From Zero to Hero

In the fifth episode of "30 Years of Running Marathons," Jason D loses everything and gives up on running, and even life itself. However, Facebook comes to his rescue and gives him a second chance. Jason's only option is to start again in the way he knows best. Fortunately, people come into his life and guide him back onto the running path. The road to recovery is long and challenging, and Jason has to come out of his comfort zone and face his fears. Despite the obstacles, his bravery pays off, and he receives the ultimate recognition, a prize that his late Nan would surely be proud of.

Thanks for listening. Keep on running.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The race is on.

Speaker 2: 0:03

The race is on. So let's get straight into his fifth episode of 30 years of running marathons. Now, after losing my nan, who I had been caring for for the last few years, I just didn't want to carry on running. I only really ran for her. And the last race she ever saw was just before she died. She literally just stayed alive so she could see one final medal of mine, and then that was it. She was gone. In fact , not only was she gone, but my parents left. They went back abroad, I presume, because they left no forward in address . Um, my uncle and aunts, they just cleared off and I didn't have any friends. I was about to be made homeless because obviously I'd been living in my nan's house, caring for her, got kicked out of there. Um , everything I had to start anew and running was the last thing on my mind. I knew I just had to find a job, find a place, and start all over again. And I wasn't particularly young anymore. So, to do all this at a moment's notice, I literally had a week's notice before , um, my nan's son, my uncle literally kicked me out the house and there were , there was nothing I could do about it. So he would've thought that running would've helped me in this situation. You know, it would've , um, I dunno , maybe cleared my head, but it didn't. Um, I only had one thing on my mind, and that was, well, two things on my mind. I could have gone either way. I could have said, enough is enough. I can't live without nan, which is what I was thinking at the time. Or I'm thinking to myself, this isn't what Nan would want. Should at least want me to, you know, go on and , and , and lead a , a , a good life. So that's, that's what I did. I, I thought, to hell with this, I'll try and find a job, which I did immediately. Got a job, sales job, found a room to rent, and the place that I moved into one of the housemates was very much into doing triathlons. So triathlon obviously involves swimming, cycling, and running, and swimming. I mean, I'm okay at swimming. I've done a bit of, i , I especially love swimming down at the beach on , on the coast, see , swimming. And I've, I've swam in the pool. I , I mean, I can keep going forever. Swimming. I'm not particularly fast, but for me, it doesn't compare to running and cycling. I hadn't done for years. I'm , I'm, you know, it's never too late. And I'm certainly thinking of it . I know the running part of it will , will , will stand me in good stead. So I gave him tips on, on , on running. He was a very good runner. I mean, he's been doing park runs, and he'd always come in like the, the top half a dozen. So he is a very good , uh, runner. He's, I mean, it just, his overall fitness was, was really good. Uh , you know, he did weights and everything. Completely complete contrast to me. I'm not particularly tall. I'm fairly slim, so I deal for a runner, but maybe not for some of the other aspects of the triathlon. Um, like the swimming. Anyway, I digress here . So you would've thought, because I was , um, living with him that I would be tempted to run again. But I was busy working. Uh , I literally went to work the day after my NAN'S funeral. And in some ways that helped. It helped with the grieving process. And I, I was just keen to show my new employers , um, that I was a good employee. And, you know, I want , I wanted to start, you know, with good intentions. And I , I , I do think it helped. I mean, that sh you know, the funeral wasn't particularly, you know , there was a lot of people turned up who I hadn't even seen before. And I don't think Nan knew. And n always joked that, you know, everybody would turn up at a funeral. And of course, you know, everybody did. So, you know, it was, I mean, funerals were never nice, but it was, it was particularly bad for me. I , I felt very much out the loop, all these people coming round to the house for the wake I'd never seen before. And yet it was me who had cared for all of these years, and I was , I was the one being ostracized. Anyway, back back to the story. So basically what happened was, I was living in, in this house with the housemates. Um , three of them were doctors. So I thought, okay, this is , this is a nice place to, to live. And let's say one of the guys was, did these triathlons very much into sport and fitness . So it was ideal . And the , the , the place I actually found was actually out in the countryside. So perfect running roots . It was quiet , it was idyllic. You know , I literally landed on my feet and you know, this , this, this, this was good. This was , um, this suited me fine. And, but there was one , obviously one thing missing. I mean, obviously I was living with these guys and we , we got on really well. We went out sometimes now , but I still felt very lonely. It started to hit me that I was missing my nan and, you know, I , I couldn't talk about it face to face . 'cause obviously, you know , I just, I just met these people, these, these new housemates of mine. Even though I got on really well, I couldn't really talk to them , uh, about my, about my, my loss, I guess my grief. So I found a, a group on Facebook, and I'd hardly used Facebook before, even though I'd registered. I, I wasn't really into social media, and it was like a , a fitness group. And there was , it basically, the always group always joked about, we are not a running group, but majority of the people on there were runners. They posted a lot about running, but not just about running, about , uh, general fitness and yoga and wellbeing. And the guy who ran it, his name was George, and he was very much into his fitness. He was a really good runner, but I mean, he, he did weights, triathlons, you know, he was, he was super, super fit. But there was a mixture of people in the group. It was about 6,000 to go was a big group. But, you know, obviously only , only a small percentage sort of communicated all the time. But there was a variety of different people. Some people hadn't run before. Some people just starting. Some people were swimmers , some people cyclists. And there was an introduction. It was a , a , a message there saying, introduce yourself. So I thought, well, I'm never gonna see these people. So I thought, okay, I'll introduce myself. And I just, you know, let all my feelings out, all about the grief of losing my nan , uh, losing the house, having to get a job, how close I was to being homeless. I put this all out there, and I didn't expect any replies. Um, I also did put in the post about, you know, how much I had run before. And that's why I liked this group. But now since the death of my nan, I, I just didn't want to run again. You know, the , the final race was just before her death. And in some ways I just felt it'd be a bit treacherous just to go and run a another race. Now, she wasn't here, but my main feeling was, well, you know, there's no one to show the medal to. She may look down from above if she's in heaven sipping her, Sherry , looking down, see my medals. But I knew she wasn't actually here to see the medals. And she always loved to see my medals. And I loved seeing the , the look on her face, how proud she was of me. And I knew that wasn't gonna happen anymore. And I could run it for myself, but I'm like, what's the point? And I put this in the post and the members said, well, no, you can, you know, take photographs and show us the medals. Show us the medals that you get. And a lot of people responded in that way. And e even George, the , the owner of the group said, yes, you know, come on, just, you know, you got to carry on and do it for your nan and it's what she would've wanted. You can show us the medals. And even posted about forthcoming races coming up. And one of them was local. It was a 10 K and I was a bit apprehensive about going , have to get on the train, which I'm claustrophobic and I'm fairly shy. So meeting all these people, especially, you know, as a guy, having, you know, shared my emotions like this. And this was a good few years ago. It was , uh, you know, guys are more open now about their feelings, but obviously back then it was completely different. And so, yeah, I went to this 10 K race and I recognized one of the members instantly had glasses on. She was always posting, and she was the only, the member I really recognized. 'cause she was the one who was constantly posting. And obviously George, who was the owner. And I could see George in the background, this big Hulk of a guy. And I was very intimidated. I thought, I , I can't go up to him. And I went up to, to Helen, who was this lady with the glasses. Instantly she knew who I was. And I'm like, wow, okay. I dunno if it's a good or a bad thing, because obviously she's read my post. And I sort of did regret writing it. Now, you know, I was writing it when I was grieving, but she , she was full of sympathy for me. And , and that was fine because I'm, I'm thinking, yeah, she's, you know , she's obviously a , a woman. And I , I don't mind so much maybe expressing my feelings to a woman, but what's his big hulk of a giant of a man, George, who I could see coming towards us? And I was like, oh no, what's he gonna say? Well , I'm thinking he's probably not even gonna remember the post. Sure enough, he remembered the post. He shook my hand, this, this tight fist just squeezing my hand. And he was a giant of a man, you know, over six foot or no big, bulky. And , uh, I know a lot of the women in the group particularly liked him. I think he had this nickname, gorgeous George. And , um, <laugh> , you know, I wasn't , uh, I just, you know, I wasn't even thinking that. I was just more in awe of him, you know? 'cause if , if I wanted to be anybody like him, it would've been him, because he was, you know, he just seemed to have everything going on , uh, apart from the fitness, he just had this charisma about him. So he had remembered my post, and he was full of sympathy for me. You know, he , uh, I was a bit embarrassed, but he was like, no, you've done well to get here. You're gonna run this race. You're gonna run it for your nan and we're all here for you. And then these other members turned up. Not all of 'em are recognized. 'cause obviously not everybody posted regularly. And I was trying to think who these people were, but then we had this lovely group photograph, and it was lovely. Um, and I felt so wanted, and I was far from being embarrassed. I , I was, I felt part of a family, which I hadn't had for years. And yeah, it was, it was a lovely feeling. But then realization, hit me. I've still got to run this race. And even though I'd run marathons in the past and half marathons, you know, 10 K, six miles, but I'm thinking, you know, this is gonna be my first race since n had died. And to be honest, I wasn't really thinking about Nan. I was, I was, I was thinking about, you know, all these new friends I'd made, and I'd been distracted, distracted from my grief, from my nan, by all these people milling round me , wanted to be with me, giving me support. And my attention was now turned into the race. And the back of my mind, the reason I wasn't thinking about my nam was because you've gotta be professional here, Jace . You gotta be, you know, you got , you got a race coming up, like the last race before a death. You know, I could have broken down in tears, but that's not what, what Nam would've wanted. I had to run the race first, and that's what I did. And what I did was, I , maybe it was the adrenaline rushing through my body. George was a pacemaker, so he was aiming 45 minutes, which was quite a quick pace. But I started with off with him, and there was quite a few people around him. And I was right on his shoulder. And up to the first four miles, I was fine. I was keeping with him. And I thought, yeah, this is good. And then suddenly became to Little Hill. And if you know anything about my, or if you listen to my previous podcast, you know, I'm no good on heels . We came to this hill and I , I just, it was like someone was pulling me back with a rope. I was going backwards and I just couldn't keep up with him. And it was the most despairing sight because I just wanted , just, just wanted to make my nan proud. I wanted to say I'd done 45 minutes and I'd run it all the way with George. It wasn't to be. Um, and I finished, I think it was in 46 minutes. And the lovely thing was George came up to me afterwards and said how proud he was of me and my nan would be proud of me, <laugh> . He obviously did ask where I'd got to. And I said, I said, well, you know, as soon as you got to that, that hill on the fourth Ma , I just couldn't keep up. But he was, he was full of praise for me. And so the other members of the group, and we, we had a , uh, you know, more photographs. And then all these were posted on the group in the afternoon. And I did, I say asked , I posted one on my medal, and I got such an overwhelming response. And I've never liked seeing photographs on myself before. Always been very shy like that. Everybody said , oh, you've got a lovely smile. You know, all the women say , oh, your smile so lovely. It brightened up their day. And I was like, okay. I suddenly feel wanted. I suddenly, you know, I've got a reason to carry on here. And that's what I did. And this group had been a lifeline for me. And I can, you know, I can never thank George enough for that. But it was only to get better. 'cause what happened was more races were posted in the group, and a lot of them were local to me, not, not too far away. So that was ideal. Um, George himself wasn't based too far away from me, so a lot of the races were down south where I was based. So I was like, this is ideal. I can go to a lot of these. And, and that , that's what I did. <laugh> you could say, maybe I was, I was stalking the, the group, but, and, and George went to some of these as well. So there was the Burnham Beach staff marathon, which I've mentioned in previous podcasts as local race to me. I ran, I went there. And a lot of the members who had been at , uh, this red in 10 K, they also went to the Burnham Beaches half . There was a lot of us there. Some more photos, more , um, response in the group. Winter half marathon, which is obviously the last marathon I ever ran before my nan died very sentimental race for me. The other members of the group knew that, thankfully I managed to keep it together, at least till the end when all the emotions came out. And there was a , a tear shed. But, you know, the other members were there for me. Another great event as a winter half marathon. And then the biggest event of all , um, was being posted. And that was the Dublin marathon. And the Dublin marathon was at the end of October, obviously it's over in Ireland. And George was, was was gonna be going over there. And he wanted a big group , uh, a lot of members of the group , uh, to come with him. And I was checking into the group regularly each day. And a lot of people were going , uh, I know Helen was going. I , there was many, many others were going , uh, obviously George is going. Um, many members were going. And I was like, wow. Because I, obviously, I hadn't run a marathon CI then I died. And this was an opportunity to run a marathon. And ironically, I've never, you know, ran an overseas marathon as such over the years when my marathon tend to be in the uk. Now , obviously this is an island, it's only a short trip across the water. But as I mentioned before, I'm claustrophobic. So even though I had the flight taped under an hour, I was very, very nervous about flying. So it wasn't, it wasn't the marathon itself, but gimme 26 miles, that would be fine. When I'm over there, it was just getting over there. And because I've been so honest with the group before, I was now honest with them again. And I said, oh, I'd love to go. It's not the money, it's not this, it's not that. It's just the logistics. I'd have to get on a train, get on a plane and fly over there. And also, I've got nowhere to stay. And of course, every one of these questions were soon to be answered. A member said, come and stay with me. Okay, that's a bit sorted out. What about the flying? And they said, come on, you've gotta get outta your comfort zone. 'cause this group, not just in fitness, but in everything, it was all about getting out your comfort zone. That's where success is. You gotta push yourself. And they were , you know, I read so many stories in this group about members pushing themselves, and it did make me feel a little bit guilty that I should be pushing myself more. So the plane trip was sort of covered. I had somewhere to stay. So I was, I was running out of excuses. Now they knew I was fit enough to do it. And so I, I didn't know what to say. And then the person who was gonna put me up suddenly said, well, I'm sorry, I just can't put you up now straight away . I said, well, okay. I , I definitely can't go now. I've got nowhere to stay. And, you know, I was trying to find any excuse not to go. And I remember just going back to bed, hiding myself under the bedsheets, and was just hoping it would all go away. 'cause part of me knew that if I didn't go, I would be hearing all about it in Facebook when they all came back, seeing all the photographs and that, and being so jealous. But at the same time, I knew that to go would be such a big leap on my part. And I was scared. I'll be honest with you. I was scared about it. Um, in , in hindsight, it was stupid to be scared. But I , I was, but then I remember there was so, so much support from the group. They were literally, I , I felt so flattered, literally begging me to go. And one lady who lived over there, Catherine, she said, I'll come and pick you up from the airport as well. And somebody else said, why don't you try and get an Airbnb? So, because, you know, the prices of the hotels were so expensive 'cause the marathon was on , uh, you know, in the center of Dublin. Anyway, I managed to get this Airbnb. So now I was running outta excuses, and especially as a member said, they'll pick me up from the airport. So I was like, well, I can't let them down now. I can't let the whole group down. I can't let Catherine who said she was gonna pick me up down. You know, I can't let, I can't let all these people down. So in the end, I organized a flight, managed to get a fairly cheap flight, got the Airbnb ready, she was gonna pick me up from the airport. And that's what happened. And I remember getting on the flight, it was the day before the marathon, and I'm like, I shouldn't really be doing this, but I need a drink. And I think it was one beer. And I thought, well, you know, surely one beer won't hurt before the race. But I think the flight only took something like, I think something like 50 minutes. And I hadn't flown for years. And yet as a youngster, I'd flown to Australia and back. I even wanted to be a pilot. Now I was scared to even fly. I mean , this, this flight took un like, I think it was , as I say, it was under an hour, about 50 minutes. And when I got off the other side, I'm thinking like, what was all the fuss about? I felt a bit embarrassed. Anyway, Catherine picked me up from the airport and we had to go to , um, uh, the marathon exhibition to pick up on , uh, our numbers. Um, if I remember right, I don't think Catherine was running, but she was gonna be supporting. So we had to go and pick our numbers up. And so Catherine drove us there. And we, I remember we walked into this big , uh, exhibition hall and there was a small group of people, and I recognize the people instantly now because George was tearing over them. And there was, Helen was there , uh, Catherine there was there , um, there was so many of the , the members were there. And I was a bit embarrassed 'cause as I walked in, they were chipping and , you know , uh, cheering and clapping me. And I felt embarrassed. And , and George was like, so well done. You made it <laugh> . And I said, yeah. I said, I , I , I feel embarrassed now. I said to myself, I dunno what all the fuss was about. It was , it was stupid, really . He said, no, no. He said, it's , it's totally understandable. I dunno, there must have been about maybe 10, 12 of us there. And then the best bit of all, we had a motivational talk by a guy called Jerry Duffy , and he's done like 31 marathons in 31 days around Ireland. He's, he's, he's done Ironman triathlons and he's a big motivational speaker, spoken for various, you know, large organizations and that, and he was gonna give us his little motivational talk before we did the marathon. And he, he was there in the exhibition hall and that, and he was such diminutive figure, you know, short guy and, you know, completely different to George's big, gigantic size of a guy. Anyway, he comes over and he , he gives his talk and he gives his insight, you know, to about running the marathon. And there was one thing he said to me that I will always remember. He said, remember there are people here who would like to run the marathon, who, who maybe you've known who are no longer with us or who can't for some physical disability, Who would like to run the marathon and they can't. And yet you can. He said, remember, no one's forcing you to run it. He said, you get to do these and those few little words, you get to do this. It stuck in my mind, especially when I was running the race as well, because I was thinking I could so have missed out on this. You know, it was a , a a , a very fine line between me overcoming my fears, which to other people are completely irrational. And I guess they are irrational. But to me it was a big deal to come in over there. So for me, the actual marathon wasn't the fear. A lot of people were fearing the mouth and a lot of people, it was their first marathon . I had done the fearful bit and his words were so true and I'll always remember them. And it , it gave me a big bo boost. And going , going around the exhibition horn as well, there were , there was so many stands in that , but there was this , uh, uh, uh, lady giving a talk and she , she was apparently very well known in iron . She was a , a , apparently a , a blind marathon runner. And I couldn't believe that she , she was blind. I mean, look , looking at her and, but hearing her speak, I'm thinking how much more difficult it must be to run a marathon blind. I'm thinking, I've got it easy. Anyway, so cut. Long story short, the next day for the marathon, we all, you know, we obviously all went our separate ways overnight. We get to the start line at different times and everything and that, and I go to the start line and who should I find myself standing next to? But only Helen. I mean, it was, you know, odds and that were unbelievable 'cause we just turned up, you know, at our own different times in that. And Helen was very much a glass half full rather than my glass half empty. And even though I'd done the hardest bit getting there, I was really happy to be then optimistic. And we were , we were both, you know, in, in the start line to get under four hours. But she said something really crazy. She said to me, she said, nah . She said, you'll get three hours, 40. And I think she was looking for three hours 50. And I said, look, you know, since my nan started, I've not run a marathon. It's been a while . Yes, I've done halfs and 10 Ks, but this is completely different. I said, I'll be happy to get under four hours, which is still a very good time. She said to me, she said, no , you'll get three hours 40. And I'm like, no way. And when she sped off at the beginning and I could see her going off from the distance, and I had these, these pacemakers , um, with balloons on. So it's runners literally with these balloons attached to them with the times on that you're aiming for. And I could see the four hour one golf in the distance and I'm like, it's not even gonna be four hours at this rate . And Helen went off in the distance and you're starting off in the city center , you've got all the crowds and that, and it's great, great atmosphere and that, and I'm not thinking well just, you know, just , just go the best, the best way that you can. Don't, don't start panicking yet your hair , you didn't think you'd make it here. And if I remember , uh, I don't think I even had a proper , uh, no, I didn't actually, no. What I was wearing was, I didn't have a proper sports watch on. In fact, I had my nan's old, in fact , it was, I remember now it was bright pink watch and she always used to give it to me to change the time when there were daylight savings hours come on. And it didn't have a stopwatch on or anything. So literally I was going by the pacemakers and I was going by the hourly times, so I couldn't tell how fast I was going minute per mile or, or anything like that. And I remember coming to the first drink station and the Dublin marathons knows a friendly marathon, and the crowds were great, but then I'm just about to go to this drink station and this guy knocks me out the way. I'm like, what's going on here? So straight away I'm on a downer and I'm thinking, oh, not so friendly after all. But I'm thinking, don't let that spoil your race chase . Just, just keep moving. And anyway, what happened was, I just got into this, this lovely flood . I mean, the course itself was beautiful. It was a nice fast course. And as you came out the , the city center , you went through Phoenix Park, which is this lovely beautiful park, one of the largest public parts in Europe. And you run through this park and you go past the , the zoo and there's all these monuments and the , the grid absolutely lovely place. I think you start there about four fifth mile and you don't come out there, I think to about the , the 10th mark , approximately, something like that. But you know, you are almost, as you come out, you are almost halfway . You go out and you come back in again . But you are almost halfway once you've been through the park. Um, and , and running through the park, you know, it's a fair , fairly long straight road to the path. Um , but , but it was great. And as I was running through the park, I caught up with the , the four hour pacemaker. And then for some reason I thought they were going a bit stern , and this was a bit stupid, but I , I got up to the three hour 40 pacer and there was two of them . And I remember one of them , and this is what makes me laugh, even to this day, he was on his phone. I dunno how we could run at that pace and be on his phone. And I was thinking, <laugh> , is he checking to see what pace he's supposed to be on? He's sending his wife, he's gonna be late for dinner. I dunno what he was doing, but it , it just made me laugh. But I dunno what came over me. But coming through the park like that, I just, we were cruising along quite nicely. And there's a fine line in running the marathon in between. Um, as I said in a previous podcast when I ran the berden where I did a really fast time and I finished thinking I could run faster and this is the fine line that you tread, I'm thinking, I felt so good, I could go faster, but then if I go faster, I could just blow up. And my main goal was to get into four hours. But it was like someone was pulling them back because I, I passed them and I thought, right, Jason, don't look back now if you once start looking back, you know, just keep going. They , I'm sure they're gonna come over your shoulder at any moment, but that's the three hour 40 pacer. You've still got 20 minutes gaps before the four hour, and that's what you're trying to beat. So if they pass you, they pass you. And that's what I expected. But anyway, came out the park. I remember coming up to the halfway point, just on a main road and it was quite depressing. I mean, most of the course so far I've been lovely, especially through the park. But this was depressing. I mean, you hit the 13 mile mark and now you've gotta do it all over again. And the second half of the course, I'll be honest with you, probably wasn't as, as nice , uh, as bits that were industrialized main roads and that it's from a lovely country, country roads. And I remember as we got away from the crowds, we were running around this country road and turned the corner, it was so peaceful and quiet and then suddenly heard all these, these clappers. And it was, it was , um, families out with these, these , uh, clappers, they had provided , uh, spectators with slamming 'em together, making this loud noise. And it was such a narrow road and the cacophony of sound. I mean, it was just something unbeliev it was quite a shock when you'd been running on a quiet country road and you hit this cacophony of sound. But it was, it was lovely. And the families were so generous. Kids were getting out Swedes water drinks absolutely lovely. I mean, you know , the support from the crowds was brilliant. And I remember , um, coming through, what, 16, 18, 20. And they had this hill and it was called Heartbreak Hill. And it, it was, I think it was towards the end , um, no , it's 16 or 18. It was towards the end. No, I think it was 21 miles. I'm not sure. It might be 20th mile. It's a few years ago since I run this now, I'm trying to remember. But this heartbreak hill, and as you may have guessed or known by now, I don't particularly like hills. And I was struggling up this hill and it was quite narrow. And I remember one guy, I mean the , the crowds were lovely. They offering you everything, their support. This one particular guy said, would you like a coke? And I'm like, thank you very much, but if I drink anything dizzy , that is just gonna stop me in my tracks. Anyway, I staggered up this hill and it was, it was, and I'm thinking like, I hope this is the last hill. This is because it's supposed to be a flat course, but of course there's always gonna be one tricky bit. And this was the tricky bit. I thought, once you get past this, Jason, you'll be fine. I got past it. And then towards the end, you, you , you cross this dual carriageway. So you really get in the hub of bubble of , of, of the traffic. But then, you know, as soon as it gets busier, you're coming back towards city where the race finishes. And I was well ahead of time looking at my rough hours on my , my watch, which all I had to go to was by, by the hours . So if we started at nine, I knew, you know, 12 o'clock it was three hours, one o'clock it would be four hours. Um , so that's all I was going by. Um, I didn't have an actual watch telling me how many hours we'd been going for. It was just, you know, telling the time of day. And that's all I was going by. And obviously the pacemakers, but the three hour 40 pace rack hadn't gone by me nor a four hour one. And I'm thinking, have they missed them ? I must have missed them . But looking at my watch and I was trying <laugh> by this time now, you know, rented the last six miles, my mind is confused and I'm trying to work out on this analog watch, you know, what, what time roughly I must be on and whether I'm under that four hours. And I'm thinking, yeah, I'm way under the four hours, but roughly what time I'm , I don't know . And the last two miles, you're right through the city center , you're passing the exhibition hall when they held the marathon exhibition. And you've got the crowds either side and that. And then of course you get to last mile, which I said in previous podcasts, it's the most depressing. I mean, I <laugh> I'm always sure it's never a mile. It always seems more like two. And any marathon runner will tell you that. But I dunno , I just, I , I hadn't even hit the wall. I just felt so good. And the crowds were cheering and I'd never done this before. I'm a shy guy, but I was waving and clapping to the crowds as I went by. And as you come down to last bit, you can see the finishes gantry, and it's like a, a , a dual carriageway for runners. So you can run either side of the, like the ARDS in the middle of the road. And I chose the right hand side and there was crowds cheering and <laugh>. I just always remember this. I was just clapping the crowds and just shouting, thank you, Dublin, thank you Dublin. 'cause to me they had just like, you know, this was, I dunno , it was, it felt heavenly. The whole, you know, I was thanking Dublin for the most spectacular marathon I'd ever run. The feeling I guess of, of , of relieved the feeling that my nan was looking down on me, the feeling that I'd come through, the wor was coming through the worst period in my life there was, I , I hadn't completely got through it, but I'd got over the initial shock of obviously my nan passing, losing everything. And this was almost like redemption. And it felt so good. And they would , you know, the crowds were cheering back at me. And I , this was so unusual for me to be shouting at the crowds, thanking them. And I just wanted to know how much they meant to me. And , uh, I hadn't even really thought about the time as I was chi cheering and cla . I mean , it probably slowed me down a bit, but I went across the line and I still felt so good. And it was, and it's , to this day, the best marathon I've ever run. I mean , it wasn't a pb it wasn't my fastest time, but it was my second ever fastest time. Three hours, 32 minutes. And I know what I'm thinking about is, well, I should have got under three hours, 30 those two minutes, but never to be , it was still a remarkable race. And then I was collecting my medal and that, and then one of the, the , the members of the group , uh, Chrisia , she came by and she was under four hours and she saw me there and she goes, oh, I can't , can't stop. I can go and get a drink. And she just sort of carried on straight past me. Uh , yeah, it was, it was, and and , and then afterwards it was great 'cause um, uh, Christia I met up with Christia and Helen in a, a , a local pub. And I mean the , the pub's behind the finishing line, you go back in the city center , everybody's wearing the , it was just full of Dublin marathon that's wearing the shirts that we'd been given. So you get like a free shirt and medals hanging around their necks. And it was just a sea of marathon runners in all the pubs and bars. And we were at this local bar, a local pub there. And it was lucky we could get in because most, most of the pubs and bars were full. But it was just, I mean, it was, it was the crack as they called it , over an island . It was su such a great crack. And I didn't want the day to end. But then unfortunately we all had to part our own ways. And I went back to my Airbnb , but I was still on the high . I just, you know, posted all these photos we had taken of ourselves with the medal and, and the response I got, I had so many, you know, lovely comments from members of the group. Um , I didn't see George again, but he, he, he had been there and he thanked everybody for coming over. And he, he responded to my comments and I , I felt, I felt I'd achieved so much and I felt so wanted and so much part of a family, this this family of, of high achievers or runners of it was, I mean, it was, it was , it was great. And I , I just, I just felt so good and I thought, Nan , I wish you'd been here to experience all this, but I know you looking down on me. And I know it's, it's, she was with me all through the race. And the funny thing about that race was, as I said, my hardest bit was getting over to Ireland. The easy bit was running the marathon. I hadn't even thought about the marathon. I was just enjoying all the crowds all the way around and just being in the moment. And it was one lesson I've learned over the years of running marathons is just be grateful. You can run it. You get to the start line that's achieving itself. Just enjoy it. That's all I can say is just enjoy it and don't even think about what can go wrong. Just let yourself enjoy the experience. 'cause you never know when it might be your last, you know, everyone is special. Every marathon is special and every marathon I can still do now is special to me. But that has been the most special of all the Dublin marathon and I've run it several times since and it's still my favorite race. So anyway, I was on a high after this and I was still posting in the group and still doing my training. This was the end of October and I had my birthday in November. So in November on my birthday, I always liked to go for a run, bear in mind, it was only approximately two weeks after the Dublin marathon. I should be, you know, taken easy. But no , I went off on this run and after a few miles had a bit of a pain in my, my leg and the sensible thing would've been to turn around and go back. But I was enjoying my run so much. And I dunno , it's funny, I had this voice of my , of my dad in the back of my head saying, don't be such a Ws , you know, you always give up, give up on everything, just keep going. You know, no pain, no gain, that sort of mentality. So I just kept going and I think I did something really crazy, something like 20 miles. It was a real long run. And then afterwards when I got home, I , I guess it was the adrenaline that got me through it . But when I got home, it started to flare up. The knee started to get really bad and I struggled to walk. So luckily one of my housemates, he gave me , um, a lift to the doctors. And the doctors had a look at it. And long story short, they sent me to the hospital. And the hospital had a look at it and they said it was , uh, a torn meniscus in the knee. Luckily, I say luckily it was only a , a grade one, which means, you know, the knee wasn't locking, it wasn't completely broken. So your meniscus, it's a bit like suspension in , in between your, in the middle of your knee. And it can , it can break completely or it can break and be jagged and you know, your knee starts locking. I wasn't actually locking it, it was just been chipped slightly. So the hospital sent me away , um, on crutches. I had some painkillers and they, they booked me in with the , um, a physio. So I had appointments with the physio because I couldn't operate on it. 'cause it was grade one, so it wasn't, it wasn't lock or anything. So there was no operation. So I went to the physio and the physio said the main reason, you know, you , you probably get this or you get these injuries, it's , 'cause even though I've been running all over the years, I never , I've done any strength training for my, my legs. And he was saying, well, look , even people like mo far in the winter would do strength training because it , it's not really a knee problem as such. It's the fact that your quadriceps top of your legs aren't strong enough to take the pressure off your knees all these years. I never realized that. Anyway, so he gave me these exercises, do things like squats and then , and just general, you know, pull up on your legs and all sorts of different things just to try and strengthen all core , core exercise, strengthen your core as well. That all helps. So I , religious religion , get my teeth in religiously, did all these exercises every day, which was very boring. Um, you know, I like to be out running, but you know, I was on crutches and I just had this feeling, the way they were talking, if I said to him, will ever run a marathon again, he'd be like, I'm , don't be stupid. Or that's what I was thinking he would say. And I did all these exercises. I tried to stick with it. Obviously I couldn't see any improvement day to day . But after a while I'm thinking, okay, maybe it's getting a bit better. Maybe I, you know, I , I soon came off the crutches, I could soon walk. And then I was getting a bit impatient and I thought maybe I can do a little run. And the appointments had with the physio, you know , are quite sporadic. They weren't that regular. When I did go back to him one day, he said to me, he said , uh, yeah, I think you are , you , you're doing okay. This, this was , uh, I think it was January time. He said, yeah, he said, I think you're doing okay. Maybe you can start running again. And I didn't want to admit to him that I'd already started. Um, and he was like, no, you'll be fine now you can start running, but keep, keep on doing the exercises.

Speaker 3: 42:43

And ,

Speaker 2: 42:43

Um, so yeah, I just, I I just, I just kept doing the, the doing the exercises. Um, and my , my running did start to come back so that, that, that had been in, in in January. But you know, the luckily the end of , of the previous year had finished on a high because even though I had this problem with my knee , uh, it really put down to the end of my year. But the , the , the Facebook group I was in, George, he'd, he'd organized this and he'd never done it before. It was like the inaugural member of the year. And it was gonna be, his decision members wouldn't vote or anything, but he would decide on who he, he thought was member of the year, and he was gonna do this live video stream. And he said, you know, what day it was gonna be and that , and we'd all, you know, so we could all tune into it. So I tune into this live stream and he's starting to say, you know, who this person is, why this person's going to get , get this trophy, which he's holding up. Um, and then I had this horrible feeling That it sounded a bit like me. And I thought, no , it can't be me. I've not achieved anything. I never achieved anything. Okay , I've run a few marathons and that so many people in the group. Um, and there were , and he was posting, you know, he , he was, well he was saying on there, people were posting, but he was saying on there , you know, he got any clues, who it was, some people thought they knew who it was. The odd person did mention my name. Odd people mention other people. I had a person in mind who I thought it would be. And that was a , um, somebody who had become really friend with a , a , a guy called Alistair who'd always posted in the group and very supportive to others. I mean , <laugh> , uh, when he mentioned my name, I nearly had a heart attack. I was like, me, surely not. And the first thing I did was I just, my initial reaction was to turn the screen off because I , I , I felt embarrassed. There was so many good people in this group. High Achieves had done so much that it should be them. And I didn't want to, you know, I felt embarrassed to accept the trophy. And of course, George during this live stream , he knew that I was on there listening and watching. And he said, oh, he said, I think Jason's on here if he wants to , um, you know, do a live response. And of course, you know, I'm still, I still am to this day fairly shy. And I, I couldn't do just a live response for , I wouldn't know what to say. I was gobsmacked. I was absolutely speechless. I think one of the members did joke actually that, oh no, he is out running. And , uh, but I knew I'd have to do something. I knew I'd have to acknowledge this. So I left it. And when I did come back, so many people had, and I watched the recording, so many people had left messages. And even George himself said, I'm sure all the members would've agreed if they had the vote that it would be me. And I was just so, and yeah , George basically said, I got it because of the , um, the resilience , um, from what happened from my nan dying and , and losing everything to then overcoming my fears, obviously running Dublin. Um, and you know, he , he mentioned , and it's like when I came back from Dublin, I actually missed my flight 'cause I was on so much of a good time. And then the , the trains , uh, when I got back the other side in England, all the trains had been canceled at midnight. And , um, uh, one , one of the , uh, members in the group, Martin posted, he'd come and pick me up from the airport and he did pick me up from the airport and took me home, which was unbelievable. And George did mention this, he did say, you know, I'd brought out the support and love of others in the group. Um, so he was sort of saying, it was for me, but also the people that I'd brought out the best and the people around me, something to that effect. And so I felt a little bit better. I felt , okay, it's not all on me then, but yeah, he , he, I didn't think I'd done anything special. I'd literally just survived after my nan dad . I had to survive. I had to find, you know , somewhere to live. It was either, I would go completely opposite direction and I did find somewhere to live, found a job. But the thing that really saved me was this Facebook group that George had run. And I'm still a member even to this day. Um, maybe not quite as active as I was, but I still post it now . I still know people from there. And I'm still very thankful to the group. 'cause it literally did save my life. And to get this trophy, the least I could do was respond. So I did this little video clip. I don't particularly like looking at it, but I did this clip thanking George, thanking everybody and how appreciative I was of the group and all the people, and that I didn't think I deserved it. But of course, you know, everybody responded , yes you did. Yes you did. And um , so yeah, so I was member of the year and it's still one the greatest highlights of my life. I've never won anything before. So to one this, and as I say , it's about 6,000 members. And for it to come from George himself and then for everybody to, to agree, most of the people to agree, it was just something really special. So despite having this injury at the end of the year, this sort of made up for it. But I was worried about whether I'd ever run again. Um, and it was in, actually in January, once the physio had said, you know, I can stop running again. I did start to do a bit of running, but I didn't know whether I would ever run a half or, you know, a full marathon. Again . To me that seemed so far off. Um, just to be able to do any type of running , uh, was a relief. But I didn't think I would ever be able to run a marathon or , or even a half marathon a game. But, you know, I, I stayed in the group and, you know , I was supporting other people on their journeys. And obviously because I'd been a member of the year, the previous year, I had a lot of support from people. And I, I , I mentioned my struggles. It's literally what kept me going. But , um, yeah, it was a very, it was a bit yin and yang because I had such a high of being a member of the year and having all these new friends, and then suddenly I was brought back down to earth with this. I mean, I've never really been that seriously injured before in all my running career. And to have this injury, which was a very serious injury, I didn't know what to think or what to do. And I relied on the , the Facebook group for support. And without them, I , I literally wouldn't have got through it, but would ever run a marathon half marathon again . I mean, obviously I have, but the following year it was a struggle. It wasn't easy and a lot of things I had to overcome, but it was to support of the group that helped me get through the next year. But , uh, yeah, it was tough. But , uh, I'll tell you more of that on the next episode of 30 years of running marathons.