End of 2016/Challenge for 2017

Welcome to my last blog of 2022.  I’ve managed to cover everything from my first race in 2006, through to my first marathon, my marathon retirements (!!), my first ultra, my first multi race challenge and more in this year.  This is my final blog covering 2016.  In the New Year when I start looking at 2017 onwards I will spend more time on races.  They are more fresh in my memory and I need to slow it down a bit as I’m only halfway to the 100 marathons so need to keep some material for these blogs.  Hopefully however in 2023 I will hit the 100 miles which is one of the 2 main targets as I Iook to hit 100m.

In the last blog I was very specific about saying that this blog had to start on 16^th October 2016 which turned out to be a very special day for me.  My first time meeting a celebrity who is an exceptional marathon runner.  It also made a few people I know pretty envious!

Quick recap before we get to that!  So, I had sworn off marathons (again) after Chester 2015.  Although I’d still entered the London marathon ballot! 20016 so far had seen me do a number of 10K races for the first time as well as some other distances not often ran (8.5 miles, 5 miles).  I’d done my favourite race, GNR and the local run, Birmingham half was left to do.

One of the things that was also strange to me and I’m sure countless other runners was that Birmingham didn’t have a big race.  The half marathon, then sponsored by EDF Energy was started in 2008.  Remember that inaugural race?  Started on the A34 near the Alexandra Stadium and into town?  Then the following year Summer Row became the start point with Broad Street as the finish and the NIA as the bag drop?  Then when Summer Row became off limits due to construction work in the city Aston Uni campus became the start and finish.  The route constantly changes but Canon Hill Park, the Cadbury factory and Digbeth remain part of the route! 

Anyway, I mentioned it in the last blog but in 2016 it was announced that there would be a Birmingham marathon in 2017.  It was big news for the people of the West Midlands.  This area is a real hotbed of running and a marathon in the second city was what all of us (runners anyway) wanted to see.

So, yes I came out of marathon retirement once more.  There was no way I was going to miss out on a local marathon.  Who knew?  Maybe my wife would finally meet me at the finishing line of a race! And the big thing was that people I knew who had done half marathons were now very interested in doing a full marathon that was so close to home.  London is of course the marathon everyone dreams of doing.  Well those that want to run 26.2 miles that is.  But the reality is any marathon you do is a big challenge.  There is no denying that London marathon has the most incredible atmosphere a runner can experience but running that distance is a huge challenge.  And a marathon in Birmingham opened up the distance to people all around the country.

I’m a bit hazy on how it came about but I was contacted by the media company that were behind the Birmingham half.  Or was I contacted directly by Great Run?  I cannot remember exactly but I do know that a top bloke called John Simpson reached out to me and got me involved.  We’ve stayed in touch ever since and he has been really good in supporting me.  Not just that but he ran his first marathon in 2017 at Birmingham!

He would in 2017 put me in tough with another John, Bray, who made a brilliant little video of me at the Birmingham marathon.  That is all for another blog!

Let’s get back to Sunday 16^th in Birmingham.  I was asked if I would be interested in coming to the start line 30 minutes before the start to meet someone who was going to help launch the Birmingham marathon and was also running the half that day.  I said sure, why not.  I was asked to be discreet about who I was meeting and I remember on the day bumping into a few running friends and telling them I couldn’t chat as I needed to go to the start line.  Some of them were bemused wondering why I was starting so far forward!  Anyway I met, chatted to and had some photos taken with Nell McAndrew!  I’ll be honest she does the Bolt pose better but she is a very good runner.  A sub 3 hour marathon runner and a PB of 85 minutes in the half.  Meeting her was the highlight of the day.  We’ve remained in touch since and she has been known to give me the odd retweet when I take on a new running challenge.

So, photos, interviews and selfies done I made my way back to my start wave and had an OK run.  This was my 7^th time running Birmingham half and I stopped a few times to chat to friends around the course, get a photo with the Wolverhampton bobsled team and have a chat with a few runners I knew; some were first timer half marathon runners.  I came in with a time I was quite pleased with knowing that I had probably spent between 5 to 10 minutes stopped on the route.

In the run upto the Birmingham half, the London marathon ballot results had come out and I had not got a place via the ballot.  I was however offered a place in the race by The Stroke Association and so I decided that 2017 would see me return to more than 1 marathon and finish with the Birmingham marathon in October.  When I had done my 20 race challenge in 2014, the last race had been quite a small affair and when I crossed the line on that day I felt a bit flat as there was no one to celebrate the 20th and final race with.  So it made sense that the 2017 challenge would finish with a big race, close to home.

10 Full marathons, 10 half marathons and 10 10Ks.  That was the aim for 2017.  In November I got ‘persuaded’ by a good friend, Harshad Patel, to enter Equinox24.  This is a 24 hour running event held in the grounds of Belvoir Castle.  There is a 10k lap of the grounds and the aim is to do as many laps in 24 hours as possible.  As a solo runner or as part of team of 2 to 8.  Of course, I entered as a solo runner!  My target was to try to do 10 laps.  Again, you’ll have to wait to see how I got on. A lot of ground, quite literally, to cover before then.

So the last race of 2017 would be Birmingham in October but the first race wasn’t finalized until January 2017.  I wanted to get the 10 marathons booked up first, knowing that half marathons and certainly 10Ks were easier to find and book.  By the end of 2016, London, Groundhog, Liverpool Rock and Roll, Vancouver, Brighton, Manchester, and Birmingham were the definite marathons.  GNR, Stafford, Shrewsbury and Derby were the half marathons fixed in but at this point no 10Ks!

So, I had a challenge for 2017.  I was getting my running mojo back.  Marathon running was back in my life and it has never left since I’m glad to say.  I was running for a cause that was very personal to me (my father had a Stroke in 1992 which changed his life and ours from that point on). 

In November I ramped up the miles and got in over 120 miles for the month to add to the 112 in October.  My highest milage month prior to these 2 was August 2016 with 90 miles.  In December we went out to India for 2 weeks.  Not a great place to try and run.  Roads are far too dangerous to run on.  If it’s not vehicles it’s stray dogs that will get you!  I returned to England in time for the Wheaton Aston 10K.  This had been my first 10K the previous year and this was my 9^th one for the year.

My time was 1 second quicker than the previous year!  Pretty good consistent running if I do say so. It was really icy that day so caution was needed and thankfully I got past a flock of sheep that blocked off the road for runners behind me!  They got through eventually.  Again, another big ARC turnout for this race.

So, 2016 done and there will be about 3 to 4 weeks before we start looking at 2017 onwards.  On the 1^{st of} Jan 2023 I will hopefully get a 20 mile run in as I start my next challenge.  Attempting to run 4,602 miles in 2023 for MS Society.

Links to sponsor below.

Thanks for reading my blogs.  Always happy to answer any questions anyone has especially on how to get into running.  And in 2023 I’m happy to run with you.  Dependent on location and pace!  Needs to be a chatty run, the best kind of running.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/usinghbolt4602