Friday Spotlight: Jangle_Bo_Jingles
It's Friday! That means another notch on the Spotlight belt has to be made. This week we shed some light on a familiar name that comes and goes as he pleases. One of those users I've always been curious about because his username has always been entertaining to me. So get ready folks because we're going in. Readers, I present to you... u/Jangle_Bo_Jingles!
Let's roll...
###The Runner:
First Name?
Andy
Age?
41
Where are you from?
Originally Cheshire, I now live in East Yorkshire, England
Occupation?
I work as a data analyst at a local University
###The Running Q&A's:
What are your PR’s?
1 mile = 7:07
5k = 23:07
10k = 49:27
Half = 1:48:49
What is your distance PR?
15 mi
What’s your highest recorded weekly mileage?
Strava says 40.8 mi
What’s your comfy pace?
I happily plod along without a care in the world at around 9:45 - 10:00/mi
How long have you been running?
I've been running regularly since April last year - and ‘irregularly’ for about another six months before that.
Tell us why you began running?
I started running when I was 39. It was probably a mixture of the realization that I sat in front of a computer 7 hours a day, the fact that I need to ‘offset’ my love of beer, and a desire to try and instill some kind of enthusiasm for physical exercise into my children (although that doesn’t seem to have happened – lazy bleeders!!)
I finished the C25K on my 40th birthday, and have just carried on from there. I run 5 times a week, and average about 30 miles.
Most memorable running moment?
The most surreal moment was the time I was running down a long, dark, deserted street at midnight on a Friday night when this came by in the opposite direction, pulled by 2 white horses. It was just so completely unexpected that I felt like I was dreaming. As it went past, the driver, dresses in a white suit, tipped his top hat at me.
Oh, and I once found £20 on the street during a long run – BEST.RUN.EVER!!!1!! :D
Do you have a running mantra?
“Run your own race” – which I think is also a fine manta for life.
What time of day do you prefer to run?
I tend to run between 6pm and 8pm, in between getting home from work and before dinner. If that doesn’t work out I’ll sometimes go out late, say 10 or 11pm. I’m lucky that I can run round a residential area in the middle of the night without really having to worry about my safety.
I'm slowly realizing that if I want to get the serious miles in I’m going to have to get my arse out of bed early and go before work :(
Any big races coming up?
I am running a 7 mile relay section in the local Marathon in a few weeks. I’m doing the section that crosses the Humber Bridge and back – which will be fun. After that I have a small local 10k in October. It’s basically 3 miles up a hill, round a duck pond, then 3 miles back down the hill. It was my first ever race last year, and I’m hoping to knock 7 or 8 minutes off last years’ time. The prize for running it is a mug! :)
What are your short-term running goals?
I really enjoy the structure of following a training schedule. I plan to start one of the schedules in Matt Fitzgerald‘s 80:20 book once I’ve finished the 10k – mainly to keep myself motivated. I also like the idea of trying some of the different medium/high intensity workouts in there. After that, I want to train for a sub 1:45 (or better) HM in the new year.
Alongside all this, I think I can easily knock those rogue 7 seconds off my 1 mile and 5k times before the end of the year;)
What are your long-term running goals?
After being beaten by loads of 60 year olds at a Half Marathon last weekend, I think running for another 25 years would be a fine long term goal!
I would also like to run some longer events – Although running a 50K+ seems much more appealing than running a marathon. If I ran a marathon I would feel like I HAD to do it in X:XX:XX time – whereas if I ran an ultra I feel I could just plod through the countryside eating pop and crisps all day :)
Bucket List time - I would also love to run in some of the American National Parks or on some of the big trails.
What’s one piece of running advice you’d give to the younger version of yourself?
Stop smoking, start running – it’s a bit rubbish at first, but then you’ll like it!
But then don’t start drinking more to make up for the not smoking.
Oh, and run to the shop on 2th September 2016 and buy a lottery ticket with these numbers - 8, 16, 32, 40, 50, 2, 11.
What is something you need to work on to become a better runner?
Gosh – hundreds of things! Most of them are probably more lifestyle things that could be easily fixed if I want to - like going to bed early, cutting down on the booze, losing a bit of weight etc.
Running specific - I should probably do more core/strength exercises, and maybe some more ‘high intensity’ workouts.
I would really like to get my mileage up to 50 mpw, but realistically, with family and work commitments, I'do struggle to find the time.
What is your current shoe choice?
Asics Gel Cumulus. I went to a running shop when I first started out, and that’s what they sold me. I’m on my forth pair now. I’m sure they’re not the greatest running shoe in the world but they’ve never rubbed, pinched, hurt, or split on me. I’m very much a creature of habit and can’t really think of a good enough reason to try anything different.
On the down side, I only seem to be able to get about 400-420 miles out them before I can feel it in my old man knees – but I can pick them up cheaply from Amazon, so it isn’t that bad. (The shoes that is, not young man knees – if only!)
Trail? Road? Track? Or Treadmill?
Nearly all of my miles are on pavements. There are a few little footpaths around, but I live in pretty much in the middle of a city. I really enjoy running in the countryside and try to get out for a run if we go away anywhere.
I’ve only ever ran on a treadmill three times in my life. A few months ago I took part in a study at work on the accuracy of the HR monitors in Apple iWatches. Basically I had to walk, then jog, then run on a treadmill while wired into a huge ECG/EKG machine, wearing a POLAR HR Belt, and wearing a TWO iWatches (one on each wrist) – all at the same time. I spent longer having everything attached/unattached than I did running.
Incidentally, the guys who were running the tests said that the HRM on the iWatch is pretty accurate – it just isn’t very good at distinguishing between the different types/levels of activity.
What is your ideal running weather?
I see people on here and feel incredibly lucky to live in a climate where I can pretty much go running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without the weather really being an issue. I’m almost embarrassed to tell you that the hottest day of the year was 27C (80F), and the coldest was -2C (26F)
The worst I have to put up with is rain – but that doesn’t really bother me. (I tell my kids that I run between the rain drops!) I would love to have a proper waterproof running jacket at some point, but I’m not sure how waterproof, or comfortable they are??
Do you have any social media accounts you’d like to share? [Facebook, Strava, Twitter]
I love Strava. Love it! I love seeing the streak runners, the trail runners, the city runners, the superheroes, everyone! - All getting out there, day in day out. I love seeing people’s routes, their photos, their segments, their PBs - I find it all incredibly inspiring. Follow me and I’ll follow you back, and I will give you kudos! (Apart from if you post ‘20 minutes Foam Rolling’ – yes, you know who you are!! - damn the number of times I’ve given you kudos by accident!)
Anyway, here I am - https://www.strava.com/athletes/9761514
Cyclist can fuck off though! ;)
###Just For Fun:
What’s your spirit animal?
The Platypus – they’re a bit of everything, and seem to be pretty cool about it :)
What hobbies and interests do you have besides running?
I like making (and drinking) beer, and making (and eating) bread. I also like looking at maps. I sometimes look at maps while drinking beer and eating bread, and once made bread out of beer.
Do you have any hidden talents?
I’m pretty good at starting fires. (In an outdoorsy/campfire way, rather than in a ‘I’ll-burn-your-house-to-the-ground-for-the-insurance-money’ kind of way)
Biggest pet peeve?
Lateness.
Dream job! What would it be?
Yoda
Favourite Quote or Poem?
I tried to look for something running specific. The best I could find is about shorts…. “Shorts over 6” are capri pants. Shorts under 6” are European.” – Ron Swanson
What is your biggest character flaw?
My wife says I’m grumpy.
…and she’s also just said that I’m an idiot!
What songs have you been listening to recently?
I used to be a huge music fan, but I rarely seem to get the opportunity to listen to it these days. I used to listen to music in the car, but my children are now at the age where it’s constant arguments about what we listen to. My kids have grown up in a completely digital/youtube/on-demand world, and really can’t get their heads round how radio works! Its both equally hilarious and annoying.
Most of our car journeys consist of…
-“Can you put xxxxxxx song on Dad?”
-“No, I honestly can not!”
-“Why not? We heard it in the car yesterday?”
-“That’s not how radio works. The man who’s talking choses the songs, not you”
-“Can you rewind this one back to the beginning then? “
–“No”
-“Can you pause it?”
–“No”
-“This car is RUBBISH!”
At which point I normally turn the radio off
These days I listen to bands like Midlake, The National, Pavement, or Postal Service/Death Cab for cutie. Is there a descriptive category for this? “Dad Alt”?
I also listen to some of the playlists on Spotify. I know this is such an old man thing to say but I really couldn’t tell you the names of anyone on there!!
Running - I either listen to some running playlists on Spotify, or Ten Junk Miles, or I’ll just do without and try and stop my feet from slapping the pavement too hard ;)
What are some of your favourite non-running subreddits?
/r/outoftheloop
/r/breadit
/r/excel - Fuck you with your INDEX/MATCH! - im VLOOKUP 4 life!!
/r/dataisbeautiful
/r/BritishProblems
###One Last Question:
What is the origin of your username?
The name comes from a ‘Most Wanted’ pest control poster from the TV show Parks and Recreation.
Jangle Bo Jingles was a Feral Cat - the name just made me giggle
Big thanks to Jangle Bo Jingles for taking the time out of his day to respond to my questions and get them formatted for me. We've had a pretty good streak of Spotlight Athletes making my job easier. Now I can sleep at night knowing just where his user name came from and the image of that cat's face on the wanted poster will forever make me giggle too. I'll have to keep his username in mind if I ... ever need a fire started as well. Great Spotlight u/Jangle_Bo_Jingles!
####Thanks for reading everyone!!!
#As usual please tag u/Jangle_Bo_Jingles's username when asking him a question in this thread!
If you don't the running Gods will give you incurable shin splints for the rest of your life and you'll die a sad lonely wanna-be hobbyjogger.
If I see that you've failed to tag him after asking him a question, I'll try my best to respond to your question by tagging him myself. So be aware. Tagging his username alerts him that his attention is needed. This way, he doesn't have to sift through all of the comments one by one, which can be a rather daunting task when there is a lot of traffic to the thread. Please don't forget that all of our Friday Spotlight athletes may need time to respond to your comments and questions so give them some time to reply.
Previously Featured Spotlight Runners:
Posted Sep 9, 2016, 12:18 PM UTC