2010 – 1 Half became 2.

Before I dive into 2010, I just want to take a moment to mention that I’ve completed my 49^th official full marathon today.  It was at the Bedford Autodrome and run by Runthrough who put on some great races around the country.  I mention this as at the end of the last blog I wrote about how I’d called it a day as far as marathons were concerned after the 2009 New York marathon.  As many of you know that wasn’t the case!

Anyway, my original plan for 2010 was to run the Birmingham Half only. I could spend most of the year not running and sticking to playing football and a bit of badminton here and there.  Then, 13 weeks before the half I planned to start my training and see if I could better my PB from the previous year’s event.

A solid enough plan and so there isn’t much I can say about the first part of 2010.  Even though I’d sworn off marathons it didn’t stop me entering the ballot for London marathon!  My view was it was the only marathon I’d make an exception for.  I had no plans to go looking for any others whether at home or abroad. 

Now, I’m not sure how it came about.  I’m pretty sure I read a post on Facebook from an old school friend who still lived in the Northeast.  They had an association with a charity called bibic – https://bibic.org.uk/

The below is a quick copy from their website of what they are all about:

“Bibic is a national charity based in Langport, Somerset. It delivers therapeutic programmes to children and young adults aged 6 months to 25 years with developmental and neurological difficulties. bibic sees them with or without diagnosis and supports a wide range of neurological and genetic conditions.”

They mentioned that the charity had a place going in the Great North Run for anyone interested in fundraising for them.  I’d done the GNR in 2006 and never tried to get into it again, but the idea of going at it again really appealed to me.  So, I reached out and managed to get the place adding that I was doing the Birmingham half as well therefore it would be a double header for the charity for me.

So, a bonus race for 2010.  A chance to go home and to do the GNR with a bit more experience in my running feet.

Now I’m not clear about much of either of these 2 races if I’m honest.  These 2 races and the 1 did in 2011; I seem to have a mental block with.  The times I ran for both indicate that neither race went to plan, which I’ll come to.  I’m trying to remember if my training was poor again that year and I’ll be honest it probably was.  At that time, I didn’t really keep any records of my runs.  I had the chunky Garmin Forerunner 305, but I very rarely downloaded any of my runs onto a PC. 

From about 2014 or so I started logging everything in spreadsheets.  I’ve had jobs where data analysis is a key part of the role and keeping a spreadsheet was a natural thing to do.  I also used to write them down in a diary. Yes really!  The diary didn’t contain any writings I kept or anything, although looking back, going all Adrian Mole would have been a benefit for these blogs.  Even with Garmin Connect and Strava I still do those things. 

Anyway, where were we?  Oh yes.  The GNR first. So, like every GNR I have done bar the 2021 version due to the pandemic, I stayed with family when I went up.  It was good to catch up but at this point my tradition of going to see my “number 1 fan, the cakemaker” Rebecca hadn’t started yet.  That would come with my 4^th one, I think.

I remember on race morning getting a lift over the Tyne Bridge from my cousin Minda Singh.  Remember the name, he made possibly the biggest contribution to change in attitude to running.  Without running himself.  However, we’ll come to that when I talk about 2011.  He said 8 words that started something special.  Intrigued?  You’ll just have to wait.

Anyhow.  The T-shirt I had to run in for bibic was a cotton one, not a technical one and having remembered the chafing of that first 2006 GNR I covered the old nips!  From memory there was a little bit of rain in 2010 but not a lot.  Nothing like the absolute downpour we had in 2006.

I should mention as I forgot it last week that I had moved on from that first pair of Saucony running shoes I’d used in 2008 and the first part of 2009.  For Birmingham half and New York in 2009 I had switched to Adidas running trainers.  Probably the Supernova, although I wouldn’t swear to it.  But it started the long association of running in Adidas all the way to the end of 2019.  A number of reasons for ditching them but that is a story for another time.

The first 10k of the race went well.  This is based on me finding the results from 2010 online.  I got to 10K in 73 minutes which would have put me close to my PB but not quite breaking it.  However, it would see me come in under the 2hrs 40 of 2006.  Just going to jump ahead to the finish and mention that my I finished in 2 hrs. 52. So not as slow as Silverstone but given how well I was at 10K the wheels really did fall off.  I do remember walking up the last hill upto the Elvis impersonator! Top man.  To have done the second part, 11k, in 1 hr. 40, there must have been a good deal of walking.

So, yet another run that didn’t go to plan.  This was my 6^th half and only 3 had gone well.  But an important piece of advice was given to me at the end of this race.  It wasn’t the first time I heard it said but it’s something I live by now and sometimes say to other runners.  Another runner saw me looking a bit despondent and I’m not going to lie probably heard me dropping a few F-bombs at myself!  He told me that as a runner I should always be proud that I was getting out and running.  A lot of people talked about how they could run a half and/or a full, but never did.  And then I should look at the biggest positive.  I finished.  I crossed the start line and the journey to the finish line may have been tough, it may have been arduous, I may have wanted to give up; but I kept going and had earned that medal and goodie bag.  And whatever else my heart desired.  Chocolate. Normally chocolate was what I desired after a race.  Not always a Blue Yorkie mind.  Don’t know what this reference is about?  That’s OK, keep reading every week.  You’ll find our when we get to 2019!

Now at one point I’d have dismissed someone like this and just thought “Yeah, that’s easy for you so say.”  He looked pretty fresh and like he could run another half.  But his words really did make an impact.  I’d beat myself up after all except the New York marathon and after 3 of my half marathons but I was overlooking an extremely important point.  And that was despite the pain, oh my God, so much pain I’d stuck at every run and kept going.  And the last pearl of wisdom he gave me was “You learn from every run you do.  Whether it’s a training run, a race, a PB, your worst ever time. Always try to have a couple of things you can take away from each run.”  Wise words. Everything we do in life teaches us something. About ourselves, about others.  And I learnt that I was a stubborn git!  Where others may have called it a day in the marathons I persevered.  Yes, the fact I was running for charity did have an impact and make me stick with it.  And those early experiences laid the foundations and platform for everything I did from 2014 onwards.  The races I did from 2006 to 2013? I look at them now and class them as my learning experience.  Almost experimental runs to decide if liked running and could stick with it.  As I’ve said after every marathon, I swore off marathons and now all I can think about is when can I run another one again!

Back to 2010.  There were 5 weeks between GNR and Birmingham half that year and I decided that Birmingham half couldn’t be any worse than GNR.  I was right with that at least!  Before that half, the London ballot results came out. And guess what? That’s right!  I didn’t get in.  There was probably relief on my part at that point given how poorly I had done at GNR.  Anyway, Birmingham half came around and this time I didn’t see anyone I knew on the start line.  I still didn’t know any runners in my personal circle! I was still completely against joining a club even though I was reading about the benefits of being with a club.

So, as I’ve mentioned before all my knowledge was gleaned from Runners World magazine.  Although Facebook was becoming more a part of our lives by this time, Pages and Groups were still in their infancy.  Remember how basic Facebook used to be?   There was another week to the Birmingham half route of 2010 as I recall.  It was still a Broad Street finish but I’m sure the start was moved to Summer Row.  I could be wrong.

I do recall it being quite a pleasant day even though it was late October.  At this time, it wasn’t part of the Great Run series, that would be a few years down the line.  I remember walking past the Cadburys factory this time. In fact, I remember I walked up most of the hills and then ran everything else.  Another race where I found it tough going but I’d ran for an amazing charity, albeit not as well known.  But like all charities the work they do was so important, helping to change the lives of so many young people and helping their families and loved ones. I came in with a time of 2hrs 47, just under 5 minutes quicker than GNR. 

My idea of just doing 1 half a year hadn’t been a roaring success but I remembered the wise words of a few weeks earlier and was happy to come away with another finish and another bit of bling. It’s all about the bling for me!  The T-shirts I can pass on, but not the medals! So, mission accomplished. 2 halves instead of one.  Another GNR done, albeit not very well. 

And then before the year was out another opportunity came my way.  I’ll go into more detail next week but another school friend of mine had been very active on Facebook trying to help raise funds for a young girl suffering from a rare and aggressive form of cancer. A charity was mentioned that was providing support to the family in question and then the carrot was well and truly dangled when the words “They have a couple of places in London Marathon 2011 available.”  So, I contacted the charity, Neuroblastoma Society, and applied for a place.  Again, this was a very spur of the moment decision.  It was only 2 days later when they offered me a place that I started thinking of all the training involved and how I would make sure that this one would be better.  It wouldn’t hurt as much as the first two.  I’d come in under 6 hours just like New York.

So that was it. I was going to be running my 3^rd London marathon.  My ‘retirement’ from marathons lasted all of 18 months by the time I stepped onto the start line at London 2011.  Third time lucky.  Less pain.  More enjoyment. Better prepared. More confident.  More belief.  These would all lead to a much better London marathon experience at the 3^rd time of asking.  Right?  Well, you’ll find out in 2 weeks when I resume my Journey to 100m series.  Next week I’ll do my 2^nd “Let’s talk About…” blog.

Until then, take care.  Please do share this blog with others.  If anything, I hope it shows that hard work, stubborn belief and a decent amount of pain does pay off eventually!!