Pages

Sunday 21 June 2015

6 Years of Running. The Start & How It All Began

6 years to this day (Sunday 21st June 2009) I ran my first ever race at the Aycliffe 10k. Runners will understand how clearly you remember your first race. On the previous Thursday I heard about this race on the Quakers Running Club announcements. Described as a small, flat and friendly local race so I thought why not. I had only been running at QRC for a couple of weeks and didn't own a Garmin. Just my vest, some shoddy shorts and some scruffy old trainers. I remember at the end of the race nearly chucking up and needed fluids badly. But the accomplishment of taking part in your first race, no matter what the distance is the start of the racing bug. Then onwards I have ran parkruns, 5k's, 10'sk, half marathons, 20 mile, marathons, cross country, fell races, relay races, a beer mile and a 24 hour relay race. I've battled many Albert parkruns with Michael and Simon. Had many epic smackdowns with the vet Brian, Dale and Ewan. I have shared plenty of marathon training miles with Peter, Keedy, Gary, Monday group and many others. Battled hills with Scouse Dynamo Michael. Had some gut busting speed sessions with a good bunch from Quakers. Here is to my next journey as I attempt to conquer Amsterdam in October.

I've got 100's of photos from what I've participated in over the last 6 years. Below are a few of my favourites. I could add loads but here are a few.


My 2nd race @ Great North 10k 2010

Where the parkrun journey started at Albert Park parkrun

Clay Bank East fell race

Edinburgh Marathon 2012

Me and Charlotte running the Great North Run together

Cookie, Me & Boy Wonder @ Darlo parkrun

London Marathon

London Marathon


Darlington 10k 2009


Me receiving QRC 'Most Improved Athlete'
Northern Cross Country 2013

Trimpell 20 2011
Northern Cross Country 2013


Cross Country @ Whitby 2013

Me & Craig Downs @ Albert Park parkrun April 2013

Dean pacing me @ Redcar Half Marathon

Chris, Jonathan, MJ & Me @ Last years Adidas Thunder Run

The Beer Mile!

Last year @ The Great North Run

Me running a parkun pb (18:14) @ Albert Park 2 years ago. That pb still remains there!

Brass Monkey 2010

Brass monkey 2011

Carlton Bank Fell Race 2013

Carlton Bank Fell Race 2014

Me and Lucy negotiating the terrain at Clay Bank

Darlington 10k 2013

The cast of Emmerdale!

Guy Fawkes 10 2009

Possibly my first fell race at Guisbrough three tops

Another fell race

A severely hungover Hamsterley Forest 10k

Me and Keedy at Edinburgh Marathon

Hamsterley Forest Marathon last year

Leeds Abbey Dash 2012

Durham Dales Challenge 2010


A post marathon pint after gaining a pb @ Edinburgh Marathon 2012

Kilburn 7 just after my holiday in 2010

A post race beer after Marathon of the North 2013

A cold and snowy Albert Park parkrun

Mermaid 10k

Mulgrave Castle 10k last year

Stewart Park relays last year

Me a little too far at the front @ Richmond 10k 2010

My 1st marathon @ Edinburgh back in 2010

Spring Coast 5k

Team Dark training for our Thunder Run

Me and Peter training for Edinburgh marathon @ Trimpell 20 2011

Still my hardest running achievement to date, running 110k at the 2011 Adidas Thunder Run




and today I'm back to where it all started 6 years ago






























Thursday 30 April 2015

Virgin Money London Marathon 2015

                         Virgin Money London Marathon Race Report



I thought I would give this a few days before writing up a race report. Let the marathon blues go by and my body recover from Sunday. At the time of writing this my legs are feeling 100% ache free and I will be running my first post marathon run today (Thursday). Usually my legs are aching for a full week gradually getting better for weekend but I think allowing an extra day off of no running at all has helped loads this time around. After my previous marathons I have always got back out on the Tuesday or Wednesday and struggled. I'm feeling good in myself and thinking where my next challenge will be and what path I'm going to take but back onto the race.

Arrived in London Friday lunchtime and headed straight to our hotel to dump the suitcase. Over to The Excel Centre which was situated over the other side of London. About a 40 minute journey on the tube we arrived. I was very impressed with the expo. I could of spent a fortune. They sold everything! I collected my number without any fuss or queuing. After this we had a good walk around and explored the majority of the expo. Must of been in there a couple of hours at least. I treat myself to an official Adidas London Marathon t-shirt and got my name printed onto my vest. On leaving the expo we went for a walk by the Albert Docks then got the tube to Oxford Street and had a look around there. Lots of walking!

Saturday again involved lots of walking. Had a look around various parts of London including Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Trafalgar Square and some museums. Being realistic it should of been a very chilled out and relaxing day in the hotel but for one, I love to get out and explore places when I am away and two, the hotel was an absolute dive. But after walking a lot for 2 days and hiking up and down them stairways on the underground it was fair today my legs felt fucked. 



The start line in Fast Good For Age

Start area at Blackheath












RACE DAY: Woke up after an awful nights sleep as you do when running a marathon. I left my hotel at 7:30am and headed for the underground. Public transport was free for runners on race day. I made my way to Waterloo station where it really got busy. After a 20 minute journey on the train I arrived at Blackheath. The start was situated at Greenwich park. As I was walking towards the Blue start as seen a few Quakers and spoke to them for a bit. Everyone seemed calm and relaxed. But I must admit I went into this race without feeling nervous like I have done for other marathons before. I felt calm, relaxed and ready for the challenge. The only downside was my legs felt tired particularly  my lower calf's. I made my way to the 'Fast Good For Age' start area and took off the layers so I was just left with the standard shorts, vest, gloves, hat and Garmin watch. It was very cold once I stripped down. I briefly spoke to Cookie who was also in the same starting area. After a toilet check I had a little jog up and down to keep warm then made my way into the start pen 1. It was only 9:30am at this point but people were getting in the pens then. There was the usual competitive runner talk amongst other runners. People asking what each others targets were and the usual "I'll see how it goes" or "I've got a niggle" were the responses. For me personally I had in my head a sub 3:10 target but mainly just to enjoy the experience. Unless I get in through the general ballot next year then this would be my last chance for a while. 10am came in no time. The tanoy started to announce the elite field. I got my feet got stood on quite a few times because nervous runners would not stand still and insisted they needed to jump up and down. 10:10 came as we were off. I was over the start line in about 5 seconds so I was in a good spot. The first half mile felt slightly downhill then we made our way around Blackheath. Spirits were high at this point in the race. Not for me! Not even a mile had passed and I needed to pee. About three quarters of a mile in there was some urinals so I made a quick pit-stop. This resulted in my first mile (7:22) being 12-15 seconds slower than planned but I guess that was not a bad thing. Now feeling empty I cracked on. I was running at around 3:08-3:09 pace to compensate for the course distance measuring well over the marathon distance on my Garmin watch. If I stick to this pace this would ensure I slip in under 3:10. The crowds were amazing from the word go. For the first few miles we ran around various housing estates in the Woolwich and Charlton area of London. The course elevation was a little up and down but nothing too demanding. At this point in the race I bumped into Linda and had a quick chat then seen Stephen Moore in the distance. He was locked into own world and looked in deep concentration. I ran a 22 minute 5k and a 44 minute 10k so pacing was pretty spot on and felt very comfortable at 10k. 

Just short of halfway I was still running strong and was greeted by 100's of supports shouting and screaming at Tower Bridge. Defiantly a highlight of the race. Then made a right and headed towards the Canary Wharf area. Mile 16 I could feel my legs starting to feel tired but still managing to maintain pace. I was starting to have doubts but I was determined not to let that spoil the race. I remember running through a tunnel and how quiet it went was unreal. Mile 19 came and Dave Mckenna came past. He was running strong. This was when my legs were struggling to carry me at the pace I wanted. My mile splits started to slow. I remember running past the tall city sky scrapers of Canary Wharf and the amount of support there was something I'll never forget. Another highlight of the race running through that section. Moving away the course headed West back towards Tower Bridge staying on the North side of the river running along the embankment. This was the last few miles where I had to really hold things together. My pace had slowed. I knew that but it was not ruining my experience. Running down the embankment was another unreal moment. So much support and so many people shouting words of encouragement to me. At Big Ben the course made a right turn down Birdcage Walk towards Buckingham Palace. This was the final mile. I tried to take in as much as I could and appreciate the crowds. My legs just wanted to stop so badly but I kept going. At this point I slowed down to 8:20 pace which was over a minute slower than the planned race pace.



 
Still in good spirits
Just about to cross the line





















The sight of Buckingham palace came and I made the right turn to The Mall. This was it just 200m to go! Usually in a race I've got enough in me to run a final sprint kick finish but I just kept things sensible and savoured the moment of completing the London Marathon. I almost got emotional crossing the line but I managed to hold it together. I had completed the London Marathon in 3 hours 16 minutes and 45 seconds. I was positioned 3912th out of around 37000 finishers so well positioned A good 6 minutes over my target but I loved every minute of that race. Highlights as previously mentioned has got to be Tower bridge, Canary Wharf and the final last couple of mile right through to the finish. I wish there was some way that I could thank everyone that cheered for me. I will defiantly run the London Marathon again in the future. Anyone thinking of entering it get it entered when the general ballot opens. You will be very lucky if you get a place that way but there is also Good For Age which is how I got my entry and of course charity places available. I'm on my sixth year of running now and London will defiantly be one of the highlights. It has to be said the organisation was spot on too. Once thing is for certain its been the most enjoyable race I have ever ran and that's what running is all about.


Moments after cross the finish line

Finishers medal



What next?


Over the last few days I had a touch of the marathon blues as we call it and despite the slight disappointment with my time ran at London I thought to myself how many runners can get a 3:16 marathon time on just 3 days a week of running? Working long hours massively impacted my training over the last 8 weeks. I'm not going to sit and write this and make excuses. I know what my capabilities are. I know how well I can perform on "A" races. I do feel like I can offer a lot more to the 26.2 mile distance. So, I have decided  to enter this years Amsterdam Marathon which will take place on October 18th. I'm not going to be putting out weekly training updates. I'm going stealth mode. I'm just going to crack on with some hard graft over the summer, get into better marathon race shape and not walk about so much before my next marathon :-)