My last blog was written on 20th March and titled ” Am i marathon ready?” Well it would appear that nearly 3 months on the answer was yes. In that time I have completed my first marathon in Manchester, and also a month later took on my my most enjoyable event the St Illtyds Way Ultra marathon. Plenty of parkruns, 10k, 5K and 2 half marathons in that time too. Probably the best thing to happen in the last few months though, was finally getting to meet up with people in real life after that i had been engaging with on Twitter. Some of these people have become like a mini support network. Meeting up with them and getting to know them and their own reasons for running was great.

Off the top of my head, and by no means in any particular order, it was great to finally meet the following people. Will, Kerry, Stu, Sam, Brian, Rachel, Keely, Colin and Keith aka Twin 1 and Twin 2, Katerina, Jason, Ant and Carmen. Oh and there was a really nice lady from Canada too, Grace and her sister whose name i have forgotten.

So then, Manchester Marathon. For my first attempt at the marathon distance i couldn’t have picked a better event. This was as much to do with the run as it was the amazing people myself and my family met over the weekend. We travelled up to Stockport on the Friday and met up with Will and Kerry on Saturday for Woodbank Parkrun. We couldn’t have asked for nicer people to help us out up in the big smoke of Manchester.

The run itself was great i wont lie. Kerry picked me up on the Sunday morning and we headed to Didsbury tram station where we were met by a sea of runners heading into Manchester. We met Stu and one of my club mates there too. According to my wife, there was something different about me on the day, i was properly focused for the run and also a little apprehensive. We sorted bag drops and toilets out and then made our way u to the Racecheck meet up. It was great to see so many people meeting up pre race.

That was it then, me and my club mate Marc headed to the start. I managed to get into the 2nd wave and we waited with anticipation for the start. We sort of agreed to start steady together and then see what happened. We had trained together, and time wise we were hoping for a time within 20 mins of each other, so i was expecting to run the first part together. As we set of making our way through he first few miles i felt good and the atmosphere was great. Probably by mile 4 we had become separated and i was now on my own. The first 13 miles were good, and dare i say comfortable, as we made our way out to Altrincham. This was where Will had managed to get my family to and it was a huge lift as i passed them all by twice. Anyone who has ever had Will or Kerry spectate at a race will know how vocal they are. Top job Mr Bentley. The next few miles ticked over without much concern, and then we hit 20 miles and Carrington. This is where i started to struggle. First off I was starting to hit unknown territory as my longest training run was a 22 mile run. Secondly the enthusiastic Mancunian crowds had disappeared as we were in the countryside now. I knew I was looking good for my target time if I could just hold it together through this tough section. By the time i was approaching mile 25 I was hurting and then I heard Will shouting at me and my wife and girls were there too. I smiled and waved and then pulled myself together and pushed as hard as i could for the last mile. Lifted by what felt like a deafening crowd i crossed the line in 3:11:39. I had a few minutes to take it all in and called my wife to say that i had done it. Marc followed me in in 3:26 which he was delighted about.

Once Kerry had finished we said our goodbyes to Kerry, Will and family and then headed out to find lots of food. I have already signed up for next years race and i am looking forward to the new route which will be taking in the city centre.

St Illtyds Way Trail Marathon

This weekend came round very quickly after Manchester. I travelled up to Wales on the Saturday afternoon. By the time i got to the cottage Will,Kerry,Sam,Stu,Brian and Rachel had already made it to the pub. I set off to meet them all and it was ironic that i heard them all before i turned the corner and arrived at the pub. There was probably about 30 people outside, all runners for St Illtyds, this was my type of running prep. It was great to finally meet Keely who has been very supportive on Twitter. We spent an hour or so having a few drinks and then decided it was time to get food and head back. After getting my monies worth from the chippy we headed back. A few more drinks and then we decided it was time to call it a night. i dont think anyone needed an alarm to wake up on the Sunday. I was really looking forward to the run and didnt have any nerves or apprehension like Manchester. Breakfast was eaten and then a mad panic of trying to pack the mandatory kit. We set of for the walk to the race HQ. The place was buzzing with positive vibes and it set the tone for the whole day.

We picked up race numbers and awaited our brief. First thought he obligatory Racecheck photo call. And then in the blink of an eye we were off, we had started our Ultra Marathon. We made our way through the first couple of miles, and then as we came to the start of the climb into the woods, the group I was running with told me to push on. Ever competitive and keen to push myself i was gone. I won’t bore you with too many race details. I was making decent progress and as we approached the halfway point the front runners were starting to come the other way. At the turn i thought i had counted 35. This spurred me on and i continued to push on. i was picking runners off on the way back, but as i came out of the woods for the final time i was in bits and i had to walk and run the final 5k. I was overtaken inside the final kilometre but this was enough to kick me up the arse to finish as strong as possible. I was chuffed to finish in 5:41:19 in 21st place. Afterwards i chatted with some other runners and waited for the others to finish. When they finished we had a drink and exchanged stories of our race. The chippy was frequented as we tried to feed the ultra hunger, and we headed off to the cottage for some more post race drinks and food. We all left early next day. Hopefully it wont be long until the next meet up.

In amongst all these longer races I have been trying to hit 3 PB’s in other races. I am trying to go sub 19mins on my 5k, sub 40mins on my 10k and sub 86mins on my half time. I feel like I am the most frustrated runner at the moment. I have managed to get my 5k down to 19:02, 10k down to 40:02 and my half is standing at 1:26:09. In comparison to where i was when i started in January 2018 i will take those times all day long. I have still been helping out at the club with some of the focus groups helping others achieve their own targets. I have also paced at Parkrun again which is very rewarding. Wheels are in motion to set up a junior parkrun here too, this is something i am helping out with where i can.

Hopefully the weather picks up soon and i can enjoy training in some decent weather.

Oh and did i forget to mention i snuck in before Dame Kelly Holmes when she ran my local Parkrun? to be fair i am sure she was coasting round compared to me, but hey i will take that finish all day long

• 

So the near year long wait is almost over,and Manchester marathon is right round the corner. I’m new to all of this marathon training, but I think it’s going well. I’ve been following a 3:30 program with one of my club mates Marc. We’ve been really lucky with the weather over winter and I’ve only had one “what the fuck am I doing this for ” moment so far. It was about 4 weeks ago when we did a 20 mile run. We set off at 7am and ran 12 miles at a steady pace. The idea was to meet up with other club members for the Sunday social. Good plan on paper, but the heavens opened after about 4 miles and it didn’t let up until halfway through the 2nd part of the run. I soon got over my little wobble when I thought, what would I do on race day if it rains? I’m a firm believer in that you can only deal with what’s in front of you. I can’t change the weather so it’s a case of chin up and carry on.

Since that long eventful run I have completed my longest run to date. This is probably my most important run too as it wasn’t too far off where I would be on the day. The most pleasing part of this was that I felt OK at the end and I’m pretty sure I could have continued.

I got a bit pissed off a few weeks ago when I couldn’t seem to lose any weight for love or money. This whole running thing began as a weight loss thing so I had always kept a close eye on it. It seemed I have plateaued. I posted this point on Twitter and I was told by Claire aka Rainbowchaser to ignore the scales as they’re just numbers. She also said to go by the size of your clothes as it’s a more accurate guide. Obviously being a woman Claire was spot on ! Thank you Claire !!

I set myself a few goals at the start of the year. I wanted to go sub 40min on a 10k. I ran a local 10k at the start of March and clocked 40.51 on a hilly course so I’ll take that for now. My other target, which I thought was unrealistic, was to get a new pb for half marathon distance. I thought this wasn’t going to happen because I was completely done in when I ran 88mins at Bristol in September last year. Also due to other commitments I hadn’t been able to attend the Tuesday night sessions at the club. These sessions are aimed at improving half marathon times. I know I’ve put some miles in and I know I have been running well. I was still completely gob smacked to run Weymouth Half this weekend in 86 mins. I was rubbish at pacing my Bristol Half but I nailed it to the letter at Weymouth. I still think there is more to be had at this distance. For now though I’m done racing until Manchester in a few weeks. I’m running my local half the week before but this will be pacing a great group of ladies from the club as they aim for a sub 2 hour half marathon. Getting one of this group under 2hrs will equal anything I’ve done as I know how much they want it.

The day of the half marathon will also be my 365th consecutive day of running at least 5k. I can’t think of a better way of marking this than running my local half with over 30 club mates.

So am I marathon ready? I’m prepared as best as I can be, and I’ll see what happens on the day.

So apparently today, 21st January, is blue Monday. Named so because people feel genuinely rubbish on the post Christmas and new year fall out. I suppose people may be paying the price both financially and fitness wise after the Christmas break.

I really enjoyed the Christmas break this year. The second year in a row where I was lucky to have 11 days off with the family, my wife was back to work in between Christmas and New year, but we did get some good time off as a family. We also spent the majority of time with friends and family.

Anyway, back to this running thing. I managed to keep myself motivated and interested in training over the break. I even went with some club friends to Parkrun on Christmas day and I also sort of did the new year’s day double header. I ran the 9am run at Henstridge and then volunteered at Yeovil at 10.30. I’m trying to run 3 Parkruns and then volunteer at 1 this year.

Training for the Manchester marathon is now in full swing, and I’ve now run my furthest distance with a 17 mile run a few weeks ago.

One thing I’ve changed in my training is that I’ve set my Garmin to Kilometres. The club coach suggested this months ago, but myself and a few others carried on recording in miles. I changed it to KMs just before Christmas when I took out a group who are training for a sub 2hr Half Marathon. They have been training in KMs so I fitted in with them.

I think running in KMs has helped with my training. I just find it easier to push on harder for a KM than a mile, psychologically I find the run passes by quicker too.

My race calendar is filling up fast too. I’ve already run a County Cross Country race. I’ve got Tunbridge Wells Half in February which I’m running with my brother. Hoping to go sub 1hr 30 again but there is a bugger of a hill at 8 miles. Either way I should beat my 1hr 58 from 6 years ago when I was running as a rather chunky Batman!!

I’ve then got a 10k race in early March and then Yeovil half at the end of March where hopefully lots of the 2hr group will be getting pb’s.

Then it’s Manchester and my first dip into marathon running, closely followed by St Illtyds ultra in early May. I’ve now been tempted by another local marathon in June, but I’ll see how Manchester goes before deciding.

Hope everyone is doing well with their own marathon training. I’m looking forward to meeting half of my twitter feed at Manchester in April too.

Enjoy your running everyone

Word Online

From Fat to Fit In 2018 

I have no idea how this is going to come out or across, but here goes anyway. I was out running this morning, on a miserable mid-December morning, and my mind started to wander, and I was thinking about all that has happened this year and I thought I would get something written down and share it with people. 

First off and most importantly I am a normal 39-year-old bloke who just got fat. I am not a former supreme athlete, dietician, nutritionist, personal trainer etc. The only thing I have done is eat less and moved more. Apart from buying trainers (who knew you needed so may!!) and my running club membership that’s the total spend on equipment. There has been no gym memberships, personal trainers, magic potions or diet plans. 

It was 16th December 2017 that I saw a photo of myself and I thought “Oh my god, look at the state of you”.  At this point I knew I needed to do something but as it was nearly Christmas, I thought I would have a blow out and get cracking on 1^st January. So that’s what I did.  

So, this was the photo that sparked something in me. We were in Spain the week before Christmas and I had rolled in at about 8am after catching up with my brothers and cousins. I felt and looked terrible, hence the glass of water!! In this photo I am wearing an XL t-shirt and 38 Inch jeans, a new personal worst for me and I was just shy of 17st. This was rock bottom and as they say there was only one way to go. 

Fast forward to January now and possibly the most important thing I did. I set the wheels in motion to join a local running club. My neighbour had seen me go for the occasional run since we moved in and she suggested trying one of the sessions at her club. I went along with an open mind and after 30 mins of the 45 min Tempo session I bailed out. Jack kindly ran with me on that first session. We were doing a 1:1 Tempo session which I now know is the easiest Tempo session going. As I ran with Jack, he was asking me what running I had done previously and asked what times I had achieved. I have run a lot of miles with Jack since that day and he has since told me that he thought I was talking rubbish when I told him my Half Marathon PB was 1hr 39 which I achieved in 2013.  

The next positive step I took was going to my local Parkrun. Due to the parkland at Montacute House being wet and overused the first couple of runs were held on their B course at Ham Hill Country Park. Like many people do I had signed up years ago but only taken part a few times the previous year. So, I went there and dragged my sorry arse around the course in 28:19. I was blowing out of my arse, but I had done it, and little did I know I was hooked.  

Struggling at my first Parkrun of 2018 

74/265 runners in 28:21 

I had managed to start getting out and run a bit more regularly by the end of January and made the decision that I was going to join the running club too.  This trend continued into February. Combined with ditching the booze since the turn of the year and being strict with my diet I was now weighing in over a stone lighter than at the start of January. On the final Parkrun at the B course I was delighted to finish 16^th out of 196 runners and clocked 23:54 in the process. This was a new PB too. 

At the end of February, we went to my cousin’s birthday party and many of my family hadn’t seen me since my sister’s wedding at the end of September 2017 or the Christmas get together in December 2017. I received loads of positive comments about my near 2 stone weight loss. This did wonders for my confidence and spurred me on again. 

By the start of March, I decided to bite the bullet and join the running club. Without doubt the best £30 I have ever spent. I had also been given an entry by a friend to the Yeovil half marathon at the end of March.  I just stuck to running on my own in March as I was determined to beat my Half Marathon PB at the end of the month. The day of the race came, and we had a club meet up in the town. Even though my membership had not been processed in time to run for the club, they welcomed me none the less. I set off full of confidence and a friend who I started the race with told me to go on ahead of him at the 3-mile point. I finished the race in 1hr 38.  

I took a few days rest after the Yeovil half and then on the 1^st April I went for a run. Little did I know that this would be the start of my running streak which at time of writing is 262 days strong. I got to day 10 and thought I would do the whole of April to give my running a boost. During April I got back to Parkrun at Montacute and went on a 5-week run of setting a PB week after week. By mid-May I set a new PB of 21.07. I was blowing hard after this, but it was a result of hard work and effort rather than being overweight and unable to move.  In April I also took part in the 1^st of 6 summer 5k races which made up a series. The route I had run loads of times in my old job. So, when it was mentioned it was ideal for PB chasing I was all over it. 

On the way to another Parkrun PB 

At the Summer 5K series I set a 5k PB of 20:45 at an average pace of 6.38 per mile. I still couldn’t believe I was producing these results. I was 2 mins a mile quicker than the start of the year. Must be all that weight I had lost now!! More club training and Parkruns followed and then the 2^nd  race of the summer series came along in mid-May and another 5k PB of 19:51. I was now going toe to toe with some of the better members of the club and I wasn’t the fat bloke who turned up in January.  

At the end of May I took part in my first championship race for the club. There were about 12 of us that went along to Weymouth on a very muggy May evening for the 10k race. I ran well and finished in 21^st place overall in 42:23, more surprisingly I crossed the line 1^st from the club. 

I was well and truly hooked on this running thing now. After feeling positive I decided to enter another local half marathon and go PB hunting. June couldn’t come quick enough for me. The training had been going well and the structured sessions were paying off for me. Race day came for the Heron Half Marathon, and I was ready to go for it. The course was great but was lonely in places due to the location. The big bonus was that our club were running a water station at the 6-mile point and at around 12 miles. I had set of hard trying my best to hang on. At 11 miles Dan from the club who I regard as a quick runner went past me. Surely I couldn’t blow up with 2 miles to go? At this point I still didn’t own a Garmin so was working out the pace in my head and using a normal digital watch to time the run. I hung in there and crossed the line in 1hr 32 and more surprisingly 20^th out of 274 entrants. 

A week later, at the end of June, came yet another PB at Parkrun, I was now under 21 mins at 20:49. It is worth pointing out now that by this point, I had been interacting with some positive and inspiring people via Twitter. Too many to mention them all but the main ones were Paul, Kerry, Will and Stu. Before I knew it, I had been persuaded (very easily but don’t tell Kerry) to sign up for Manchester Marathon and an Ultra Marathon in 2019.  

I also made the decision at this time to target the club championship race in October to do something I would never have believed achievable in January. I was going to run Bristol Half Marathon in under 1hr 30 mins. That was the goal and I was going to achieve it. To keep me focussed I decided to raise money for charity at the same time. The challenge was on. 

The summer 5k series continued in July and August and I set a PB of 20:04 in July only to run 19:03 a month later in August. I deliberately pushed hard in my training in July and August as I was going to Spain for 3 weeks on holiday. I set another Parkrun PB prior to my holiday finishing 7^th in a time of 20:21. The Half marathon Tempo sessions had started with the club in preparation for the Bristol Half in September. How was 3 weeks away eating and drinking going to affect effect things? I kept the streak going while away. This included running hungover on more than one occasion and having to be disciplined enough to get out early before it got into the 30’s temperature wise. No surprise that my first session back after holiday was a shock to the system. I had 7 weeks to go until the Bristol Half and I needed to be ready. I was on course to raise over £1000 for a charity very close to us as a family. Nothing was stopping me now. As the training ramped up, I lost the few pounds I had gained on holiday and was approaching a 3 stone weight loss. I was the lightest I had been for years now at 13st 12.  

So, the day had come of the Bristol Half and I was ready for it. For some unknown reason I decided to drink 6 pints of cider the night before, but I still felt fine on the day!! This was the first big race I had taken part in. There were over 10000 runners. My inability to be able to pace a race sensibly came back and I went of very quickly. I clocked the first 10k in about 40 mins. I had by this point bought a Garmin, so I knew where I needed to be all the way round. I had a wobble at about 10 miles as the quick pace caught up with me. Luckily the combination of some energy gels and entering the city where the crowds were vocal and supportive, I dug in and I had done it. Me, the fat bloke in January had completed Bristol Half in 1hr 28 and 44 secs. 

I had achieved all I wanted to do running now for this year, except I wanted one more shot at a final Parkrun PB. This came in November when I went hard and finished 7^th out of 338 in a time of 19:55. I was now content for this year. 

As well as hitting some personal goals this year I have had great pleasure in helping others achieve their own goals. In September at the 5K summer series I paced a fellow club member to his own PB. I have also been a pacer at Parkrun where I managed to pace another club mate to his Parkrun PB. I have also started attending a club group with the aim of getting people to a sub 2 hr Half marathon time. We had our club dinner at the beginning of December, and I was a little gob smacked to be voted best new comer to the club. In the last few weeks I have gone through the 4st weight loss barrier too. I posted a before and after picture on Twitter a few weeks ago. The reaction I got was unexpected. Complete strangers liking it and messaging me saying I am inspiring. There are a few people who have inspired me in the latter part of the year too. Keely and Andy amongst them. There are honestly too many people to mention who have in some small way been a part of it all.  As I said right at the start of the piece. I have done nothing special other than eaten less and moved more. I suppose you could say that with the help of Parkrun and my running club I have fallen in love with running too. So, if you have stuck with this to the end and you’re thinking “Can I do It”? The answer is yes you can. Just believe in yourself take that first step into running, it gets easier the more you do it. You will meet amazing people along the way, and you will achieve great things you never thought possible.  

So that is how I went from Fat to Fit in 2018 

17st on the right hungover and someone who did little to no exercise, and 12st 11 on the left after deciding to change my lifestyle habits.