Back in 1992 my sister told me about a running club that she had been going to. They ran once a week from a pub and finished up in the bar afterwards. It was called hashing and I’d never heard about it before. So I started hashing, made lots of friends and enjoyed myself. Hashing is great, it’s relaxed, easy going and sociable and you only put in as much effort as you want.
Bringing things forward a bit, to 2008, after changing jobs I decided that I’d like to take up a hobby of some sort. I considered climbing, learning to fly a plane, sailing and cycling but eventually decided that I’d take this running thing a bit more seriously. So I set myself some goals and set about training, running to/from work, etc.
For the first year (2009) I just set myself the target of running half-marathons and attempting to complete one in less that 1 hour 30 minutes. On my first half-marathon of that year I hit my target and continued to run well for the rest of the year.
For the second year (2010) I set myself the goal of running marathons. In a rush of enthusiasm I entered myself for several races and then realised that I would be running 3 marathons with just a 2 week break in between, and to make matters worse I’d also managed to put a half-marathon between 2 of them. Still I completed all of them. My first marathon, the Cotswold marathon, was a small event with 3 circuits on relatively quiet country roads and it was pretty tough. I was really glad to get to the end of that first marathon and while I wasn’t staggering at the end I wasn’t far from it. The next 2 marathons were also tough runs but now I knew what I was in for.
For the third year (2011) I set myself the goal of running an ultra-marathon. Notice that this time I was a little bit wiser and didn’t over-commit myself. That first ultra-marathon was the Malvern Hills Ultra, a 52 mile self-navigated course with a significant number of hills. This was a hard run and I pulled my hamstring after about 17 miles but pushed on. By 26 miles I had only just started on the hills and I was tired but determined to continue. Towards the end I couldn’t run any more, I was exhausted and my legs had stiffened terribly. But I finished. It took about 6 weeks to recover from that first ultra but gradually I started running again and as my confidence grew I decided to enter the Ridgeway Challenge (85 miles) in order to gain enough qualifying points to enter the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc for the following year (what was I thinking). Running an additional 33 miles wasn’t easy but, surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as you’d think. Yes I was exhausted, every muscle in my body hurt and I was tired but I did it and more importantly I was hooked. To finish off the year I ran the Endurancelife Gower and Dorset coastal trail ultras (both 34 miles).
So what’s the aim for 2012? More and longer. For this year the goal is to run 14 marathon or ultra-marathons. For this the definition is that used by the 100 marathon club which is that each run is a recognised event, a mimimum distance of 26.2 miles and for multi-day events each race counts. A 100 mile non-stop race only counts as 1 race. A 3 day event covering 1 marathon per day counts as 3 races.
Strictly speaking I’m not sure I enjoy running but I do enjoy the challenge and sometimes, if I’m lucky, I have a run where I feel fantastic or I’ll have a beautiful view and it makes it all worthwhile.