Hi and welcome back as I continue my journey with the next part of 2015. My initial plan for 2015 had been about fundraising for one charity and the focus was the ultra I attempted and painfully completed, as discussed in previous blog. The double header in early 2015 for Teenage Cancer Trust came about after talking to Haroon Mota.
As was becoming tradition I was signed up to do GNR in Sept 2015 and also the Birmingham half the following month. The initial plan was that they would be in the club colours of Aldridge Running Club. I had also entered the Chester marathon. I’d loved running it in 2014 as part of my 20-race challenge and wanted to go to it and run it hard and see if I could crack the 5-hour mark for the first time there.
It’s not how things worked out, but I would 3 years later, crack a landmark time there. So, Autumn 2015 was a 3 race plan but it quickly became a 4 race plan. The vast majority of my running has been for good causes, and I have run for causes on behalf of friends who assisted with fundraising. I have family in Vancouver and in 2015 one of my cousins shared the news that his daughter who was 7 at the time had Leukaemia.
We all know the statistics of how at some point cancer will touch all of our lives in some way. We all know people that have cancer, have had it, or lost their battle to it. I’m going to refer to her as my niece in this blog as in our culture we don’t actually have a word for cousin. True story. We call our cousins brother or sister. So those phrases, “brother from another mother,” and “sister from another mister?” In most Indian cultures that’s been the case for centuries!
I had met my niece when she had just been born in 2008 on a visit to Canada and couldn’t imagine what my cousin, his wife and all the family were going through. It spurred on another one of our cousins to sign up to do the Windsor half marathon in September 2015 for Bloodwise, who had just changed their name from Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. They are now known as Blood Cancer UK, but in 2015 I decided to run my races that Autumn for Bloodwise.
I managed to get a place in the Windsor half as well and agreed to run with our cousin, Amrita on the day. As we live over 100 miles apart training together was out, so I was giving advice where needed from afar.
Picking up from June then and my recovery from Race The Wall, looking at my July mileage of that year, it was pretty piss poor. Or was it? My spirit had been broken and the thought of running anything above 4 miles in July 2015 was not happening. So maybe I did the right thing only doing the handful of runs I did? July 2015 saw me run 3 Parkruns and 2 club runs for a total of just under 22 miles for the month. My weight went up. This is an ongoing battle I have had for a few years. At one point my running weight was just over 100Kg. At my best (Boston marathon 2021), I weighed in at 74Kg. Generally, I float around in the 80 to 85kg weight. Light Heavweight?
In August when I probably should have looked at doing longer runs of 16 to 20 miles with Chester marathon on the horizon, I just couldn’t get into it. I did do a couple of longer runs ending with an 11 miler to end the month and a total of 52 miles for the month. Better than July but not quite the plan if I wanted to go to Chester and run hard. It’s fair to say by this point that was no longer the plan!
So, into September we went and after a couple of short runs it was back off to the Northeast. For some reason I ran all 4 races with a Jamaican Beanie hat over my bandana. I was inspired by my good friends of the Wolverhampton Bobsled team, my fellow ‘Jamaicans.’ At the GNR, I was wearing the older T-short of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research to run in and the Bloodwise top would get to me in time for the other 3 races.
My most distinct memory of the 2015 GNR was that it was warmer than the previous ones I had done. From the offset the sun was out, and it got hotter! This was my 6th one and where the previous ones started off cool, a couple had rain which was welcome and then warmed up; 2015 started off like a late summers day and kept getting hotter.
My finish time of 2:38 was only 2 minutes slower than the Derby half of June where I had been in the mind frame of trying to get my pacing right for an ultra. The GNR was a chance to just go round and have a bit of a blast and get some miles in the legs and thankfully I came through unscathed. It gave me a little bit of a boost. I felt like I was over how badly the ultra-marathon had battered my body, especially my feet and legs.
Looking at the 5K splits it was pretty consistent running with a slowdown in the 4th sector which does contain the hardest section, in my opinion anyway! The rule at GNR is when you see Elvis, you know the hardest part of the race is almost done! Honestly, it’s true.
So, from GNR to Windsor half there was a week gap in which I really needed to get a long run done ready for Chester full. Did I do it? Nope. I did a handful of 3 and 4 mile runs and then it was Windsor next. I had been pre-warned that Windsor half was tougher than GNR in terms of course profile. The first mile was all uphill apparently. Turned out to be true. On the other side though it meant the last mile was all downhill so swings and roundabouts.
This race had a later start. 1pm. It was a warm day again and of course with such a late start we were going to run in the warmest part of the day. I got there about 90 minutes ahead of the start and met up with Amrita, who was being supported on the day by her parents and younger sister. Must be nice to have people come with you on race days to support you! 2017, before my wife did it! Story for another time.
Unbeknown to me the Radio 2 breakfast team, led by Chris Evans was running that day. At the time I was more of a Kerrang Radio listener, slowly moving across to Absolute Radio. So, we’re stood there, I’m asking how Amrita is and how the training has gone; she was understandably nervous, and the training had been OK, but she’d felt a couple of twinges but felt confident of getting round. That was the target. Running for our niece was the main objective of that race, so getting round would be fine. Sub 3 hours was the main target.
Anyway, I digress. We’re stood chatting and all of a sudden, I see Chris Evans. Now I grew up watching the Big Breakfast in the early 90s and then in my uni days devouring TFI Fridays on Channel 4. I’d listened to Radio 1 when he was on there and seeing him there was surreal. I wasn’t sure if it was OK to go over and say hello. He was the first famous person I’d seen before a race. I’d passed Carol Vorderman at my debut GNR and remember running past “screaming” Jonathon Pierce the BBC commentator at a London marathon, but this was next level. Anyway, I went over said hello and got a pic. Bit deflating when Amrita said she wasn’t sure who he was!!
Vassos, who most runners know, was also there with some other members of the team from Radio 2. They all started at the back of the pack, although Vassos went rapidly past us very quickly. About a mile in Chris Evans jogged past us, acknowledging us and with a smile on his face as I think it was whilst running, he registered my running name! I’m not going to lie, I ran about 1K with him. Bit of polite chat and then I realised that the person I should have been running with was struggling with the pace we were going at! I dropped back and supported Amrita all the way round. Windsor, as I had been warned is deceptive as route. There is a lot of uphill! The grounds are stunning but on a warm sunny day it’s not really something you can appreciate. This was the first time I had ran all of a half marathon with someone I knew, and it felt good just to run when we could and ease off and walk when required. As we started the downhill finish, we saw Chris Evans stop and applaud us on; he’d already finished!
Job done at Windsor. We sneaked in under 3 hours (2:58:48) and Amrita had done her first half marathon, had raised a lot of money for Bloodwise and assured me she would pick an easier half marathon for her next one. FYI, she’s not ran a half since!
A week later and it was Chester marathon for me. I did zero running in that week between the 2 races. My aim was to get round Chester. No PB attempt. Keep it simple and try to come in under 5:43 which I had ran at Manchester earlier that year. That dream of breaking 5 hours was not a reality anymore.
One of things that really helped me at Chester that year was the Aldridge Running Club turnout. I don’t know if they do it now, but Chester marathon gave any club that had at least 10 runners taking part a VIP spot to setup in with refreshments provided; water and energy and drinks; as well as exclusive use of our own portaloos. Trust me that last one is such a game changer. We were also located close to the finish line so those that finished first could get the best spot to cheer the others home.
It felt good to see some of the others there including Jo Yarnall (yes, her again!), still working her way to 100 marathons, Coach Reeves and Alex Crook who had become on of the first good friends I made at the club. Also, in attendance that day, supporting a friend, was Ewan ‘Forrest’ Gordon, who I had come to know and who provided a lot of great advice for my JOGLE attempt a few years later.
I don’t remember the weather for this one! What I do remember and the splits breakdown backs this up was that it was a hard race. I think I may have blistered again towards the end but when I finished, I remember swearing off marathons. I know. Again. Serious déjà vu! It would be March 2017 before I did one again. My halfway time was OK. In line with my half time at the GNR but the time from 30k to 40K illustrates that found it a real struggle. I’m not surprised, and it served me right.
I knew from Manchester 2014 that if I put in the hard work how well I could run. This would be the last time that I was so underprepared for a marathon. It was my 14th one and when I returned to the distance, in the subsequent ones I’ve done since, only 4 have been lightly slower than Chester 2015. And for those ones there was a good reason why they were slower; very hot weather, JOGLE training etc. I was so glad to see some friendly faces at the end as I remember thinking I’m not sure if I can be arsed with Birmingham half, which was 2 weeks later.
I was grateful to finish this one and I knew I’d bounce back for Birmingham half, after which I planned to revert to half marathons only! Birmingham half went OK. Timewise, not too different from GNR and Derby half and it gave a little boost knowing that with halfs I could pace myself quite well. Marathons, not so much. I was admittedly running almost 2 minutes a mile slower than my PB times but just running was good enough for me and times were a secondary, even tertiary concern.
Anyway, job done. Fundraising for my 3rd charity that year done. The good news is that my niece overcame Leukaemia. She has had a few ups and downs since but thankfully is in good health now and made her first visit to England earlier this year. Should have taken her for a run round Windsor!
That wraps up most of 2015, but later in the year I would finally run a 10K. I know. 9 years after my first race, I finally took on a 10K. And the less spotted 10-mile race. As well as cross country! I’d got race fatigue and fundraising fatigue. The energy required to fundraise is often underestimated and I needed a break from them.
I did do little fundraising in 2016 but that was part of a team, so I didn’t feel so pressured. The end of 2015 and most of 2016 was about running in club colours, doing some of the more local races, especially over 10K and trying to re-ignite my passion for running. Running for a club helped and I’ll be back in 2 weeks discussing the end of 2015 and the huge benefit it was for at the time to be part of such a great running club.
Next week (16th October), I’ll be running my 50th official marathon. This landmark would have happened in 2020 but of course life changed for the world so much and to be able to still enjoy running now is a big thing for me.
Usingh Bolt - Endurance Runner 