Gladstone

Yeah - got to admire Deschamps there I reckon. Having the balls to not only leave out a Very good individual player but also having the balls to say exactly why. It's a team game. Can't also help but think of past England squads and Sven absolutely insisting on playing Lampard and Gerrard all the time and sometimes having to push Gerrard out of position. He'd have been better to just pick whichever one he thought would be the most effective in that game (at the time, probably Lampard).

Aim to still be pished so that you don't know how much it hurts at the time. Suffer later.

I'm excited for Baker Hughes 10k... Really looking forward to it! Is this right, for everyone on here...? Chris - target - sub 50 Scootray - target sub 50 (?) Moose - target sub 45 Scorge - target 62/63 (possibly sub 60)Gladstone - target - sub 40 Anyone I've missed? It's a bit early, but I'm a tad bored today and it's pretty much all I can think about right now... but yeah, massive good luck to everyone running!

You are allowed to like whatever music you want to like. There are no fucking rules in this.

It's also weird that one of the most shown clips is one of him missing an open goal. Fantastic, outrageous dummy on the keeper, but he didn't actually score!

Aye, that's true. '66 was the year that Pele got injured early on and they went out in the first (?) round. EDIT: This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup shows you that Italy also did it in '34 and '38.

Ditch the foundation nonsense in favour of National Service, surely...? [calm down, I'm kidding]

Learn to walk on your hands.

I hope Hodgson does go for something a bit more attacking / exciting like that, but I'd be surprised if England aren't the same, predictable, cagey, defensive team that we've seen in every tournament of the past 20 years or so.

Maybe - but I just can't imagine Hodgson being bold enough to start two forwards, and I think he'll start with Rooney up top. The team I listed isn't the team I think should play - just the team I think probably will play. We'll see... I have always been pretty underwhelmed by the team that actually gets picked to represent England at tournaments and I don't see it being any different this time, especially with a tough group to try and pick up points.

My guess would be: Hart, Johnson, Baines, Cahill, Jagielka, Milner, Gerrard, Henderson, Wilshere, Ox [or Sterling], Rooney. 4-5-1, Johnson on the right, Baines on the left. Milner RM, Ox LM, Gerrard, Henderson with Wilshere between them and Rooney.

Don't pretend you don't know what I mean. A player declaring that they are retiring from international football whilst still playing at the top level in domestic football (or still playing at any level) just seems weird to me. I'm a believer that players should be proud to represent their country and be available for selection if and when required. In Cole's case, this is the first time he's not been selected for a squad in probably about 12+ years and that's him retired. He's third choice at left back for England, an injury or suspension or two and he'd be right back in there, representing his country again. It's a romantic sort of notion, but I would just like to see international managers having the final say as to who plays in their side and who doesn't. It doesn't really seem to be the case here, but more often than not, it seems to be a case of sour grapes. Guys like Commons, Boyd, Ferdinand, etc. announcing that they are no longer available for selection because they get fed up of not getting picked. It's their careers / lives and they can do what they want, but I think it just goes to show that so many at the top level aren't in it for the love of the game.

I'm pretty sure you'll be able to cover the marathon distance by May next year with that plan. The collective wisdom does seem to be that marathon should be a much longer term goal but it really depends on what you want to get out of it. I think the majority of people who tick off the marathon do it kind of like you in that they build up to marathon as soon as they can and that's great. Well, the vast majority set out to do something like you are, but then fall way short in the training and don't keep it up and then struggle their way round the marathon. That's kind of what I did. I have no plan to go back to marathon for a long time now that I'm getting into running in a much more serious and structured way. 5k / 10k / Half marathon only for the foreseeable future. The step up from half marathon to marathon is much much harder in my opinion than getting up to half marathon in the first place. I'm sure that is true for most people but in my experience more so because I did bugger all training for the marathon. I was able to blag my way to anything up to about 15/16 miles actually, which led me down the path of thinking I could blag the marathon. I don't think there would be many out there who could blag the marathon distance. It is a fucking long way to run!! It sounds to me like you've got a much more sensible route though. My only advice would be to try very hard to stick to that plan and build up gradually. But yeah, a year is loads of time to train for a marathon (think of the training you're currently doing as the very early part of your marathon training - it all absolutely, 100%, counts).

Ashley Cole. Retired from international football. I don't get the whole thing about retiring from international football. When I first heard that news, it sounded like sour grapes from Cole for not being selected, but it now seems that him and Hodgson have spoken it through etc. It just seems weird though - at the moment he appears to be third choice left back - what if Baines and Shaw get injured? Surely, he could leave himself available for selection and help out his country (and be honoured to do so) if they need him? I heard this morning that he has 107 caps - 106 starts. Not bad.

It seems to get earlier and earlier. 3rd July!! I'm sure football seasons never started until August when I was a kid. Or did I just not notice the Euro qualifying matches going on in July when I was a kid?

Everyone buzzing for Baker Hughes...?

I do agree with you, but it's still hard to take, given that there was no chance to rectify it. Last kick of the season. I'm sure there are other decisions that went in favour of Aberdeen or against Motherwell over the course of the season that you can point to, but when it's at such a crucial stage in such a crucial game, it is magnified hugely. It was hard to take with the way the two teams played as well. Motherwell never looked like scoring with their two banks of 5 for the vast majority of the game (until McFadden came on, and then they still didn't look like opening up and scoring). They had one snapshot in the first half that Langfield dealt with easily. Motherwell set out to stop Aberdeen which they did well, but then it wasn't just a smash'n'grab counter attack, it was a stick on foul on the keeper that otherwise, Langfield would have caught, punted the ball upfield, 0-0, Aberdeen get second place. But aye, if Aberdeen had won a couple of the games post Cup Final shenanigans, the match wouldn't have been crucial yesterday. McGinn looked so slow yesterday by the way - why won't he have a fucking shot now and again!!?

I still can't believe that Aberdeen got beat yesterday. Goalies get such enormous protection usually that even a hint of a foul is normally given as a free kick. John Sutton barged Langfield and elbowed him in the face and didn't get anywhere near the ball, yet the referee failed to see it as a foul. Unbelievable. The offside Pawlett chance was ridiculous too - at least a yard onside. Such a tough way to lose out on second place after such a great season.

Cheeky 40:18 at Benromach 10k today. Definitely feel like I could pull that below 40 at Baker Hughes. Fingers crossed... Nearly 2 minutes off the PB - well chuffed!

Sounds good. I'm sure you'll crack the 50 minutes this time around.

Agreed.

How you shaping up for Baker Hughes? I've got Benromach 10k on Saturday first - feeling confident about both...

Anyone in need of some inspiration should have a read of this: http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/running/london-marathon-former-165-stone-smoker-steve-way-qualifies-for-commonwealth-games-9265281.html Steve Way was a 16.5 stone, heavy smoker and drinker 6 years ago. He ran the London Marathon in 2:16:xx this year, qualifying for the Commonwealth Games and he just broke the British 100km record. What a guy.

Just eat your stuff cold.

I liked these two sentences being put together. It's like you're assessing the bare metal shiter in some extra detail.