30 years as a runner Part 2: Marathons and Ultras 2000 - 2016

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 3^rd 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!).

A podium finish in my first marathon, Odense, Denmark



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 5^th in an international field, knocking ten minutes of my PB (2:38:52).

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!

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 – 15^th in the women’s race and 5^th 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!

My first London Marathon in 2004 - a lonely race!

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 – 2^nd 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 80^th 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! 

Team GB by the Kosice Peace Marathon statue and flame

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.

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.

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 3^rd 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. 

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 7^th place.  We were 2^nd 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.

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 7^th 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 10^th female and 2^nd 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!

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 2^nd 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!

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 4^th (and 1^st 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 1^st in a time of 1:57:22, which was (and still is) 10^th 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. 

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!

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!

Winning the 2010 50k World Trophy Final (left); and with my medal and trophy (right)

On the podium (left); a very happy coach and athlete (right), Galway

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 13^th 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.

En route to Pietermaritzburg from Durban, Comrades Marathon

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!

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.

 

 

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.

Team GB at the opening ceremony of the World 100k Championships, 2011

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 21^st (11^th in the European Championship) and ran a time of 8hrs 27:33.

 

 

 

 

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). 

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 7^th 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 4^th place. 

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!

It was a hugely proud and emotional moment to stand on the podium in my GB tracksuit

A very happy athlete and coach (again!) - European bronze medal

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!



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! 

Running through a giant party!

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 10^th place, 7^th in the European Championships and 2^nd 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 5^th on the UK All-time Rankings! 

World Masters 100k Champs. Silver Medal



2015 ended on another high when I recorded my 100^th 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.

 

 

 

30 years as a runner Part 1: The track & cross-country years 1986 - 2000

Having recently entered my 30^th year of competitive running I thought now would be a fitting time to look back and reflect on how far I’ve come and what an incredible journey it’s been.  I’ve learnt so much about myself and had the most wonderful experiences that I never even dreamt existed!  Okay, there have been some very low points too, but although they are extremely hard to deal with at the time I know they’re part of the bigger picture, and part of what has made my life as a runner so special.  Thirty years is a long time, so I’ve decided to split this blog into two parts:  Part 1: 'the track and cross-country years from 1986 to 2000' follows here and Part 2: 'marathons and ultras from 2000 to present' will be coming soon!

I say that my competitive athletics career started 30 years ago, but that was when I joined Leamington C&AC (where I’ve been a member ever since).  I suppose my competitive athletics career really started at primary school, where I competed in sports days and inter-school sports.

Primary school sports day:  60m sprint (left); an early form of strength training! (right) 



My head teacher at primary school thought that girls shouldn’t run ‘long distance’ so my main events in those days were the 60m sprint and long jump.  I used to represent the school in the Henley Area School Sports, always finishing 2^nd to a girl called Jo Wise, who later went on to become Commonwealth Games long jump champion in 1998!  Coincidentally, Jo and I later found ourselves in the same class when we both moved up to the same secondary school - Stratford Grammar School for Girls.  It was there that I was finally able to run 800m and 1500m in PE lessons, and I soon realised how much I enjoyed those events.  I lacked confidence in those days and was quite timid, so it took three years of gentle encouragement from my parents before I entered the school sports day!  However, once I did (finishing 1^st in the 800m and 2^nd in the 1500m) there was no looking back!  I set new school records for the 800m and 1500m and was picked to run in the South Warwickshire School Sports.  I had a lot of encouragement from my PE teacher, Miss Lawton, and she was very instrumental in my early athletics career.  But little did my parents know what their initial words of encouragement would lead to!



Running in the South Warwickshire schools sports

In 1986 I entered the 800m in the Warwickshire Schools Championships held at Warwick University - my first race on a proper all-weather track.  It was a really close race and I finished 3^rd, just a fraction of a second behind the winner and with the same time as the second-placed athlete.  I was really excited about my result and that was probably the first time that I really thought that maybe I had some talent as a runner.  After that I really got the running ‘bug’ and pestered my parents to let me join the local athletics club – Leamington C&AC.  They eventually relented and in September 1986 my mum took me to the track in Leamington for the first time.  We met one of the coaches – Les Barnett – who sat down with the two of us and talked through various things about training and joining the club.  Les is still coaching me 30 years later.  I clearly remember that one of the things he said on that first evening (bearing in mind he’d never even seen me run!) was that who knows, perhaps I would make it to the Olympics one day.  My mum just laughed with a ‘don’t-be-silly’ kind of look; however, a small seed was planted in my mind … …



Midland Women's League Cross-country

My first race for the club was a Midland Women’s League cross-country at Newbold Comyn in Leamington and I soon realised the world of club athletics was on a different level to schools athletics!  In the few schools track races I’d done I’d consistently finished in the top three, but suddenly here I was finishing half-way down the field or more.  Okay, so it was the first time I’d ever run cross-country, but even so – what was that Les had said about the Olympics?!  I didn’t realise at the time that it would take many years of hard work, dedication and perseverance through good and bad, to eventually make the international stage.  

 

I did, however, manage to make the Warwickshire team for the Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships in my first cross-country season.  I was thrilled to be selected – I didn’t know such opportunities existed and I felt hugely proud and honoured to be representing my county and running against people from the whole country!  The championships were held in Kettering and I finished 149^th out of 240 in the Intermediate Girls age group.  The thing I remember most about this race, though, is losing my shoe in the mud!  I’d never faced that kind of predicament before and didn’t know anything about taping them on beforehand.  I wasn’t sure what to do – stop and put it back on, or carry on regardless?!  In the end I carried on and ran half the race with my sock flapping off the end of my foot!  Luckily my dad rescued the shoe for me after the race, as he’s done several times since, most notably at Stafford Common where he had to poke around with a big stick to find it in the quagmire! 
 

One shoe on and one shoe off!

In my first senior National Cross-country Championships in 1989, at Senneleys Park in Birmingham, I finished 202^nd out of around 600 finishers.  In the same year’s Midland Cross-country Championships I was 71^st out of 130 and in the Inter-Counties Cross-country, 197^th out of about 230.



English Schools, Chesterfield 1988

Luckily I wasn’t too disheartened by my early performances and my enthusiasm for training and racing remained undeterred.  I continued competing in schools events, as well as club races, right through my school years, including sixth-form.  In fact, it was while I was in the sixth-form that I set up the school cross-country club, with the blessing of Miss Lawton, as up until then there had been no provision for running cross-country.  We used to train once a week at lunchtime and even managed to win team silver in the Warwickshire Schools Cross-Country Championships in 1988.  Altogether I won ten Warwickshire Schools medals on track and cross-country, six of them gold.  I represented Warwickshire Schools in the English Schools Cross-Country Championships in 1988 (Chesterfield) and 1989 (Hertford), but was never quite good enough to achieve the English Schools qualifying standard for the track & field championships.

Running for Warwickshire Schools

After I left school I went to Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds Beckett University) to study Landscape Architecture.  At the Freshers’ Fair I made a beeline for the Poly. Athletics Club and signed up straight away.  I started training with the rest of the club under the guidance of world renowned coach Wilf Paish, with track sessions at Beckett Park, hill reps. up the infamous Carnegie Hill, long runs on the Meanwood Valley Trail, weekly circuits and even tyre-pulling strength sessions.  It was Wilf who introduced me to strength training in the gym and twice-a-day running and consequently I saw huge gains in my fitness levels.  Although Wilf set the training sessions at Leeds I never regarded him as my coach – that has always been Les’ role.  To me a coach is much more than someone who just sets training schedules.  I was still in regular contact with Les and kept him up to date with my training and racing.  However, training alongside ‘proper’ athletes at Leeds did make me realise what it would take to reach my full potential, and I was more than prepared to put in the necessary work to achieve that. 

BPSA Champs. 1991

I made some huge improvements during my time in Leeds, winning eleven British Polytechnics Championship medals (8 gold) on the track and cross-country and silver in the British Students Champs. 3000m in 1991.  I was also proud to represent both the British Polytechnics Sports Association (BPSA) and British Students Sports Federation (BSSF) on various occasions.  In 1992 I was non-travelling reserve for the World Student Cross-Country Championships in France, but sadly didn’t get to go.  Although we were all committed athletes it didn’t stop us also enjoying a social life after training, and there was plenty of joking around in the back of the mini-bus en route to fixtures the length and breadth of Britain!

 

 

 

Representing BPSA against BUSF, BCSF, WCC & RRA, Civil Service &
Combined Services, Camberley

In 1991 I won my first Warwickshire titles, first in the 800m and 1500m in the track championships, and then in the cross-country championships that winter.  In the track champs. I lowered my PBs to 2:13:2 (800m) and 4:28:6 (1500m) – both of which still stand as my PBs to this day!  Over the years I’ve won a total of fifteen Warwickshire medals on the track (6 gold) and twenty-four on the country (13 gold).  I’ve also represented Warwickshire five times on the track (including in the 400m hurdles – they must have been desperate!) and twelve times on the country.



Representing Warwickshire: 1991 Inter-counties XC, Gateshead (left) and
1989 Jackson Trophy, Leicester (right)



1998 Inter-counties XC, Cardiff

My racing took me all over the country and I’m indebted to my parents who gave up their weekends to ferry both my sister and myself everywhere from St. Helens to Rickmansworth, Carmarthen to Gateshead, and pretty much everywhere in between!  I’m forever thankful to Mum and Dad, who not only persuaded me to enter that very first school sports day, but who have also supported and encouraged me ever since.  They’ve never pushed me, or criticised me when I’ve had a bad race, but have always been there for me.  I hope that my achievements have, in some small way, repaid them and made them proud.

In front of Paula Radcliffe for
at least part of the race!

Apart from student championships, my first national-level competition was in the 1991 UK Championships 3000m in Cardiff.  The race was packed with some of the big names of the time – Liz McColgan, Jill Hunter, Karen Hutcheson, Andrea Whitcombe and a young Paula Radcliffe to name but a few.  This was the first time I’d experienced the atmosphere of a big event and all its procedures, like reporting to a call-room before the race.  It was a bit nerve wracking to say the least, but I loved being part of such a prestigious event.  I was rather overawed and couldn’t quite believe I was participating in the same meeting as the likes of Linford Christie, John Regis, Kriss Akabusi, Peter Elliott and Sally Gunnell.  I’d built up a pretty good autograph collection by the end of the day!



1991 UK Championships 3000m, Cardiff

At the end of 1992 I received a surprise letter from the British Athletic Federation inviting me to a GB Under-23 squad training day as I was, apparently, ranked in the top 10 in the GB Under-23 rankings.  I had no idea there was a GB Under-23 ranking list, let alone that I was on it!  The day was really valuable and I made lots of useful contacts, but moreover it gave me a real confidence-boost.  To know that I was ranked so high in the country, albeit in my age-group, helped me to believe in myself, and slowly my self-esteem started to grow.  I guess that the following year, 1993, was really my ‘break-through’ year.  I’d been steadily improving in my winter cross-country races as well as on the track over the last few years, but it was the 1993 National Cross-Country Championships in Luton where I broke into the top 20 at national level for the first time, finishing 18^th out of around 600 runners.  I’d come a long way from my 202^nd place four years before and it just shows that hard work, patience and commitment does produce results. Consequently, I was selected for my first England representative - England v. Combined Services v. Civil Service in Plymouth. 

 

Home Countries International, Carmarthen

I was so excited about getting my first England vest; the only problem was that there was no team manager and so we didn’t actually get any England kit!  I remember just running in an old t-shirt I’d travelled down in – it was such an anti-climax!  The race was won by a certain Kelly Holmes running in the Combined Services team.  No-one had heard of her at the time, but it wouldn’t be long before pretty much everyone had!  I finished 5^th in that race, but I had actually beaten Kelly in the Nationals a few weeks before - when I’d finished 18^th she was 31^st!  A couple of weeks later I had my second England call-up.  It had taken me seven years to get one, now I had two within the same month!  This one was a home countries international (England v. Scotland v. Wales v. Ireland) in Carmarthen and this time we did get kit!  This was a much more impressive affair, with a team parade before the race.  This time I finished 4^th and England won the team race.

 

Team parade before the race - at least we had kit this time!

I was on a real high after my two England appearances, but as is so often the way in sport I was quickly brought back down to earth with a very big bump.  I’d been suffering with pain in my left shin for some time, but naivety and inexperience meant I’d carried on regardless.  However, it got to the point where I could no longer run on it.  I was sent for various scans and it transpired that it was a full-blown stress fracture in my tibia.  I was distraught – this was my first injury and I just couldn’t comprehend that I wouldn’t be able to do the one thing I loved.  I spent many a night lying in bed in tears!  I somehow managed to get through with many hours of pool-running in the deep end of the local swimming pool, but it definitely served as a crucial lesson in the importance of listening to your body.  I ran no races at all for 8 months!



Midland Championships 1991

In 1994 I completed a post-graduate diploma at Leeds (the Poly. was by now Leeds Metropolitan University) and then got a job in Birmingham so returned back home and back to training with Les again.  The next few years were very erratic.  In 1994 I won my first Midland Counties AA title - the 3000m - and in so-doing set a new PB of 9:25:5 which still stands as my best time.  Over the years I won a total of nine medals (4 gold) in Midland Counties AA track championships and represented the Midlands four times on the track.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Representing the Midlands, Bristol 1991

In 1998 I won my first (and so far only) AAA of England medal - Bronze in the 3000m in the AAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham (9:39:18).  Although I mainly concentrated on cross-country during the winter I did do a handful of indoor races over the years, first at RAF Cosford (that shows my age as that track no longer exists!) and later at the NIA in Birmingham.  In 1992 I was selected to run for the Midlands in an indoor match against a Scottish Select team at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow.  I finished 2^nd and was randomly selected for a drug test after the race.  This was my first experience of the rather undignified, but necessary, procedure of having someone watch you pee!  One of my fellow students at Leeds was also selected to compete in this match and coincidentally she was also required to give a urine sample for testing.  We travelled back to Leeds together on the train afterwards and both of us spent most of the journey disappearing to the toilet for a wee due to the amount we'd had to drink!  It's a tricky business giving a sample as you have to be sure of giving a certain amount to fill two sample bottles (A and B samples).  If you can't manage enough in one go you have to start all over again as you can't add to a sample a bit later on after you've had some more to drink!

 

My second Achilles tendon operation!

In between these high points, though, I was also plagued by injuries.  I had no races at all in 1995 due to an operation on my left Achilles tendon and no races for a 12 month period in 1998 / 1999 due to an operation on my right Achilles tendon! 

At times I began to despair that I would ever get back to where I’d been in 1993.  I wondered if my England vests were going to be the pinnacle of my career and whether I would ever achieve my ultimate dream of running for Great Britain.  But somehow I still managed to find an inner determination and resolve.  I wasn’t prepared to just give up and so kept myself as fit as I could through cross-training in the gym and in the pool.  That tenacity paid off and, eventually, by 2000 I was back to my best.

By now the women’s 3000m had been replaced by the 5000m to be in line with the men’s event.  I remember running in the AAA Championships / Olympic Trials that year in Birmingham.  Running down the home straight on one lap the cheering from the crowd was almost deafening.  I then realised they weren’t cheering for me, but that Paula Radcliffe was just about to lap me!  I wasn’t the only one she lapped though and I actually had my best ever 5000m, finishing 14^th and setting my PB of 16:32:73.  It was also in 2000 that I had my first experience of competing abroad.  I was selected to run for Midland Counties AA in a match in Ghent, Belgium.  We all travelled as a team, by coach and ferry, and I roomed with a hammer thrower and another middle-distance runner, both from Staffordshire.  I won my race (3000m) and as well as a medal picked up a small amount of prize money too.  Having started to do one or two road races the concept of prize money wasn’t new to me, but some of the field event athletes found it quite a novelty as prize money in track & field meetings wasn’t typical!

Inter-counties 5000m 2000 (5th place)

As I’ve just alluded to, by the end of the 1990’s I’d started to do a few 5m and 10K road races, but it was in 2000 that I really started to move more towards the roads.  I realised that I just wasn’t fast enough to make it at international level on the track and that my future probably lay in the longer distances on the road.  Somehow I just seemed to flow better on the roads and didn’t get the mental block that I had when running round and round in circles!  And so it was that I ran my first half-marathon; but that’s another story, to be continued in Part 2 of this blog, coming soon!

The first fifteen years had been an incredible journey, from my first tentative steps on the grass track at school, to racing against the likes of Paula Radcliffe and Liz McColgan, and my first race abroad.  Joining Leamington C&AC was one of the best things I've ever done; I've always been proud to represent the club and still am today.  Being a member of the club gave me countless opportunities to race:  various Leagues; Club, County, Area & National Championships; open meetings; representative matches, the list was endless!  To me that is the whole point of it all - I love to race.  My philosophy has always been that "I train to race and race to win".  That doesn't mean that I am a bad loser, or that I don't enjoy training - far from it!  It means that my training has a purpose and that I always try to give my absolute best in both training and racing.



LC&AC Club Championships 1500m 1989 (left); 
Midland Women's League, Sutton Coldfield 1987 (right)

In those first fifteen years running had given me much more than just a way of keeping fit; it had helped to shape me as a person.  I became more confident in all other areas of my life too and learnt many things about myself.  However, although I didn’t know it at the time, the next fifteen years were to hold even more exciting opportunities!

Part 2 coming soon!