It seems like ages ago that I posted my last update on here and it does feel like a lot of water has passed beneath the bridge since.  It’s felt like a period when a lot has happened in my running world and from a performance perspective it’s been a bit of a mixed bag. But I guess that’s running!

You’ll maybe recall that I was keen to take a bit of a different approach to my Spring and early Summer racing calendar with a definite focus on gaining selection for Ireland and running well at Highgate in the European 10000m Cup (as part of the Night of the 10000m PBs).  Well, the hoped-for Irish selection did happen but, unfortunately, the running well part didn’t! But more of that later.

Bronze medal at the Scottish 5K Championship

Through May, on the roads I threw myself into the Scottish 5K Championships and came away with a PB for the distance, securing a bronze medal behind great runs from a couple of the other girls. Having said that, it was my first non-Parkrun 5K in 12 years, so a PB was always likely!

I followed this up with a couple of 10K races in which I ran solidly enough, but was a bit frustrated that in both races (and for different reasons) I came away a little disappointed with the time I’d run.  In the first one some blustery conditions in the later kilometres saw my pace tailing off, though I did feel I ran strong to the finish on my own, and picked up a very welcome prize for a course and series record – so a definite positive!

Meanwhile in the second race, I settled into a pretty large group early on. Unfortunately “settled” was the definitive word as the group all seemed a bit reluctant to push on. By the time I’d realised where our splits were headed, we’d dropped off the pace for the sort of target time I was after.

I tried to push the pace a bit in the middle part of the race and the group broke up, but it made for a tough few kilometres.  Crossing the line a bit bemused, I felt there had been a bit more in the tank if we’d raced more as a cohesive group, but I still felt pretty positive and proud about taking the bull by the horns on the day. 

So a decent but unspectacular series of results, but as ever I was able to come away with a few points of note and some learnings.  And with a couple of the races on new and unfamiliar (to me) routes, I’d like to go back and run the races again in future with some new-found knowledge.

Photo: Bobby Gavin

Can warm weather training be too warm?

Then came June, a month which Scott and I had decided was to be a hard training month. No racing. No matter what. Leave the racing for Highgate in early-July.  I had a good level of fitness and was looking forward to building on this, getting the miles and sessions in, and embarking on a warm weather training trip to Murcia towards the end of the month.

Well, as it transpired, the warm weather training trip became very much a hot weather training trip as south-eastern Spain experienced the edge of the heatwave which settled over Central Europe!  Now I love the heat of the Sun on my back and became used to high temperatures and suffocating humidity in my time at university in Louisiana, but that was a while ago! 

Years in Glasgow have taught me that there’s a definite line between hot and too hot!  If I ever forget this I just have to ask Scott who, being a very typical Glaswegian, turns red in the face when he switches on a lamp!  So in Murcia, while our morning runs were bearable, with temperatures ranging from about 24 to 29 degrees, many of our evening runs were in temperatures nudging close to 40 degrees, with the heat of the day having accumulated and not really dropping much until well into the night. 

Keeping properly hydrated was difficult, but we worked to find a rest and recovery routine which allowed us to train well and seemingly effectively.  The key track sessions, though tough in the heat, were suggesting that all was going to plan in terms of preparation for Highgate and I returned home feeling confident for the race before enjoying an easier few days of running prior to heading for London.

A 10,000m challenge

If you’ve run 10000m on the track before you’ll know that it’s vital that you settle into the race early on, try to block the number of laps remaining from your mind, and run at a pace you’ve prepared for.  On my own Highgate checklist, I was ticking the boxes.  But something just wasn’t quite right.  As I reached about 4k into the race, I felt like I was riding uphill on a bike with a slow puncture, slipping off the pace I’d been targeting and feeling almost powerless to react to the drop-off in my performance. 

Looking back, the middle part of the race is a bit of a blur as I went through the motions of getting round the track, trying to hang on to those pushing on ahead of me.  I did manage to grit my teeth and rally a bit towards the end, stopping the rot in my lap times.  But at the end of lap 25 I crossed the line feeling deflated.  

Hindsight is a great thing, and in respect of running is absolutely vital.  I’m never one to look for excuses, but taking the opportunity to assess any contributing factors in either (relative) successes or failures is always worthwhile.

Reflecting on the months gone by

My Highgate experience continues to drive me to re-assess the positives and negatives of the last few months.  I’ve already noted that  during my month of solid training in June I ran more miles than I’ve ever done in a month before (not my smartest move).
Although this may prove to be a positive later in the year when my race distance aspirations grow longer, when combined with the very hot conditions we experienced in Murcia up to a week before Highgate, this may well give some explanation of the ‘flat’ feeling I had there.

So it’s been a time of  reflection since Highgate while starting to focus on the next big target.  But there’s always a place for the sheer fun and beauty of running, even in the midst of hard training.

Next up

To this end, next up is a return to the Isle of Mull for their annual half marathon, my 5th visit to the race.  This is an event which Scott introduced me to abs it’s now one of my favourites too.  A small, pressure-free and community-led event in a stunning part of the world, organised by some of the friendliest people you could ever meet.  And it finishes at the front door of a pub. And there’s a ceilidh afterwards.  What’s not to like?

Feeling the true friendship and sense of belonging at such an event really does provide a stark contrast to the cut and thrust of championship racing!  I do want to compete at the highest level I possibly can, but along the way I’ll always look for some downtime and the opportunity to recharge my batteries in the company of friends and family.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

RELATED: The joy of racing team relays

Fionnuala Ross features in the ‘Fast 10: class of 2019’ and over the course of the year will share her running journey. You can follow Fionnuala on Twitter and Instagram, while further information about the ‘class of 2019’ can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post When it doesn’t go to plan, just make a new plan appeared first on Fast Running.

Emerging from the cocoon of tights, jackets and gloves (well, sometimes…I do live in Scotland after all), I always come into the spring with a feeling of excitement laced with a little trepidation.

Wondering what the race season ahead will bring and whether or not the work done through the winter months will bear fruit as hoped and intended.

As runners we all tend to worry, usually unnecessarily, about missed training runs or sessions and I’m no different.  It seems like human nature to most of us, though we perhaps stretch the boundaries of what’s rational and what isn’t!

With my previously documented niggles and colds back in January and February, this year’s early track/road season holds a few more elements of the unknown about it for me than other years.  I can’t change what I’ve done up until now, but I can ensure that I pay close attention to what does work out in the coming weeks and what doesn’t.  Using past experiences and learnings from training blocks or races can only help in the future.

For the season ahead, the early signs seem promising…

At the end of March I opened my 10k road season at the Titanic Quarter 10k in Belfast after a selection for the Northern Ireland team.  Even though the conditions were pretty windy and I found myself a bit isolated for some of the race, I came home in a quicker time than I’ve started any 10k road season with before. 

Looking at the detail of the race, I probably over-reached and started a little quickly, paying the price in the middle kilometres into a gusting headwind, but I stayed strong to the finish to take second place in the ladies race.  A solid enough result, and with a few more 5k and 10k road races planned over the next few weeks, I’ve got a decent measure of where I am on the roads and what I can do to improve.

But it’s on the track where I’m really interested to see what sort of progress I can make.  After the brilliant experience of racing at the Night of the 10000 PBs in London last year as part of the Ireland team in the European 10000m Cup, I really want to return to the event in the best possible shape in 2019. 

With the races being moved back to the start of July this year due to the lateness of the World Championships in Doha, it’s given me the opportunity to alter my training to accommodate both more track sessions (which, love them or loathe them, aren’t always a big part of what I do in training) and more spring road racing. 

The hope is that the combination of both will provide some positive results come Highgate. The stage will be set for another fantastic, high-quality day of racing and I really do want to get a real lift from the raucous crowd and feed off the incredible atmosphere which makes this event very special.

Let’s not get ahead of myself though!  Plenty of work to do before then!

In the meantime, my track racing season kicked off well on a perfect summer-like night in Glasgow (in the middle of April!) when I retained my Scottish 10000m title. 

The initial tiny tinge of disappointment at missing out on my PB by less than a single second – 0.94 of a second to be exact – was quickly forgotten when the realisation dawned that I’d ran 15 seconds quicker than in the same race last year! Progress! Especially considering my PB was from that European Cup race in 2018.

With an extended and consistent track element to my weekly training, a nicely timed warm weather camp, and some real focus I’m really keen to see what sort of strides I can make. Throwing some as-yet-untested aspects into what I’m doing in the coming weeks and months will keep things interesting and, hopefully, help to develop areas which may be weaker in my running armoury.  

The balance between training and racing

So for the coming weeks it’s a matter of finding a good balance between training and racing.  I’ve never been a runner who races a lot in comparison to others, preferring to just have two or three main target races throughout the year and training purely with these races in mind. 

But the change of date for Highgate this year allows me to take a different sort of approach to the first half of 2019, with one eye remaining on track, but with a busier road racing calendar than usual for me through May. 

By the end of the month, fingers crossed, I’ll have raced more in the first five months of 2019 than in the same period last year, despite having missed some focus races already earlier this year.  And despite the altered approach, I’ve managed to not compromise the overall volume of training, continuing to maintain and build a strong endurance base.

There is a certain sense of stepping into the unknown, but I’m keen to see how my body reacts to the different training/racing balance, before entering the next phase of the year and turning my full attention to Highgate.

Working together

While I do think I have a keen sense of what makes me tick as a runner, discussing racing and training sessions in a wider sense with my partner Scott also helps to bring some perspective to what I’m putting myself through. And from a physical point of view it really does help to have him running some of my sessions with me, particularly ones on the track where a ‘moving windbreak’ can be highly beneficial!  

To the casual onlooker we may not seem to communicate in the friendliest of terms during sessions (there can be a fair bit of pain, grunting, cursing and eye rolling!), it’s always good to have a review of the session afterwards to assess how it went and to discuss openly and honestly what we would possibly have changed. 

We both always seem to have our own slightly differing take on how the session went, agree to disagree on some aspect or other, then turn our thoughts to the need for post-session food.  We always agree on one thing at least…Jaffa Cakes are pretty much an essential for the journey home from the track!

RELATED: The joy of racing team relays

Fionnuala Ross features in the ‘Fast 10: class of 2019’ and over the course of the year will share her running journey. You can follow Fionnuala on Twitter and Instagram, while further information about the ‘class of 2019’ can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post The proof of the pudding is in the eating appeared first on Fast Running.

In athletics, the mention of relays conjures up images of chaotic changeovers and dropped batons, anchor leg runners standing with their hands on their hips awaiting a baton which will never arrive, or Usain Bolt eating up a deficit in the home straight before gliding effortlessly through the line to claim another gold medal in front of a packed stadium.

Yip, 4 x 100m or 4 x 400m on the track can be full of drama and can produce some wildly exciting racing.

But dig a little deeper and you’ll soon find there’s more to relay running than these crowd pleasers.

With the recent inclusion of mixed relays in global cross country events, DMRs (distance medley relays) at world track events and the continuing Japanese tradition of Ekiden road relays, it could be said that the profile of relay running in general terms has never been higher.

Throw runners of differing abilities into the same team and the potential for exciting racing and changes of placings throughout a race increases no end!

However, personally, until recently my own exposure to any sort of relay event had been limited. Through my younger years relay running never really formed a part of my racing calendar, while during my university years in the US, my focus remained very much on individual events (although the overall team element of various meets was clear to see).

In truth, the first relay event I recall being a part of came about within weeks of arriving in Scotland for my final year of study to complete my Masters degree at Glasgow University back in 2013.

Scottish relay running

At this stage, it’s probably worth pausing to give a bit of historical context on Scottish relay running. It’s become apparent to me that the tradition for relay running in Scotland, particularly on the roads, stretches back a long way with countless events filling the autumn and winter race calendars back in the day (or so I’m reliably informed!).

Photo: Bobby Gavin

With the increase in vehicles on traditional race routes most of these events have, to the despair of many a Scottish runner, fallen by the wayside, mired in health and safety issues, risk assessments and increased policing costs.

The Daddy of them all in these parts was the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay (or the E to G as it was known), an eight stage race between the country’s two biggest cities which took place from 1930 through to 2002. If you’ve got the inclination, a trawl through the online archives of the race will throw up the names of some of Scotland’s greatest distance runners.

It was in preparation and hopeful qualification for the E to G (usually run in April) that many road relays sprang up, used as testing grounds for clubs to piece together their strongest teams through the winter months for an assault on ‘the big one’.

My relay beginning

But getting back to me (!!!), it was one of these ‘traditional’ relay races I found myself a part of back in 2013, the McAndrew Relay, courtesy of an invite to my home club, Armagh AC.

Without going into too much detail, it didn’t seem like too much fun at the time running the hilly course on tired legs, coming as it did six days after my marathon debut!

If memory serves me right, I ran an ok time in the circumstances with our Armagh team coming in a few places behind a Glasgow University team containing an emerging Laura Muir and a couple of my, as yet unknown, future Scottish clubmates (note to self… should have pushed for a place on that team with Laura as I’d just started studying there).

That was it. I’d done the relay thing. Until a couple of years later…

This time round, having joined Shettleston Harriers in Glasgow, I found myself on the opening leg of the 2015 Scottish National Cross Country Relay Championships. A change of surface, but another very traditional Scottish event and part of the early season cross country calendar which encompasses regional and district races, all of which I’d bypassed.

In the event, once again a speedy Miss Muir disappeared off into the (middle) distance as I tried desperately to hang onto her coat tails. Still, this race seemed a much more enjoyable wee outing on my favourite sort of terrain.

And then… nothing. Three years passed and not a single relay. The bug hadn’t yet bitten.

But it soon would

Fast forward to late 2018 and I found myself standing under a dripping wet gazebo actually looking forward to running the first leg in the West District Cross Country Relay Championships in a soggy Irvine on the Clyde Coast.

Suddenly it never seemed to matter that the rain was pouring down. Or that the course was super hilly and ran up and down sand dunes. I was going to run my heart out for my team! The friends/clubmates I was running with were relying on me to set them up for a high finishing position and I felt ready to take on the responsibility.

Running is a pretty selfish sport and most of the time I’m happy to admit I’m doing it for myself only, racing to finish as high in a race as I possibly can (though in individual events, placings are obviously important in terms of the count for team standings).

But in relay races, the focus shifts. Your team are depending on you and you on them. If you crash and burn or don’t finish, they crash and burn or don’t finish! It’s an added pressure, but, as I’ve now discovered, an enjoyable one.

I ran a lonely first leg out ahead of the rest of the field that day which did give me that personal ‘leading the race’ sort of buzz, but I also found a surprising (to me) sense of pride in how hard I’d worked to benefit my team, not just me. We medalled and the bug had bitten!

In recent months, in between the odd cold and niggle, I’ve found myself part of the Shettleston team at a couple more relay races. The first of these was the Allan Scally Relay, one of the few remaining ‘traditional’ road relays, a race organised by Shettleston Harriers which was in danger of joining the growing list of road relays consigned to the archives just a few short years ago.

After changing home a couple of times, it’s now run over a more traffic-friendly, health and safety-conscious course than before, but the vital ingredient of relay racing remains. You get out there and give your all for your mates!

Thankfully, in this one they’d given their all for me, and as the last leg runner, I was given a nice lead to carry through to the finish line, with a palpable sense of home club pride coursing through all of us as we took the win!

A few short weeks later and the race situation was completely different as I anchored our team at the Scottish National Road Relay Championships on a challenging, hilly course while buffeted by strong winds throughout.

In the absence of the E to G mentioned earlier, this race is now at the top of the relay tree North of the border (though some may disagree!).

In the race itself, setting off in fifth position with a pretty big deficit to make up on the girls ahead of me, I managed to run a decent leg and haul us up into the medals, eventually taking silver behind a strong Central AC team.

Again, the sense of personal satisfaction at how I’d run was more than matched by the feeling that we’d performed well as a team and had each put all we had on the line for each other (I was particularly impressed to find out that, running aside, one of my teammates had driven for three hours to get to the race to run her 20 minute leg, before driving another three hours home afterwards!).

I kind of get them now

I suppose what I’m maybe saying in a roundabout way is that where relay events were previously a bit of a mystery to me I think I kind of get them now! Although I’ll always be a running individual in the strictest sense of the word, I now fully understand what being an integral part of a relay team means.

With club relay events like the ones I’ve raced in being a constituent part of the running fabric up here, it’s great to see them all being supported in big – often record – numbers, in line with the positive growth in competitive race participation overall in Scotland.

These relay events are part of the rich tradition and lifeblood of Scottish running (and still form a significant part of the calendar elsewhere in the UK and Ireland) and need supported and valued, bringing as they do a heightened sense of camaraderie often missing in some elements of our sport.

If someone like me who often runs with blinkers on – even when with others – can discover a ‘new’, exciting and enjoyable strand to the sport, who’s to say you can’t do the same?

I’m sure many of you reading this already get the sort of enjoyment I’m banging on about but, if not, take one for the team!

Fionnuala Ross features in the ‘Fast 10: class of 2019’ and over the course of the year will share her running journey. You can follow Fionnuala on Twitter and Instagram, while further information about the ‘class of 2019’ can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post Taking one for the team appeared first on Fast Running.

Just a few weeks ago, I outlined my targets and goals for 2019. One of these was to remain injury free. Now I’m not particularly superstitious but I couldn’t help feeling I’d somehow jinxed myself as I picked up a hamstring niggle almost immediately afterwards which meant I started the year having difficulty walking never mind running!

After some decent Autumn outings over the mud and a trip to the European Cross Country Championships in December, it was frustrating to get a setback as I had a couple more planned races which I had hoped to focus on.

In the end, common sense prevailed and a swift reassessment of my training and racing plans was needed. Soft ground was aggravating the hamstring more than tarmac, so an early line had to be drawn under my cross country season and the focus had to shift while I rehabbed the leg.

It was time to reacquaint myself with an old friend, the elliptical trainer to complement the road running I was doing and to try to replicate some sessions and longer runs (shorter runs were manageable, but longer or harder stuff was challenging).

As a runner, it’s never easy accepting you need a little time off from running, but the box set of Gilmore Girls eased the pain and helped pass the hours away as I did my best to maintain fitness and work at getting the hamstring up to full strength again.

Luckily, the rehab seemed to produce pretty quick results, and within a couple of weeks, I was back to increasing the mileage on the roads and reducing the time on the elliptical.

Although specific speedwork was a bit lacking during the time I was driving myself nuts in the gym, I knew I was retaining and maybe even building strength. Also, looming on the horizon was one of my favourite events of this or any other year, the Armagh 3k Road Race.

Now anyone that knows me as a runner will be well aware that a 3k road race is at the very bottom end of my distance range (my boyfriend Scott says he’d love to watch me in a 1500m race on the track, but I know he’s a big fan of comedy!).

So 3k really gets me out of my comfort zone! But the Armagh International Road Races have so much more going for them, and the women’s 3k is a race I cannot miss if at all possible.

A race everyone should experience

Hosted by my home club Armagh AC, the whole evening is a truly memorable event and one every runner should experience, be it as a spectator or as a runner, though it does remain widely unheralded in the non-athletics press.

Proceedings kick off with a fast and frenetic timetable of junior races, leading into the international races in which women compete over 3k and the men over 5k (to get into the men’s 5k, men need to have previously broken 16 minutes for the distance, so the standard is high!). The night is rounded off with an open men’s 3k race.

There’s something massively appealing about racing under lights on a closed road course. The races use a lap of just over 1k round The Mall, the square slap-bang in the middle of Armagh and the setting really is dramatic.

Photo: Keith McClure

Booming commentary, loud music and an expectant crowd of spectators leaning over the barriers and yelling their encouragement every time you pass gives an adrenaline rush like little else! With a fast course, a seriously stacked field and unbelievable local support, the atmosphere is better than any other road race I’ve been to.

Perhaps as a local runner, I’m in the lucky position that I seem to benefit from even greater support than the other girls alongside me, but I’ll take whatever help I can get when I’m toeing the line against major championship medallists.

On the night, conditions seemed pretty perfect with almost no wind so I knew I was going to be part of a great race!

Bearing in mind my lack of relevant speedwork in recent weeks, my tactics for this particular race were pretty simple… get out as quick as I could, try to hang onto the lead pack for as long as possible, and then see if I had anything left for the oh-so-long finish straight.

It was over in a blur. I managed the getting out quick bit, hung on as long as I could, then gritted my teeth to the finish line, crossing it just one second outside my PB and leading the Northern Ireland team home. All things considered, I’m marking that down as a success.

And for the record, the event was a huge success for the organisers as well, with 49 women breaking 10 minutes for the 3K and 113 men running sub-15 minutes for the 5K, cementing the status of the races as among the fastest around.

With much of my racing done in Scotland where I’m based, it does give me a huge sense of pride in returning home from time to time and pulling on an Irish, a Northern Irish or an Armagh vest.

In this instance, with the Armagh races being so close to home and with the event organisation pulling together so many friends, and family, I really do feel a part of this one. It seems to have been a part of my running ‘career’ for a long time.

After the race it was great to spend a few relaxing days at home with my family, getting some more runs done, revisiting the North Coast after a while away, and fuelling up with some good old home cooking (who doesn’t enjoy a roast dinner cooked by their Mum?).

But for now, it’s back to Glasgow and onto the next chapter. It’s time to start searching for some speed as track season comes ever closer.

Fionnuala Ross features in the ‘Fast 10: class of 2019’ and over the course of the year will share her running journey. You can follow Fionnuala on Twitter and Instagram, while further information about the ‘class of 2019’ can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post “A truly memorable event & one every runner should experience” appeared first on Fast Running.

Glasgow based Fionnuala Ross returned to the track last year and won Scottish 10,000m gold before competing for Ireland at the European 10,000m Cup. The Northern Ireland native is no stranger to Scottish titles and has won two half marathon crowns as well as four consecutive 10k road titles.

In 2018, Ross also won the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k and claimed bronze at the Irish Cross Country Championships.

Among her goals this year, the 28 year-old aims to run a sub 74:00 half marathon before having another crack at the marathon.

Profile

Name: Fionnuala Ross
Age (Jan 2019): 28
Hometown: Aghagallon
Club: Armagh AC / Shettleston Harriers
Main disciplines: Cross country, 10k road, Half marathon
Other disciplines: 5000m, 10,000m and marathon
Full-time athlete/work/studying: Full-time work as a health adviser

Goals or targets for 2019

1) To run sub 74 minutes for the half marathon
2) Try another marathon
3) Have a healthy balance between running, work and life
4) Stay injury free
5) Race at the Night of 10,000m PBs at Highgate

Running highlights

1) 2017 – Getting my first senior Irish vest at the European Cross Country Championships
2) 2018 – Winning the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k
3) 2018 – Running in the European 10,000m Cup, which was incorporated into the Highgate Harriers Night of 10,000m PBs

Personal bests

1) 10k: 33:30
2) Half marathon: 74:11
3) 10,000m: 33:49
4) Marathon: 2:48:44

Interesting or fun facts

I wanted to become a vet until I realised I was terrified of dogs and most other four legged animals.

I run because…

I run because I love it! I’ve been running since I was 11 or 12 years old and can’t imagine a time without it. It has brought me so many friendships, opportunities, and the chance to travel.

Favourite training session

Anything involving mud and grass, but definitely longer reps over shorter ones.

Least favourite training session

20 x 400m. I made a return to the track in 2018 and I forgot the different type of pain a session like that brings.

Favourite pre-race food

Carbs of any description, but usually a pizza.

Favourite post-race food

Chocolate, it might not be the ideal recovery food, but it’s a must and is even better accompanied with a glass of red wine.

Favourite runner or runners

There are too many and it changes daily. I think most Irish runners, myself included, are inspired by Fionnuala McCormack.

My first Irish senior vest was at the same time she became the most capped Irish female athlete. She gave a passionate speech without scaring the life out of us the night before we were set to race.

RELATED: Fionnuala Ross on training and work-running balance

Fionnuala Ross features in the ‘Fast 10: class of 2019’ and over the course of the year will share her running journey. You can follow Fionnuala on Twitter and Instagram, while further information about the ‘class of 2019’ can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post Fast 10: Fionnuala Ross appeared first on Fast Running.