Getting sentimental and planning ahead!

New Years Eve – time for reflection, setting targets for the New Year and, for me, my 50^th parkrun!!

This year has been a rare old mix of stress and stress relief. Life in general has been tough but we are getting there- running and all it has brought to us as a family has been a great reliever of that stress! Discovering the parkrun community and Sar and Jamie starting to run too has been the most fantastic thing- being able to run again helps too!

I recently posted some old race results I found in the garage which showed some impressive results from 20 years ago- chatting about it with Danny Norman amongst others I made a comment about how I was enjoying running so much more now than when I was competing seriously and I wanted to explain why.

In 1992 I did 16:28 for 5k- this year I have managed 22:05. I once raced Wilson Kipketer in a national track final and regularly competed for my county as well as being Leeds University Athletics Captain. So what has made the difference?

Well, after 15+ years of not being able to run anything has got to be an improvement. In those days I raced, always in a team with a great bunch of people and usually with someone inspirational in support but we were always a racing team. It was serious, it was tough but it was always competitive, especially with your team-mates!

What I never realised was missing was the community. In those days we had no Facebook, no forums and no podcasts. There was never any mixing with those who ran for fun and we never thought about anything but training and times.

Now I am slower but I am part of something I am truly enjoying! Yes I still set targets and still do my best but it appeals to my social nature to be amongst like minded people regardless of standard! I have met some great people this year and look forward to meeting more next year! Yes I enjoyed my racing career, but my second “vets” career is much more fun!!


Something else I have been thinking about is my really annoying habit of talking to everyone about both running and parkrun. I have persuaded a few mates to give it a try, some have really got into it, some still do the odd one and some have never been seen again! One friend however has grabbed it like the thing that has been missing from his life all this time! Nicky Best plays pool for a rival team in our league and we got chatting- after his first parkrun he loved it- last weekend I saw him with a car full of 3 others he had brought along who also loved it! That made me very happy, though I am worried about how quick Nicky is going to get next year!!! Then there is Jabba - Stephen Jablonski: totally unfit scouser playing for our team who just turns up, week in week out! Not sure he even enjoys it but, apart from in this festive season when he is busily undoing all his hard work, never shows any sign of quitting! Respect! Though I think part of it is he enjoys winding Sam up about Chelsea.....

So what about 2012? More parkruns (obviously) both at Leeds and around the country, plenty of other races, including the real toughie of trying to get back into the 800m!! Add into the mix taking Jamie to see the men’s 10,000m final at the Olympics and I am getting pretty excited!

So to make it official here is a summary of last years targets and next: bearing in mind at the start of the year my best 5k was 24:11 and for 3 months an Achilles injury crippled me after every parkrun until the following Friday!

- Sub 23 minutes by the end of August – achieved on the last weekend of August thanks to the brilliant Dave McGuire’s suggestion of taking in a parkrun on the way to Wembley to see the Challenge Cup final. Milton Keynes definitely suited me even after a 3 hour drive!!

- Sub 22 minutes by the end of the year- currently at 22:05 with one more to go…..

- Race the Yorkshire Vets 800m – came 5^th and 1^st M40 knocking 6 seconds of my previous best of the season. Not a great time (2:26.1) but I was racing!

So what about 2012: well I have tried to be realistic but my targets are:

- Run without walking – the obvious exception being the Guy Fawkes 10- no way I can do those hills!! If you see me walking at a parkrun you have my permission to kick me.

- Sub 21 min 5k, sub 45 min 10k, sub 2:20 800m.

- Enjoy it!!!

Have a great New Year all! See you at a parkrun near you soon!!

How a friend request changed it all!

I have had some requests to explain the comments about Emma Drake following my earlier post. Emma made a huge difference to my life this year for two reasons.

The first was following her request to add me as a friend on Facebook. Previously I had a strict policy- I only had friends that I actually knew, and if it topped 100 I had a cull! I had a few old school mates on there, some added briefly to have a quick catch up and maybe a chat, but often that lapsed into inactivity. Anyway, when I got the request I didn’t know who she was but the name did seem familiar- eventually I checked the Leeds parkrun results and found that Emma was one of those who always seemed to catch me at the end of a parkrun!!

What happened when I added Emma was we talked about running. What it meant to me was a connection with both someone who was so positive and encouraging and a community that was to become such an important part of my life!

Before that I had really only got to know 2 people at parkrun- Graham Pawley used to park next to me every week so we chatted (he is based at Roundhay!), and Paul McCormack who unwittingly was my original nemesis (running-wise!). Paul used to catch me on my earlier runs as I died on the last lap (uphill!) but after a while I managed to pull away from him- when I introduced myself he confessed to be doing this to get to 100, then he planned to stop! Last time I looked I am sure he was up to about 114- I even saw him doing the Abbey Dash 10k and we encouraged each other as we passed! No idea what his motivation is but respect for his efforts!

Anyway, I started to add parkrunning friends on Facebook and before long my Saturday news feed was full of people sharing their enthusiasm for their free Saturday morning run and social with friends. That really got me hooked on the community that is parkrun, rather than just enjoying (??!) the 25 minutes or so that I was struggling round those 3 laps in Hyde Park!

So with my Facebook feed now filling up with running talk, posted Garmin runs and increasing encouragement I started to get to know people and that made my Saturdays much more enjoyable, and not just people from Leeds- I have had some very random chats with people from all over the country who share the same passion!! I was now officially hooked- rather than liking to do parkrun I now needed to! And all this down to a simple add friend request on FB and a few chats about running. It took us quite a while to actually meet but when we did I felt I owed an awful lot to Emma Drake!

The second reason- can wait for now as I am sure I have rambled on enough for now!

Why "again"??

If you ask most people who knew me at school or university what I did they would say I was that runner- it was what I did.

When I was at junior school I did the usual races- sports day, the district sports etc. Before that however my first running experiences were twofold: being English and growing up in Scotland made me something of a target and hence needed to be quick, and being taken to the highland games and allowed to run in the handicap races! Apparently I cried when I didn’t win…..

By the time I got to secondary school living back in Nottingham with my Grandparents I had pretty much decided I wanted to run. I was after all useless at football, socially ostracised (there are still people I see at home who think I am Scottish due to the accent I had when I was 11!!) and actually very short and shy! Running made me feel free!!

When I started at secondary school I can remember a few details- there were two girls in my class I liked, Kay and Colette, I was 147cm tall (18^th tallest in my class out of 30) and my form tutor was a complete bitch- Ms King! Still can’t remember why she left but by the end of the year we had Miss Brooks….

Incidentally we got measured at the start of every year- I was 147, 151, 166, 176, 183cm in my 5 years at school- that is a 6 inch growth in my second year and in the next two as well! No wonder I have stretch marks….

We also had a Chemistry teacher called Mr Domleo- he ran the cross country team which I joined. For the first year I was second- all the time. My bester was Adrian Gillman- no idea why, he was just faster! I did win the district cross country though, but I can’t remember how!! It was on our local course near school, a strange out, loop and back course but it suited me!!

By the time we got to the second year (year 8 for you youngsters out there!!) I had him beat- I won the inter-from cross country and the district xc again, being picked for the 3^rd year team in the county champs as 3^rd qualifier out of 8! I was on it that day- and what made it for me was that as I left the school field for the country I passed my Grandad walking the dog- pretending it was happy chance but he never walked that way!

I spent many years after that racing cross country in the winter, track in the summer and sometimes on the roads. By the time I left university I had 15 years experience of racing and it was just what I did. By this time I had a decent range of pb’s-

400m   52.5

800m   1:57.1

1500m 4:15

5k        16:28

10k      34:32

½ M     1:22:59

as well as representing my County a few times and even racing Wilson Kipketer in the Danish national indoor junior (U22) track final!! 

When I got ill in 1997 with glandular fever I never thought it would take me away from what I had loved for so long. I tried to get back into it but every time it knocked me out, for a month at a time!

I gave it up then, and took up football! I had been playing socially 5-a side and realised I was useless unless I was in goal- then I turned into a raving loony who flatly refused to let anyone score past me! I got invited to join a team and we won the corporate league in Harrogate- then one night me and Sar went for a drink with an ex-girlfriend Cathy in Roundhay and heard the fateful words-

“Can you help us out- just this weekend. We need a goalkeeper…”

12 years after that I retired from their 5 and 11 a side teams as my joints started to hurt. My style of goalkeeping was described as kamikaze but I loved it. The adrenalin rush was close to what I used to get doing an 800m!! Thanks Cathy for introducing me to Andy Miller- we had a great time and I know I did a good job!!

So a couple of years after giving up football I started running again- my first event was the Leeds Half Marathon Corporate challenge (run as a 6 leg relay) in which I just about managed to cover 3 miles. Then I discovered parkrun, turned up a couple of times and the rest is history!! I am back!!

The parkrun bug finds the unlikeliest new recruit!

When I first started parkrun, Jamie (then aged 4 and a half) wanted to run it. It was nearly a year before I let him but at his first attempt he managed the whole 5k non-stop! Very proud!! He has since done 6, the latest a 2 minute pb at Roundhay of all places in 35:22!!!

For years my wife (Sarah for those who don't know!) has expressed her dislike of athletics- either watching (boring) or taking part (no interest, never have, never will!). Sometimes I enjoyed the fact that I went off and did my own thing, had my own friends and a couple of hours doing something different- unfortunately I have one of those annoying personalities that tries to get everyone to like something if I do! It's a fault, but sometimes leads people to something new they do like!!

On the 4th June 2011 I persuaded Sar to run the Bradford parkrun with Jamie. We did it in fancy dress (myself and Jamie as 118 and 117 1/2!!) and Jamie loved it! Once I had finished my 3 laps (with an 8 second pb, sweating like a bugger under the black afro wig that was part of my costume) I joined them for their last lap. Jamie took a minute out of Sar on that lap and she really did not enjoy it.

The next Friday she said the most astonishing thing- "I want to run for myself!". One quickly arranged babysitter later and we are of to Hyde Park for her first proper run!! I was really excited that she wanted to run for herself ("I told you you'd love it") that I ran a 32 second pb- also to do with the fact that I lapped her on the last hill and daren't slow down!!

Sar did 37:35 that day - the following 11 weeks saw 10 pb's, taking her time down to 31:24!!! That was fantastic but what I really love about it is that it instantly became a part of the weekly diary, even that one Saturday in July when Sam's magic failed to prevent the rain and I was poorly, Sar was there- looking like a drowned rat but never any question about not going!!

So we are now a running family- Jamie is desperate to get his 10 T-Shirt, even though at 6 he is unlikely to get one small enough, and I am heading for 50 (runs, not my age before you wags start chipping in)!!! There is even talk that Sar might do a 10k!! I am not sure she enjoys the whole social side of things as much as me- she likes to run with headphones in in her own world, but afterwards she is often seen chatting to George and others as much as me- though of course I get the blame!! I know- I talk too much.....

parkrun – how did I not know about this before??

In May 2010 I put together a relay team to run the Leeds Half Marathon corporate Challenge – being the only one with any running experience I put myself on the longer last leg and we struggled round- eventually!! This was my first proper run for a long time after having 13 years out of the sport following a bout of glandular fever in 1997.

Since then I had kept myself fit, discovering at the age of 25 that I was a fairly handy goalkeeper and, as I owned a pair of gloves, was in quite some demand! 5 or 6 games a week for 10 years or so kept the love handles at bay and gave me the adrenalin rush I used to get from an 800m on the track- it was also a great stress release!!

In that time I had also tried to get back into running with a couple of appearances at the annual Leeds University Relays and one go at the John Carr 5k at Esholt. None successful, none quick but I knew one day I wanted to get back into it!! That was when I set my target- to get back onto the track running 800m’s by the time I was a veteran- in my eyes this is still 40 for men!!

As Jamie started to get older I also decided that I needed to get moving for a couple of reasons- first to keep up with him and not be one of those dads who couldn’t play with his kid, but also hoping to encourage him in sport, be it running, football, rugby or whatever he wanted to do!

It was at this point that my search of the internet for suitable races led me to find parkrun. In June 2010 I did my first, and really enjoyed it- bonus, it was free! So I did a couple- the second a minute faster than my first in 24:54, however still over 8 minutes slower than my best ever- in 1992!! (more about that later!!) No matter- I never expected to be as fast again and was doing this for very different reasons so that didn’t bother me!

It was September before I managed to get to another, managing 3 in a row before getting busy again, returning in time for the snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures of last November. I ran my 2 fastest times in those conditions and really enjoyed the challenge!!

However- the reason I was not running consistently, or quickly, was down to a persistent problem with my achilles tendon, which I put down to unfitness and old age!! Every week after a run I would limp my way to about Friday then run on a Saturday- and only then when I could fit it in! It was February 2011 when I got properly hooked- and I think the main reason for that was the social network on Facebook.

Being the sociable creature that I am I had joined in a few chats and made a few comments in the forum then one day I got a friend request from a lady whose name seemed familiar- a quick check of the weekly results gave me the answer- we were pretty much about the same standard, in fact I am sure she regularly passed me on the last lap as I died every week!!

That lady was Emma Drake- and she deserves a chapter of her own!!!

Track races- a bit of speedwork!

Track races are not for everyone but some like them for something different or as a bit of speedwork! Fixtures for next year have started to filter through and I will keep a list if anyone wants it!!

Spenborough AC Open - sunday 1st April
Yorkshire Vets Champs - sunday 16th Sept, Cleckheaton
York - Ingrams League - various dates. http://www.athleticsyork.org.uk/dates-and-timetable-.htm
(nice little low key meetings)

Santa run

So we have our costumes after a fashion for the Leeds Hyde Park Santa parkrun on Saturday- not the full Santa suit but more festive than I usually go! Will post a picture on Saturday if you promise not to laugh!!

My first introduction to blogging!

Being part of the parkrun community has led me to meet many interesting people with stories to tell. Reading their blogs has led me to start writing this, not in the assumption that anyone will read it but that it will help me marshall my thoughts, memories and motivations for the book that will inevitably follow- for which I will naturally steal my mother's idea and name "The Diary of a Hermit Crab!".