Before I dive into those first 2 races, I’m just going to make an observation about some the memories I will be sharing over the next few months, maybe even years of this blog series. I started my running when camera phones were taking off, but selfies weren’t a thing yet as the cameras were very basic. Although at the time they were the dogs you know what!! So, I don’t have a lot of photos from races I did from 2006 through to 2013. I have a load from 2014 onwards though as like most people I’d politely ask someone to take a photo for me! And as runners and their friends are very good people, they would. The one thing I’ve noticed, and I would love to know if other runners who have been doing races for a number of years have found this as well; is that I have a few very clear memories of every race I’ve done. Not every run! That would be an exceptional bit of memory skill. But I can look at the list of races I have done and there will be a few things that stand out about them.
An example or two for you. My first ever race, the GNR 2006, I clearly remember while it was pouring with rain, running past Carol Vorderman and the then Countdown team. More on this later. I remember the pain in my knee at my first London marathon in 2007. Pain was a very regular feature in my first 6 or 7 years! I remember getting a high five from Steve Cram at the Worcester 10K as I sprinted to the finish in 2017! I remember seeing friends cheer me on at various GNR’s over the years. I remember running behind a couple dressed as Smurfs at the Robin Hood marathon in 2014, another painful race.
The point here is that I have found that running has had an incredibly positive effect on my mind, my ability to concentrate and remember things. It’s really helped me with my memory and being able to recall bits of conversations and experiences before, during or after a race. I’m sure that many others have found this. So, the memories I’m sharing are things that are pretty clear in my head!
So, if you were paying attention last week, you’ll remember I used to cheat at school when it came to running! I loved and still love watching Athletics but had no interest in running per se. Doing the GNR was something I’d thought about at university but never went for it. Running was something I did when my weight got too much, as it often did.
So, 2005. Like every year, I was watching the London marathon. Martin Lel won the men’s race and Paula Radcliffe won the ladies race. This year I did something different. Normally when most of the elite runners had finished, I would switch off. This time with nothing else to do I carried on watching all the everyday people running, most for good causes. I was going to use the term ordinary runners or fun runners but neither term to me seems appropriate. The former does a disservice to anyone who takes on a marathon. It’s an extraordinary thing to do. And let’s be honest as a marathon runner I might find 5K or 10K a fun run but who finds a marathon a fun run!!??
So suitably inspired, the details came up about how to enter the ballot. At this point I’ll again remind you dear reader that I did no running at this time of my life! I was 29 and apart from a couple of games of football a week I didn’t do much exercise. I had no running friends, or at least none that I knew of. Anyhow the details were quite clear. The following day and only for that day up to 5pm, you could enter the ballot for the 2006 marathon. I like to think I’m quite a sensible person who plans things out but when I want to be I can be very impulsive. And when it comes to running and big challenges, the more impulsive I get! So, the next day, I entered the ballot. These were the days when Flora were the main sponsors and 4 failed ballot attempts meant you got a place on the 5th go.
Ballot entered, the sensible approach would have been to think positive and start doing some training on the basis that if I did get a place, I’d have got into running. Nope. Not me back then. I decided it was better to wait until October to see if I got a place and then start running. So October eventually came and a letter came through the door and the letter I had said that I had been unsuccessful. Oh well, there was always next year was my initial thought. However the magazine gave a list of charities you could run for. So, for whatever reason I applied for a Gold Bond place with Oxfam assuring them I could raise the £2500. So not only was I not a runner of any type at this point, but I was also blagging them about my fundraising abilities. Of which I had no experience! Two weeks later they offered me a place on their team, I did the registration, and I was officially running the 2006 London marathon!
Time to start training? Nope not me. I was sent a 16-week training plan, so I was going to wait until December to start my training! I did in the meantime start doing some treadmill running in November and then I did do a few miles in December, but not quite to the training plan! I was also using a normal pair of trainers. Another of example of just how naïve my initial approach into running was. This lack of awareness about running shoes would be a major reason for the pain of that first full marathon.
The eagle-eyed amongst you and those who read last weeks blog will know that my first London marathon was in fact in 2007 and not 2006. So, what happened? Did I come to my senses and defer? Did I not bother turning up? Well, I did defer the place but not because I came to my senses. A broken wrist put paid to my plans. January 2006, on a Sunday I’m playing 7-a-side football, like I did most Sundays at that time. I slip on the Astro turf and the player I’m trying to tackle falls onto me. I noticed a pain in my right hand/wrist. It’s really cold so I don’t pay much attention. I go in goal, save a shot and Oh my word, the pain! As soon as we finished playing, I went to A&E die to the swelling and unnatural colour of my wrist! I’d broken a bone. And because I’d carried on playing and gone into goal, they had to put pins in my wrist to make sure it healed properly before putting my hand and lower arm into plaster. No running for 6 weeks I was told! This would take me into March. I was barely training even though I should have been. So, I finally did something sensible. I deferred my charity place for the allowed one year.
Once the wrist was OK again towards the end of March, did I start running with a year to prepare? Er, no. Or not quite. In May decided that maybe I should try a half marathon before I eventually did London to practice pacing, fueling etc. This came about after I started reading Runners World magazine. Still no running friends so this was my source of knowledge. In May I saw a feature from a charity called Get Kids Going who had places for the Great North Run (GNR) that year. So, I asked for a place, agreed to raise the minimum of £350 and voila, my first race was now going to the GNR, a race I had grew up watching. So, I followed a training plan from July through to race day. We went to Canada that year, I walked into a sports shop and asked to look at running shoes. I didn’t do a gait analysis. I went for a brand I favoured. I was bought up on Adidas Sambas and Gazelles, so I went for a pair of Adidas running shoes. Yes, really. That was how simple I kept it. Like brand, buy brand, don’t test them out.
I won’t bore you with my training suffice to say I settled for a pace of 12-minute miles as my target. Did I achieve it? Read on. So, race day. I mentioned earlier the vivid memories I have of every race I have done. I still have family in the northeast, so accommodation isn’t an issue. I remember being a bundle of nerves at the start. It was overcast and expected to rain. I looked around and felt quite overwhelmed. Everyone seemed much better prepared than me, better kitted out, calmer etc. A lot of people had their names or nicknames on their running tops. I didn’t, as I didn’t realise it was a thing. I remember doing the warmup, led by Mr Motivator. All the stretches, all the warmups. In the early days I was extremely focused on all this. Now, not so much. The race starts and we’re….. not moving. 30 minutes later I crossed the start line and fell in behind another runner who said they were aiming for 2 hrs 30. I knew my target time was 2 hrs. 37 and bit so I kept this person in sight but lost them on the Tyne Bridge. I remember crossing the Bridge and Red Arrows did a fly over. I remember the heavens opening at mile 4. As we went uphill towards Heworth roundabout, the rain lashing down, I ran past Carol Vorderman and the then Countdown team, including Susie Dent and Richard Dignance. They were walking for Whitely. Richard Whitely, the original Countdown presenter who passed away in 2005. They were walking for Marie Curie and all wearing blazers of the type he wore. They were soaked like all of us but smiling to everyone that acknowledge them. After that all I remember is the last mile, the wall of sound, the red arrows and crossing the line with a big grin on my face. I’d done it! I had completed my first half marathon following a training plan I had and only had to walk some of it? My time. 2 hrs. 40 mins and 3 seconds. I was not far off the 12-minute mile pace I wanted to average. I was chuffed. I’m not going to lie. It felt good, despite the 2 downpours we had and the course being more uphill than any of my training runs. At this time, I was relying on good old Casio watch to time my runs. On training runs I was guessing the distance!
The only minor issue was that this was the days where charities provided cotton T-shirts for runners, not the technical type. Yes, you’ve guessed it. Chafing! The Get Kids Going logo is purple. I looked down at my soaking wet T and thought the colour had ran. Nope. It was blood. Apologies if you’re squeamish! So, another valuable lesson learnt. I needed to cover my nipple for longer runs!! And those Adidas trainers. No issues whatsoever. Training in them was fine and running 13.1 miles in them was fine. I’d learn the hard way that I’d been lucky upto this point.
The third positive was of course raising the money I’d pledged for the charity. So, with 7 months to go to London marathon 2007 I’d shown I could train for a run and do it to the planned pace, raise money for charity and in a way, it hadn’t put me off. So, running a half first had worked out well. That broken wrist turned out to be a blessing. Or had it? Surely, I now knew that running was a good habit to have? Well, I did. However I stopped running after the GNR. My plan was to start training in December for London. I did a bit of treadmill running as I thought that would keep me ticking over. Went back to playing football and then come December I put off training for 1 more month and started in January 2007.
Now I’ve wrote a lot more than I expected to get to this point. Bit like my running. My 7 or 8 mile runs often become half marathons. So I’m going to leave it here for this week! That gives me a chance to talk about my first London marathon experience in more depth.
You can see I was naïve when I got into running. I got through the GNR with luck mainly and that maybe fueled what I can only describe as over confidence in preparing and running that first full. And no proper investment in a running watch or trainers. I learnt everything the hard way, the painful way. But I like to think those tough times gave me the steel and determination to never quit a race. To dig in, persevere and keep going. Go get that bling! Not so much the T-shirts.
I have started a new page on the website where I’ll add the races as I touch upon them. I was in 2 minds about adding my times, but they are on there. They are a useful way for me and others to see the progress made. And most crucially, when I eventually get to 2014 and the Manchester marathon the difference in times will be a reflection of what happens when I did put the work in.
Usingh Bolt - Endurance Runner 