exercise. I’d done some cycling over the years, but pretty inconsistently. Young childer at home also meant that 4 or 5 hour Saturday cycles were probably off limits!
2015 - 102 miles
My initial goal was to run for 30 minutes without stopping, and to not hate it. A lofty target! I listened to the Guardian’s “Beginners guide to running”, completed the 6 week course and went from a completely unfit mess to a moderately unfit mess. I’d also unexpectedly started enjoying it. Unfortunately my initial enthusiasm waned, and I didn’t keep it up past February
2016 - 43.8 miles
Start of the year was basically a repeat of 2015. New years resolution, get up to running a two or three times a week and pack it in. Boo! I had another go in November, but I think I got shin splints and had to stop.
2017 - 803 miles
This is the year it clicked. I started again in the new year as I had done the years previous. I’d put on a bunch of weight the year before and I was determined to lose it in time for my wedding later that year. Nothing like a bit of vanity to motivate you!! I started the year by repeating the pattern of the 2 previous. Jan and Feb I ran 2/3 times a week, then bugger all in March.
But... I picked it up again in April. Ran 3/4 times a week then pushing the distance out a bit more each week. Then on holidays in west cork ran the marathon distance for the first time… on my own with a bottle of water and a couple of bananas. It was a terrible idea, but somehow didn’t put me off. I signed up then for the Dublin marathon.
Ran Dublin in 3:54, enjoyed every step, bug had completely taken hold at that point.
2018 - 1345 miles
Trained through winter for Connemarathon. Ran it in 3:49. Beautiful place. Miserable wet windy weather. And that hill at the end.
After some gentle encouragement from Singer, I joined Crusaders then in May, and loosely followed their Marathon plan targeting 3:30. Made a bit of a bags of it and went out too fast, finished in 3:32. Ran Jingle Bells, and Christmas Cracker in 20:30, and 20:07 respectively. Pretty happy with both, left nothing behind, they were both decent PBs
2019
The end is in sight \o/. This year started with 33:08 in Raheny and then straight into training for the Rotterdam marathon. A gang of us from the Cru went out to it. Training went well, and I ran a respectable 1:33 in the Bohermeen half.
In Rotterdam I targeted 3:20 on the day, but fell apart a bit at mile 22 due to heat(that’s what I’m blaming anyways), and had to actually stop and just take on a lot of water. Still managed a 3:28 PB and got the 3:30 monkey off my back which was the original aim anyways.
Most recently(this week) I got my first official sub 20 5k at the Bob Heffernan, finishing in 19:34, feeling very happy with myself
I’ve upped the training a good bit this year as well. We moved house last September and the now longer commute is a great way to get plenty of volume in. Doing 50 miles plus most weeks. Mostly made up by commutes but with a session Tuesday, Parkrun Saturday, and a long run on Sunday.
Targets for rest of year
Sub 19 5k
Sub 40 10k
Very optimistic Sub 3:10 marathon, happy with anything between 3:10 and 3:20
If anyone read this far, I salute you25
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Last week was one of the most enjoyable running weeks I've had. PB at Bob H on Tuesday, followed by a sub 20 at my local parkrun on Saturday. Given I hadn't run under 20 for 5k before (unless you believe Strava), this was a pretty spectacular result.
Monday
I ran to work, took it pretty easy given date with Bob the next night.
7.2 km 42:22 5:51/km
Tuesday
Drove down to Bob H with Singer. Spent about an hour getting from Broombridge to the M50, but made it down with plenty of time all the same. Met up with mister_paul and went for a warm up. Start was a bit nuts but field cleared after a bit. Honestly the first 4 kilometres were kind of boring, I've finished almost every 5k before this a heaving mess so I was keen to be a bit sensible.
1k - 3:55 - Feel ok, but I've been here before
2k - 3:56 - Still going nicely, but don't get overconfident.
3k - 3:58 - A little harder but still feeling ok
4k - 3:58 - See 3k
5k - 3:40 - Feeling good, it's downhill sprinted over the end line
Delighted with the result, my first sub 20 5k, a 33 second PB and the feeling that there's more to be had. Lots of good chats afterwards with B,P and D and met some more of youse boardsies too.
Wednesday
Double commute, quickest run in to date. I find it hard to move at all generally in the morning. Ran home with B in the evening, got fish and chips on the way home with family in keeping with National chipper day!
Run in 7.1 km - 39:10 - 5:31/km
Run home 10.39 km - 59:01 - 5:41/km
Thursday
I have no memory of these runs.
Run in 7.2 km - 42:49 - 5:57/km
Run home 7.2 km - 43:41 - 6:00/km
Friday
Very easy paced run in via polling station near where I used to live. Plan was to give parkrun a good go the next day. Running along the canal is way nicer than this route.
9.0 km - 56:18 - 6:15/km
Saturday
Parkrun day, very little beer the evening before and a decent nights sleep. Got the kids up, fed them and put on the Little Mermaid while I put on my bright Orange runners and headed over to the parkrun. It's about a mile over there so I got my warmup in with a few strides for good measure. It's a bit of an odd course, there's 3 laps, first one is long (3K) and the next two are short(1k). There's a hilly section that you get to do 3 times, and it's on the top of a hill so good luck if it's windy. Fortunately it wasn't on Saturday.
The run itself went well, I followed a fellow in a DCM 2018 top for the first 3k, but couldn't stick with him. Kept up a decent pace though and finished just under the 20 minutes. Much harder than the run on Tuesday.
Warm up + Cool down - 4.3k
Parkrun 5k - 19:58
Sunday
Run up the canal, into Castleknock and around the Phoenix park. I feel really privileged to have the park so near by. It's so beautiful this time of year especially in the evenings. Stayed mostly off road and ran up and down every incline I could find.
24.1 km - 2:12:58 - 5:30/km
Week's total - 91.6k
YTD - 1600k (40% of goal for year)0 -
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End of week and a much lazier one after last week's 5k exertions. Also I'm doing a mini taper. Why? See next week's plan
Monday
Usual run in to work, stopped watch for some of it, recovery pace
6.6k 6:06/km 40:28
Run home with B in pissing rain, sun appeared 5 minutes after I got home. whatevs!
11k 6:00/km 1:06:00
Tuesday
Jog to Cru, and a few laps with B. Then session which was 3 sets of 4*400 with reducing rests of 45/30/15, and 2 minutes between reps. It was rough, the 15 second rest is almost worse than useless. Felt pretty tired, but managed to not do it completely terribly. Noticed I've gotten much better at complaining about sessions.
Splits
1:38 1:29 1:31 1:30
1:29 1:32 1:31 1:37
1:35 1:33 1:36 1:31
Jogged to Luas after with A, P, and B after, then stuffed face with Burrito before second Luas and short jog home.
Total for day 15.1k
Wednesday
Tired jog home
7.3k 6:28/km 45:08
Thursday
nowt
Friday
Lazy run in to work
7.0 km 6:26/km 45:08
Saturday/Sunday
Nae running. Volunteered at local parkrun on Saturday, Tolka Valley. About 70 folks in I think. Then headed down with my wife to cat laughs in Kilkenny. Too many crafty beers meant that running was off the cards this morning. Was going to head out this evening(Sunday) but got home late, and didn't fancy the wind. Shocking lazy!
A pretty miserly total of 47.1km(about 25 miles) for the week, my lowest this year.
Plan for next week
MondayRun somewhere between 5 and 10k
TuesdaySo, this is why last week was quiet/lazy. The plan is to get the train to Mullingar early on Tuesday morning. I'll make my way to the canal, and try to get home. It's about 75k. I've never attempted anything over marathon distance before, and it's probably a terrible idea. The (very loose) plan is to run about 4hr marathon pace and see how I get on. I'll follow the towpath and the train runs alongside it so I have an escape plan if necessary.
Rest of week
Let's see how Tuesday goes…0 -
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Just be aware, at the moment the canal path from Furey's to Kilmore Bridge (that's the bridge between Furey's and Enfield, a short enough stretch in any case) is closed as it's being renovated. Gotta get out on the road between Furey's and Kilmore.
And yes, fully agree, there are some cracking stretches between Mary Lynch's and Longwood and beyond 0 -
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OOnegative wrote: »Your Tuesday plan is plain stupid and I can’t say it any nicer. What are you looking to gain out of it, where does it fit in your plan for rest of the year?
Truth be told you’ll get through those 75k and be wiped for good 2-3 weeks after. Knock it on the head.
You're probably right! 0 -
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Thought I'd post some version of race utter folly report
Short version
53k @ 6:16/km, or 34.95mi @ 10:05/mi
Moving time 5:30ish, Total time: 6 hoursI made it as far as Kilcock. Yes I'd do it again, but I'll wait till the towpath work is complete.Strava upload of run
Longer version
My first thoughts in planning in this were around food. I reckoned that if I wanted to spend more than 5 hours on my feet I'd need to keep myself fed. First part was pre-fueling, so went for 100g plain pasta with some olive oil and scrambled eggs. My plan for the run itself was to combine muesli bars, and a bunch of gross powergel sweets. The thinking was that the muesli bars would provide some longer lasting fuel, while the sweets would give a more instant hit. For water I had a 2K camel back yolk that went into the bag too.
I didn't sleep great the night before, I was pretty excited to be honest. I've not done a run where the outcome was uncertain in a long time. I also hadn't recce'd a large part of the route, which (rightly) had me a bit nervous about it.
The first 20k
So I bailed on doing the run on Tuesday to avoid the torrential downpour forecasted. It was still raining the next day of course, and did so for most of the day. Oh well. The first 10-12k out of Mullingar were ok, there's a hum of traffic from the M4, but it beats running in the city for sure. Then the canal turns away from the road, and it's really nice from there on in. Pace wise, I decided very early to take it easy and just enjoy being in the countryside. Settled into running 10 minute miles which I didn't really deviate from the whole trip.
The next 20k-ish
Lots of really lovely countryside through Hill of Down area, and ribbontail on to Furey's Bar. This was definitely the highlight of the day. The rain stayed with me but never really got above a mild soaking level. Still feeling reasonably bullish about how far I could get at this point.
The last bit
This is where things went a bit pear shaped. I left the canal at Furey's Bar, and headed up the road towards Enfield. This was a pretty unpleasant main road with more than it's fair share of articulated lorries thundering past. It did stop raining around there, and only went on for about 3k. I turned back down the canal in Enfield and back on to another beautiful section of canal.
About 3k on disaster strikes. The canal path is fenced off, and I'm faced with the choice of doubling back and then following the road or risking the canal path. I decide to take my chances and climb round the fence. What follows is about 6k of running on road foundations, and bemused looks from construction workers. This was pretty energy sapping, and just plain sore. I came off that path about 3 or 4 kilometers from Kilcock, and was feeling like I'd had enough. Finished out the last bit and then gratefully went to meet the family in Kilcock for a coffee and the drive home.
The aftermath
Generally feel OK, legs all good, knees a little sore but no worse than after a marathon. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't make it to Maynooth, but given a combination of it a) being further away than expected and b) the lousy path between Enfield and Kilcock I'm still delighted with the end result. The canal and path are an amazing resource to have on the doorstep. Look forward to the work completing and trying it again But maybe next year. 0 -
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Been a bit lax in updating, some life/travel/work getting in the way. Fortunately I have been less lax in terms of actual running. Which is the main thing I suppose. Here's the last week in June which was mostly made up of commutes. There was a VO2 session too with the Cru which went reasonably well.
I had my usual showing of 4th in the local parkrun, I think that's five times in a row now. Doesn't seem to matter who turns up
Almost forgot, I'd been feeling a bit of a niggle in my upper thigh most of the week before. Fairly constant running seems to have done the trick of shaking it out.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
June 24|8.1km|6:21/km|Lazy jog into work
June 24|8.1km|6:21/km|Slightly less lazy jog home from work with B, leg felt pretty sore
June 25|16.6km|Mixed|Warm ups and session at cru 8*600m off 200m 2:19 2:21 2:20 2:25 2:23 2:28 2:32 2:26 Not terrible, rep 6&7 were a bit off though
June 26|14.3km|6:00/km|Double commute - Niggle pretty much gone at this point
June 27|5.09km|6:07/km|Morning commute cut slightly short
June 28|1.6km|6:08/km|Running late (haha) - had to jump on luas
June 29|8.5km|Mixed|Tolka Valley parkrun, qualified for champions league
June 30|14.3km|6:05/km|Not very long, quite slow run
Total|80.7km
All in all a pretty unspectacular week, a bit too much socialising two weekends in a row. Finished out June with 319km done, including the long one from Mullingar.
YTD: 1967km0 -
I'm over working in SanFrancisco office for the month of July, which is a good opportunity to make ****e of my calves on the hills over here It's also the last week before kicking off marathon training so I didn't really try to put too much structure on it.
Being a creature of habit I ran over to the local track on Tuesday evening with the intention of joining the local club's session. They folks on the track were doing a tempo session though, and were considerably faster than me so I bailed on the group after joining them for warmup around Golden Gate Park, and just ran my own session.
Did the parkrun out near Golden Gate bridge which was fun, a nice friendly crowd there. Aside from that, some commutes, and a couple of medium to long runs too. Crossed the 2000k mark for the year.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
July 1|||Rest, and transatlantic flight
July 2|16.5km|Mixed|Various warm up and cool down shenanigans
July 2|6.8km|4:36/km|12*400 off 200 Active Recovery 1:47(forgot to lap watch for AR) 1:32 1:31 1:35 1:34 1:33 1:33 1:37 1:36 1:33 1:35 1:26 Pretty decent, or at least consistent session
July 3|3.5km|6:01/km|Planned to do more, but was feeling pretty wiped out
July 4|16.8km|5:58/km|Pace is a bit of a lie, because I had to stop to stretch out the calves many times. Ran up Buena Vista park, then down to sea level and then back to apartment where I'm staying. 249m elevation
July 5|||Rest day, and several crafty beers
July 6|5km|4:06/km|Parkrun without the watch, probably could have pushed for sub 20, but not a bad show
July 6|5.2km|6:57/km|Ran home up and over Pacific Heights, ridiculously steep. Hurt my calf on this route earlier this year. Seems to be ok this time, stopping to stretch it out regularly. 104m elevation
July 7|21.5km|6:35/km|Buena Vista Park again, then over to and up Twin Peaks. Pretty foggy and very windy but some pretty cool views out over the city from up there. From Twin Peaks, I headed back to the well trodden Golden Gate Park. 413m elevation, this was pretty hard.
Total 75.4km||976m elevation for the week :eek:
Reasonable week
YTD: 2042km
Plan for next week is to kick off marathon training. I'm going to have a go at the Crusaders plan again, and see how well I can weather the sessions. It's fairly taxing, with 3 sessions per week, and the long run. The total volume is considerably lower than what I've been doing though, so let's see…
It goes like this
Monday 45mins easy
Tuesday 4X(3X400 @ 5k/10k/21k) continuous +wu/cd
Wednesday 45mins easy
Thursday 36mins @ (104%MP/Easy 1:00/0:30) continuous + wu/cd
Friday rest
Saturday Hill repeats 4*1000m / jogging return + wu/cd
Sunday 1:35:00 Easy0 -
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First week of Marathon Training. Managed to get through all the sessions well.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
July 8th|7.5km|6:09/km|Slightly elongated commute home over Alamo Square, just one stop to stretch out the calves.
July 9th|10.6km|Mixed|4 * (3X400 @ 5k/10k/21k) 1:43 1:47 1:44 / 1:41 1:44 1:51 / 1:43 1:45 1:47 / 1:40 1:44 1:42 Tuesday evening session, it went pretty well, and hit the prescribed paces
July 10th|7.1km|5:55|(Not so) easy run home
July 11th|12.3km|Mixed|36 minutes 1:00/0:30 104% MP / easy. Really should have programmed the watch for this. I ended up spending the entire session looking up and down. Time went pretty fast and it was actually pretty fun. Went down to the track to do it, as I'm pretty sure it's the only flat part of this city
July 13th|14.7k|Mixed|4x1k hill repeats, jog return. The first two were pretty flat. Next 2 were not. This was pretty tough.
July 14th|18.5km|5:22/km|Long run. Someone put me wise to the wiggle on friday, a cycle route from Market St in the east to Golden Gate park in the which avoids the steepest roads. Made a big difference to be able to ease in to the run rather than feeling like thee calves were locking up right from the start. Rest of the run went really well, very happy with the week.
Next week
Similar itinerary for next week, the family arrive over tomorrow which will be great but hope if I can keep up the sessions while they're here.
Monday Rest
Tuesday 30 mins fast continuous @ 104% MP with wu/cd
Wednesday 45mins easy
Thursday 31mins progressive 102-108% + wu/cd
Friday 45 mins easy
Saturday Hill repeats 4*1000m / jogging return + wu/cd
Sunday 1:40:00 Easy0 -
A very late catchup post.
I spent 5 weeks of July in SF with work, and the family joined me for the last 3. I was a bit worried that this might eat into training time. Which is exactly what happened. Or maybe it was a good excuse to take it easy for a few weeks. Either way between the 15th of July, and the 18th of August I didn't do too much running.
SF half marathon - 1:46:44
The main thing of note was the first half of the SF marathon. A friend from work had a spare bib, so I gratefully took it. Getting to the race was a bit of a disaster I'm usually well prepared for a race and try to turn up early. The run started at 6:30, so I set my alarm for 5 and headed to bed. I mostly dreamt about being late for the race, and then woke up just before 6 because I'd set the midweek alarm on my phone - Gah! Ran to the local BART station (which takes 8 minutes into town) but it doesn't run till 8 - Double Gah! Luckily there was a tram that turned up a couple of minutes later. Unfortunately the 80 year old tram took about an hour to get into town. Ran about 2k from there to the start line. Eventually crossed the start line on my own 20 minutes after the last corral set off. Mostly glad I got to start at all.
The first bit kms 1-5 (4:19, 4:28, 4:37, 4:46, 4:40)
On my own for the first 2 or so meant I set off quickly enough. Once I hit the traffic and the hill at Fort Mason things started to slow down.
Past the Golden Gate Bridge kms 6-10 (4:39, 4:51, 5:40, 4:55, 5:28)
Made the decision not to push too hard at this point. kms 6-8 were flat but with the wind in my face. So I stopped at the water station at 8 to use the loo too. The 10th km brought us to the start and through some of the day's biggest climb.
Presidio to the park kms 11-15 (6:43, 4:16, 4:36, 5:16)
Came up Presidio, this was over paths and steps and it got pretty crowded, lots of "excuse me, coming through" and even had to walk some bits. I ended up on my own again for the 14th and 15th, they change the route slightly to allow traffic through, and I was the first through. It was a nice break from running around people and I got to pretend I was winning
Round the park to finish kms 16-21 (5:17, 5:50, 4:47, 4:50, 5:17, 5:19, 5:16)
The last bit is a loop of the bottom half of Golden Gate park. It's a nice park, but it is not flat!! The last 3k were uphill as well which felt a bit mean. Managed a bit of a sprint at the end.
All things considered the time wasn't bad, but I was a bit disappointed. Felt like something in the 1:30s should have been possible. Maybe on a different day if I got the prep right.
Finished July with 253km done and 2819m climbed. Big drop in distance, but a lot of climbing. Hope that counts for something.
Took the next week pretty easy, and got a massage which was a relief for my aching calves. Total of 14km
The next 2 weeks I was down in West Cork with the family and some friends. Started to do a bit more but not too much. Some fun runs around the peninsula. Did one trail run on the sheeps head, which was immense fun. Also a bit of parkrun tourism in Glengarriff. I did one session of hill repeats, but it was pretty messy due to gale force winds. 41.7km and 56.2km done on those two.
Year to date: 2319km0 -
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A bit up and down this week. Midweek sessions went well, but the long run on Sunday wasn't great. Ran it with the folks from the cru and didn't eat anything before heading out. Ended up feeling pretty wrecked about 2 hours in and slowed down a lot.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
Mon 2nd|11.2km|5:45/km|Run home with Singer and workmate. Ran under the road bridge in Tolka Valley park, where 2 young fellas had a fire going in a shopping trolley :eek: Hurdled their tray of cans on the way through.
Tue 3rd|16.5km|Mixed paces|Club sesssion, and runs to/from club. 4x800 off 75 and 4x400 off 60. Faded a bit for the 2nd and 2rd 400. Was a bit annoyed with myself after. I was with a good group, and probably could have stuck out the pace if I'd pushed a bit harder.
Wed 4th|7.2km|5:51/km|Thought it was Thursday, and got the Luas home to do session later. Went for an easy run in PP.
Thur 5th|19.6km|Mixed|50/20 progression run from Cru marathon plan. Ran the 50 close to marathon pace at about 4:50/km, and the 20 a little faster at 4:35/km or so. Felt pretty good and was happy to be able to pick up the pace. It was definitely an effort though, and HR was a bit high at 178.
Fri 6th|14.4km|6:25/km|To and from work nice and easy
Sat 7th|8.8km|4:28/km for 5km|Tolka Valley Parkrun. Good crowd at it, some fast tourists too. Finished 7th
Sun 8th|33.8km|5:36/km|Ran the first 10k at 5:36/km, then met up with cru folks again and ran the next 10k just over 5:00/km. Crashed then and was starving and knackered. Took a break and drank some water, before plodding around at around 6:00/km for the remaining time. I think I really need to eat before taking on that kind of distance at that kind of pace. I generally do my Sunday LSRs in the evening after putting the kids to bed so it's not normally an issue.
So, a bit of a dissatisfying end to what was otherwise a pretty good week. As long as I learn my lesson from it though, it's not so bad. Biggest mileage week ever at 111.7k(69 miles)
Week:111.7km (69 miles)
Month:131km (81 miles)
Year:2,621.4km (1628.8 miles)0 -
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Sitting watching the Football final replay, Dubs up 0-08 to 0-07. It's a mighty game so far. This weeks running has been really good too. Started the week feeling a bit sorry for myself after the sh1te LSR on Sunday. Left calf was really sore too. Lots of foam rolling, and ice packs after the sessions sorted it out.
Date|Distance|Pace|Notes
Mon 9th|11km|5:45/km|The now habitual run home with Singer and A from work.
Tue 10th|19.7km|Mixed|Cru W mixed pace session 5k/21k/10k/21k/5k laps times 3 with 2 in between. I was really happy with this, hit the intended paces throughout, and finished fast.
Wed 11th|14.5km|6:08/km|Run to and from work along the canal aka D'usual
Thur 12th|20km|Mixed|50/15/15 progression run @ 5:00/km, 4:50/km, 4:30/km. Deadly session, really enjoyed it. Ran west along the canal towards the sunset as far as Castleknock. Turned back then down to the PP where the big harvest moon was rising. The races are fun and all, but I think these are the kind of runs are the ones I enjoy most. Felt really good throughout, could maybe have pushed the pace a little earlier.
Fri 13th|14.5km|6:08/km & 5:45/km|Runmutes
Sat 14th|9.4km|4:19/km for 5km|Quieter week at parkrun meant I picked up second. Eased off in 3rd and 4th km and heard someone come up behind. Happy that I was able to push on in the 5th.
Good week so far, still the long run to do tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. Plan in my head is to take the first 2 hours easy enough and then try to push on and hit MP for the last hour 89.3km for the week and on track for another new personal mileage record. Every day running streak now up to 3 weeks and a day.
PS it's now 1-11 to 12 points, Kerry lads hanging in there.0
The Greenway seems to be a bit behind schedule with that construction work. But fair play. Mind your recovery for a while after that. Advertisement