Book Review
The Long Hard Road – Part Two:
‘To the Peak and Beyond’ by Ron Hill
This
is Ron’s second half of his
autobiography, which picks up from 1968
and runs through to when the book was published in 1982. It describes his rise to form, his achievements and near
misses, his awesome training schedule, his discontent with his employers over
time, (and subsequent setting up of his own mail order business and retail
outlets) and, of course, the races he ran in. He makes no bones about his
ambitions at the beginning of the book, for his “ultimate symbol of success”
was to win Gold at the Olympics, or, failing that, at the European games or Commonwealth games.
One of the first
things to hit you in his book is the sheer number of miles Ron racked up, week after week, month after month. A typical week
would have between 100 and 130 miles per week, which would carry on for months
on end, with perhaps, “a rest week of 70 miles.” As
expected, there were a lot of ailments, aches and pains, but on the whole Ron’s philosophy was to put up with it
and get on with it. He intersperses the book with plenty of excerpts from his
diary: “Ran to work – felt absolutely bloody shattered all the way, but still
put in 124 ½ miles this week”. Ron is always honest in
his assessment of fitness; if he’s knackered he says it like it is. Then again
he should be knackered for the amount he ran.
He never offers a thought or comment of taking a complete rest and it
leaves the reader asking the question of why not, but I guess that just wasn’t
his way, (or not feasible for a man of his calibre). One notable week, when
having a bad chest, a sore throat and possibly influenza, he explained how his
mileage, “slumped to 64 miles”. He admits it was more down to
stubbornness than heroics. Even after
being gashed with running spikes in one race he still spent 50 minutes trying
to run 5 miles. He always gives the impression his runs had to be done, which
is either a great example of commitment or bordering on recklessness. And if
anyone though running at that level was a bit like getting in your car and
going on “autopilot.” Ron dispels that myth when he says he
hated the cold and dark but knew what he had to do and just “got
on with it”.
One inevitable
problem with training twice a day, six days a week was that the weather, sooner
or later, was going to be miserable, cold and plain awful: “It’s no wonder I felt tired and
depressed on the runs home from work,”
says Ron. As a runner it’s very
encouraging hearing that he’s going out even though part of him is saying
don’t. It’s a lot more refreshing than hearing top runners saying today to, “just
go out there and enjoy your running”, because it just does not work
like that.
Every
so often you would be reminded of the sort of level Ron ran at. For example he mentions in a 10 mile race he “jogged
a mile in 5minutes 8 seconds”. After completing a marathon he runs 113
and 119 miles the following weeks. He put in the sort of mileage most people do
in there car each week. He tells of races that were “easy” and “won
at a canter” and how he “burned of his potential team mates”.
After one marathon, finishing in a time of 2:15:21
he says “…God, I hadn’t believed I would ever go so slowly again!” It
is well known that he hasn’t missed a day’s training, so it’s interesting to
see how he achieves it at awkward times, like when he’s flying around the
world. On numerous occasions he’s running up and down airport corridors or
train platforms.
Ron lets the reader into his pre race schedule. He would often start
the day with an easy 2-3 mile run, eat his porridge, and have bacon and eggs on
brown bread, a honey butty and a pint of tea, (a proper northern bloke).
Another thing he did was to take a teaspoon of salt in a glass of water before
the marathon. Marathon runners can
take tips on a, (then), revolutionary new pre race diet of glycogen starvation
and re-stocking, which doubled glycogen levels, which Ron uses before all his
marathons. It’s something I will consider for London
next year. He also recommends shaving your legs, wearing bikini shorts and
string vests, but I might just leave them to Ron.
Ron talks a good race. When he describes, how in the 1969 Maxol Marathon in Manchester, he felt tired and worried
and whether he can keep going, I knew exactly where he was coming from. He felt
anxious and, “wanted to stop” because he believed Derek Clayton, his nearest competitor, was right behind him. That’s
the sort of feeling I get when my competition is close behind me, especially in
something like the inter club series. At the start of the 1969 European Games in Athens, his
feelings at the start of the race were pessimistic, (he won). Even when
approaching the leader at 25 miles, he says he wanted him, (Gaston Roelants), to speed up so he
would not catch him then be morally obliged to race him. Again, it’s a feeling
I can relate to despite our different running levels. When he was attempting to
break the 10 mile record, around a sports track, he describes his feelings when
his energy levels were lagging, “there was nothing to do but press on”.
That he did and duly broke not only the 10mile record, but the British 20K and 1 hour record, even
after taking a few laps easy after passing 10 miles. So how did Ron celebrate this – probably like you
or I would, drive home, pick up a few beers and fish and chips and settle down
to ‘Match of the Day’ to watch Manchester United v Sunderland! At one
race he got to the start line and notes he didn’t feel like running. On the
flip side, when he’s feeling good he makes it sound easy: “I could drive myself uphill, and
stretch out really well, striding heel down, grabbing the ground and pulling it
towards me, then springing of my toes” is how he describes his Boston marathon, (one of the best race
reports I have ever read).
There
are some great little anecdotes dotted around the book. One night, on a
business trip to Dublin, and after a typical business trip
night of heavy drinking, Ron found
he could not sleep. So he puts on his running kit at 2:30am and headed out for
a 7 ½ mile run! Back home, after winning a European
medal, he was out on training run when a bunch of kids just clapped him as he
ran past He never had much luck with his
cars and vans, or maybe they were just all crap back then; leaking petrol tank,
dodgy welding, flat batteries……… One time it would not start on his way to a
marathon, (an important one to qualify for the 1969 European games)! There are a few stories of how the press
would, “interview” him and make headlines taken completely and
unfairly out of context the following day, with the Mirror and Daily Mail
newspapers singled out as the worse culprits. He was at the mind games way
before Fergie, making the opposition
favourite in his pre race interviews. He once did a 2 mile run after drinking 4
pints of bitter, which just goes to show you can run anywhere at anytime.
Local races are
mentioned too; On Witton Park cross
country Ron admits to going to bed the night before with a Horlicks laced with brandy, and describes his legs being, “absolutely
dead at the top of a killer hill” – Yes, we have all been there Ron! Training for the European games in 1969, he briefly mentions Freck,
and gaining the course record of 64:55.
It is sometimes
hard to believe Ron ran at such a
high level and held a full time job and had a wife and two children to look
after. It was never an easy ride with his employers either, and Ron gets the sense some people in the
company didn’t like his swanning about on the racing circuit. Later in the book
he describes how promotion eludes him, on his bewilderment of new graduates
earning 30% plus more than him and his offers of, “career advancement” only
to be found in other far away factories. You sometimes felt his non running
activities were more of a challenge than his actual running. To combat this he
started his own mail order business, but combined with everything else in his
life it’s incredible how he just about keeps on top of it all.
So is this book worth a read? Definitely! This is a man who
has dedicated his life to running, whose idea of getting over a lull in form is
by piling in the miles, sticking his head down and getting on with it. Very few
will have the talent or commitment and dedication Ron has, but once you’ve read his book going out on a cold and wet
winter’s night to knock out 6 miles won’t seem that big a deal any more.
This book is available from the Wesham book club held by Martin
Bates.
Book review written by: Steve Myerscough
Submitted: 12th November 2008
Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR
Editor
Footnote:
I don’t usually
pass comments on many articles but I must say this one has been a really
interesting and refreshing change from the norm. It is a very well put-together
article and makes the reader want to get hold of the book which is what reviews
are supposed to do. I am not a runner but it certainly got me interested. Thank Steve – yet another brilliant
submission to the Wesham Publications.
Brenda WRR Editor