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 (18th 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
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 3rd year
team in the county champs as 3rd 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!!
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