2015 – Setting the Scene

After the successful completion of the challenge in 2014 and realizing that multiple races in a short period of time was possible as long as one was sensible and prepared to work hard, what were my plans for 2015?  Initially after that last half in November 2014, the only races that I knew I definitely planned to do in 2015 were the Manchester marathon after the big PB there and quite enjoying the route; GNR of course, Birmingham half and Chester marathon.  1 race in Spring and the other 3 in Autumn so I decided to balance it out with another spring race: Coventry half.

My total mileage for 2014 was just over 1000 miles, with which I was pleased.  As soon as the 20^th race was done my November was taken up with Parkrun, club run on a Tuesday and 1 other run in the week to get about 15 miles done.  This kept me ticking over. I was running regularly and making myself run even when I wasn’t feeling too keen to do so.  The trick I have found over the years for these types of runs is not to worry about pace or distance but to just be happy to have gone out and done something.

My mileage in 2015 would take a big drop but we’ll come to that in a few weeks.  2015 will also a year of firsts for me.  I took on a race distance I had as yet not taken on.  Ironically, it’s the distance that is very popular after a half marathon and a distance that has huge benefit to doing when working on speed.  I just don’t enjoy it though!  Again, that will come later as it was December before I did it!

I quickly added Silverstone half to my races to do.  2015 would see me run for 3 different charities.  One as part of a big team, one in a big distance and one for a cause that became very important to me due to someone in my close family becoming ill.

I’m going to keep this week’s blog short but will cover 2015 in 3 different blogs to concentrate the 3 phases that the year ended up being split into with the different causes.

First up the Coventry and Silverstone half marathons were run for Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT).  Haroon Mota who I mentioned in a couple of the blogs from 2014 and I had stayed in contact and so I joined his team, primarily for the Coventry half.  The beauty of what Haroon did in 2014 and continues to do is to get people from ethnic backgrounds to get into running or at least to get active.

He had a team of about 30 runners that agreed to do Coventry half, a lot of them first time runners.  I assisted with helping to give advice to some of the newer runners and advising on pacing, hydration but not of course, stretching.  I left that for Haroon.  Back then Haroon worked for TCT and that was the reason for running for them. 

Being part of a team meant there was less pressure for me to worry about the fundraising side especially so soon after the 2014 challenge.  It’s not fair or reasonable to always expect the same people to keep on supporting you.  In 2014 I had started work for a new company, so I had new people to aim for!  In 2015, I changed jobs again, so I had more people to reach to.  I assure you changing jobs is not part of my fundraising strategy!

The second phase of 2015 (am I sounding like the Marvel Universe with these different stages?), was focusing on my first ultra.  With hindsight I should have picked an ultra that was between 30 to 40 miles; 50 miles at a push.  Maybe it was over-confidence (not for the first time) that made me decide to go big.  Part of it in fairness was picking a race that meant having somewhere to stay without any cost!  So, I entered the ultra called Race The Wall.  A 69-mile journey from Carlisle Castle to quayside in Gateshead.

Another part of me had decided I was only going to do 1 ultra so why not go big!!  In fairness, although I call myself an endurance runner, I’ve only done 4 official ultra distance runs to date.  Admittedly though I’ve done a number of runs that class as ultra distance outside of that!

As part of my build up to running this ultra I entered Manchester marathon and also entered Derby half aka Ramathon as I had heard good things about it and fancied trying for a quick time there.  That didn’t go according to plan!  I was running the ultra for Khalsa Aid, an amazing charity, the vision of one man, Ravi Singh based on key parts of the Sikh faith.  He is a gem of a man, and I was lucky enough to meet him in May 2015, a few weeks before the run. (https://www.khalsaaid.org/)

And finally, the autumn races.  And a late edition to my races was Windson half.  GNR was now a regular race for me as was Birmingham half and of course I’d loved Chester marathon in 2014 so wanted to go back again.  There was a personal reason for doing Windsor and it was the first time I ran the whole length of a race with someone I knew.  My cousin was running her first half and the target was to just get her round!  I did run for half a mile with a very famous celebrity which was pretty special.

As well as Windsor I did the other 3 races as well for a charity called Bloodwise, now known as Blood Cancer UK.  For some reason I went with a Jamaican beanie hat, possibly inspired by my new running friends and fellow ‘Jamaicans,’ the Wolverhampton bobsled team!

Once these 3 stages were complete, to keep some sort of running momentum going as I had lost my running mojo, I turned to more club running towards the end of 2015 and into 2016. 

That’s it for this week.  Short and sweet.  After the big success of the 2014 challenge, 2015 would prove to be its own kind of special challenge and would see me quit marathon running again!  Albeit this was the last time I quit from the 26.2 miles.