I’ve been competing for 22 years and, like most other athletes, I can confirm that my racing life has been littered with both highs and lows. The highest moments for me have been when I’ve won a race, whether that was as an individual or part of a team, in particular when it was something I’d been aiming to win a race for some time (South of Thames Junior Championship springs to mind). But it’s not just about winning and I’ve always felt great satisfaction in achieving a personal best or even just a faster time than I’ve run for a while. I was also pleased as punch when I finished my London Marathon, without stopping or suffering any issues along the way, the fact that I was slower than I had hoped for became irrelevant in that battle of attrition.
However I’ve also suffered the lows, coming 4th and missing a medal, being outsprinted for victory, tearing my calf in the Surrey 5000m championship when in a strong position to win and my shoe falling apart 1 mile into a 9 mile Southern Cross Country Championship, amongst others.
It’s a little like life, you have think beyond the bad stuff and look for some positives. I often use the mantra ‘look for the positive’ when I’m talking to other runners who are disappointed with a run, it’s often the case that there is something positive that can be taken from every situation, if you just seek it out.
This week’s Parkrun at Pennington Flash was a good example of how a race was filled with highs and lows. We had the Mother-in-law down for the weekend, so in anticipation of a shopping trip I decided to do the Parkrun and informed Ray. Ray’s wife, Sharon, was also going to run, her first Parkrun at Pennington Flash. Then Carole decided she’d like to do it, obviously still on a high from the previous week’s Hollins Green 5k, afterall, with a 9:00 start, we’d be home in time to go shopping, oh great.
I woke up early on the Saturday, it was a sunny day and the curtains don’t quite fit yet so the light woke me up. As usual, once awake, my brain gets active so I decided to get up. The last 3 times I’d run at Pennington Flash I’d just had a banana for breakfast, but with extra time to play with I reverted back to my normal breakfast, albeit a smaller bowl, of porridge. I’d had niggles in the week and had taken Friday off training to help my body settle down, today my body felt relaxed but full of energy. We set off up the road, with the sun out, but as we got towards Warrington it was becoming decidedly dull. I had visions of there being a downfall during the race, that’s what the BBC weather had suggested. But the weather stayed fine, at least until we went shopping.
We did the usual stuff, very little warm up, chatted to other competitors we recognised and Bill, the organiser. As the race began I set off at a pace that I thought was steady, I could hear footsteps behind me on the first section towards the finish line but by the time I got to the gate I was on my own. It was windier than I had thought and by the time I got up the first hill I was starting to breath heavily. The wind was in my face all the way round the bottom of the course and it didn’t abate until I’d climbed the first hill. With the wind in your face for about 2/3 of each lap, I’d given up on running a fast time. I used to hold the age graded record but now I was lying in 3rd place behind Stephen Williams and Jeff Whittington, my aim had been to try to regain that top position, but with this wind I now wanted to just maintain my average between 17:33 and 17:37. I could see there was nobody close to me so this helped me to push on, even if I were to overdo it I was still likely to win the race. It’s so easy to just ease off the pace on the third lap, knowing the end is near but suffering the consequences of this tough multi terrain, hilly, course, but I kept pushing, at least the surface was dry and this gave me a good springboard for each step. By now I was lapping people and it was nice to get some encouraging comments as well as issue a few words of encouragement back. As I passed the gate, with just the finishing straight to go I glanced down at my watch and miscalculated, thinking I was going to be around the 17:40 mark I gave it everything to try to get to the finish below that 40 seconds.
As I crossed the line I stopped my watch and couldn’t believe it when I looked down, 17:15. I was tired as anything but still managed to find a few words to express my delight. As always Bill and the team were on hand to congratulate me and take my barcode. Then it was back down the course to thank the marshals and encourage other runners, during my cool down. It wasn’t long before the 2nd man home came into sight and then Jeff Whittington finishing strong in 3rd. I was keen to get back to Ray, he’d been training well and I was sure he was also going to set a new pb, afterall, if I could, so could he. More and more runners were coming in, but no Ray. Then he came into view, he was running strong and I had no idea what his time was so I gave him a shout and carried on encouraging others.
By the time I’d jogged round the course again most people were settled at the finish. Carole didn’t time her run but reckoned she’d done ok (she knocked 52 seconds off her pb), Sharon had done a fine run for her first effort on such a tough course, with 29:19, but Ray had run 12 seconds slower than his pb. At this moment in time I was still chuffed about my time so didn’t pay too much heed to the other’s times but as the day went on I started feeling a bit disappointed that Ray hadn’t managed to join the others in setting a pb, I started to question myself as to what it was I hadn’t done, afterall I’m his coach. Over the weekend I thought his training through and decided what it is I need to do this week so that he can run well at Horwich. Then only this morning, during my efforts, it suddenly dawned on me, Ray and I are at different stages in our training development, I’ve just taken a step up and will now stabilise around this new level, Ray has already stabilised and will take his next step up when his body is ready, of course I’m still going to give him some good hard training this week anyway.
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