Old Kid On The Block

 

I first joined Wesham Road Runners in 1997, aged 34, after completing the 1997 Great North Run, in the hope of casually improving my fitness.  I ventured towards the scout hut on Church Road with some trepidation. I needn’t have worried as I wasn’t asked to be the oldest Boy Scout ever. Inspired by Dave Young (Chairman), Trevor Raynor (Vice Chairman) and Alex Rowe (Men’s Captain) I became a regular Monday night runner.

 

The training soon started to pay dividends, not only on my race times, but on my decreasing waist line!! My first race in a Wesham shirt was in December at the ‘Guys 10’, clocking a very reasonable 66:57, (the all important decimal places!), followed shortly by the ‘Longridge 7’ in 49:02. Such race descriptions would previously have sounded like unjustly sentenced criminals. Now they took on different proportions.

 

I soon realised that it wasn’t only the times that were motivating me as the competitiveness between John Bertenshaw, Ian Squire and myself began. Not exactly Coe, Ovett and Cram I grant you, but in our minds perhaps. Fortunately, this did not involve any skulduggery, except for the sounds of heavy breathing at my shoulder.

 

1998 brought my first Inter Club Championship, the London Marathon and my first sub 40 minute 10k at Lancaster and Morecambe, (in the days it started and finished at the Vale of Lune Rugby Club). You could say I’d been converted, but wanted to try harder.

 

In 1999 I had the pleasure of going on the Wrinkly trip to Cork for the ‘Ballycotton 10’, which surprisingly wasn’t memorable for the speed of the race but the 8 hours taken to complete a 45 minute crossing of the Irish sea! I work at Springfields though, so I was used to 45 minute jobs taking 8 hours.

 

Then came a dark night in Wrea Green when my stunt act involving a car and a mini roundabout went horribly wrong, but I survived with cuts and bruises and an injured pride although it has left Keith Wilding mentally scarred for life!!! Sadly, my career as an Evel Knievel stunt rider never did take off. A lesson for everybody here: “You can’t be too careful where traffic is involved.”

 

It was not long after that I realised there was more to life than running and I met my wife Tracey, resulting in marriage. (I hadn’t been running fast enough obviously - ouch!) Within two years, sons Jordan and Daniel arrived and any free time I had was taken with them. I did however manage to enter the occasional race but with ever increasing times and finishing behind Howard Henshaw meant things had to change.

 

Following some not so gentle persuasion by Tracey in her hope to get her good looking, slim line, hubby back, (if the former was ever true), I re-joined Wesham Road Runners in September 2005, some two and a half stone heavier than when I stopped running competitively in 2000. My part time work as a Michelin Man look-alike had also started to dry up, so running seemed a natural replacement.

 

I received the warmest of welcomes at Carr Hill High School, as do all new members.  It was good to see there were new faces and a lot more lady runners at the club, as well as the stalwarts. I soon realised that I had to really up my training regime in order to lose weight and become competitive again. In the early stages it was really difficult as it seemed like the aches and pains would never go away; you just can’t get rid of high school children.  However, I managed to stay injury free. It is a lot more difficult 8 years on to lose the weight and get your times down, but things are going in the right direction; at least the council don’t have to repair as many paving flags these days.

 

The biggest and best change at the club has been the introduction of the monthly handicaps which not only increase numbers on Monday nights but add competition, thanks to Marion and Keith.

 

People do not realise the motivation you get from being a member of a friendly running club. We are competitive, but at the end of the day everyone encourages each other.

 

I am fortunate that I can get out at lunchtimes to do a 4 mile loop around Salwick and Bartle, thus freeing up my evenings, which allows me to help Jordan with his schoolwork and keep Tracey sweet with a little bit of DIY.

 

My ambition this year is to take part in more races and break the 40 minute barrier for 10k again.

 

Being a professional anorak man I have kept records of my running times which are summarised below. Members can see the effect of stopping running for a while and how difficult it has been to get close to one’s times and the improvements joining a club can have.

 

Garstang

1/01/1998

40.58

10/01/1999

38.50

09/01/2000

39.33

08/01/2006

45.12

14/01/2007

43.39

Kirkham

06/09/1998

38.28

05/09/1999

40.36

02/09/2001

46.53

11/09/2005

45.59

10/09/2006

43.31

GUYS 10

07/12/1997

66.57

06/12/1998

64.10

05/12/1999

64.46

04/12/2005

74.51

03/12/2006

69.52

Longridge 7

14/12/1997

49.02

13/12/1998

47.14

12/12/1999

47.22

18/12/2004

59.15

11/12/2005

54.00

 

 

Written by: Des Cleary

Submitted: 6th March 2007

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor