I started running in 2014, I’d had my first child 2 years previously and during the house move up to Broughton from Scunthorpe I decided that it would be a good place to pack in the ciggies for good. So, after unpacking all the boxes, I donned my trainers and headed out for a run. It wasn’t my first ever run, I had been out and run occasionally in my youth, but little was I to know this would be that start of a running career that (at the point of writing) would span 10 years and completely change me as a person.
In those early days I went out in the mornings at 6am and did a 10km loop, it was never easy (or pretty) but I stuck with it. I hated it, but still I persisted in going out and getting those miles in because I wanted to lose the extra layers that had accumulated over the years. I would get the occasional glimmer of enjoyment during those runs, in the summer it would be seeing the sun come up, in the Autumn it might be running through the mist or in the winter seeing the constellations in the sky and hearing the crunch of frost under your feet. However, those occasions seemed to be few and far between at that point and the struggle was real. But as time went on, I started to get weird feelings of jitters when I missed my run day….
A huge turning point for me came when I had my second child. It would kick off an irreversible series of events that would pave the way to where I am now. In that respect I will be eternally indebted to my second son, Henry. Not long after he was born and owing to a lack of sleep, I no longer fancied getting up at 6am to tire myself out further. But I was getting these strange urges to continue running and I was starting to realise that I needed to run.
As is the way with running, the addiction comes on subtly. One minute you’re hating every minute of the run and it’s an effort to get out of the door, the next minute you’re looking forward to them and even planning your holidays in places you can have a good run!
In the end I planned a decent 6 mile loop from my place of work and started heading out in my dinner break. It felt great to be running a different route to the usual 6am 6 miler. Eventually, some of the sportier guys in the office started to notice me going out during my dinner break. I call them ‘sportier guys’ because I never really considered myself sporty at this point and I still viewed myself as the chubby smoker I was a year ago. But nevertheless, their interest piqued, they asked to come out with me. So, we arranged to go out during dinner break the following day. That day, we laced up and started out, it was quite a bright day but nothing too warm. The start of the loop went round a small lake the local swimmers call “Blue Lagoon” (probably because of the bluegreen algae in there – not a place I’d go for a swim) there is a path that goes all the way around the outside and it’s quite hilly in that first mile but we set off. I might note that at this time I was running what they call ‘naked’, I didn’t have any smart watch to record my time, I didn’t have Strava or any type of fitness tracker, I just ran. By about mile 2, I realised I was running on my own, I looked behind me to see Steve bent over coughing and Phil dropping further back. I stopped to see what was going on, Steve said the pace was too fast and he hadn’t brought his inhaler and Phil was struggling to maintain the pace. I couldn’t believe that these sporty people couldn’t keep up with me! I mean, *me*, the chubby smoker outrunning sporty guys that have been doing sporty stuff all their lives! Steve gave up and headed back to the office, whilst I told Phil to dictate the pace and I would just stay with him. With about a mile to go, Phil told me to go on ahead and started walking, it felt like a scene out of the film Saving Private Ryan with the injured guy telling me to go on without them.
Naturally, back at the office it was a cause for much banter between us. A few more of the office staff found out about it and also gave them a bit of a ribbing. We attempted it a few more times after that, but with generally the same results. Eventually, one of them said to me that I should track my runs to see my improvements with a smart watch. So, I got the Nike+ app on my phone and began tracking my runs. It was then I began to notice I was getting good which only fuelled me to run even more.
The next milestone in my running came shortly after this, I was struggling for some motivation in the winter months and I was looking for a local running club on social media. I wanted one in my own town, I didn’t want to have to drive somewhere for a run so I was hoping to find a local group. The resounding answer came back with “No, there isn’t, but you should start one!”. And that was the birth of Broughton Runners.
Leading that group back in that first year it was cringeworthy looking back. I had no idea about running with others so I told them where to meet and the route we were doing. When everyone turned up, I did my thing and ran, the only problem was that I appeared to be running on my own all the time! I know people told me that I was on the faster side of average but I never really believed it, I just thought Phil & Steve were slower than average (sorry guys) and it was only once I’d started this group that I began to believe it. Eventually, I learned to slow down and enjoy the social side a lot more.
More and more people started to come to the runs and I met lots of new people, believe me that this was quite unlike me. I have always been quite introverted, perhaps suspicious and unwilling to talk too much to people. But in running, I was a completely different person, you couldn’t shut me up! Even to the point now that one of my friends says that I have 2 sets of lungs, one for running and one for talking! The more people I talked to the more I learned about running. One person in particular that I met during these runs will always get the blame for introducing me to ultrarunning and thus sent on another path (you know who you are). It is in ultra running that I found my long held love of trail running, to be fair it didn’t take much, I used to do a bit of hiking out in the peaks. But going out running in trails gave me a feeling of joy like no other.
The more I ran, the more I learned, the more I ran. Nowadays, I have ran quite a few ultramarathons and a couple of achievements under my belt. But one thing I always took home with me was how to train properly, I couldn’t have done the miles that I have done without making sure I was taking care of all the areas that need it. I’m quite a studious type and when I get into something, I’m like a sponge soaking up information. I try not to let myself fall into the trap of listening to other peoples opinions on how you should train. Most of the time someone else will have an equally compelling opposite opinion on how you should train and some people are just bloody idiots that could give you advice thats downright dangerous. Because of this, I usually smile and nod when someone gives me advice, then go off and do my homework. I have now amassed a decent library of running literature, but even books can get outdated when new science is comes out and teaches us that there is a better way of doing something. So, what better way to keep on top of things by becoming a trained coach with England Athletics? That way all the new science is there at your finger tips and then I would know I’m giving out sound advice and the people who I give advice to will know that I have earned the right to give it.
I have now done multiple courses with England Athletics and I have earned the highest level coaching qualification they have to offer because of this. But I never feel I have learned enough and I am currently looking at another course.
So, this is the reason that I started TeamBR. I want people to train properly. I want to give a full and comprehensive offering to runners in which we will take care of all areas of running that might get overlooked and/or sometimes missed. I want to show people what they are capable of when they train right. I want to show people that supportive atmosphere of being a member of a team. I want to show people the joy of running in the countryside.
I think, in TeamBR, we do that
Train Hard, Train Smart
