2014 – Part 2. Races 4 to 7

Hello there.  This week I’m looking at races 4 to 7 of the 20 I did in 2014 for Macmillan’s.  The 1^st 3 races as discussed in last week’s blog were all PB runs, 2 half marathons and then the 55-minute PB at Manchester marathon.

It was a really good start to the challenge, and it meant that for the remaining races I wasn’t going to worry about trying to run anymore PB’s.  To have got my half down to 2:09 and full down to 5:03 had been really pleasing.

The next 4 races were:

4	27/04/2014	Stratford Full
5	04/05/2014	Sunderland Half
6	25/05/2014	Edinburgh Full
7	22/06/2014	Shrewsbury Half

Stratford half.  It fell 3 weeks after Manchester marathon and for me this was the first major challenge of the year.  How would I cope running a marathon 3 weeks after my last one?  The positive for me was that the time at Manchester meant that I went into this very relaxed.  I just had to be sensible, and I could definitely get my 2^nd fastest marathon time.

In the 3 weeks between Manchester and Stratford, also known as the Shakespeare marathon, I had to decide how much running to do.  I didn’t think there was any value in doing a long run.  After all a marathon 3 weeks before a marathon qualified as a long run, didn’t it? My first run after Manchester was on the Thursday evening; a 3-mile run just to see how the body reacted.  Thankfully, it was OK.

In total I only did 5 runs between the 2 races totaling 23 miles!  I didn’t see the value in doing anymore and I like to think it worked out in the end for me.

So, what are my memories of the Shakespeare marathon?  I knew going into it that it would not be flat!  I knew it was a lot of countryside running, so not big crowds and I also knew it was 2 laps so once I had done that first lap I would know how to approach the 2^nd lap especially any hills, of which there were a few.

Looking at some of my Facebook posts from before the race I did give myself a cheeky time target which I knew at the time I wouldn’t be able to do!  The 2014 Shakespeare marathon fell close to the 450^th birth anniversary of the bard, so I thought I might attempt to run 4:50!

This was the first time I did a race where 2 distances started together.  The half marathon and full marathon started together so for most of the 1^st lap there were lots of runners around and quite possibly I ran the first half quicker than planned due to those runners being there.  The only way to identify a half marathon runner was to look at the colour of their running number.  The issue with that is you had to get past them to see it!

The route was undulating, a word, I became very familiar with in 2014!  A couple of tough climbs.  One was one of those inclines that isn’t that steep, but it just keeps going up and up!  The second was a sharp, steep climb and there was no downhill after it.  It just flattened off.

At about 12 miles, to the best of my knowledge the full marathon runners peeled off to go towards the 2^nd lap, whilst the half runners carried onto the finish.  This was where I lost a bit of the pace and possibly confidence in what time I could achieve.  All of a sudden, the only runner I could see was about 400 to 500 meters ahead of me.  I looked every so often and it was after 2 minutes I saw the next runner behind me.

This is the challenge of a race where the half and full go together.  Invariably a lot more runners are doing the half so when they filter out you realise how lonely a run the second half of your marathon is going to be.  As expected, there were not big crowds due to the rural nature, but the marshals were brilliant, and I had a laugh with a few of them.  Conditions were good and when the sun came out it was easy to find shade to run in.

There was a nice touch at the end of the race.  About 150 meters from the finish there was a little mobile building and whoever was in there looked up race numbers so that the person at the finish line shouted your name out as you crossed the finish line.  People sometimes struggle with my first name, but this guy got it bang on and for good measure joked, “It’s the serious running Bolt; Usingh, the not so flying Sikh!”  I had to smile.  Quite the comment.

I ran the first half of the marathon in 2:28, very similar to what I had done in Manchester 3 weeks earlier.  I couldn’t maintain it however and I probably let the loneliness of the 2^nd half get to me, but I finished in 5 hrs. 30. As you can tell a tough 2^nd half which started at about the 16-mile mark.  But you have to look at the positives.  I’d got through a second marathon in just 3 weeks.  It was my 2^nd fastest one. And it made me realise that I could do this. It was another confidence booster.  My next marathon was at the end of May, and I had a half to run before then.

So, a week later another new half for me.  Sunderland!  Now as a Geordie not my favourite city in the world!  But it gave a chance to be back in the North-East and to catch up with family and friends.  I did no running after the previous week’s marathon!  So, the half marathon was my first run post the marathon!  It was a race, my recovery run and training for the next marathon all rolled into one!

I had a good run.  This version of the Sunderland marathon involved finishing near the Stadium of Light and starting from it, but it was a decent route.  I went in thinking 2:20 would be good and anything between 2:20 and 2:30 acceptable.  I didn’t know how I would cope a week on from Stratford.  As it turned out, better than expected.  2 hrs. 16 was my finishing time.  After my PB’s in y last 4 halfs, the sequence was broken, but it was my 3^rd best half time.  As it turned out I wouldn’t run a half marathon quicker than the first 3 of 2014 for the rest of the year; or as it turned out until 2017! That’s another blog for later.

So, a good half marathon and it was back to preparing for a full marathon which was 3 weeks away.  Edinburgh.  One I had done before, albeit in very hot conditions.  Between Sunderland and Edinburgh, I did a total of 5 runs!  The longest was 7 miles and in total I did 27 miles.  I knew I needed to just keep ticking over but I didn’t want to do long miles.  I didn’t think I needed to, and I think I was right!

So, Edinburgh.  Just like 2009, I took a train up on the Saturday.  This time I’d booked hotel off Princes St, for those that know the city well, with a view of the castle and less than a mile from the start line. I remember watching the Champions League final on the Saturday night. An all-Madrid final.  Atletico looked like they were going to win until Sergio Ramos equalized in the last minute.  Real went to win 4-1 after extra time. I was hoping for no extra time, but I was close to the start line, so it was no big deal.

The morning of the race, the weather was awful.  Hammering it down, I couldn’t even see the castle, which the previous night had been lit up quite beautifully with a purple light.  The 2014 Edinburgh marathon was one of the toughest I have ever done.  Not for physical reasons.  But emotionally.  I woke up to the news that a cousin had passed away during the night.  He had been ill in hospital and was only a couple of years older than me.  It was still unexpected.  The weather outside matched how I felt.  But I had a race to run.  I was 300 miles away from home (he lived in Birmingham) and it was important for me to run the race for the cause I was running for.

Two people helped me get through the race.  The first was another runner who came up to me near the start as I was sheltering from the rain to say he knew of me, and he was running his first marathon.  He’d come up from Sutton Coldfield and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.  He is a really good marathon runner but an even better athlete as he does Ironman!  Much respect Bobby Singh Badesha who it was good to chat to.  Talking about running helped me on that morning.

The 2nd person is someone a lot of you will know.  The inspiration that is Jo Yarnall.  At the end of 2013 I had joined Aldridge Running Club and on club nights when race results were announced I kept hearing Jo’s name as she had ran yet another marathon!  At this time, I didn’t know her that well, but we have since become very good friends as she has inspired me to really get into marathon running and ultras!  We have done many many miles together.  Parkruns, club runs, training runs and races.

On a 2 way stretch I saw an ARC running top and it was Jo with one of her many running friends!  We grabbed a quick picture and to my memory this was the first time since joining ARC that I had seen ARC colours at a race.  Seeing her and the encouragement she gave me felt good.  The rain had gone, the sun was out, there was wind, but it was better to run in.  That changed about 2 miles from the finish when the rain came back.  It was the most variable weather I had ran in, adding to the challenge and emotions.  I came home in 5 hrs. 32 and I’m proud of that.  Similar to Stratford but given my emotions and how at the start I didn’t want to be there, a good effort.

I saw Jo again at the finish and from then on, I followed her journey to her 100^th marathon with admiration.  So many marathons in such a short time!  Incredible.  The next few days would be tough especially with Sukhwinders funeral a week later, but I look back on this race and it made me realise I had the mental toughness to get through anything.  Whenever I’m finding it tough on a long run, I think about this race a lot.  Waking up to the death of a family member is the hardest thing to cope with.  Maybe I needed those miles, as tough as they were to cope with it.  That’s why I think now I let my mind wander to so many things whilst out running.

Up to this point 2014 was about 16 races but at the beginning of June I decided to enter another race, the Oxford half.  Not sure why but it became a 17-race challenge! 

To wrap up then, 4 weeks later it was the Shrewsbury half.  What a scorching hot day.  What a tough route that course was that year. Between the 2 races I got a couple of Parkruns in and did some club runs and felt good.  Shrewsbury is a lovely place to run, but wow, a couple of the hills were very tough!  I’ll admit to walking up the 2^nd half of one of them.  Sometimes there is more value in walking than doing a slow shuffle up a hill.  I finished in 2 hrs. 37, so way off the other halfs of that year. 

As soon as I finished, and I’d got the goodie bag I headed straight for an ice cream van to get a Magnum ice cream!  It was needed and had been hard earned.  It was also the first race I’d ran in wearing sunglasses.  It was really bright and quite a few runners didn’t finish.  It was brutal but I coped with it, and I would run in hotter conditions a few years later.

So, there we have it for this week.  Back next week with races 8 to 11.  And another first for me.  Two half marathons on successive days and I won something at one of them! Want to know what? Next week……