I sit here with 6 months, 18 races and 1 half of The 36 Classics Challenge 2013 behind me and I can honestly say that it has been a pleasure. It’s been a logistical challenge and also a physical challenge, but it has been rewarding on many more levels. I am currently under the 13st mark for the first time since 2006. On January 1st 2013 my PB list looked like this:
· 5k- 22:26, Mystery 5k 2012
· 5 mile- 37:30, Sefton Park 2012
· 10k- 48:47, Mersey Tunnel 2012
· 10 mile- 01:16:53, Blackpool to Fleetwood 2012
· HM- 01:48:45, Windmill Half 2012
· Marathon- 04:47:51, Edinburgh 2011
I was training and running and racing and doing a superbly average job at having a go. I was still loving the running and all that goes with it but I kind of thought that there may be something more to give. I wasn’t sure...but maybe.
It wasn’t my main goal, to set new PB’s or go faster but I was hoping it would happen naturally. My main goal was to set a challenge and complete it. So far so good! Anyway, back to my times…on June 20th 2013, my PB list looks like this:
· 5k- 21:48, Mystery 5k 2013 (Unofficial due to delay in posting results)
· 5 mile- 35:49, Walton Hall Park 2013
· 10k- 45:11, Mersey Tunnel 2013
· 10 mile- 01:16:53, Blackpool to Fleetwood 2012
· HM- 01:41:38, Shakespeare Half 2013
· Marathon- 04:47:51, Edinburgh 2011
So, let’s see how my goals are looking. Do I have PLS G2 times at the classic distances? Yes, apart from the Marathon (watch this space). Do I have some nice new PB’s? Yes please. Do you feel fit and healthy? Yes, and lighter and less chubby. Do you enjoy running? Yes, more than ever. Oh, one more thing…this series of blogs I am writing has had over 900 views in 15 countries. That might not be a lot, I really don’t have a clue, but it blows my mind when I think about it! Thank you all so much for reading.
Part two requires a warning shot. This contains language and themes of a disgusting nature. Those who are easily offended or have just eaten may not want to read on. It’s just a little story about my pleasant Sunday, up in the North-West of England, in a lovely little village named Freckleton. Freckleton Half Marathon is the oldest in the UK and is the second oldest in the world. The only longer running Half Marathon on the planet is in Luxembourg and isn’t in my race diary for 2013. It’s another rural/village run similar to the likes of Shakespeare in Stratford upon Avon and Village Bakery near Wrexham. It’s a ‘bumpy’ flat course with absolutely no hills of note but very few flat sections, you are either going up a bit, or down a bit. The main difference is the fact that it is in June and has a 2pm start. I would love to know the answer to why it is run at the hottest time of day but I don’t.
My story starts at 1pm, 50 yards short of the car park entrance on Bush Lane, just off Clitheroes Lane. If anybody can spot the joke in that then we share a similar sense of humour as it quite literally made me LOL!! It was warm, the car thermometer read a splendid 19C and the traffic was moving fairly slowly. I had prepared well enough for the day, a nice breakfast of PB&J on brown and a light lunch of Chicken and Basil pasta (and half an egg sandwich that my daughter fallen asleep into). I had also taken on board about 750ml of coconut water as I had read about it’s hydrating properties. I was feeling pretty good, I had agreed a race strategy with my chimp and I was going to try and tick over at 7:42 min/miles, taking on water at every station due to the heat. I was getting close to the car park and I was getting close to ‘the zone’!! At this point I would like to pose a question to you. It’s an age old debate, a hoary old chestnut and one that I know the answer to. The question is this- what one thing takes you back to your childhood the most? Is it a toy? Is it a sweet? Is it a song or a smell? Which one of the senses is tickled when you get that wonderful, nostalgic feeling? Shall I tell you what the answer is? There is nothing that makes you feel more like a child than the tiny moment immediately after you do a follow through. When you trust a fart enough to have one without the notion it might have a sinister message behind it, that is when you truly remember what it was like to need your parents!! And that is not all, it carries another peculiar emotion with it, just like Pandora’s Box is supposed to have done, it brings embarrassment. I am a shameless character! I am ruthless and no holds barred. I can take it as I can give it. I have been with my partner for almost 10 years and I helped make my daughter so I shouldn’t feel embarrassed in front of them. They have seen and heard me at my worst, my lowest ebb. Yet, at that split moment when I had to utter the words to Nicola “I’ve just s41t myself”, I felt a veil of shame lower itself over me.
Shortly, afterwards the shame was replaced by fear. I have to run 13 miles very soon. What do I do? One piece of advice really didn’t help, “what would Paula do?” Unfortunately, my first little surprise had invited along a couple of friends so the pre-race confidence soon disappeared and left me on the edge of pulling out. I took on some water and had a little warm up and decided to give it a go but take it easy. I didn’t want to fall foul of dehydration on such a warm day.
The race was going well enough for the first 9 miles. I had managed to average 7:39’s but shortly after the 9 mile marker my batteries went. I was feeling dry and crampy and knew that the last four miles would be a run/walk affair. Now I have a genuine gripe and if I was a militant kind of guy I would make a very strong safety point. I don’t know much about race organisation but I do believe that a Half Marathon in June should have bottled water stations and not small plastic cups. There is just not enough opportunity to take on what you need and maintain your race pace. I raised this at the end of the race to part of the event team and he challenged back saying it was the responsibility of the participant to ensure they have enough fluids. I half agreed at the time but when I went back over it I realised that I disagreed with the gentleman’s point. The race advertised four water stops, equally spaced out through the race. It didn’t mention how it would be served. OK, rant over…but it does segue nicely into the final chapter of my story. At around the 10 mile mark I noticed a fellow runner about 200 yards ahead clearly showing some signs of distress. The guy then took a pretty heavy fall on to the tarmac beneath him. I got to him as other people had started to congregate around him and help in any way they could. The poor guy was out for the count by the way, a serious case of dehydration if I ever saw one. He wasn’t alone as just a few hundred yards up the road there was another stricken athlete. I stayed with the guy until the St. John’s man came and I found out later, from a local couple who had assisted, that when the runner had come around he told the paramedic that he had taken six paracetamol earlier on for a sore leg. Now I do agree that things like that are 100% the responsibility of the participant.
So, six months, 18 races, 1 half to go in the challenge and I am raring to go for it. I have some great races lined up. One that stands out is The Great North Run in September. To be part of the UK’s largest running event is going to be such an unbelievable experience. It’s set to be about four times the size of the largest event I have been involved in to date and I can’t wait to just see what it looks like!
July holds a couple of beauties for me with the Southport Half Marathon and a 10k in hilly Rochdale. One of the biggest questions for July is ‘Will I run on my holidays?’ I’ll take my shoes and see how it goes. Peace.
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