2014 – Part 4 Races 12 – 15

So, 11 races covered of 2014 and now we’re into the last 9 and as you’ll remember the original plan was 10 half marathons and 6 full marathons.  This had increased to 20 races by July with a mixture of a lot of confidence gained from some good runs and 1 run that I class as one of my 5 best, the Manchester marathon 2014 and the 55-minute PB.

There was an issue with the way I had shoe-horned in the extra 4 races though.  They were all autumn ones and it meant that races 11 to 20 were on successive weekends.  No weekends off, the missus was not impressed unsurprisingly, and it meant mixing distances up with 6 halfs and 3 fulls still left to do.

So, with 1 weekend off after the Severn Bridge half this was the September list:

12	07/09/2014	GNR
13	14/09/2014	Northampton Half
14	21/09/2014	Bristol Half
15	28/09/2014	Nottingham Full

I did a 9 .5 mile run the weekend I had off and then a gentle 4 miler on the Thursday before the GNR.  So, we begin with my favourite race.  This would be the 3^rd year in a row of running this race and my 5^th overall.  I would run another 4 in a row before injury delayed my 10^th one.  That’s for another blog.

So, my GNR weekend is of course my favourite race weekend.  Catch up with family.  Meet old school friends and in recent years showing fellow runners from the Midlands the delights of the Northeast.  I can’t remember if it was 2014 or 2015 that I started the tradition of visiting the Colligans for a good old catch up on the Saturday and to pick a supply of cupcakes!  Rebecca and Kevin both went to the same school as me and a GNR weekend is not the same if we don’t have a catch up.  Occasionally Claire ‘Legolas’ Mcgovern appears and 1 year Dawn ‘The Dish’ Melling!  They are always there on race day handing out ice pops.  Much needed as GNR gets warmer every year.

If I go up on the Friday, I’ll take in a Parkrun on the Saturday.  2014 was not a year I did this!  I still wasn’t confident enough to run on successive days if I could help it.  Which is a bit weird as I did run 2 half marathons on the same weekend as discussed in last weeks blog so a Parkrun at gentle pace should not have been an issue.

One thing I love doing with GNR is getting there as early as possible, there is an incredible buzz at that race as more and more runners arrive.  In 2014 there was a real sense of anticipation amongst runners.  It was the race in which the 1 millionth finisher at the GNR would cross the line.  So, from the 1^st one in 1981, taking into account all the finishers, 2014 would see the millionth finisher cross the line. 

There was no hint given as to what time or position that runner would be, but that finisher would win some prizes including a trip to New Zealand to see the half marathon that inspired Sir Brendan Foster to start the GNR.  It wasn’t me.  I think the person who it was came in about 15 to 20 minutes after me.  The other buzz on race day was that a British runner was amongst the favourites to win the race.  Something that had not happened for 29 years.  Mo Farah as he was then, did not disappoint and won.  And he won a few more after that as well.

My race went well.  I had a plan, I stuck to the plan and finished quite strong by leaving something in the tank.  I didn’t go overboard though as this was the 1^st of 9 weekends, so I knew to be sensible.  Finally, I was using common sense in races.  There was 1 lovely moment for me, which came at just after 12 miles as you run parallel to the North Sea towards the finish.

When I go to races, most people call me Usingh or if they’re being polite, Mr. Bolt! People that know me will call me Barry, Baz or Bazza. Or Barinder if they are fellow Sikhs.  The GNR is the only race where I expect to hear shouts of Cheema, the name I was known by at school.  If I hear that shouted, I look for someone I went to school with.

As I’m running along, I hear a partially breathless shout of Cheema. I glanced back to see a good friend from my secondary school days, David Molloy aka Moz.  Back in school he was the best swimmer by some distance and that includes kids in years above us.  No surprises, he’s an accomplished triathlete now.  There were many Saturdays we spent playing snooker at Riley’s on Durham Road.  Along with another David, Little.  I call Moz an old git as he is a whole day older than me!  Anyway, the selfie below could well be the first photo I took on the run in a race!  Of course, he just ran on past without a care in the world, but it was good to see a familiar face, and running as well.

A good day’s work but the focus immediately turned to the week after and the Northampton Half. I did a rare 4-mile club run on the Tuesday night and that was it.  From memory Northampton was a pleasant enough race.  I’ve never looked it up again but that is just due to the number of other options in Autumn, but I would do it again.  Parking was near the finish line and the start line was 10-to-15-minute walk away.  I don’t remember the route as being too challenging, but I remember about a dozen of us running together from about mile 3 onwards with a sub 2:20 being our target.  I came home in 2:19:27, so another good run and I felt like I had more to give.  The group became spread out as some found it hard to keep the pace, but one guy stormed off with 3 miles to go!  With a marathon 2 weeks away, this was a good workout.

So, let’s move swiftly on to Bristol half the following week.  No runs during the week.  It was basically now race, and then recover, but no running at all in between.  Bristol is another good run.  It was a bit twisty and turny near the start and finish and there was a long stretch out that you came back along but I quite liked it as a run.  Really good support and this was before the Great Run added it to their collection of races.  Another solid race, finishing in 2:23:08.  Given the tougher nature of this course it was a pleasing time. I did see a couple of runners I recognized from the Midlands but apart from a few Aldridge Running Club folks and a few from Parkrun I still didn’t have a load of running friends.  This was of course changing.

So, September ended with the Robin Hood marathon.  Like the Shakespeare marathon earlier in the year this would see the half and full start together and at about 11.5 miles they would split.  I have family in Nottingham and 3 of them came to cheer me off at the start!  That was unique for me and still is!  Having someone I know at races is rare for me.  Having someone at the finish, even rarer! I also caught up with Haroon Mota before this race as well.  It was good to see there were other runners who were doing multiple races in a year.  Now is seems normal to me.

Between my last marathon in May and this one my longest run was, yes you got it, the half marathons I’d been doing.  I did no long run and maybe that is what was the root cause of the issues I had in this marathon and to a lesser degree at Leicester, 4 weeks later.  The start of this race is quite nice.  As is the finish.  By the river Trent. 

Whilst we were with the half marathon runners it felt good. Lots of banter but that difficulty of not knowing who was doing the full and who was doing the half.  When the split came it was no surprise that most were doing the half.  As we split off, we started a lonely stretch out to Pierrepoint, the home of the National Water Centre.  This is where a lot of the best rower’s train.  At about 16 miles, so before we reached this part, my knee started playing up.  It gave me flashbacks to those first 2, even 3 London marathons!  I decided not to try and push too hard but went into a very gentle pace.  It was a warm day and thankfully we got a decent amount of shade as we ran to the Water Centre. Sadly, no shade as we started the run back to Nottingham along by the river.  As the pain got worse, I focused on 2 smurfs!  Yes, really.  As I would find out when we finished, they were a married couple from near Derby running as Papa Smurf and his ‘hottie smurf!’  I kept behind them and used them to pace me where possible.

When they walked, I would just ease past, and we basically played leapfrog all the way to finish which kept us all going although I couldn’t resist a sprint finish against Papa Smurf despite the pain.  I won.  It was worth it!  I came home in 6 hours and 3 minutes.  Quicker than all my London marathons but my slowest one of 2014.  Initially I was really down about it but then I realized I had got through; I had managed the pain and I had another marathon to focus on 1 week later!  This would be my first-time running marathons on successive weekends so there was no time to be negative and dwell on Nottingham too much.

The most important thing was that I had got through this, despite some very bad pain and with the help of a couple of smurfs I’d made it to the finish.  That was all that mattered, and I had 5 to go!  I found my old Facebook post from a day after this race and I think, even for me, they are quite wise words!  I’ll leave you with them and I’ll be back next week with the last part of the look at 2014.

Facebook Post – 29^th September 2014

“I don’t always see eye to eye with running. Some days it seems to hurt a lot more than others. But that doesn’t mean that I quit. No, I deal with it and keep on running because not everything that is good for you always feels good when you’re doing it. And when my legs say no more, my heart and mind say yes, more, you can do it. I finish what I started. And if it does get to the point that even my heart and mind quit, I’ll tell them Sandra Bullock or Halle Berry are at the finish line!!! If that doesn’t work nothing will!”