Kevin Tiller

I am feeling really mellow this evening but like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. no tv on, kids in bed, incense on.

listening to some cool stuff.

Looking at my website – this just seems so appropriate – the story of my life.

just about to go out for a run… will report back in an hour or so.

*** goes for a run ***

cool. I went for a run at almost midnight. It was blowing a gale but I went topless & commando and did a 6km loop over bonnie vale beach. I left my shoes at the beach head and went barefoot. I took two 3.5kg dumbbells also and ran thru the surf. At the end I did some exercises, pushups x20, air-punches x100 and went for a quick swim. the water was very warm – warmer than the air I think. Loads of stars and a half moon – so even at midnight it’s easy to see without a torch. It was tough doing pushups as the wind blew sand into my face but I was in the right mood to TAKE IT. I know I am getting fitter. In fact yesterday was the first day off in a couple of weeks and I was soooo pissed off about it. how times change. The previous 2 days I went out for almost 2hrs each day. generally finishing in the dark – mate my eyesight is getting better – must be all those carrots & beetroots I am eating. we also have literally about 200 mandarins at the moment – the greengrocer had boxes of them for $5 so we took 2 boxes. They are ace and even the kids love them.

most people know that coolrunning is really pissing me off at the moment. I guess its not just anyone in particular but there just seems a tribe of people that delight in picking stuff to pieces and there’s like this “us & them” mentality against the moderators. But it’s like a free website and the moderators would love not to do anything, so why are people just continually trying to find the negative and scrutinise every written word for a logical inconsistency etc. why spend so many hours each day doing this? why not spend the time running or trying to make the website better. Maybe they prefer CR rather than jokes of the day.com or something.

I had heard of people leaving CR because of the “bullying” and negativity and didn’t really believe it – but I can now and its horrible. truly I feel like walking away from all those f**kers.

I personally feel the rot started when we allowed the very-offtopic chatter stuff (what’s your favourite biscuit etc). Its got nothing to do with running and is pure noise. then people think they can write any old shit and there is a valid place on CR for it, and all of a sudden there is less signal and more noise. and then people’s posting quality drops as anything that takes longer than 15secs is too long so you get all the sarky one liners and in-jokes.

I think I will vote for more quality, less noise and ban/delete all the offtopic shit, maybe just keep the hijackers thread.

coolrunning is meant to be full of runners not f**king discussions on your favourite biscuit and pros/cons of speed dating. sheesh.

Sean is right, we all need to get a grip.

As this was posted to my old blog on coolrunning, it had these comments attached :

From Spud: Midnight runs, when do you sleep Kev? Noice.
Hey I agree with your sentiments about CR. Ditch all that non-running shit and let’s get back to what we all have in common.
IMO the rot set in when we allowed the hijackers thread.

From crazycatwoman : I hadn’t really noticed till now but on reflection I think you may be right about the off topic stuff.  The first threads I read as a lurker, the ones that really inspired me, were the SMH and other race threads.  Never noticed any negative stuff there. The hijackers thread always had a few hot heads but that was the only one.  I don’t know how you have tolerated the crap for so long Kev, I would have spat the dummy long ago.  I believe that CR plays a huge part in keeping new runners running.  I am sure I would have quit like I did many times before with out CR.  And its not the pats on the back that inspire me, it is the enthusiasm of other runners and the sense of fun and comaraderie (sp) and belonging that comes from being a coolrunner.  This is what you have given to us Kev, and I for one really appreciate it.

From Skat : As a newbie my lurking is always on the running stuff –  races, training tips etc. I’ve seen the hijakers thread, fav biscuits thread etc but have never looked at them because that is not what i am here for. CR is fantastic and full of great running info, inspiration, motivation and people – the other stuff is crap and in my opinion can be scraped

From Colsy : Once we have read and contributed to running threads and start experimenting by ourselves and searching properly there isnt much left to do bar have a poke and a giggle. This does get out of control eventually. I have started many off-topic threads and posted in many more. But my vote is to clamp down on them, get rid of them. How about a new law of no new off-topic threads?

From Shogun : Hi Kev, Haven’t been on CR for a while (not since 12FT) and I can agree that it has gotten worse than ever. I used to enjoy reading all the training and racing threads but it seems there hasn’t been any of real quality in there since everyone started talking in the off topic threads which aren’t worth the bother.  Haven’t done much since 12FT but have enjoyed reading about your running adventures. My family used to have a house on Bundeena Beach where we would spend summers and your blog takes me back. Keep running, writing and dreaming. Free yourself of the CR stress and enjoy life!!!  Cheers, Branden

From sook54 : Good on you for getting out there and running it off. Enjoy your break from the forums. My guess is they will still be there when you feel like coming back