2015 – New Distances!

Hi.  The time since my last blog has been longer than I thought.  Since that last blog I have ran my 50^th official marathon at Yorkshire and have also announced my running challenge for 2023!  SO in 2023 I will be running for MS Society, https://www.mssociety.org.uk/.  The challenge is to attempt to run 4,602 miles in the calendar year.  I know! A very specific distance.  Oh, you meant that’s a lot of miles.  It is a big distance to attempt, double my highest milage in one year (2021).  This is the distance from my house to my cousins house near Vancouver, Canada.  He’s younger than me and was diagnosed with MS about 5 years ago and it’s had a big impact on his mobility and other motor skills.  So in 2023 I want to move for MS, grateful that I can do something I love so much.

We’ll come to that another time, and I’ll set up a page for the challenge as well as trying to sex up my website.  It’s a bit plain, isn’t it?

So, let’s finish off the year 2015.  Quick recap then as it’s taken longer to cover than planned.  I ran for 3 charities, did my first ultra, ran a mile with Chris Evans and retired from marathon running again!  This was the last time I said no more marathons for me.  My next marathon wouldn’t be until 2017 so that is a few blogs away.

The rest of 2015, having decided marathons were done for me, I felt a bit directionless.  This was different to all the previous times I had ‘quit’ marathons as I was happy with running in general.  I was loving going to Parkruns and doing the odd run by myself.  The big difference though was being part of a running club.  I had joined Aldridge Running Club at the back end of 2013 but all of 2014 I spent running for Macmillans and then the 3 charities in 2015 upto the end of October.

After the Birmingham half my regular nights became club nights on Tuesdays.  Getting to know more people, running regular routes and it felt good.  Off the back of doing more club runs towards the end of 2015 I took on 2 distances I had never raced over and I had also decided to give Cross Country a go.  Now my only cross country memory was as 14 and 15 year old at secondary school and as I have admitted I cheated and took short cuts to not have to do it.  Our cross country at school was not that muddy but it’s fair to say my first cross country race as an adult was the complete opposite!

So the first Saturday of November 2015 I headed to Leamington Spa for my first race in the colours of ARC and my first cross country race.  There were 4 races in the division we were in, monthly and I missed the January one but did 3 of them.  All 3 were very different types of routes but they were all mud fests.  That I do remember.

I had been ‘advised’ that Leamington Spa was a tough one.  I was also told about ‘the ditch.’  Which you had to run through 3 times.  As I remember it, there were 4 divisions in the league we were in and each division would race at different venues.  Except for the first race all divisions ran at the same place.  And we ran after the ladies’ races. So it was an absolute mud fest by the time we ran as it had rained most of the week. Course it had!

I’m not going to lie.  I found it very tough.  I had done some training at Aldridge playing fields with some friends, but this was something else.  It was also technically my first official 10K race thinking about it.  My first proper 10K race was in December 2015; we’ll come to that.  So, Leamington Spa was very tough.  That ditch?  It was pretty fun.  I just jumped into the water each time, and then dragged myself out of it.  I saw a few runners lose a trainer in it.  One couldn’t be bothered to try and find his so carried on running with just one shoe.  He found it on the next lap!  I had invested in spikes for cross country, and they were good but even they struggled to keep me upright in this race.

As much as people had warned me about the ditch no one told me about the bloody hill in this race.  Afterwards I was told it wasn’t mentioned as you only had to run it twice.  I’m not going to lie I walked up it the second time.  I was spent.  I was lapped by a good chunk of runners before I had even got halfway but credit to all those runners as they flew past me they all encouraged me to keep going.

One thing I remember about that race was on the 3^rd lap I was way behind the rest and most people had left that had been watching.  A fellow ARC runner who had finished decided to run round until he found me and ran most of the 3^rd lap with me.  He encouraged me on, gave me some tips on how to approach the muddier parts and to focus on stride length.  I’ve not seen him for a while but a big shoutout to Lloyd Mardenborough for coming to help me round.  It gave me such a boost and showed the wonderful spirit that existed in club running, cross country and within ARC.  And the ARC team were there to cheer me over the line.  So I crossed the line last, like I would do for the other 2 I did; but I’ll admit it; it felt good.  I felt like I’d ran a half and my legs were like jelly but there was a real buzz to do something different.

Fast forward a month and the location of the 2^nd cross country race of our season was the Aldridge Playing Fields.  Also knows as Aldridge Airport.  It’s not an airport.  Maybe once a upon a time it was?  Not sure.  Anyway, a home race.  I’d practiced here so it was not a shock to me, but it was raining on the day! This time it was just our division running so it wasn’t all mud.  There were grassy bits to run on. No ditches to contend with although there was an incline but nothing as bad as Leamington.  Last across the line again but this time I could see the 3 runners in front of me!  Progress!  The next cross country race I did was in Feb 2016, so we’ll come to that then.

The following weekend I ran another distance I had never run before.  Bear in mind that since my first race n 2006 I had by this time ran 30 half marathons, 14 full marathons and 1 ultra.  But on the 13^th December 2015 I ran my first 10 mile race and then on 27^th December I ran my first 10K race!  I’d worked my way down from the longer distances and not up to them!

So on the 13^th I ran in Sneyd Striders Pudding Run; a  10 mile race (a 5 mile option was also available) and this was where I experienced what club running was all about.  The vast majority of runners on the day were wearing the colours of their running club.  Sneyd was one of our neighbouring running clubs so they weren’t running but there were lots of ARC tops, Birchfield Harriers, West Brom Harriers, Tipton, Lichfield and plenty more.  I was aware of all the local races which occurred from club announcements but being at a race that was so local (ironically 10 miles from my house), felt really good.  No travelling anywhere, staying the night.  Wake up, breakfast, and then make my way to the race, knowing I’d be home at a sensible time!  Even the wife couldn’t complain.

I had no real time target for the race.  It was just about getting the miles in and I was comfortably under 2 hours by the time I finished.  And there was something special about finishing a race and seeing lots of people you knew there.  It’s why local races, especially those organized by running clubs have such a good vibe.  You will see plenty of people you know.  It makes for  great experience especially if you are getting into running.

Two weeks later and it was my first ever official 10K race.  9 years after I started running, racing whatever you want to call it.  The Wheaton Aston 10K.  A popular race that I just about managed to get a place for and if the number of ARC colours at Sneyd’s run had been impressive the turnout for ARC at this race was incredible.  I remember running the first half in a small group with a couple of other ARC runners but in the second half I put my foot down.  I had set 66 minutes as my target time but flagged a bit and came in just over 68 minutes.  Again, though I loved the finish.  Such a buzz when so many people you know are there.

I would do 9 10Ks in 2016 and 11 in 2017 (as part of my charity challenge).  And then I just stopped enjoying that distance.  I haven’t ran a 10K since December 2019 but in 2023 I will be returning to the distance but in my own way!  To get the miles in for the challenge I have set myself I plan to run to 10K races, run the race and then run home!  So basically not try to run 10K flat out.  I just struggle to do that although I do hope to still crack 50 minutes at the distance.

So that wraps up 2015.  An eventful year and it setup 2016 nicely for me which would be dominated by running in club colours.  I think 2016 was the key year for me.  If I had not been part of a club and had regular runs to look forward to I may have just dropped off running a lot more.  But doing Grand Prix races for the club made a massive difference and it set me up for wanting to challenge myself in 2017. 

So, I’ll leave with this.  There absolutely IS a running club out there for everyone.  I used to be put off as I thought you would be left behind if you couldn’t run a certain pace.  That may be the case with some clubs but it’s not the case with all clubs and I found the perfect one for me.  I loved being part of ARC and I continue to enjoy seeing how their runners are getting on.  I’m now with a virtual club because that suits me better at this time in my running life.  That could change of course, and I may decide at some point I need to be part of a local club.  I know where I’ll be headed if I do.  Don’t be afraid of joining a club. You will find within each club that every runner will inspire you.  Most importantly you’ll find that you can relate to someone at these clubs. 

Stay tuned to my socials for updates on the 2023 challenge!  It’s going to epic and I’m more than happy for as much company as possible.  I need to average 12.6 miles a day!  I don’t run every day and at some point in 2023 I’ll be going on holiday where I may not run at all!