Every stride tells a story, and my 2018 was a novel of persistence, pain, and unexpected joys. From clawing back after a torn meniscus, through the swampy trials of a Beckinsfield trail run, to the Dublin Marathon's grueling 26 miles - I've weathered it all. And it's not just about the miles under my feet; it's about the people alongside me, the supporters, the friends who turned each race into more than just a run. We delve into the emotional resonance of these connections, the warmth found in cheering despite personal setbacks, and the shared triumphs and trials that bind us as a community.
This episode isn't just a recount of races; it's an homage to endurance, both of mind and body. I take you over the bridge with a hamstring screaming for respite, through the satisfaction of a modest finish with Sheena, and into the heart of the Dublin Marathon - a battle against cramps and the clock with every step. It's about setting small targets, a resilient mindset, and finding that some of the toughest races can be the most gratifying. You'll hear about the strategies that saw me through and the mental fortitude built on the run that fueled me forward.
As we wrap our running shoes and look back, it's clear that the year's true victory was in the journey itself. You'll get the inside track on how a competitive Christmas day race with my friend Helen turned into a photo finish to remember, and how Tracy's kind invitation to a family Christmas offered warmth in a season of solitude. Let's celebrate the spirit of running, the hard-fought accomplishments, and the light at the end of the tunnel that led to an unexpected twist: my following year, which became my best yet. Join me as we explore the lessons learned with every mile and the power of perseverance.
Thanks for listening. Keep on running.
Every stride tells a story, and my 2018 was a novel of persistence, pain, and unexpected joys. From clawing back after a torn meniscus, through the swampy trials of a Beckinsfield trail run, to the Dublin Marathon's grueling 26 miles - I've weathered it all. And it's not just about the miles under my feet; it's about the people alongside me, the supporters, the friends who turned each race into more than just a run. We delve into the emotional resonance of these connections, the warmth found in cheering despite personal setbacks, and the shared triumphs and trials that bind us as a community.
This episode isn't just a recount of races; it's an homage to endurance, both of mind and body. I take you over the bridge with a hamstring screaming for respite, through the satisfaction of a modest finish with Sheena, and into the heart of the Dublin Marathon - a battle against cramps and the clock with every step. It's about setting small targets, a resilient mindset, and finding that some of the toughest races can be the most gratifying. You'll hear about the strategies that saw me through and the mental fortitude built on the run that fueled me forward.
As we wrap our running shoes and look back, it's clear that the year's true victory was in the journey itself. You'll get the inside track on how a competitive Christmas day race with my friend Helen turned into a photo finish to remember, and how Tracy's kind invitation to a family Christmas offered warmth in a season of solitude. Let's celebrate the spirit of running, the hard-fought accomplishments, and the light at the end of the tunnel that led to an unexpected twist: my following year, which became my best yet. Join me as we explore the lessons learned with every mile and the power of perseverance.
Thanks for listening. Keep on running.
The race is on, so let's get straight into this 6 episode of 30 years of running marathons. Now, 2018 was going to be my worst year of running ever, just after my best year of running. I had a torn meniscus in my knee at the end of 2017 and I was on crutches. I never thought I was going to run again, though little by little, I did start to walk and then do a bit of running, and I was even running before my physio could even say I could run, just because I needed to believe that I could do some kind of running, though I knew in 2018, a lot of my races would have to be cancelled. I had a lot of races booked in. I had the two main ones, which were Manchester Marathon in April and the Dublin Marathon, which is my favourite marathon, at the end of October. Before that, I had the Wokenham Half Marathon, which I usually ran in February, and I had a few smaller races as well Wokenham Half Marathon in February. I knew that would have to be cancelled because in January, even though I'd started running again, I still wasn't doing enough mileage to run 13 miles. The most I was doing was 5 miles. This proved okay because in April, I did manage to run. It was a small trail run, it was only 5 miles in Beckinsfield and it was around a country estate and I'd never really done a trail run before. I'm used to running on roads. So this was a new experience for me and I could never have guessed what was going to happen to me. I didn't have any trail shoes and I didn't think that would be a big deal because I thought, well, I'm only running on grass, as long as it's dry, there shouldn't be any problem. But of course I didn't foresee what the British weather would hold and we had the worst conditions, the worst amount of rain, over the few days leading up to this trail run. And being me, I wasn't going to pull out, I wasn't going to be defeated. I thought, well, it might be a little bit slippery, but I'll go ahead and run it anyway. I wasn't going to pull out. Now I was actually here at the event.
Speaker 1:If I knew what the course was like before I'd even started to run, I probably would have changed my mind and not even attempted to it, and certainly, hindsight, what happened to me? I certainly wouldn't have carried on. But it wasn't just me, I mean even people who had trail shoes on. They were struggling. The conditions were horrific. We're talking about swamps, lakes.
Speaker 1:You literally had to choose where you were running and I was literally just concentrating. You had to concentrate every single second on where you were going to put your next step and I was just trying to follow runners in front of me because obviously I'd never run this course before. I didn't know it. But to be honest, even if you knew the course, it wouldn't have made any difference, because they were just lakes had formed all over the place, swamps, people were losing their shoes and, of course, because I just had basic road shoes on, I was slipping about all over the place. I was literally like Bambi on ice.
Speaker 1:I was just like Bambi, my legs were splayed all over the place and, of course, I'm still recovering from a torn meniscus in my knee, so this wasn't ideal. My knee was twisting about all over the place. In fact, both my knees were. I didn't feel anything at first. In fact, I was running a really quick time, considering this was a trail run and I was having to dodge all these puddles and you're up and down slopes lined about all over the place. It's not like a smooth, flat road, so the time's always going to be slower. I mean, this was real cross country.
Speaker 1:But the first few miles I was on for a good time and I think it was about half way round about the two and a half mile mark, three mile mark on this five mile course, that I really started to struggle. It was really getting to me. And then I started to feel a pain, a pain in my right leg, the one where I already had the torn meniscus, and this wasn't looking good, but it wasn't actually hurting on the knee, to be honest, it was the lower leg. So I thought, okay, this isn't a problem, just keep going. And I kept going and I did a really good time. I think it was about 40 minutes. So for five miles it was about eight minute mile pace, which you know, I mean nowadays I might not even do that on the road. So that was a good time considering the conditions.
Speaker 1:But my leg really started to hurt after the race. But it wasn't just me that had suffered with the conditions. In fact the lady would actually won it. She even lost her shoe and I remember one of the organizers at the finish line at the end there he brought the shoe back to her. I mean that's how bad the conditions were. I mean I didn't lose a shoe, but what happened was even more horrific. I mean I thought nothing of it. I mean you know we all get pains after running, and certainly the following day you do, and you think nothing of it. You think, well, I'll recover from it.
Speaker 1:And I didn't think it was the torn meniscus. It didn't feel like the torn meniscus pain again. So I thought, I'm okay. In fact it felt more like the lower leg. But when I got home that evening it really was painful and the next day it just got even worse and I could hardly walk. So I thought, oh, here we go, it's the torn meniscus again. So my housemate took me back to the hospital again and they had a look into it and the consultant there he said we're going to have to have a look into it. He thought he knew what it was. He thought it was a bake assist, which is basically a swelling at the back of the knee and normally this swelling forms to protect a previous injury. Now, of course, I had the torn meniscus on this right knee, so the swelling, if it was a bake assist, had actually formed to protect my torn meniscus and remember there was only a few months after I had got this injury. So you know this made sense. But you know I didn't know what a bake assist was.
Speaker 1:There was me looking up online to see how serious this was, so I'm sent to, I guess, the ladies known as a radiographer. She was with the x-ray of the handheld scanner and she was waving about all over my knee trying to find something. I think at this point they were just trying to find anything Broken ligament joints, just anything that would give them a sign. And then all of a sudden she suddenly said oh, my word, that's a big one. And I said, well, thank you very much, I'm going to find some humor in it. But I looked at the screen and there was just this massive blob and I said okay. I said is it serious? What is it? And she wouldn't tell me anything. It was like, oh no, I can't tell you. She'd got to go back to the consultant. So all I knew was by the sound of her voice it sounded serious.
Speaker 1:This was a whatever was in there and at this point I didn't know it was a bake assist or something big within my knee. So I go back to the consultant and the consultant looks at it. He's obviously got the pitch come through and he's looking at it and he's like, okay, it's not looking good. He said, basically it's a bake assist, which is a swelling at the back of the knee to protect the injury, which makes sense, because he knew my history. I told him I had the torn meniscus before. So I'm like, okay, it can be sorted. Yeah. And he's like, yes, we can drain it.
Speaker 1:So what they were going to do was they were going to drain this, because basically it's a sack filled with fluid that back in near the swelling is filled with fluid and they would drain this fluid off. So it might be quite a painful procedure. You know, they put syringe in there and literally drain off the liquid that's inside and the swelling would come down and I'd be fine. So I'm okay, let's get on with it. And he's on the phone. Good few minutes on the phone and that, and then he comes off the phone and saying, okay, it's not infected. So what I suggest is give you some crutches, get some painkillers. It will go down in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:There's very large affair about it and I'm like, really, is that it. So they're giving me some lessons on how to use these crutches. I'm not even giving any painkillers. I'm like told no, just pick up some painkillers and that'll be it. So I had to trust the doctors. I had to trust the consultants, the doctors they know best. And because it wasn't infectious, I guess they were trying to save course, they weren't going to bother draining it. So I'm left to hobble out on these crutches. My housemate takes me home and the first thing I do is get some painkillers and I'm like okay, in two weeks start running again.
Speaker 1:Well, two weeks came around and I'd come off the crutches and I was walking and I couldn't feel any real pain. I'm thinking okay, this is fine, I can start running again. But actual swelling hadn't gone down, even though it wasn't painful, it hadn't gone down. But I'm thinking well, I can run. So I went on a short little run and it was fine, no pain whatsoever. And I still kept taking the painkillers and I was still waiting for this swelling to go down. And I went from one mile running two miles, five miles, I was moving up the gears, but this swelling wasn't going down. And you know, got to the two weeks and the swelling was still there and it just wasn't going down. So in fact I still had that swelling today, even though it's not as bad, there is still a swelling there. It really did go down, but you know, that's another story.
Speaker 1:Anyway, obviously I couldn't run the Manchester Marathon now because two weeks after the stallions started going down I just started running again was when the Manchester Marathon was on and a lot of my friends in my Facebook group they were going to this Manchester Marathon because it's a big marathon. If you couldn't get into London Marathon which you know it's one of the biggest marathons in the world, very difficult to get into then Manchester was another option. It's north of England, still got like about 20,000 to 30,000 runners, big, big event and it's one. As I say, if you can't run the London, you do that. So a lot of my friends in the group who couldn't get into London, they were going to run Manchester and a lot of my friends from the Facebook group were going and I posted that I was going. So I posted and said look, you know I can't go now. And I didn't express a response. I got, you know, a lot of them said well, you know, come up and support us. And one lady in particular, trace, said yes, please, you know, come up and support us.
Speaker 1:And I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't really. You know I was being a bit selfish. I didn't really want to go up Because to me, if I can't run a race, it's so excruciating. I know I shouldn't say this, being a bit selfish, but seeing your friends run it, and even though you want them to run, well, you just wish you were out there as well, because I was walking around, fine now, and I just started back running, so there was no obvious injury to me. So it was a bit frustrating for me to go up there thinking, well, I've had a few more weeks maybe, maybe I just could have scraped through. But I mean, that wasn't to be. But I thought the least I could do, because a lot of my friends in the group have given me so much support over the years, especially after Manan had just died, you know this group had literally saved me. So I thought, least I can do. Ok, I'll get on the train, I'll go up there, book hotel, stay over and I'll support them. And that's what I did. But to be honest, supporting your friends in a race, I'd never done that before.
Speaker 1:I found it a lot more difficult than actually running the event, because I know Tracy and a lot of members of the group. They wanted photographs and because there were so many runners just trying to pick out my friends, it was difficult enough. I saw Tracy at the start but she was so quick I couldn't take a photograph. And the way the start went off, the start went off and I think for about the first one or two miles it went out and then it came back the other side of the start. So I saw Tracy at one side, saw Tracy at the other side and then some spectators. They were getting on trams because I'm at just a city center, a tram service, and they were getting on trams to go around other points of the course so they could see their friends. And a lot of people were doing this.
Speaker 1:But I had no idea, no knowledge of the trams. I just I'm not very good with directions. I thought there's no way I'm going to be able to catch up with my friends. They're all running different times all over the place. So what a lot of supporters were doing. They were going to the Costa Coffee Shop right near the start and literally tracking their friends on the phones. And that's what I did. I literally went, had a coffee I know it sounds a bit lazy, but I went and had a coffee and I was tracking Tracy and the others on my phone and then, when I'm sure they were coming in, I headed off to the finish line and even getting a place near the finishing line, it was so, so busy, so crowded with spectators, but I managed to get just past the finish line a good few and I got there just roughly when I thought they would come in.
Speaker 1:And ironically, it was very, very strange because what happened was three of my friends, three of the groups. It was Helen, who I've mentioned before is a very prominent member in the group, tracy, who very much persuaded me to come up and support her, and then there was Gary, and they all practically came across the line more or less the similar time. They were all, I think, just under four hours, three hours, 50, something like that. But they were all like within a few minutes of each other and they had this real bond and I sort of envied them because I had this real bond of all coming across together like three musketeers and all hugging and I was cheering them on and yeah, I mean it was great to see the elation on their faces. I know Tracy got a PB.
Speaker 1:And then I met a couple of others runners from the group who lived fairly lowly, had come to support. So there was Rob and Jenny, and so, yeah, it was a good day out. I mean it was great to see the runners come through. I just wish I'd been out there myself. Obviously it wasn't to be, but next year was a different story. But I'll come on to that in the next episode. But yeah, it was great. And then Tracy said, after which said do you want to come for a walk? She just wanted to stretch out her muscles, warm down. So I went for a nice long walk and that. And then she thanked me. She thanked me for the support. She was really appreciative. So it made it all worthwhile the fact that I'd gone up there and supported them. So I'm glad I did, even though I wish I'd been running. But it gave me an insight into what supporting races is like. You know, seeing it from the other side of the fence, I certainly found it a lot tougher and wish I'd been running myself. So, yes, it was interesting to say the least.
Speaker 1:So after Manchester that was in April I tried to get back to doing some running, to being a bit more consistent. So I still couldn't really run though. I mean, if I look at my training diaries here from that year one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine yeah, I mean literally I didn't do any running from Manchester right through where are we? To April. I didn't start running again until end of June. I managed to four-malar. So I was still really struggling when I'm running and the motivation to go running. Obviously I had races booked in but I was still suffering. This injury was taking longer to recover than I thought. So I did a four-mile run end of June. Then the following week I did like a five-malar, two-malar, three-malar, but nothing really extravagant. And then the following week, third week into my training, I managed to do 13 miles. I'm not as quick as my usual pace, but it wasn't too bad. I did that in two hours, 13. So that was going quite well.
Speaker 1:And then the following week I had this race booked in. Sorry, a couple of weeks off I had a race booked in, which is why I ran the 13 miles, just to make sure I could do the distance and it was a local race to me. It was called the Down-toe, up-flow Half-Mouthin and literally what you did is they changed the direction. So you ran along the river and one year you'd be going as you'd say, you'd be going up-flow of the river, next year you'd be going down-flow. So it was very much a trail race, but nothing like the Beckinsfield five-mile run. I mean, it wasn't sort of like that. It wasn't going to be hilly, it was literally flat along the top of the river and, as I say, fairly local to me.
Speaker 1:This year it started in Marlowe, finished in Windsor. So Windsor was local to me, but they provided shuttle buses so you could park your car in Marlowe. I had a car. Now you could park your car in Marlowe and then what would happen is you'd go down to Windsor and that's where you finish and then they'll shuttle bus back. Actually, if I remember no, I didn't take the car on this one. I actually sorry it started in Marlowe, finished in Windsor. So I actually walked into Windsor, if I remember rightly. Yeah, I did. I walked into Windsor and then they took and then it, I think it finished in Marlowe. That's all right, it finished in Marlowe. I took the train back to Windsor.
Speaker 1:It was only about a half-hour trip and I knew I'd run a 13 Marlowe before this, a couple of weeks ago, so I was confident I would finish. Not a brilliant time, but I don't know. My training runs along here so I knew the course really well. I love running along the river from Slough, windsor, mainhead, so it was a part of the course that I knew really well. So I was looking forward to it and my legs were feeling okay and normally I'd post to my Facebook group that I was going to be running. You know all my races I would post to let. Now I was getting on and I always get a lot of support. But I wasn't fully confident that I'd actually I would actually finish. Even I'd run a 12 Marlowe a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't fully confident. I was worried you know my the problems from my knee it would suddenly give way. So I didn't tell anybody and I thought you know I could go secret squirrel here, just do the race. No one find out.
Speaker 1:Little did I know how far our race book community actually spread, because when I got to pick my number up, I think a name was, I think it was. I think it was. I'm trying to remember the lady's name. I think it was Sheena. Sheena was actually giving my number out and obviously because I got remembered the year, the previous year, you know, everybody in the group more or less everybody in the group knew who I was. So I went to get my number. So, hello, jason, I didn't know you were going to run this.
Speaker 1:I was like, oh okay, yeah, I didn't say anything because I haven't done much training for it. I'm not sure if I'm going to better complete it. And I did say to her. I said please don't mention anything to the group Because I didn't want the pressure the group finding out I was running it. And then for me, you know, to have to post or I didn't finish. I know I'd get loads of support but it'd be a bit of embarrassment for me. So I told her to you know to keep it quiet. If it went, okay, I would then post in the group and she was fine about that. So I warm up, fine, everything's going okay.
Speaker 1:I get to the start line and I never expected what was to come next. I thought if anything was going to happen it was going to be a problem. It was going to be obviously with my right knee and my warm up had been fine. I get on the start line. We're starting in the park next to the river and we start off and I hadn't even got out of the park and I feel my left hamstring pulling. So the left hamstring is like the top of your back, of your leg, and I feel this pulling. It's like someone's shot me in the leg and you get this lot of sprints, as you see on telly. You're doing the 100 meter quick, fast sprint I mean because obviously they're moving a lot quicker speed and suddenly it snaps and I felt it was almost like I was snapping on the hamstring and it was so painful I almost came to a standstill instantly.
Speaker 1:I hadn't even got outside the park and all I can remember were all these runners passing by me and I was just coming to a standstill and I thought, okay, I'm not going to better finish this race, but just calm down, just see me get out of the park. And it was. I was more embarrassed than anything else because I was thinking everybody's seeing me stagger like this and they'll probably have sympathy for me. I just get this opinion that they're probably thinking well, he hasn't trained properly, or all these stupid ideas in my head. Anyway, I stagger on and I managed to get outside the park, which is fine. Then he starts to loosen up. So I'm thinking, okay, step by step I can get to the first mile. That's fine.
Speaker 1:And what hit me next was terrible. Because we had to go up these steps, up over a bridge, over the motorway, to get to the other side of the river. And you can imagine the struggle I had is starting to loosen up. Now I have to go up these steps and it was so painful trying to get up the steps. You know I could have done without this. So I'm thinking okay, next target, just try and get up the steps. And I'm going very slowly up these steps, almost walking. I get to the top. That's fine. Going back down the other side a little bit easier on my hamstring. And I come down the other side and with the momentum of literally almost falling down the stairs, I get a bit of momentum going and I'm down the other side and my leg starts to feel a bit better. The hamstring starts to loosen up. I mean I'm going at a very slow pace compared to what I'm used to, but it's feeling okay. So I'm just literally, you know, it probably didn't help Well, I don't think it did at all that the sun was out, because maybe that's what was causing the cramp bit of dehydration.
Speaker 1:But you know, I just carried on, I tried to take in the view of the river, tried to remember I'd run along this route many times before, just trying to enjoy it. And I'm just thinking, you know, don't put any expectations on yourself when you get in a situation like this. Just take it step by step. Because I knew that the finish was a long way. I mean, it was in Marlowe and I knew where Marlowe was and Marlowe's a long way from Windsor. When you got to run it and I knew this was a long stretch of river, something you just try and enjoy. Take your mind off the pain in the leg, look either side, look at the river, look at the countryside. I mean there was, you know, people were out for the day and that, and I was just trying to calm myself down. And by calming myself down I was, you know, I was easing the tension in my leg and it got better and I just, you know, each mile as I got, when I got to the halfway mark, I thought, well, if you put that now six and a half miles, you know you've done the half mile, you know the halfway mile get my teeth in, you've got. You know you've done it to the halfway mark, so you're okay.
Speaker 1:My next target was 10 miles, and then I'm down to the last three and by then the pain had really eased off. I wasn't going particularly fast. I mean, bear in mind this was still a trail. So you know, some of the conditions weren't particularly smooth and we were going through, you know, the kissing gates and that, but and the sun had really come out now to getting really hot and people were enjoying the day, and I was just trying to struggle through and I can't remember, I think there might have been one more bridge that we had to get over, but then we literally finished in this field.
Speaker 1:I remember at Marl it wasn't like a grand finish like you get a London or Dublin, it was literally just in the field, like a school cross country, almost felt like you're finishing at school and I tried to put a bit of sprint on camera and then, literally the first thing I did, I collapsed at the end. I just wanted to rest. I got my medal on that, but I was. I just wanted to get some drink, drink some water. Just, you know, the leg was fine now but it had taken it out of me.
Speaker 1:And I know Sheena, who had seen me at the start, she came over to me and she was like well done, that's some achievement. You did do. And I said, yes, I did. I said it wasn't my knee that did it, it was the hamstring. But yeah, I'm just relieved, I did.
Speaker 1:I said it was a nice race in the end and you know the time wasn't too bad in it, it was two hours 10 minutes. You know, obviously I've run halves in 145 before, but because you know I didn't even think I'd get out the park to start with, I said to Sheena, I said come on, let's have a selfie and I'll post it up in the group. And I did. We took a photograph, I was smiling. I posted it up in the group and, yeah, sometimes some of your toughest races are your best races, because when it's all going smoothly, when everything's going easy for you, you don't appreciate sometimes how difficult races are, be it a six-malar or a 10-malar, any type of race, even a park run three miles.
Speaker 1:Whatever race you're doing, well, everything's going smoothly. It like in life. Sometimes you don't appreciate, you take it for granted, and it's when things go really tough that you see how you have to dig into your reserves. And it's more about mindset and I could quite easily have given up and said you know, this hamstring's too bad, it's too painful, I'm not gonna carry on. In some cases that's the best thing to do because you don't want to cause a permanent injury. But a lot of times I think don't quote me on this but I think there is a saying I don't know it's the SAS say it, but some they do say you know, you always got 40% more in you than you think and that's the mindset you have to have, especially when you're running marathons and half-marathons. So yeah, so I was just so relieved to have run it and to have finished it, so at the end of the day, it was one of my best races.
Speaker 1:So the following week, I mean, I posted in the group, obviously, and I got a lot of good response. Everybody loved my photograph with Sheena, sheena and I and that, and the fact that I had done this race. You know, they were all very, very supportive of me and, yeah, it was great, got a great response. I mean, sheena was quite a shy person, she didn't particularly want a photograph put there and that. But I said in the group I said you know, it was great to see and I also mentioned the group that I didn't post that I was obviously gonna do this race because of the injuries that I had in that. And obviously that got even better response because you know, everybody was congratulating me the fact that I did do it in the end.
Speaker 1:Anyway, so we're now into July. The following week I didn't do any run, I wanted to recover. And then the following week after that so it's two weeks afterwards I did one run of seven miles and my hamstring was fine. Now there's nothing playing me up. But then the next few weeks I thought I was gonna be able to run okay and for some reason my knee was playing up again just when I was hoping to get back running again. So I did that seven mile. I thought everything was gonna be okay.
Speaker 1:And then all through most of August one, let's see one, two, three, four next five weeks I didn't do any running and I thought I just need my legs to recover and my knees to get better. Hamstrings fine, nothing more hamstring now, but it was my knee with the torn meniscus and bursitis it was just. It was getting too painful. So I rested it for what? Five, five weeks, so all of August, and then we got into September and I managed to do a four mile run and the four mile run went okay In fact yes, it was my look at my training diary as my first run in six weeks, and that was because of the um, the bake assist. But also I now had on the opposite side of the knee, some of the top of the knee. Compared to the, the, the, the basal knee, where the bake assist was, I now had the side to, so that not only I had swelling at the back of the, I'd swelling at the top of the knee and that was causing problems as well. So now my knee was really inflamed and that's why I run for six weeks.
Speaker 1:So to do this run off the six week four miles, it wasn't a bad time, it was a a great achievement for me and in a couple of weeks after that I was due to run the Windsor half marathon, um, which, if you listen to my podcast before it's. It's basically my NANDs race. It was the race that I ran when I was a kid. It's also the last race my NAND ever saw before she died and my NAND was my biggest fan of my running. She always loved to see my medals. She literally died the day after I'd run the Windsor half marathon. So the Windsor half marathon will always be a very special race to me.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I had this race coming up and I wasn't going to miss it and luckily um, I mean because I wasn't completely fully fit, I mean I hadn't done any running. What I did do, just to make sure that I could more or less run the distance, I ran a 12 mile of the week before, which normally wouldn't do. I just want to give myself some, and I ran that in two hours seven minutes. So I'm thinking okay, at least I can complete the distance, or be it. When you run a race, it's completely different to a training run. It's always a lot different, it's a lot further, it's a lot harder. And Windsor half marathon is a very, very hilly course. As I say, I've run it many years and it's it's one of the toughest half marathons to do.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I was going to get support because I was going to be running with Alistair, who Alistair was a, a good friend that I made in the group and he was slower than me Generally he was. You know he says he's not a serious runner, but anybody runs half marathon, so that's the trait that you know, the training seriously. And he, you know he had run a few races beforehand and obviously I'd run with him or was going to run with him in Dublin. So you know, I was going to run this winter half marathon with him and then we'd run in Dublin. So this winter half marathon, this was going to be ideal for me and what I did was to protect my legs. I wore some compression socks on my legs just to to help my legs and I was thinking, well, if I'm running Alistair's pace, it's going to be a bit slower, so that that'll help me out. I don't want to, you know, make my injury worse. And I remember we, we ran this together and actually Tracy and Helen, they came to support us.
Speaker 1:So Tracy paid back the favor of me supporting Neuromancer Don't. You came along with Helen and it was great to have them as support and it was the first time Alistair had met Tracy, so I introduced him to, to Tracy, and we're on the start line and we started a bit further back in the pace that Alistair and I expected to do it. So I think Alistair normally runs it in about maybe two hours and a half, two hours, 20. And that was fine with me. I was thinking if we go at that pace I'll be quite happy with that.
Speaker 1:And we started off and the first mile is very much uphill, very much a struggle, and you run uphill towards the Copperhorse and you turn left and it's a two lap course and the last mile you're coming back down the hill and it's always the longest mile. I mean, as I've mentioned in previous podcast episodes, it's the longest mile. I guess it's cause you're anxious, but certainly the winds off marathon you can. You're at the top of this hill and you see the finish line here, the crowds, but it it just. You know people are tempted to sprint from the top of the hill but you've still got a mile to go and it's like that finish line never seems to get any nearer, even though you can see, you can hear the crowds takes forever. But you know you get nearer as the crowds get bigger. And this is what I told Alistair. I said be prepared for that when we get to the end.
Speaker 1:Anyway, alistair, you know he's about I don't know, it's probably about six foot. I'm a little bit shorter than that. So he's got this long leg stride and that and we start off and, as I say, the first mile is really tough and I I warn him of all the the hills to expect and specifically one, the 11th mile. I come the 11th mile, alistair wanted to get rid of me. He was like I don't want to spoil your race, you know you carry on. And I said no, we start this together and we'll finish it together. And he stopped he goes, well, I'm going to walk, you carry on. And I said no, I'm not going to leave you. So we're going up the biggest hill on the course at 11 miles, and he's walking now. But I say he's about six foot, tall, long legs, and we've been a bit shorter.
Speaker 1:I slow right down to a little jog and he's still keeping up with me with this walk he's doing. So he's walking and I'm doing this little jog, but we're still kind of the same pace and I can see the corner of my eyes getting a little bit frustrated with me being on his shoulder, like that, and he's like you start, he does. Well, he doesn't even say a word. I just get the vibe to come in off him and that and he starts to run and I'm like that's it, alistair, you got it.
Speaker 1:I think it was so fed up with me just hanging around. He was like he knew that I wasn't going to stop and walk or even carry on. So he starts running and then we both start running up this hill and that and I'm like that's it, alistair, this is what you need. You just need a bit of a push. And then we come around to the last mile and we literally just gliding down this hill and I tell him don't sprint too fast. And I don't think he had the energy in him to do it because we were doing a good pace here, and so I was leading the way and I was like and I stuck to him like glue, he couldn't get rid of me. I think he wanted me to go through the finish line first. I was like no, we start it together, we'll finish together. And that's what happened. And I have this lovely photograph of me looking across at Alistair as we crossed the line together. I wouldn't go in front of him but I think he let him go slightly in front of me and the time was terrific.
Speaker 1:As I said, I think Alistair's time normally was about two hours 22 hours 30. And we did it in. I felt I got the time maybe did in two hours eight minutes 58 seconds, 938 mile pace, I mean, and that was ideal for me and I'll be honest with you, it felt so easy for me, which was a good sign. It was a good time because I was coming back from injury and I had no pains on my legs. I think the compression socks helped. I had no pains on my legs during the race and it had been enjoyable running with Alistair and because such a special race for me, I managed to hold it together during the race. Afterwards I had a bit of a tear because it's, let's say, it's the last race my nan saw, but she had been so proud of me to help someone like Alistair to fill the lead's dream, to run a good race.
Speaker 1:And we come through the, through the end, through the finish line, collect our medals and water and everything and that, and there's Trace and Helen congratulating us and straight away Helen's like let's do some planking and I'm like, really I'm like I'm a little bit cold, I'm going to go and get my, my kit bag and put my you know tracksuit bottoms on and everything, and that Meanwhile Alistair was all four and he was down there planking. Later on in the in the group they'd posted pictures of them planking. I felt a bit left out cause I hadn't done the planking with them, but all credit to them. Then Trace, helen and Alistair doing their planking and all credit to Alistair. Straight way off through the half mouth I was going to start doing planking, but all credit to him. But that was just the first of two races, because the following week both Alistair and I, along with a lot of members of the group, we'd been booked in and I know it sounds in hindsight now. I mean, look at my training diary now. It just seems such a foolish idea, especially after coming back from Injury booked in to do the Oxford half marathon and I'd never run the Oxford half marathon before I don't think Alistair had or many members of the group had and it was a big race, you know, like winter, which had 4,000 runners.
Speaker 1:I think Oxford had about the same or even more, and it was going to be a lovely race because it's going to start in the university city of Oxford and then it went onto the outskirts and it would come back in and finish in the city centre of Oxford and, as I say, it's a good few thousand runners, big crowds, lot of members of the group were going. So I met many other runners from the group as well and I remember there was Helen who I think was a friend of Alistair's and now he introduced me to her and it was a lovely day. This was in October October yeah, looking at diaries October 7th. It was sunny. Loads of runners and obviously a lot of members of the group recognised me because I'd been a member of the group before. So they knew who I was and I got introduced to a lot of people, made a lot of new friends.
Speaker 1:Alistair and I started in different positions. Helen was there as well. I think Tracy might have been there as well. We all started off in different positions based on what time we thought we'd run the race. So Alistair was a bit further back this time. I started a bit further up. Helen was nearer the start.
Speaker 1:It was a lovely race. I remember the start being a bit like London, in the sense you couldn't really get into your running stride for quite a while. We were a bit behind. Even where I started we were a bit behind the finish line, so it took a while to get to the finish line. Even then it was very, but it was nice because there was lots of crowd support. This was a big, big race atmosphere. Even though Winter had a lot of runners, winter was basically out in the countryside so you didn't see many supporters. Alistair was around the city centre with loads of supporters.
Speaker 1:But the thing I enjoyed the most it was just looking up at the architecture, these historic university buildings. I mean it was beautiful. I'd never been to the actual city centre of Oxford before. To get into the city centre, I mean it's a bit like a tourist trail for you. You're having to run the 13 miles to seal the tourist sites and you do pay for it in some ways, because you pay for your entry fee, which gives you a medal in your shirt and that, and then in some perverse way you're paying to see the sites of Oxford but you're having to run it. That's how I look at it anyway, and that's how I look.
Speaker 1:A lot of my races when I ran Dublin. It's the first time I've seen the sites of Dublin and it's, you know, it's one way to see the sites of a new town or city, albeit a sadistic way depending on how you look at it. So, yeah, it was a great race and I was running at a good time and I guess, because I've done Winter the previous week and done any running in between, you know you don't need to I was still on a high from Winter and I was still ref to go and Winter had given me the confidence because Oxford was nowhere near as hilly as Winter. I mean, it was, say, more or less around the city centre. And you came back in and I remember the last, I think the last couple of miles through the park and it was all all twists and turns and then out very narrow streets and then out of these historic buildings, looking down on you and you just look at them and you think of all the history, or you know all the great students that have been within those buildings, you know who have, you know, learned people have studied there, and it's just the history of the place and that took your mind off the pain, certainly in the last mile, because the last mile say last mile always takes forever. But certainly going in and out of these buildings, because it wasn't a straight last mile, I thought is this ever going to come to an end? In and out, all the in and out of the sides of the buildings and that. But the crowds were great because it was held in the city centre. There it was great seeing all the crowds. But I never thought this mile would end.
Speaker 1:But when it did, I mean I couldn't have been happy at the time that I got. I mean it was one hour 49 and compared to the two hours I had done previously and this convinced me that. You know, there was no pains in my legs, my knee was fine, I was back on form. You know there was hope at the end of the tunnel. I was getting back to my previous best, but at the end of the day I was just. I was just grateful that I'd run this great race. I was running with friends and I met up with a lot of members of the group and made new friends at the end and it was great because we finished.
Speaker 1:I think it was within one, outside one of the university buildings. I remember it was a very, you know, spacious lawned area and that, and the sun was out and we were just sat there with our medals and that, just just discussing the race. What a fantastic race it had been. And you know you're on this run as high because you've done it. It was just a great atmosphere and it's like wow, that's two marathons in two weeks.
Speaker 1:If I look back to beginning of the year, when I was on crutches, when my baker's sis I didn't think I'd ever run again, I'm thinking, wow, you know, not even in hindsight now, looking back on it, what an achievement. But my year wasn't over yet because, as I mentioned earlier on, I was looking to do Dublin Marathon again and at the beginning of the year I couldn't see how that was possible. You know half marathon is difficult enough. So you think it's possible if you can maybe run 10 miles. But really to run, you know, 26 miles, you've got to run at least 118 mile. Ideally you've got to run a few of them and also have a base good base of, you know, 5, 6, 10 mile race. You know, runs within you.
Speaker 1:So my solution was to this, even though I missed about six, eight weeks of training, okay, I'd run two half moutains in a row, but remember, that's half the distance. A moutain is a completely different level. I had to realize that and if you listen to my earlier podcast you know when I first started out running I thought, well, if you can run a moutain, half moutain is easy because it's half the distance. But it doesn't work out like that and you can't think like that. If you run a moutain, you go to run a half moutain. You can't just think what? It's half the distance, this is easy. And if you listen to my first podcast episode that I did, you'll have heard this and go and listen to it and you'll see how badly I messed up. Anyway, that's another story.
Speaker 1:But so if I was going to run this doubling moutain, I had to convince myself more in my mind than anything to my body, my mind that I could do these 26 miles. So even though I'd run the Oxford half moutain on that Sunday, the next Sunday, I decided I'd go out on a 20 mile run, or at least try and see if I could do 20 mile runs, and I was going to convince myself. If I could do 20 miles, then two weeks after that I could run the Dublin marathon. Now ideally, especially when you're starting, it's probably best to leave three weeks between your last long run and the next and the race. It's called tapering. So if I did this, if I managed this 20 miles, I didn't have two weeks before the Dublin marathon and really probably, as a beginner you know you should probably leave. Well, as a beginner you probably do three weeks. I mean, I wasn't a beginner anymore, I'd run a few races. I was thinking I would. Two weeks would be fine. I had done two weeks many times before. But I just wanted this 20 mile. I just approved because I'm thinking if I can do 20 miles, the six miles will come in the day.
Speaker 1:So I went on this 20 mile run and it was a route that I'd done many times before, similar to the half marathon that I'd run Windsor to Marlowe. It was along the river and in this case it wasn't along the river, it was longer, similar to a river. It's along the canal canal near my house and I've run it many times before and I actually have these mile markers. So I've done many sort of shorter runs on it. So you've got mile markers. You go and the mile markers got to the fifth mile until it changes direction. So the first five miles, known as the Slough Arm of the canal, and then it turns left and you can literally go miles all the way down towards London, basically along this, the Grand Union Canal, and you know, obviously you can't time these sins.
Speaker 1:I had a very short window. I had to do it this week. I couldn't do it the week before and, as it turned out, I had the worst possible conditions to run it in. It was horrific. We had torrential rain, a bit like when I at the Bekinsfield five mile, when I got my bake assist, twisted my leg. It was like that. I can't remember whether I had trail shoes or not. I think I might have got trail shoes by now. But to be honest, even the trails wouldn't help because the canal path towpath was very narrow. I mean, literally only one person can get by on it. And the trouble is, when you get a lot of rain, it just it just gets like a swamp, so you have to run either side of it. But if you can't run either side of it, that's it. You have to turn around and go back again, and so I wasn't going to get my distance in If I couldn't get all the way along this canal path, certainly for the first five miles, with the worst part was where it was going to get really swampy and at the same time I just really wasn't in the mood for it.
Speaker 1:I don't know why some days you feel good for a run I mean, most days I do but obviously if you only ever went out on the good days you felt good for a run, you'd never do any runs, because it's only certainly in my case is when you get out there that you feel good about it. Getting out the door is fine. It's the hardest obstacle Once you're out there. I mean, sometimes I'm not wanting to go for a run and I've got out there and in the past I've done 20 miles and it's more of a mindset thing. So I thought to myself well, I'm not in the mood for it. But you know, give it the first mile, it will get better.
Speaker 1:But you know, within the first mile there was huge puddles and I had to literally, you know, stop myself from falling in the canal. And I had this small ruck sack on as well, because I was taking drinks from me as well. I wanted to make sure I traded and probably the ruck sack didn't help because it was like pushing me from side to side. You know it wasn't good for my balance. If I went slightly off balance, this ruck sack would just you know, the weight of it would just push me to one side. And I just remember these massive puddles and at times I literally had to stop and try and walk around, negotiate these massive puddles and my legs just didn't want to move.
Speaker 1:And that was in the first half of the race and what I was aiming for. I was aiming for these lakes. There's these lovely lakes that I go to and that was my target and it's about 10 miles to these lakes and if you go right around the lakes you can, you know, get maybe 11, 12 miles. You get maybe 21, 24 miles altogether. I just wanted to get to the start of the lakes and certainly when I get to the lakes I can do maybe a quick pit stop, go to the toilet, you know, a quick pee and then have a drink and then get back, turn around and go back and do the second half.
Speaker 1:When I got to the lakes he completely taken it out of me, but I knew if I stopped for too long I'd never get back because my legs felt like they were seasoned up, and it wasn't just my bad leg, it was both legs and I'd never felt so bad and I had at the back of my mind well, this rules doubling out, because I can't even do this. I've got to 10 miles, halfway mark to the lakes, and I'm already suffering. And okay, yes, I can blame the conditions, but you know, in hindsight I should be thinking well, the conditions. I know we're going to be as bad at doubling. For starters, dublin is on the road, it's a road race, so it's not going to be, you know, swampy like this. And when I've run Dublin in the past, the weather's been nice and I just could keep my fingers crossed. The weather be nice, but certainly I couldn't think of anywhere where the weather was going to be any worse than this. This was the worst weather conditions I'd ever run in any training run or any race, and it was just going to be a struggle to get home and getting home it was like hell. It was like I'd already run 20 miles and you know I'd only done 10.
Speaker 1:Start with running back. I was running through these huge puddles. By now my feet in was soaked. I felt like I was getting trench foot. That's how bad my feet were. They were absolutely soaked through. I was wearing leggings and my leggings were soaked through. I had a light raincoat on, but that was soaked through and I felt cold, shivery. I just felt so bad.
Speaker 1:I felt like I was going to be sick, even though I'd taken water on, and by the time I was coming back now, even though I started early in the morning, there was more people out and about, even though it was horrible conditions and I could see the old person around and that, and certainly as I got nearer to home, I just felt I was going to collapse and, in fact, just just to basically come towards the end of the canal and then I've probably got about 0.2 of a mile left, so I'm practically home once I'm at the end of the canal. I got to the end of the canal and I almost collapsed and there's like a basin bit, so there's a bit at the end of the canal which widens out where you can literally stop before you get to the road, and I literally collapsed there and I thought, well, I've practically done it, but I've just got to get around the corner now at the home, and, yeah, it was the hardest struggle ever. It was just as hard as running one of my marathon. And I got back home and I stopped my stopwatch and I was just grateful to be back. The time was three and a half hours and I was hoping to do it in about three hours of talking 10, 30 pace. But I was in agony. My legs wouldn't move and trying to get upstairs was difficult. I didn't feel like eating, even though I needed to eat because I'd used so many calories up during that race. I just needed to eat something. I felt sick. I just, I literally just collapsed on the floor and just, and the last thing in my mind was doubling marathon. This had given me no confidence whatsoever and I could quite easily have said well, I'm not going to run doubling. And the only reason I literally ran doubling was because I knew Alistair and Tracy were going to be there.
Speaker 1:So the following week and you know, once I recovered, I did do a couple of runs before dubbing. So I did a. I think it was on on the Thursday, I did a. Looking at my training diary, I did a four mile run and the time wasn't too bad. Actually it was 35 minutes. So eight, 25 pace. So that was good. Obviously the conditions were better. And then I did a little two mile. That was the last run before doubling.
Speaker 1:I was testing out new running socks and I also was testing out these, these laces on my my trainers that didn't come undone, cause in the past I've had on my shoes, where I've been running, laces have come undone. And then I get these runners saying, well, your laces are undone. I'm like, yeah, I can see that, but I know I can run him when my laces aren't done up. But obviously, you know, I guess runners are concerned, I'm going to trip up and look into them, or they're just being really nice, I guess, and they want me to trip up, but I hate having to stop when I'm running. So I was trying out these new laces and they work pretty well on my shoes. So I did this quick two mile and that was fine.
Speaker 1:By now I'd got my logical brain on. I was thinking, look, last week you did, you know, or sorry, two weeks ago you did, you know, the toughest 20 mile as you could ever have done and it's not going to be anywhere near like that at Dublin. So you're going to run a good race because you've been hardened. You know what they say is. You know what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And this has certainly made me strong. And I was thinking you got up and you're back in my I'm going to get stuff at Dublin. Think what you did on the last 20 mile race through those swamps of the canal. And that's what I was thinking. So I took that into my mindset into Dublin and obviously, you know it was lovely meeting up with Tracy, because Tracy was there. There was Alistair and her husband there, tracy and her husband, and it was great meeting up with them. And you know we were going to run this together and it was great.
Speaker 1:It was a nice day, as always, and we all started off at different starting pens. Alistair's wife wasn't running, she was supporting, so it was Tracy, alistair, I. We were all starting off at different starting points because obviously, all different times and that and it went okay. It was. It was. You know, as I say, as you listened to my previous episode, dublin is now my favorite marathon and it's a beautiful day.
Speaker 1:The crowds were out, as always, and I was. I was feeling good and it went okay, I think till about the halfway mark and then I started to struggle a bit. My legs started to get a little, a little bit painful and I was really struggling and I think I got to about the 16th mile mark and my legs were almost seizing up and for the first time in my life I thought I was not going to finish. It was that bad. My legs were really, really seizing up and I didn't know what to do. I mean, you know, I still had like 10 miles to go and I just felt embarrassed because of all the crowds were there. But you know, there would be more support of anything. I just, I guess I just took it the wrong way because I thought I could do better than this. I'm going to have a DNF on my favorite mountain, so I was just hoping the crowds would get me through. So I just I just put my head down and tried to keep in my own little world and just, you know, do it step by step.
Speaker 1:But the last 10 miles they were a real struggle. I've never had it so bad. Not even on my first mountain was it as bad as this. The last 10 miles it was so painful. I don't know what was wrong my legs, it wasn't just. You know, it wasn't. You know, we all know I've got the bad knee on my right leg, but it wasn't just that both my legs, for some reason they didn't want to move. I was fine on my breathing, my mindset was good, but I was really struggling and I struggled all the way to the end.
Speaker 1:It wasn't until the end that I collapsed. At the end and I literally couldn't get up. It was like my legs had all cramped up. And you know it was a sunny day and I've been drinking. But I guess it was also the cold, because even though it was a sunny day, it was still cold, because I'd never had that before after a race, where literally my legs are cramped up. And you know, the officials were great, they were helping me out and I got my medal. I managed to stagger to get my shirt and that.
Speaker 1:But Tracy, by now she had long finished. I think she'd finished in something some really quick time at three hours 45, whereas I'd finished in like four hours 10, compared to, obviously, the year before. I'd done it in three hours 32. But at the same time I was proud of myself because it was one of my best races, because I had come through something where I was determined not to stop. For starters I knew if I once stopped I'll never get started again, and I'd finished it. And at the end of the day, that's what matters. It mattered that I finished. It mattered that when the going got tough, I actually kept going and it was all down to my mind, not my legs.
Speaker 1:You know, I could quite easily have given up, but I didn't want the embarrassment of giving up. I was like, well, what am I going to do? I'm stuck out here. 16 mile point, 10 miles to go To me. That would be worse, that'd be more painful, having to be taken back. I don't know Someone. I'm going to pick me up. I don't know what would happen. To be honest, I'll be stuck out there. I felt the only way to keep you know, to get to the finish line was to keep going. I'm going to get it to, otherwise I couldn't see any officials around or any support is going to give me a lift back. So well, that's it. So I could only see one way out and that was to keep going.
Speaker 1:Obviously, when I got through did the back of the finish line there and that I saw Tracy and Claire, alistair's wife, there, and Tracy obviously said to me where'd you got to? Should I be okay? I said yeah, yeah, I just. I said it was just long story short, it was one of the most painful mouth and I said I've done. I said I've done. For some reason my legs seized up, but I'm okay and you're trace was all smiles because she'd got a PB. I think it was something like three hours 45. And I only felt happiness for her on that.
Speaker 1:And then, as I said before about how the weather's so nice in Dublin, suddenly that change and it started to rain and Alistair hadn't finished yet. We were waiting at one of the funnels because they had this two funnel system where you know runners could come. Once you've crossed the finish line, come through the funnel and Claire and Tracy, with the other funnel opposite to ride, come through. So we were there and we were waiting for Alistair. I think Alistair came through in about five hours, but you know that that was a good time for him and I would have been happy with that. To be honest, I mean you're looking back at it now four hours 10, considering how difficult I found it out. I almost thought I was going to stop and how I almost did, and it's the closest. However, came to start. I mean, I was almost in tears. That's how much it pushed me. But at the same time I don't know, maybe I'm a bit sadistic. I find some of these are the most enjoyable races because you've been pushed to the limits and you come through it and that's since the satisfaction when you got your medal.
Speaker 1:As I said, normally nobody asks you what your time is. You know your friends. You know you say with your friend what your time is and you've got it in the back of your mind. You always want to be your time, but nobody knows your story. Nobody knows your story when you set out on a race I don't know what Tracy's story was, alessio's story was in that race.
Speaker 1:So much can happen in 26 miles. So much can happen on the day, like on that 20 mile I did when it, you know it got like a swamp. On that I couldn't control the weather conditions and I can't control other people. I could only control what I was thinking and I was thinking are you going to stop, jason, or are you going to try and push through this? And I wasn't thinking I've got another 10 miles. So I was thinking get to next mile, then to next mile, and each round, each corner, there was someone cheering me, someone cheering my name, and that gave me the confidence and the boost to keep going. And it was lovely because, you know, tracy got a PB Palastro. I think Alistair had got a. I'm not sure if Alistair got a PB, I think he might have got a PB too, and I was just pleased to have finished.
Speaker 1:So, you know, we all went round afterwards, found a pub, had a lovely fish and chips, two pints of Guinness, and it was the perfect end to the day. And I think I, I think they went home after I stayed on for a couple more nights, doubling, and you know, as I say, it wasn't as fast as the previous year, but you know, considering how I'd almost stopped, it was, it was great. And I'd made such a good friend with Tracy that that Christmas she knew I was going to be on my own and she said to me she said come and stay with me and my family, and I'd never been round to Tracy's before and she, she picks me up, she drives me to her place, and that, and we go through the gates. I assumed her place was, you know, an apartment in this building or one block of this massive house. And no, it was, it was a it a whole house was hers and she had her kids there and a lovely house, big grounds outside and that and it was great, cause I love cooking anyway and this was the first family Christmas I'd have had in the last three years since Nana died, so it was lovely for the company. So I helped out with the cooking and you know we discussed, obviously our running stories and that just so that a traditional Christmas, you know, at too much drank too much, watched too much TV. I stayed a couple of nights and you know Tracy couldn't have been a better host and you know, since my nan died, that being the best Christmas ever and I should always be grateful for for Tracy doing that for me.
Speaker 1:But we weren't to get away from running completely, cause on Christmas morning we actually went and ran a park run. I'd never run a park run before. A park runs a 5K, so it's about three miles, and I've always been asked to show the distance because I struggle on the shorter distances. But I hadn't run for a few weeks. My legs had been playing a little bit, not too bad, but I guess it was just the Dublin marathon had been, you know, my last big race of the year and there was nothing else I was aiming for. So I'd taken my foot off the gas a bit, I guess, and so she'd come and do this park run.
Speaker 1:So I went and did this park run. I went, and then my boss was there, my boss's wife were there, runners, helen was there as well. So I ran with Helen for a bit. In fact, I ran with Helen and Tracy and it made me laugh because I knew I wasn't in particularly good form. So they started off with me and as I got nearer to the finish they they could see that I was, you know, wanted to go a bit quicker. Anyway, tracy took off. I never saw Tracy again.
Speaker 1:And then Helen, I think you know Helen said I'll keep you company because I wasn't running my fastest. So Helen's like no, I'll keep you company. Bear in mind this was my first park run. So Helen decided to keep me company. And then, as we got to the finish line and bear in mind, the finish line was no great thing, it was just literally, you know, a little line bit there you could see. You know, it was a basically a marker showing you where the finish line was and I could see it.
Speaker 1:So I made a sprint for it and Helen, being competitive as she is, she didn't like it. So she starts sprinting towards his finish line. She just about dipped in front of me, I think it was. It was a photo finish, I would say. And then Helen says to Tracy, she says oh, that's it, I'll stay with him and keep running and he goes and sprints.
Speaker 1:At the end I said to Helen. I said what do you expect? I said we're runs with competitive and then said yes, I said well, you're competitive, helen. I said I think I snuck that from you, but she took the token just in front of me and was placed just in front of me. But it was, it was very close and it was enjoyable, even though I'd like to run faster. But yeah, since then I've done a few more park runs and it was Tracy that introduced me to him.
Speaker 1:So that had been the start of my Christmas day and the finish of the Christmas table was, I think, Tracy and I and everybody else probably out cold after having a few drinks. From what I remember, we didn't too much drink too much, but had a wonderful day, and you know. So the year had finished on a high and you know, I made all these friends and now I was looking forward to the next year, I was planning my next year's running goals and little did I know. You know, I thought 2018, I thought it's going to be the worst year ever, and it started off pretty badly. But you know, I can look back at it now and think, well, if I look at the mountains, I run the half mountains once at, like the Winston Marlowe on the that trail run, which I could have easily have pulled out of when the hamstring was painfully within the first mile. The Dublin marathon, I could have easily pulled out the 16 mile marker.
Speaker 1:All these races that I kept going. They weren't the fastest times for me, but you know, I I finished these races and you know, any half marathon or marathon you complete, any race you do, is an achievement, but even more so an achievement when you know how easy it was that you could not have finished it. So what I thought was going to be a bad year and I say it's my worst year running ever wasn't so bad after all. And you know, there's always light at the end of the tunnel and, in fact, the. The following year, little did I know was going to be my best year ever and I'll tell you it was some year. And I'll tell you more about it on the next episode of 30 years of running.