So… it’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog and I decided a tweak on the name was also required, “Fish Off The Hook” is a title I credit my colleague, John Sutton for coming up with, who has his own page which is a cracking read full of humour and self-deprecation!
I’ve decided to be a little bit more free in my approach and even allow the odd rant to escape from time to time and I won’t be doing much plugging on social media either, I’ve started to get a bit fed up with that stuff. One of the things that’s a bit of a bug bearer for me is all this hashtag nonsense; it’s a character that’s getting hammered far too much and I wonder, are we going to start using it daily correspondence outside of the social media platform? #Ihopenot… see how crap that looks?! There, I hope from henceforth I only use the hashtag for writing down telephone numbers! In fact, even Apple got fed up with this character, so much so that they ditched the key on their keyboards some 10 years ago (I should know, I have one). Then again, that’s Apple for you, though it’s still nowhere near the level of stupidity as discontinuing the headphone jack.
So, in a hashtag-free bliss, I can go about my way without having to worry about how many people actually read this; whether it’s some bloke in Luxembourg, or hitting the heady heights of double figures in views.
2018 ended rather poorly and the racing suffered as I ended up getting ill three times between October and December. Percy Pud 10k in 31:15 for 4th was initially disappointing, but in comparison to the Winter that followed, it’s the last fairly decent race I’ve had. 3,700 or so miles of running was also quite low for a calendar year, so hopefully I’ll be back in 4k territory for 2019.
After a dodgy Lancs XC Champs in January, where, in finishing 15th I had my worst position since 1998 (17th ) I ended up getting ill again in February, ruling out more racing including Barcelona Half Marathon. I eventually toed the line again at Bath Half Marathon, which was originally plan B for getting a pb, but by this stage it wasn’t a plan at all. Avoiding humiliation was probably the main aim! As defending champion I found myself up against some of the very best runners in the form of Nick Goolab, Peter Le Grice and multiple Olympian Chris Thompson. Of course, there’s no shame in losing to these guys, the problem was “how much” I was going to lose by! My winning time in 2017 of 65:16, was quite a soft time for a race of this magnitude. That’s all very well, except that I was really worried I could turn up and run the wrong side of 70 minutes, that would be some defence of a title… being nearly two miles behind the winner!!!
When I was looking up pre race news to find out what elite runners where competing, I stumbled across a blog article stating I had to prove my result wasn’t a flash in the pan; charming! I would certainly say that my 65:16 shouldn’t be capable of winning this race, but in 2017 it did. I’ve no idea why so many top guys were missing, still, it wasn’t my problem and I took the opportunity to bag an unlikely win. I have done five half marathons in the region of 65 minutes, as well as running a sub 2hr 20 marathon, 1hr 43 for 20 miles and a 29:38 10k. All done over a period of 10 years in a career that has spanned over 20, which has also included running for England on four occasions. No, my time of 65:16 was no flash in the pan!
So, with all that nonsense out of the way, my focus was on being as competitive in the race as possible. I figured I might have a chance at being around the top five, but after four miles I was starting to cut adrift and was languishing in 10th place… this could really get ugly! As we came back through the city centre for the second lap, I was able to edge a bit closer to 9th and 8th on the hill. It only proved to be a brief moment of optimism, as I lost ground on the long gradual descent back away from the city. By 10 miles the gap remained at roughly 150 yards, but I just didn’t have another gear to be able to close it down. I couldn’t hear anyone behind me, but I was taking nothing for granted, I had to keep focused ahead and use that gap as a gauge to my running, especially as I decided not to use the timer on my watch. As we rounded the final bend into the home straight at 13 miles I was worried that my time could be well outside 70 minutes, so it was a bit of a consolation to reach the finish in 68:16. It’s a respectable time given the winter I’ve had, but it’s still a good three minutes off my best, made more glaring by Chris Thompson winning in 63:10; two minutes faster than my pb and five minutes ahead in this race!
With consistency in my training back in order, having had a good few weeks since early February, I was actually looking forward to the Northern 12 stage road relays at Birkenhead. Whilst not in my best form, I was confident I could pull it out of the bag, so-to speak. There’s something about the relays; pride of competing for your club that brings the best out of me. I was on the seventh leg, which was the last of the long legs of roughly 8k, over two laps. We’ve been getting closer in recent years to that top five spot and after some great runs by the guys, we were in 7th place, not far behind Salford and Preston. At the hand-over I was about 15 seconds behind Karl Darcy of Salford and it was proving to be quite difficult to catch him, to the point that we both passed Preston and opened up a gap quite quickly. I eventually latched on to Karl on the second lap and I put in a surge in a bid to pass him quickly and open a gap. The plan didn’t work and it was a fierce battle to the end and Karl put in a strong finish to reclaim 5th spot. I was very happy with my run though and running a time of 23:44 was beyond my expectations. It was a fine run by Karl and a key performance in their team, where they went on to finish third. Our lads also finished strongly on the short legs, staying ahead of Preston and Rotherham to finish in sixth place; our best position since 2006. A few years ago, I don’t think I’d have believed we’d get back to that level again and I certainly think we can go on to achieve more in the near future.
12-Stage Relays: Battling it out with Karl Darcy
Over the next few months my aim is to get back to achieving the results I was getting before that crappy Winter. I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms from racing, so I’m just looking forward to training hard and racing hard for (hopefully) the rest of 2019!
Fish Off The Hook 