Runner's Words

While not sticking too rigidly to any sort of system, I generally tend to have a year on / year off of marathoning. OK sure, between 2016-18 I did three years in a row, but that was exceptional circumstances at play as I got two successive chances to run the London Marathon in consecutive years after the race I ran to qualify for them. But it’s not usually the case. Year on, year off (no more marathons, etc etc). Nice.

With last year being the year that Boston happened (and I still can’t quite believe that it did), it follows that this year would be an off-year. I mean, I did actually enter the ballot for this month’s Tokyo marathon, and predictably didn’t get in, but whatever. 2024 is not a marathon year, planned or otherwise, and so as I mentioned in my last blog instead of one big run I’m going to aim to do a few smaller ones this year. And for the most part, I’m looking to run most of them as fast as I possibly can.

I came into this year on a wave of optimism, probably running better than ever, and with sights set on possibly hitting a fast enough half marathon to maybe, just maybe, qualify for the New York full in November 2025. That was the plan anyway until a) I got injured b) I found out that half marathon times probably aren’t valid for 2025 anyway and then finally c) barely 48 hours after posting this, the emails started to go out to those who’d applied for time qualifiers for the 2024 race and the news was not good.

Whether or not I was ever going to be eligible to run a fast half this year and use it to qualify for NYC 2025, it matters not any more. The apparent flood of applications this time around meant the cutoff was much lower than expected and the times required are actually way off anything I’d probably ever be able to achieve. Assuming it’s the same situation next year I’ve got no chance, injury or no injury.

I’m cool with it though. It probably wasn’t ever really on anyway as the more I looked into it, the more I became sure that this is the last occasion half marathon times would even be accepted. And if the NYC organisers want to favour other routes for entry, such as the local runners who can run in the other races they organise to qualify through the 9+1 program, then that’s all gravy with me. It’s their race at the end of the day and it seems a decent thing to give priority to those that are a bit more committed to their community over someone like me who might just be able to run a fast enough time over 3,000 miles away just to use it as an excuse for a holiday. If I want to do NYC someday I’ll just have to stick to the ballot, and we know how good I am at those eh?

Anyway, aside from all that I sneaked in a little race last weekend, and very enjoyable it was too. The Poynton Village 10k marked my first race since Standalone and a chance to get the raceday routine nailed down ahead of tomorrow’s main event over at the Wilmslow Half. As an added bonus I was running with a good friend from my university days who has featured in this blog before on a few occasions. There’s nothing quite like running an event with someone you know, and Adam picking me out on the other side of The Highway during the 2018 London Marathon remains one of my favourite moments as a runner as we were briefly united in our shared pain before heading our separate ways.

This would be my 29th race at this distance, and I’ve honestly never had one quite like it before. I knew it would be a bit hilly, and it was. I suspected it would be muddy, and it most certainly was that too. Bearing in mind the conditions, and the fact especially with my on / off groin issue I wasn’t intending to push too hard a week out from Wilmslow, it definitely wasn’t a day to crack out the Vaporfly (although it certainly didn’t stop a few others from trying their luck). I went with my trusty Puma Liberate Nitro, the veterans of a few extremely muddy parkruns from last year, and it proved an inspired choice, gliding down the soggy slopes and wooded pathways barely missing a beat, PUMAGRIP once again remaining defiantly unbeaten over one of its more challenging days out.

It was a really fun race all in all. I’d started slowly over the first – constantly uphill – mile and a half, trying to ease my way in until I knew the groin was up to the job. Adam’s wife was stood with their kids just after a kilometre of the climb which was a lovely little boost (and I’d unexpectedly see them all again a couple of miles later, which was even better), and then shortly after that we were at the highest point of the race, scurrying onto the Middlewood Way and it would be (mostly) downhill back to the finish. The groin felt okay and I decided to step things up a bit and see what happened. And it was a whole heap of fun.

I essentially spent the next half hour picking people off one by one, gradually cranking up the pace as my body decided it wasn’t going to complain about anything today. There were a few gates to deal with, stairs to traverse up, narrow paths through wintery woodland to navigate and one potholed road full of puddles you could never quite be sure how deep they were. Every couple of hundred yards seemed to throw up a new challenge, which makes a nice change to me as someone who’s spent over 15 years basically just running on road. The volunteers and marshalls were great, as were the little pockets of supporters dotted around the course, and all in all it was a really nice little event, a proper challenge at times (but a rewarding one) and thanks to the speedy second half of the race I’d worked my way up the field to bring it all home in 41:21, well ahead of schedule and in 17th place overall, which pleased me no end.

I grabbed my medal and flapjack – still to this day, I can’t tell you which one I liked more – and then headed down to stand back on Park Lane on the home straight, cheering the runners home and then best of all seeing my old running buddy Adam steaming up to the finish line, so far ahead of his 1:10 schedule that I nearly missed him, and finishing comfortably inside the hour mark. A great achievement and a grand morning out all in all.

I’ll definitely come back to this race, and to be honest it’s got me thinking how many other smaller, local races are out there like this that I’ve been missing out on over the years. I do have a bit of a habit of sticking to the same old ones year after year, which is nice from a familiarity point of view – nothing helps reduce the raceday anxiety quite like knowing how easy it will be to use the loo before the start after all. But then do I always need to be running these massive events with thousands of runners when I can chuck in an entry three days before for a much smaller race more or less on my doorstep and have an absolute blast doing it? Food for thought I guess.

Anyway, speaking of the same old, it’s nearly time for my fourth run round the Wilmslow half and I’m quite looking forward to seeing how it goes tomorrow morning. My training’s been pretty disrupted and I can still feel a few little niggles around the groin, but also there’s a tiny sniff of a PB if things all go to plan, which would be pretty sweet at the grand old age of 42. I’m not expecting it to be honest, and I’m definitely not expecting to be able to use whatever happens to qualify for NYC, but it’s all good. It’s just nice to be back out there racing again, and this weekend it’ll be back on terra firma. That’s enough mud for a bit thanks.