So, to continue
where I left off in Part 1 of this blog, which charted the first 15 years of my
competitive running career, I will now recount the next 15 years starting in
2000. Not only was it a landmark year in terms of the Millennium (plus I
moved house and started a new job at Warwickshire County Council), but it was
also a very significant year for my running career. I realised that
although 16:32:73 wasn’t a bad time for 5000m it was never going to get me into
the Great Britain team, which was my dream and ultimate goal. I ran the
Erewash 10 miles that August, which was the Midland Championships, and won the
gold medal, in what was only my second race over that distance. I
followed that up with my first ever half-marathon at Stroud, where I ran 79:20,
and so my road racing career was launched.
In 2001, at the
age of 30, I decided along with my coach, Les, that it was time to make the big
step up to the marathon. I was offered the chance to run in the Hans
Christian Andersen Marathon in Odense, Denmark, with a place on the elite start
and my travel and accommodation paid for by the race. This felt a bit
unreal at first – I had no idea opportunities like this existed for the likes
of me! My philosophy in life is always to grab opportunities with both
hands and make the most of them, so I did. I finished 3rd in
Odense, in a time of 2:48:53. It was amazing to be standing on the podium
on my debut marathon! I was totally wiped out when I finished and didn’t
know whether to sit, stand, lie down or curl up in a little ball, but almost
straight away started talking to Les about ‘the next one’! The marathon
bug had bitten me and I’ve since gone on to run a total of fifteen marathons in
eight different countries (and all of them sub-3 hours!).
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| A podium finish in my first marathon, Odense, Denmark |
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| Mixing with the elites (Haile Gebrselassie) |
I was extremely fortunate in that the times I
was running in races meant I was able to get invitations into the ‘elite’
fields of races. All the marathons I’ve run abroad, plus my three London
Marathons, have been as an invited elite athlete, with my race entry fee,
travel and accommodation paid for me by the race. When I first started
out in the sport I had no idea that opportunities like that even existed, let
alone that they would be available to the likes of me! The benefits
of being an elite invited athlete, apart from saving on travel and
accommodation costs, are having my own personal drinks put out at the drinks stations,
staying in the official race hotel with all the other ‘elites’, transport to
the start and back again after the finish, separate toilets, a technical
meeting on the day before the race and often we are driven round the course before the race in order to suss it out. It took me a while to
believe that I really belonged in that environment – it felt very unreal
walking into a hotel lift and coming face to face with world class athletes you
normally only see on the TV! I realise I’m very lucky to have all these
benefits, although they haven’t come without a huge amount of hard work and
dedication in order to get to that level.
After my performance in Denmark I was invited to
the UK Athletics marathon squad training weekends that were held a couple of
times a year. These offered a fantastic chance to train with some of the
country’s top marathon runners as well as listen to talks on nutrition,
training, injury prevention, recovery, psychology etc. I learnt so much
from those sessions, met many people and made numerous friends. I started
making a few tweaks to my training – more long runs, more tempo and race-pace
runs and core stability work. Twelve years ago I started going to a
Pilates class at The Studio in Warwick and have attended weekly classes ever
since as I can really see the benefit it has had on my running. I also started
to take a more professional attitude towards my training, particularly paying
attention to recovery. I started having ice baths, wearing compression
clothing, having massage two or three times a week and seeing my physio, Mark
Buckingham, once a month for a general check-up. I also made sure I
refuelled straight after a session, to the extent
of packing sandwiches to take with me to track sessions to eat on the
way home. A few years ago I had some sessions with Stuart Chambers - a sports psychologist at Athletic Mind. These were invaluable in helping me to foster a more positive mind-set and develop strategies for dealing with certain situations and feelings. Slowly all this dedication started to pay off.
My second marathon was in Dublin in 2002 and things were going well
until the drinks station at 15km. I was running in a group and as we
veered over towards the drinks table someone clipped the back of my heel and
pulled my shoe off! I had a moment of panic – this kind of thing happened
in muddy cross-country races, not on the road! I couldn’t run 27km on
tarmac with only one shoe, so had to stop and put it back on, meanwhile losing
contact with the group I’d been running with. I tried not to panic –
easier said than done, especially in those days when I was much less
experienced – and carried on at my own pace. Despite this I still managed
to finish 5th in an international field, knocking ten minutes of my
PB (2:38:52).
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| Beirut Marathon 2003 |
The following year
I was offered the chance to run in the first ever International Marathon in
Beirut, which was a truly memorable experience. The elite athletes’
accommodation was a very upmarket five-star hotel with a huge selection of food
on offer in the restaurant buffet. However, just a stone’s throw away
were derelict buildings pockmarked with bullet holes and scarred from years of
fighting. It brought home the reality and made me realise how lucky we
were to be able to visit at a time of peace (sadly there have been
troubles there again since then). The race itself was ‘interesting’ to
say the least! There was an area by the start allocated for the elite
athletes with our own portable toilets. Unfortunately, though, when we
came to use them we found they were still locked! A few frantic phone
calls by the Race Director ascertained that the man who was in charge of them
was on his day off! Eventually we managed to break the locks and use
them, but as they hadn’t been properly set up they soon became pretty
disgusting! As this was a new event the locals, understandably, didn’t
know anything about the etiquette at the start line and everyone tried to get
as close as they could to the front, regardless of their expected finishing
time. There was an almighty crush and stampede when the starting hooter sounded –
it was really very scary! One poor tiny Kenyan girl in the elite race got
completely trampled! Once we got going and the field spread out things
quietened down, although the temperatures soared to around 30 degrees! It
was a brilliant experience, though, to run along the palm tree-lined Corniche,
with the dazzling blue Mediterranean Sea stretching away to my left. One
highlight from this trip was that we were taken to see the Roman ruins at
Baalbek World Heritage Site in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley the day after the
race. On the way back we stopped for a traditional Lebanese meal and I
found myself sitting next to marathon Olympian Ron Hill, who had run in the 10k event as part of
his aim of running in 100 countries by the time he was 70! Now that would be an interesting thing to try and emulate!
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Start of the Beirut Marathon (left);
Roman Ruins at Baalbek World Heritage Site, Lebanon (right) |
The following
year, 2004, I ran my first London marathon, which was also being used as a
trial for the GB team for the Athens Olympics that year. I’d been going
to the UK squad training weekends and there was a good group of women all
capable of achieving the qualifying time of 2:37:00. My preparation had
gone well, but in the event the cold weather caused my hamstrings to cramp up
and, despite a PB of 2:38:20, I finished just shy of the qualifying time and
missed out on selection. I’ve run London twice more since then (2005 and
2010), but that first one remains my highest finish – 15th in the
women’s race and 5th Brit. I have mixed feelings about the
London Marathon. It's an amazing experience to run past the famous
sights – Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, along Birdcage
Walk and past Buckingham Palace to finish in The Mall. Without a doubt it
has an incredible atmosphere and the crowd support is tremendous; at times I’ve
been glad to run through an underpass just for a brief respite from the
deafening noise! At the same time though, running in the elite women’s
race is a pretty lonely experience in terms of athletes around you.
Selection policies for the GB team always stipulated we had to run in the elite
women’s race rather than the mass race, but the field was always relatively
small and soon became strung out. I found it much harder to run that
distance on my own, without a group to sit in with, even though all my training
is done on my own! In 2010 it was a little better as there was a small
group all running at the same pace until around the 20 mile mark. That was
the year I beat the 2008 Olympic marathon champion, Constantina Dita from
Romania! On balance, however, I’d still rather have the perks of an elite
place – my own drinks, accommodation at the Tower Hotel, transport to the start
and back to the hotel afterwards on a river ferry, pre-race drinks reception on
the river with VIPs, my name listed on the TV coverage and the opportunity of
mixing with world class marathon runners. I can cope with a lonely race
for all that!
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| My first London Marathon in 2004 - a lonely race! |
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| In front of the Olympic Champion, Constantina Dita, in the 2010 London Marathon |
All was not
completely lost after narrowly failing to make the 2004 Olympics, as I was
selected to run for Great Britain in the Kosice Peace Marathon in
Slovakia. Eighteen years after my competitive athletics career began, at
the age of 33, I finally realised my dream of representing Great Britain.
My first race in a GB vest was very successful – 2nd in a new PB of
2:37:00. The awards ceremony was rather unusual - as we stood on the podium,
as well as our trophies and bouquets we were handed a live dove to release as a
symbol of peace, this being the Peace Marathon. This was also the first
time I’d stood on a podium with the Union Flag raised in my honour, which was a
very proud moment. The build-up before the race was full of ceremony and
tradition. This is the oldest marathon in Europe (it celebrated its 80th
anniversary the year I ran) and is a huge event in the town, to the extent that
there is a bronze statue of a runner standing on a plinth displaying the names
of all the winners in the race’s history. The day before the race the
elite athletes were all taken out onto the steps of the Town Hall to be
introduced to the crowd of fans. The crowd then all lined up in an orderly
queue for us to sign our autographs on their official race programmes!
There was also a torch-lighting ceremony in true Olympic fashion, and a press
conference where we met the Prime Minister of Slovakia (who was also running
the race). It’s a wonder we had any energy left to run the race after all
that!
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| Team GB by the Kosice Peace Marathon statue and flame |
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| Releasing a dove of peace from the podium |
As a medallist I was required to attend the post-race press
conference. This was my first experience of being actively involved in a
press conference, sitting at the ‘top table’ along with the other elite
athletes and race VIPs! I was really nervous – what would they ask me,
what would I say, would I make a fool of myself?! In the event no-one
asked me anything at all – they just concentrated on the race winners!
Over the years I’ve been involved in other pre-race and post-race press
conferences and, yes, I have been asked questions! I’ve also done several
on-the-spot media interviews for local television and newspapers in various
countries and have become quite used to having a microphone shoved in my face
just after the finish line, before I've even managed to get my breath back! Over the years I’ve
become more accustomed to being interviewed and it doesn’t faze me now as much
as it used to. I’ve never been comfortable being put ‘on the spot’, but
learning to handle it in a running situation has really helped me to become
more confident in other situations too.
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| Press conference at the Beirut Marathon (left); post-race media interview (right) |
Another highlight of 2004 was that it marked the beginning of my
long-standing relationship with Mizuno. I had already been wearing Mizuno
shoes for two or three years, but in 2004 they agreed to include me as one of
their ‘supported athletes’ and I am very proud to still be one of their
ambassadors today. I am a massive fan of Mizuno shoes and would choose
them over any other brand every time. This support is yet another example
of how much my running career has progressed over the years. I used to
think how cool it would be to be a ‘sponsored athlete’, but never imagined for
one minute that I would get to a standard where that would be possible.
Now I’m supported not only by Mizuno, but also by X-Socks / X-Bionic, whose compression
gear is superb (I wouldn't contemplate racing without their Effektor socks), and by The Warwickshire where I have use of their first-class
gym facilities. I know I'm very fortunate to have all this support and I’d like to say a massive thank you to all of them - it really is invaluable.
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| Standing on the podium in an Olympic stadium! |
So, back to my racing, my time of 2:37 in Kosice was within the
qualifying standard for the 2005 World Championships to be held in Helsinki and
I was hopeful of being selected, but unfortunately it was not to be. So,
instead, I ran the Amsterdam Marathon, lining up alongside the great Haile
Gebrselassie on the start line in the 1928 Olympic Stadium. I finished 3rd
and therefore had the enviable position of standing on the podium in an Olympic
Stadium! I also managed to run most of the second half with a burning
pain in my foot – when I finished I realised I’d had a blood blister which had
burst, soaking my shoe in blood and resulting in me being pushed to the
prize-giving ceremony in a wheelchair!
The following year, 2006, I ran my PB of 2:36:13 in the Hamburg
Marathon. This was inside the qualifying standard for the Commonwealth
Games in Melbourne, but once again I wasn’t selected. I was, however,
selected for my second Great Britain international in the Toronto Waterfront
Marathon in Canada, which included an International Team Challenge between
Canada, Great Britain, Mexico and USA.
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| My second GB vest, Toronto |
Despite being in better shape for this marathon than any of my others,
having run a 10 mile PB of 55:44 a few weeks before, things didn’t quite work
out on the day and I was bitterly disappointed with my 7th
place. We were 2nd in the team competition, though, which made
amends slightly. The weather was quite windy and, unbeknown to me, the
well-meaning volunteers at one of the drinks stations decided to sellotape my
drink bottle to the table to stop it blowing away! I ran past and tried
to grab it, but it remained firmly stuck in place. Les and the GB Team
Manager had been given permission to cycle round the course and Les saw what
happened, stopped to un-stick the bottle and cycled after me with it.
Unfortunately, though, a spectator stepped out into the road right in front of
him and he went over the handle bars! The long and short of it was that
Les ended up with a broken elbow (though he didn’t know this until we got back
to the UK) and I never did get my drink! This was just one of many bike
mishaps Les has had during races and training, but I think that race was one to
forget for both of us! The best part of the trip was seeing the sights of
Toronto and being taken to the stunning Niagara Falls the day after the race.
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| Niagara Falls |
Of course, during
my marathon-running years I continued to race shorter distances too, as part of
the build-up and preparation for the longer races. I ran several Great
South Run 10 mile races, including in 2002 when Sonia O’Sullivan set a new
world best time of 51 minutes (I finished 7th in what was then a PB
56:15). I met Sonia after the race and had a chat with her as she was
interested in the fact I was planning to run in the forthcoming Dublin Marathon
in her native country. A month after the Great South Run I ran my
half-marathon PB of 73:43 in the Great North Run. I finished 10th female and 2nd Brit behind Liz
Yelling, and also beat the reigning World Half-Marathon champion, Berhane Adere
from Ethiopia! What’s more, I was mentioned by Brendan Foster and Steve
Cram on the television coverage of the finish! They were a bit flustered as
they didn’t know who I was and there was a slight pause as they had to quickly
look up my name!
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| In the days of Ceefax! |
I was hoping to have been selected for the GB team for the World
Half-Marathon Championships after my Great North Run performance, but
unfortunately once again it wasn’t to be. A few years later, in 2005, I
was selected as a non-travelling reserve for the World Half-Marathon in Canada,
but again didn’t get to go! In 2005 I set my 10k PB of 33:58 when
finishing 2nd in the Lincoln 10k. Les and I were waiting with baited
breath at the prize-giving to see what my official time was – we knew I was
close to breaking 34 minutes, but weren’t sure if I’d actually managed
it. As soon as we heard the words “thirty-three” we were elated! My
trophy was a bit of an anti-climax though – a very naff plaster cast running
shoe on a plastic plinth!
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| Midland Cross-Country Champion 2004 |
Although I’d been
concentrating mainly on road races since 2000 I did continue to do a few
cross-country and track races. In 2004 I won the Midland Cross-Country
Championships, becoming the first senior athlete from Leamington C&AC, male
or female, to do so.
In 2007 I was part
of a small England team that travelled to Reims in France for a
half-marathon. I was really pleased with my run there, finishing 4th
(and 1st European) in my second-fastest half-marathon time ever of
74:03. A couple of years later, in 2009, as part of my build-up for the Rotterdam Marathon I ran
the Bramley 20 mile race, finishing 1st in a time of 1:57:22, which
was (and still is) 10th on the UK All-Time Ranking list.
One of the benefits
of being part of elite marathon fields meant that Les and I were able to make
several valuable contacts including athlete managers and race directors.
Through these I was invited to run in a 10k in Voorthuizen and a half-marathon
in Breda, both in the Netherlands, and a half-marathon in Marrakech.
These were fantastic experiences, both for the races themselves, and for the
opportunity for some sightseeing after the race.
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| Marrakech Half-Marathon 2008 |
Marrakech was fabulous in this respect and the vibrant Jemaa el-Fnaa
square, with its snake-charmers, story-tellers and musicians by day and dozens of
food stalls by evening, is definitely not to be missed. The race itself
was another of those ‘interesting’ ones! The elite athletes were all
taken by bus from the hotel and dropped in front of the start line. As we
made our way towards the start we’d hardly joined the mass of runners already
waiting there when the starting gun was fired and we had to quickly turn round
and immediately start running!
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Marrakech: the elite athletes' hotel (left);
road closures for the race caused a bit of a traffic jam (right) |
After running the 2010 London Marathon, and narrowly missing out on
selection for the European Championships and Commonwealth Games, another
opportunity was offered to me – the chance to run for England in the IAU 50k
World Trophy Final. Although I’d toyed with the idea of running ultras I
hadn’t really seriously considered it until then. I suppose it was really
a continuation of my natural progression up through the distances. I
wasn’t getting any quicker over the marathon and needed a new challenge to keep
me motivated. So, always ready to accept a challenge, I jumped at the
chance, although I must admit that the prospect of running anything longer than
a marathon was somewhat daunting as well as exciting. The race was in
Galway, Ireland and went better than I could possibly have hoped as I not only
won, but set a new English National and World Masters record of 3:15:43 (both
of which still stand). It was an amazing feeling to be running round the
streets of Galway leading an international race and it made me feel very
privileged to have a lead car and motorbike outriders with me to stop the
traffic! The only downside was that it took me five hours to give a
sample for my drug test afterwards! Incidentally, Sonia O’Sullivan was at
the race to participate in a ‘master-class’ which was being held in conjunction
– and she remembered chatting to me at the Great South Run eight years
previously!
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| Winning the 2010 50k World Trophy Final (left); and with my medal and trophy (right) |
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| On the podium (left); a very happy coach and athlete (right), Galway |
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| Comrades Marathon, South Africa |
The 50k in
Galway marked the start of the next ‘phase’ of my running career –
ultras. In 2011 I was offered the chance to run for the South African
'Nedbank' team in the World’s largest, oldest and one of the most famous
ultras – the Comrades Marathon in South Africa. This race has a long
history and tradition, dating back to the first race in 1921 to honour and
remember the fallen Comrades of the Great War. The route is approximately
89km and alternates direction each year between Durban and
Pietermaritzburg. The year I ran was an ‘uphill’ year, starting at
sea level in Durban and finishing at an altitude of 870m in
Pietermaritzburg. It was, without doubt, the most incredible, but
gruelling, race I’ve ever done! The notorious ‘big five’ hills were
interspersed with several smaller ones too, plus some downhill sections, which
resulted in my legs turning to jelly and feeling as if they didn’t belong to
me! For the last 10km or so I could hardly control them and was really
just shuffling rather than running! However, there was no way I was going
to give up, and I ended up 13th female in 7hrs 13:11. The
atmosphere along the way was awesome – everyone came out to have barbecues
(braais) along the route and cheer on the runners. The race is massive in
South Africa, with twelve hours of live television coverage, and it was
awe-inspiring to be part of it.
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| En route to Pietermaritzburg from Durban, Comrades Marathon |
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| Crossing the finish line |
Following my run
in Comrades I was selected to run for Great Britain in the 2011 IAU World and
European 100km Championships in Winschoten, Netherlands. At last – the
chance to run in my first ‘major championship’ – 25 years after starting my
career and at the age of 40! It just shows that there is always hope and
that you should never give up trying. Patience definitely is a virtue!
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| 50k World Trophy, Assen |
Before the 100k, though, I was selected to run for England again in the
IAU 50k World Trophy Final, this time in Assen, Netherlands. Several of
the GB team for the 100k were running in Assen and we were using it as a
training run in preparation for the 100k. I desperately wanted to repeat
my success of the previous year in Galway, but knew I had to be disciplined and
stick to a strict pace schedule as there wasn’t enough recovery time between
the 50k and 100k to go for a fast time in Assen.
As it happened I still won the silver medal and ran a decent time of 3:25:05.
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| Silver medal, 50k World Trophy Final, Assen, 2011 |
So then it was on to the main event – the 100km World Championships. It
was a brilliant experience to be part of a major championships – staying in the
athletes’ village and taking part in the opening ceremony and flag parade
through the town.
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| Team GB at the opening ceremony of the World 100k Championships, 2011 |
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| World 100k Champs. 2011 |
Unfortunately, the
race itself didn’t quite go to plan as my inexperience over the longer distance
told with regard to pacing and my choice of energy gels and drinks during the
race. I paid dearly in the last 20km for starting out too fast and felt
lightheaded and nauseous from a nutrition strategy that clearly wasn’t
working. However, I was representing my Country and there was no way I was
going to let the team down. At no point did it even cross my mind to drop
out. I used all the mental strength I could find to keep going, albeit at
a walk / jog, to get to the finish. The effort was well worth it in the end as we
won European Championship team silver medals. Individually I was placed
21st (11th in the European Championship) and ran a time
of 8hrs 27:33.
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| European team silver medals for GB |
I was bitterly
disappointed after my first 100km as I felt I’d failed and not done justice to
all the hard work I, and Les, had put in. However, I had also learnt a
lot of very valuable lessons and was keen and eager to have another go.
I’d have gone out and run 100km the very next day if my body had let me!
So when I got selected to run for GB in the following year’s World 100k
Championships I was really excited at the prospect of having the chance to make
amends. Sadly, however, it was not to be as a calf injury meant I had to
withdraw from the team. I was gutted; after all it’s not every day you
get the opportunity to represent your country in a major championship. My
only consolation was the hope of being selected for England for the 50k World
Trophy Final later that year. It seems that 2012 was destined not to be
my year, though, as another calf injury meant I couldn’t run in the 50k either!
Things picked up
in 2013 and early on in the year I reached a landmark of 50,000 miles in training and racing since my competitive career began. That's equivalent to running twice around the world (hence the overall title of my blog).
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| 2013 European 100k Champs., Belves |
My hard work paid off as I was selected to run for Great Britain in the 2013 IAU European 100km
Championships in Belves, France. At last I had the chance to redeem
myself over 100km! The course was very different from the flat,
10km-loops of the Winschoten course. In contrast this was a hilly,
out-and-back route along the Dordogne Valley, with a particularly brutal climb
in the last 5km to finish back in Belves, a lovely medieval town which sits
rather inconveniently on the top of a rocky outcrop! This time I started
off at a much more conservative pace and had a completely revised nutrition
strategy, both of which paid off. Lying in about 7th place in
the women’s race at half-way I went through a bad patch and thought I had
fluffed it again. One thing about ultra-running, though, is that things
can change very quickly and you need to have enough mental strength to get
through the rough times and out the other side. At about 70km I started
to feel much stronger again. I started picking people off and by 95km I
had moved into 4th place.
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| 2013 European 100k Champs., Belves |
I then spotted a Russian girl in
front of me as we started the final 5km climb to the finish. I wasn’t
sure I could catch her, but I put my head down and worked as hard as I could
and soon realised I was closing on her. At 99km I went straight past her
and hoped and prayed she hadn’t got anything left to come back at me!
Luckily she hadn’t and I won the Bronze medal in only my second attempt at the
distance, smashing my PB with a time of 7hrs 48:12. This ranked me number
one in the UK rankings and fourth in the World rankings in 2013. It was
hugely emotional to stand on the podium and watch the Union Flag raised in my
honour, and well worth the blisters!
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| It was a hugely proud and emotional moment to stand on the podium in my GB tracksuit |
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| A very happy athlete and coach (again!) - European bronze medal |
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| CSW Sportswoman of the Year 2013 |
My success in
Belves was recognised locally as I won the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire
Sportswoman of the Year Award that year, as well as the Ellis Trophy awarded by
Warwickshire County Athletics Association for the best performance by a
Warwickshire athlete in any discipline. This was actually the second time
I’d won the Ellis Trophy, having previously won it in 2010, and at that time I
was the only female to have won it, and the only person to have won it more
than once. I’m really flattered by the amount of recognition I’ve been
given over the years, especially locally. After my win in the 50k World
Trophy in Galway I won the Warwick District Sports Personality award and was
shortlisted for the International Association of Ultrarunners ‘Athlete of the
Year’. I have also been recognised by Warwickshire County Council with a
special achievement award; presented with a silver clock from the County
Council (and given standing ovations at two full council meetings!) and
attended a formal dinner hosted by the Chair of the County Council!
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Over the years I've won many Leamington C&AC Club trophies (left);
winning the Ellis Trophy (right) |
Once again,
however, the high point of 2013 was followed by one of my lowest years
ever. 2014 started with ‘high hamstring tendinopathy and a stress
reaction in my left ischial tuberosity’ (sitting bone), and ended with ‘high
hamstring tendinopathy and a stress reaction in my right ischial
tuberosity’! Somewhere between the two I managed a handful of shorter
races, but the year was pretty much a write-off. By 2015, though, I was
back into training again and through a great deal of hard work managed to get
myself into shape to be selected for Great Britain for the IAU World and
European 100k Championships, again to be held in Winschoten, Netherlands.
In my build up for Winschoten I ran the Enigma 30 miles at Milton Keynes and recorded my
first ever overall win, beating all the men as well as the women, and the Railway Ultra 38 miles at
Telford.
I was really looking forward to Winschoten – knowing the course,
the set-up, the athletes village etc. from 2011 was a huge bonus. I was also looking forward to the atmosphere round the course - the locals all come out to cheer on the runners, have barbeques in their front gardens, play music, decorate the streets with bunting and balloons and there's a real party feel. It's just what you need to keep you going when you're running round and round the town all day!
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| Running through a giant party! |
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| Enjoying the World 100k |
Things
went pretty much to plan on race day and the weather was almost perfect,
although a bit windy at times. My pace judgement went perfectly to plan,
with a metronomic first eight laps (45.26; 45.26; 45.21; 45.43; 45.23; 45.52; 45.43; 45.54) and only
slightly dropping off for the last two (47.19; 47.45). I was a bit miffed
when I was overtaken by a Swedish girl at 95km, especially as she was in the
same Masters age group as me, but I guess I’d done the same thing to someone
else in Belves! I tried as hard as I could to go with her, but my legs
just wouldn’t go any quicker. I finished in 10th place, 7th
in the European Championships and 2nd in the World Masters W40 age
group, in what was probably the strongest 100km field ever
assembled. What’s more, my time of 7hrs 39:50 was a PB by over eight
minutes, is a British Masters W40 record and puts me 5th on the UK
All-time Rankings!
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| World Masters 100k Champs. Silver Medal |
2015 ended on
another high when I recorded my 100th road race win in the Christmas
Cracker Half-Marathon at Moreton Morrell. Not a bad turn-round from the
injury ravaged year I had in 2014!
 |
| Celebrating my 100th road race victory |
Once again,
though, the high is followed by a low as I am currently side-lined with yet another
stress reaction in my pelvis (ischial tuberosity) for the third time in two
years (hence having enough time to write this blog!). I’m working closely
with my fantastic physio, Mark Buckingham, to try and get to the bottom (excuse
the pun) of why this keeps happening. However, one thing is sure, I am still
as determined as ever to get back to running and racing again. I’ve come
back from injury many times in the past and the desire to keep running, and racing, is still
burning within me.
As you can see from
both Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog, running has been a massive part of my life
for many years and has helped to shape the person I am. When I started my
athletics journey 30 years ago I had no idea where it would take me. But
56,328 miles later it has taken me to some amazing places, given me fun,
enjoyment, fulfilment, wonderful opportunities, experiences and friends.
It has broadened my horizons, taught me to believe in myself and given me
confidence that spills over into all other areas of my life too. I am proud to have been a member of Leamington C&AC since starting out in 1986 and felt extremely honoured when the club recognised my achievements and contribution to the sport by awarding me life membership in 2008.
I am also indebted to my coach of all those 30 years, Les, who has celebrated the successes with me and been there to help pull me through the rough times too. His positive attitude has been an immense inspiration to me. Throughout my career I’ve always believed that there is more to come and that I
can do better; and I’ve always been prepared to put in the hard work and push
myself to my limit to try and achieve that. I still believe that there’s more to come
and I’m looking forward to continuing my journey once my body has healed.
