I’m going to start this week’s blog by stating something that may surprise a few people. I’m quite an emotive person, I have deep feelings and this includes a lot of sentimentality plus I don’t forget the good things that people have done for me. The reason I feel you might be surprised is because I do put on a bit of a front. I’m of an age, gender and grew up in a location whereby it was not the done thing to show your feelings. I sometimes come across expressionless and emotionally challenged but my emotions run deep though they tend to stay deep. There occasions where I’ve found it hard to suppress those feelings and they have slipped out at times when I least wanted them to, don’t believe me if I say I love you when I’m drunk (it’s not a lie, I’m just confusing love with lust) but if I’m sober you know you’re onto a good thing as I’m against lying. I rarely make any emotive signs when I win a race, it’s not because I’m unhappy it’s just I don’t really like to overly express the joy of my victories in front of the people I’ve beaten, preferring to congratulate them on the effort they themselves have put in. Mind you I will smile if I’ve had a good run.
So now I’ve explained all that, what does any of it have to do with Derbyshire. The point is I’m sentimental, I have soft spots for most of the places I’ve lived and Derbyshire is one place that I have strong feelings for. My family comes from Derbyshire, many generations of Alsops lived their lives in the county and there is even a place called Alsop-en-le-Dale, with an Alsop Hall built in the 16th century. These were the posh Alsops that had an estate there since the 12th century, I’m from the other branch of the family. My dad grew up in the Derbyshire countryside and my mum was born and bombed in Derby. I, and my brother and sister, were all born in Derbyshire, but when I was 4 we migrated abroad, to Wales. With relatives still in Derbyshire there were regular trips back to visit, so I grew up with a love of my home county.
My life choices took me to London, at 18, so the visits to Derbyshire stopped for a while, until I met the girl who would become my wife. She had been born and brought up in Derby and so the visits back to Derby and the surrounding countryside began again. I did some good training in Derby, either heading out into the countryside or running around the estates in the Oakwood area but I never seemed to race there and I was keen to, after all it was my heritage.
Patience is a great virtue and although my mum thinks I haven’t got any she’s very much mistaken. Eventually I started to enter races in Derbyshire. My first one was in 2002, so if you’ve been following my blogs you’ll know that I was well past my sell by date by then. It was December and I’d just finished 5th in the LARA 10k at Horton Park, in fact I’d just missed out on equalling my season’s best by one second by running 31:56. After the race I got talking to David Denton, who organised the LARA races in Surrey and Derbyshire. I’d mentioned that I was going up to Derby for Xmas and he suggested I did the Queens Head 5k in Belper, which was taking place on 27 December. So it turned out, two days after sitting down to a generous Xmas dinner with the in-laws, and rest of my extended new family, my wife and I headed north to Belper.
It was a nice change for me, after so many years competing in the South, to turn up to a race where I knew nobody and nobody knew me. Faced with this situation I had no inhibitions and come the start of the race I shot off. Another chap also shot off, but he shot off slightly faster than me. I tried to keep up with him, but clearly my 37 year old muscles and joints couldn’t match the youthfulness of my opponent. It was an out and back course and by the time I reached the turnaround my opponent, Martin Whitehouse, was already well on his way back. It was a pleasant undulating course and I was pleased with the time of 15:37 for 2nd place, Martin ran 15:12 in 1st place. My wife was first lady in 20:10 so not a bad little outing for us. As always, David’s races seem to be associated around a local hostelry, so it was only polite to stay for a swift one.
The following year we weren’t up for Xmas but made it for New Year. It just so happens that David also organises a New Year’s Day race at Whatstandwell, so my wife and I decided to try that one. I didn’t know much about the area so didn’t know what to expect but I do like to race on these special days. As we approached Whatstandwell it was clear it was cold as the hills were snow covered. As is usual before I race I went to check out the finish, which was down a very steep hill, steeper than I like to run down, but hey it was the same for everyone, though if I was going to win this one I’d have to make a break early in case someone else was a braver downhill runner than myself. I chatted to Dave and he told me that there was a record for the first mile, I can’t remember what time he told me but it was around 6:15. I decided not to take a look at the first mile but just to attack it. Just before we set off David made the usual pre-race announcements and then stated that although the race was supported by adidas the prizes hadn’t arrived, but there were two adidas sponsored athletes present, pointing to myself and the wife (we weren’t sponsored by adidas but Belgrave were). It was a slightly embarrassing moment for a shy guy like me and meant I now had to win to justify my sponsorship! As we set off I went for it, David soon came past in his car, so he could get a 1 mile split. It was a tough first mile but I clocked what I thought was a new record on my watch (wasn’t confirmed by David so I still don’t know if it was), don’t ask what the time was as I can’t remember but it wasn’t that much under the old record and certainly wasn’t under 6 minutes. Then it just got steeper and the second mile took me over 7 minutes (which is getting into Mow Cop Killer Mile territory). Thankfully, soon after, I reached the top and we were onto a relatively flat bit, actually it was undulating but relatively flat compared to the rest of the course. As I came to a dip between two hills I could see that the road was covered with water apart from one strip in the centre. After my experience with the puddle at the South of Thames there was no way I was going through the water, certainly not in the freezing temperatures I was experiencing, but with a car coming towards me I had to make a choice, did I stop or risk my life. I chose the latter and put my hand up to gesture to the driver my intention, luckily they were either in a good mood or just so shocked to see me and they stopped, allowing myself a dry passage. Then it was downhill to the finish. Understandably the first bit was steep, not only that it was icy. Having risked my life with the car my nerve ran out and I decided to walk over the icy bit, I had racing flats on and they didn’t have much grip. I’m not one for walking in races, I’ve subsequently had to walk up a hill in a hill race in Holyrood Park (but then so was everybody in front of me, including the international hill runners) but it’s pretty embarrassing to admit to having to walk downhill. Still I can get over that, it’s not the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me, and I was still in the lead, but I was sure I’d lost ground. Once over the ice I set off again and reached the final mile. By now I was sure I’d have a host of hill runners charging me down so I couldn’t afford to take that last mile easy, I went as hard as I could allow myself and came in the victor in a time of 28:54. 2nd place came in about a minute back. My wife could only manage 2nd in her race, I think the cold affected her more than me. What a great race though, certainly not an easy one. For someone who was essentially a track athlete it was definitely an experience and, like all David’s races, the atmosphere was friendly. Incidentally I’ve found a description of the course ‘A one lap AAA certified course...uphill for first 2.6 miles then good downhill running....and good lunches & beer at the pub’.
The following May we were off on holiday to Wales to walk some of Offa’s Dyke. We decided to go via Derby, coinciding with the Derby 10k. The race started outside Derby County’s new ground at Pride Park, heading towards the city centre, a brief run though the shopping district, along the River Derwent and then back towards a finish inside Pride Park. I had a good run, coming 4th in 32:47. Following the week in Wales we called back into Derby on the way home, main reason being that David Denton had one of his races in Wirksworth and coincided with the Wells Dressings taking place in the village. The race was described as a 4.2 mile trail run and I was keen to find out what a trail run was. Coming from Wales we were a bit pushed for time so I didn’t get my chance to scout out the finish. We lined up and were off. The start through the town was downhill and this got me off to a quick start, but I was joined by one of the local runners. I was feeling pretty confident so when we got to the trail part I pushed hard up it, up being the operative word here as it was another steep muddy hill with some big rocks almost blocking parts of the path. Not my idea of a trail run, particularly when I had my best racing flats on. I soon burned off my company but as I reached the top the climb had taken it’s toll on me too and I was a bit knackered. Now we were running in the countryside and the views were stunning, but no time for that I had a race to win. Coming back down towards the finish I was unsure which was to go and the marshals weren’t exactly helping, they must’ve assumed it was an obvious route so just stood there without directing. This slowed me down a little as I approached each junction. I came across the finish almost unexpectedly so never really got into my finishing burst but I’d held on for the win in 23.06. It was another tough race but another enjoyable route from David. I was chuffed to bits to win again, particularly as I was in the middle of Alsop country and I thought it was fitting an Alsop had won. I also bumped into one of my old pals and former Belgravian Ray Foley, who was also in the race, having moved to Wirksworth.
And then that was it, the following year I tore my hamstring so was unable to take part in the same races, not much after that I moved to Edinburgh and without a wife I no longer had a strong reason for making the journey back to Derbyshire. That is, until this weekend. Carole and I were thinking of taking a weekend away, we usually go somewhere for her birthday but this year she was on a work trip to San Francisco (some people have it tough), so we delayed it. I’d read some stuff about how Derby had changed over the past few years and I was keen to see it again, so we decided we’d go this weekend. With my cold not having affected me at the previous week’s parkrun it took it out on me the following day, my head throbbed and I was sore all over, it stayed with me for most of the week which meant less quality but some longer runs. I still wasn’t right by the weekend so decided to take some time off training whilst in Derby, though I did take my kit in case I changed my mind.
We started off shopping in Derby, the obligatory lunch followed, and then we separated so that we could buy each other’s xmas presents. Carole went to the Westfield Centre whilst I started down the side streets. This was just what I was looking for, non standard high street shops where I could get Carole something different. A quick jaunt around the shops and a few purchases later I headed off to the Westfield Centre. After what I’d read I was expecting it to be similar to the Arndale Centre or the Trafford Centre but I was a little disappointed with what was on offer, so I’ll have to finish my shopping in Cheshire.
Back to the hotel we stopped at a pub, Derby has built up it’s reputation for real ale and I fancied a pint, in fact I fancied it so much I had two. In the shops I’d got chatting to a shop assistant and she’d recommended a couple of places to eat but one was shut and the other was fully booked. I took away a couple of numbers and called them from the hotel, they were also fully booked. So we decided on a quick change and back we ventured into Derby to find dinner. We’d seen a bar/diner called Revolution, part of a chain and there is one in Edinburgh that we’d been in before so we decided to try there. There were people in drinking but there were tables available. It was now about 19:05 but when I went up to the bar I was told they were only doing food until 19:15. They didn’t have any of Carole’s first choice main but she found something else. 10 minutes later the barman came over and said they didn’t have my choice of starter so I had to pick again. A further 25 minutes and two waiters showed up with our starters and main, completely baffled I asked them why the starters and main had come together, they said it was because they had a big party coming in. You can imagine what our response to that was. It was now getting close to 20:00 and we hadn’t eaten anything and were aware of the situation in Derby re. getting a table but to be honest the food they were presenting looked pretty dire so we decided we’d try somewhere else. The saving grace was that they didn’t charge us for the wine we’d already drunk, which we were prepared to pay for. For the next hour we walked around Derby trying to find a restaurant that was open and had space for us, finally we ended up in a Thai restaurant, we did enjoy the food but it was a reminder to us that we need to book on a Saturday in cities, we hadn’t because we wanted to take a look at the restaurants before we decided and the literature I’d been reading was intimating that Derby was full of restaurants.
Sunday morning it was role reversal as I was keen to stay in my bed and Carole was wanting to get up for a run. After a couple of minutes of discussion she managed to persuade me to take her out. It was cold and windy but I’ll do anything for Carole. We set off at a comfortable pace, well it was comfortable for me, the route was nice and flat so I decided to take a turn to the right up Breadsall Hill. When you first see the hill it looks like any other hill in a residential area but as you turn the corner the full extent of the climb becomes apparent, it’s a good hill, one I would embrace and could enjoy using for a hill session. Now it was time to get Carole to embrace it, she worked hard but was clearly struggling, a bit of coaxing and coaching and a couple of cracks of the whip and she was up it, sadly the view at the top wasn’t worth the climb, which is usually my justification for getting Carole up a hill. Still it was all downhill back to the hotel. After breakfast we headed to Keddleston Hall, for some culture, and then intended walking in the hills, but as we emerged from the Hall it started to rain, that horrible big cold persistent rain, so we decided to drive through the hills instead.
And that was that, thankfully the break seems to have cleared my cold and I was back in hard training yesterday, 8 x 3 mins hard with 30 seconds recovery, it felt good. I’m about to enter my next big race, the first of the new year, so it’s important I get some good quality training in over the next few weeks, at the moment I don’t feel confident enough to win my category, but some hard work will change that, plus it’s important I get a faster time over 10k than Richard Meade, thereby justifying my decision not to eat chocolate, otherwise it’s all for nothing.
More good news this week when a local therapist, who treated me during one of my injuries last year, donated an exercise cycle to my gym. Fantastic, not only does this give me more scope to train my clients, it also gives me another excuse to push my body to the limit in a bid to get back to my best.
Incidentally anybody who has survived reading this blog without falling asleep and is interested in taking part in any of David’s events (they’re not just in Surrey or Derbyshire), or renting his place in India, should visit www.runningwithdavid.com
And finally, here’s one for my non facebook friends, a picture I picked up from a New Zealand trail running page
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