It's 5 January 2019 in Stratford, and I am running my first 10k of the year. The treadmill has been replaced by the park near the Olympic Stadium and people out on their morning stroll stare aghast at why anyone would put themselves through running on a cold Saturday morning. I am in a small group of runners near the front of the race, and I can hear their various rates of breathing; some people are huffing and puffing, whilst others have a more even breathing pattern. Whilst we hurtle around the course and down to the River Lea, I am just grateful that things seem to be going okay and my breathing is noticeably better than anticipated. I had expected the heavy deep gasping from my treadmill training in November 2018 to follow me round this course, but I feel in control and my mind feels calm. It is just over a month since I have started receiving coaching, and I urge myself to not get overexcited at the thought of achieving a personal best at this race; don't ruin your race by getting focused on the outcome! I am just happy to be running with people and almost start to have a chat with my fellow competitors and then laugh inwardly at myself for thinking such things.
This 10k turned out to go exceptionally well for me. Place and time were good, achieving a significant personal best on the previous time I had for the 10k. However what I thought was the most satisfying thing was to be able to judge and run the race to the best of my abilities at that moment. If I am honest I have never had that experience before at races shorter than the marathon. There have been a couple of half marathons; but the majority of my 5k and 10k races have been hanging for dear life after detonating part way through the race. It has given me a confidence that I can improve at the shorter races. I definitely know that the speed work I have been doing on the treadmill has been beneficial for this, and hope it can be applied to my future races. Ultimately I am happy to be able to do consistent training, and to see that training paying off.
An uncertain future
One of the races that I was aiming to run at in 2019 was the Cabbage Patch 10, but this race has now been closed due to what the organisers said were:
'The challenges presented by the modern era of local authority business strategies and traffic movement by population lifestyle preference has resulted in the possibility of putting on the race, now being considered as, too difficult to surmount.'
I found this announcement deeply saddening and frustrating at once. This isn't just a fun-run or one of the many runs that have popped up in our most recent running boom, to cash in on people's new found running habits; it was a race nearly as old as the London Marathon. The London Marathon began in 1981 and Cabbage Patch a year later in 1982.
What I find most frustrating is that it seems increasingly difficult to organise relatively large scale outdoor/ running events on a Sunday. It seems the new norm is to go shopping, go out to eat and/or have to drive somewhere. Charlie Spedding noted this in his book From Last to First,how well established 10 mile races were being closed down due to people needing to constantly having to use the roads to drive. I find it strange that it is considered as atypical for someone to want to race - or partake in any sort of sport- on a Sunday morning; whereas constantly going out shopping on Sunday or getting ridiculously drunk on a Saturday nightare seen as a kind of 'normal' within society.
Of course there are people and organisations (e.g. the NHS) that will always need to use the roads whatever day of the year it is- and for the record I am incredibly grateful for those services; however I do find it disturbing how little coverage the news of a well regarded race closing down due to financial constraints and the pressure from road users received. Anecdotally, I have found that car drivers can be incredibly intimidating when using the roads on Sunday mornings; from long distances races I have done at the Finchley 20and the Abingdon Marathon. By intimidating I mean car drivers going far too close to runners -within 1 to 2 metres- because they are impatiently trying to pass them, with oncoming traffic coming the other way. This was a fact that was commented upon by a mutual friend who came to watch one of those races, and doesn't even in run. So I base this view upon a more impartial one than my own. I recognise that with more people using the roads for driving, there is a need to manage how and when races are organised; coincidentally the Finchley 20 has now moved to Hillingdon due to those very pressures. With that said there should be a compromise, and one that includes preserving the running heritage of the UK.
The close of the Cabbage Patch race also sparked another thought within me; are we focusing too much on a few issues and not seeing the bigger picture within the running world? There has been a great deal made about, as well as large amount of controversy, relating to the RunEqualcampaign related to women being able to run cross-country at the same distance as men. From my perspective, I think it is a genuine and legitimate issue to discuss as well as find a lasting resolution to. What I found strange is how the closure of the Cabbage Patch race did not attract the same sort of debate across the running community. Maybe it did, and I am just not that well-read or up-to-date on the news within the running world, so would be grateful to see any evidence of people debating this closure at the same level as RunEqual?
One theory I have considered is that the issue of funding for races and for the sport as whole is not considered 'glamorous' enough to publicise as well as campaign for. I have yet to meet a dedicated runner who told me that they got into running, so that they could be a Treasurer for their local running club/ community or to fund-raise for their local race. To organise large-scale events and races it involves working with other organisations and navigating the nuances of the 'politics' of the sporting world. The most interesting recent piece on this I could find was an interview with John Downes, who is heavily critical of the governing bodies of the UK as well as England Athletics. Spedding -mentioned above- also has his own experiences and views about this.
I realise that this can appear negative, and appreciate that there is a lot that is great about running at the moment- for example the Night of the 10,000m PB'S as well as the debate about the future of cross country discussed above. That said I do genuinely believe that some big and significant issues are slipping under the general radar of the running community. What I mean by that is that issues such as the closure of Crystal Palace Athletics stadium is looming imminently, without any real outcry and opposition from the mainstream running community. Who it could be assumed do not appreciate its significance. Whilst we should be celebrating the new events like the Night of the PB'S, are we really happy that a world-class venue - that has hosted races with some of the greats like Brendan Foster, Charlie Spedding etc.- closes down and goes off gently into demolition?
The final thoughts, I had on the closure of Cabbage Patch; was how does closing down a race longer than 10k but shorter than a half-marathon help people progress and even get into running? An NHS survey,recording results over the entirety of 2017, found there were 617 thousand admissions in NHS hospitals where obesity was a factor. Government, and organisations like the Daily Mile, are trying to increase the time that children spend being active during the day. For their to be sustainable health changes, be it in running or any other sport, older and more established events need to be protected so that as children grow up they have something to progress into. Ultimately this means a more coherent view to how established and well-run (no pun intended!) races are protected as well as funded.
Resolutions
A year or two ago I listened to a talk about how people shouldn't set their resolutions around Christmas or the New Year, but either before those dates or around a month after. I have taken that approach this year, and here is a rough list of my running resolutions:
- To achieve a higher running average for 2019, than I did for 2018, and doing this by running more consistently.
- To train, prepare and race to perform at my best at the London Marathon 2019.
- To target a half-marathon 'A' race in the latter half of 2019.
- To run a 5k (perhaps The Last Friday of the Month) and a 10k (Ladywell 10,000).
- To remember why I started running in the first place.
- To find a balance with work/ life stress, and my running.
The last two may seem a bit ethereal, but they are primarily there to remind me that running is a daily ritual rather than just about times. Also it is about keeping that balance between pushing myself at running, whilst also realising that there other important things in my life.
On a final note for my views about starting 2019. Below are two interviews from the Rich Roll podcast ,that I listen to regularly, with David Goggins. I found both interviews with Goggins to be incredibly inspiring; he was the exemplar for Rich Roll to go on his own journey of doing Ultraman and his Epic 5 exploits. Some people may find Goggins's no-nonsense, military approach quite harsh; but I find there is a purity to his approach to training that I find useful when in the thick of marathon training. I am planning on reading his autobiography Can't Hurt Me.
On a final note for my views about starting 2019. Below are two interviews from the Rich Roll podcast ,that I listen to regularly, with David Goggins. I found both interviews with Goggins to be incredibly inspiring; he was the exemplar for Rich Roll to go on his own journey of doing Ultraman and his Epic 5 exploits. Some people may find Goggins's no-nonsense, military approach quite harsh; but I find there is a purity to his approach to training that I find useful when in the thick of marathon training. I am planning on reading his autobiography Can't Hurt Me.
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