I was made an honorary member of the fast talkers club at the weekend – nothing to do with the my broadcasting style, although anyone who has heard me desperately trying to cram stuff into the show would vote for me as lifetime president of the aforementioned club.
In fact, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Scotland Fast Talkers were a group of runners we kitted out with digital recorders so they could record their reactions as they ran around the streets of the capitol in the Great Edinburgh Run.
We have got some great material which will form an hour long show to go out in the near future. The audio diaries will be posted online so you can listen to those.
Interviews with the runners, and also with race founder Brendan Foster are up already on the .
For the most part, I enjoyed it. For me it combined two things that I am reasonably good at…running and talking. But however good I am at doing each of them individually, trying to do them both at the same time is when the fun begins.
1st kilometre: cocky – this is so easy
2-5k – having fun chatting and still sounding reasonably relaxed
5-7k – struggling to form sentences
8-10k – now panting more than talking and starting to sound like one of those dodgy 0871 phone lines
Despite the difficulties in running and talking at the same time I enjoyed the whole experience - well apart from when it came to my usual pre race routine. When the recorders were handed out they were strapped on to our waists and left running for the duration. Ten minutes before the race a visit to the loo was called for, but to my horror there was no way to switch off the recorder!!!
Someone in the production team is going to have some great material for a blooper tape!