Link – The Kirkwood 5000 – 5000 miles in 5 years

So, I made it to the end of year two! I’ve been promising an end of year review for a couple of weeks, but as usual I’ve been busy with all sorts – trying to balance two jobs, doing Uni visits and trying to survive the teenage years etc etc. My last Facebook post (please follow me if you don’t already) promised my official year two review –

…so I guess I need to write!

Way back in February I posted about both my 50th birthday party (which I have included as part of the #Kirkwood5000) and the spontaneous 25 day running challenge…..

www.andy5000miles.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/the-stupidest-thing-ive-done-this-year-so-far/

….although I did keep everyone in suspense until now by totally not writing part 2 – I think I was so exhausted from running 25 days straight and writing a whole blog post that I just couldn’t face part two. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the Dewsbury 10K was on day 26 of the 25 days running, I’ve never done it before despite being my local 10K. I was totally drained, and not expecting a lot, but thanks to some amazing support from a whole load of Roberttown Road runners who had come out to cheer us on (and a bunch who had come to run it, pictured below) plus Pete and Paul from work (who both ran PB’s) I got around in 42:35 – my previous 10K PB had been 44:20, so if nothing else this demonstrated that the 20 mile per week average I’m committed to is keeping me in good shape!

What made the time even more impressive is that as we were chatting at the finish, there was a distinct rumble around the place that the course had measured long. I found this hard to believe because it’s a well established race run on the same, flat course every year. However, the following evening this was published on the website…..

The course was 200 metres too long – they’d put the turning point in the wrong place. So 42:35 is my official PB for 10.2K!

For the next few months after this I built up the distance of my training runs in preparation for my two main 2017 distance challenges…..

Just to remind you this was my bullet point list at the end of year one –

attempt 10K PB
attempt Marathon PB
attempt 5K under 20 minutes (PB currently 20:08)
run 30 miles in a single day (to celebrate 30 years since Kirkwood Hospice opened)
write a blog post every month

I just described my 10K PB, so that’s a big tick – and we already established that I have clearly not written a blog post every month, so that’s a big X – what about the three in the middle?

First –

attempt Marathon PB

My chosen marathon this year was Manchester (admittedly after failing to get into London yet again) and all was going well up until out a month before – I can’t even remember what the niggly injury thing was now it was that long ago (just gone back to look at the Facebook post I did – it was my right calf!), but I didn’t run for 11 days prior to the day, which is the longest I have gone without running since January 2015, 10 months before I started the #Kirkwood5000. My previous marathon best from York was 3 hours 53 minutes, and to be honest I had resigned myself to simply getting around the course in my nice new Kirkwood shirt….

this was the Facebook post I put out just before the race – you can see my hopes were not high…..

Turns out the “experts” knew what they were talking about, as I got around in 3 hours 53 – again! I really enjoyed the experience, the crowds were fantastic, it’s a good course as it’s pretty flat throughout. I got a text from good running friend Helen Ahmed as I walked back to the car with my wife, who had generously given up her Sunday to drive me, telling me my time, but I had to wait until I got home to get my York time exactly in order to confirm that I had beaten my previous best by 12 seconds! Over 26.2 miles, how is that for consistent? I would hope that if I had been fitter and my prep had been in line with my plans then I would have been a little quicker, but I was still delighted.

Second

attempt 5K under 20 minutes (PB currently 20:08)

Unfortunately I have failed to do this, and I am beginning to think that this may be a bit too big an ask – I had a really good go at it on the first Saturday after my 50th birthday, and ran 20:41. In May I managed 20:37, trying to help someone to a PB – these have been my only two runs under 21 minutes in 2017. I’ve really come to the conclusion that I’m built for distance not speed, and maybe I need to accept that 19:59 is an arbitrary number just beyond my reach. It’ll still be on my list of stuff to try next year though, I’m not giving up!

Whilst I’m on the subject of #parkrun, another highlight of the year was getting to meet Paul Sinton Hewitt, the founder of the #parkrun organisation, who was visiting Huddersfield. Although I started running before parkrun was the big deal it is today, I share the idea of encouraging as many people as possible to give running a try, and I advocate for both the couch to 5K movement and parkrun too, so it was a real thrill to meet and talk to a man who has inspired literally 100’s of 1000’s of people around the world to run.

Third –

run 30 miles in a single day (to celebrate 30 years since Kirkwood Hospice opened)

The biggest and most exciting thing I did this year was my “30 miles for 30 years” event – prior to the big day in July I wrote about it here –

http://www.andy5000miles.wordpress.com/2017/06/23/30milesfor30years/

The Hospice I support, the one this whole thing is basically about, was celebrating being open for 30 years and was encouraging people to have 30th birthday parties – my twist on that was to do a 30 mile run in stages, inviting people to join me along the way, as you would invite people to a party – each of the stages was punctuated by a brief stop at one of the many Kirkwood Hospice shops across the Huddersfield area. The shops got into the spirit of the event by doing window displays, serving refreshments, and giving myself and other runners a warm welcome as we arrived at each place.

Although we only raised a relatively small amount of money there was significant interest in the event in the local press and on social media, and the profiles of the Hospice itself, my running the Kirkwood 5000, and the 30th anniversary celebrations were all raised as a result. Plus it was a very enjoyable day, friendships were made, and plans are already well underway for doing a similar event next year.

Out of five bullets, I hit three and failed on two – so, here’s my list of things to attempt in 2018

beat my Dewsbury 10K time (42:35) in February
run a new half marathon PB (need to go just under 1 hour 40) in either the Sheffield or Leeds half marathons
raise more money than in 2017 with my new, improved 30+ mile event in 2018 (watch this space!)
run a sub 3 hour 50 minute marathon at the York Marathon in October (current PB 3:53)
have another go at a sub 20 minute parkrun* (!)
write a blog post every month*

I am realistic about the first four, and feel that if I can keep in decent condition these are all achievable – and I promise to try with the * marked ones!

Other stuff I very much enjoyed this year – taking part in both the Kirkwood running events, the 10K Trail run and the 5K Colour rush – particular thanks to Catherine Thompson who has become a real running buddy this year, we promoted the Trail run together and she also helped me with many of the training runs for the 30 miles in a day event –

Thanks as always to my supportive wife Lisa who allows me the time to go off on these long runs and tolerates my mad ideas – she’s even dabbled in running a bit herself this year – and took part in the last part of the 30 mile run too.

She even ran the official 2000th mile with me –

the day after this I went to Dunfermline for work and re-celebrated the 2000 miles with my first ever run in Scotland…..

That takes me right up to date – I’ve actually run 2,161 miles now (which shows how long it’s taken to get this typed up!) so I’m still well on track. The vague plan for the next few weeks is to try to lose a little bit of weight, do some longer runs leading up to Christmas and then do lots of speed work in January building up to the Dewsbury 10K, then build the training distances to take on the half marathons to follow.

I haven’t mentioned anything here so far about sponsoring me – a massive thank you to all who either regularly support me or make one off donations. I hate asking for money (I have a blog post about this to follow soon) but if anyone is interested in supporting me financially over the next 2,839 miles then you can donate here or get in touch if you want to become a regular sponsor….

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andy5000

Thanks for reading.

Andy