Having had my nerve root block back in December 2017, 2018 started great with a good training month in January in preparation for the early season races. I managed to score PB’s at Ferriby 10, Dewsbury 10k & Barcelona half marathon, the good training continued up to the East Hull 20 at which I did 2:17.55 something that I’m incredibly proud of having ran most of the race on my own & also managed to produce some of most consistent mile splits ever. Shortly after the 20 things starting unravelling slightly with a bit of leg pain creeping in, after cutting short a planned long run I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to make London mara. Some shorter training runs followed just to keep my legs ticking over with the leg pain coming & going. Anyway I made the start line at London & pulled a 3:20 out the bag again something I’m proud of & so grateful to the club for the place.

The last 8 months have been a real struggle with the leg pain becoming more prominent at times meaning dipping in & out of running whenever I can. At times I’ve thought about chucking it all in but that’s not me I like to be positive & that’s the way I’ll stay. There’s been disappointments along the way in the second half of the year most notably not completing all 10 champagne league races & a poor showing at Guy Fawkes 10 (one of my fave races) but equally there’s been a few highs along the way too, one been getting round Yorkshire 3 peaks again in some of the worst conditions we’ve had & couple that with running half of it on my own I’m a tough cookie.

And so on to the Chevin Chase 2018…….

As my Facebook & Instagram posts would suggest I bloody love this race!!! the course is tough, there are ups, downs, mud, rutted tracks & the atmosphere is always great. In the build up to the race I’d had a few runs around Brantingham / Raywell having not done much off road running in the last couple of months, I’d also been attending parkrun regularly in an attempt to get the speed back in the legs. A very painful parkrun on the Saturday before Christmas left me in two minds about running on Boxing Day, a trip to the doctors that afternoon I was given some nerve pain tablets & by Christmas Day they seemed to be kicking in with a fairly comfortable parkrun & a time back in the sub 20 minutes so all seemed a lot better. The Chevin Chase takes place in Otley but with an 11am start time it wasn’t that much of an early start. With the warm up completed I was ready for the off a bigger than normal field meant a packed start area so I made my way towards the front & we were off a bit of a melee ensued with a couple of runners going down luckily I avoided them. Knowing the first four miles were quite undulating I had in my mind to run around 7.10 / 7.15 pace, after the hectic start I settled in & the leg felt OK the ground underfoot was a little boggy at times but not as bad as they had made out I went through four miles in around 28.40 which was spot on where I wanted to be. The fifth mile is a bit of a killer with a long dragging hill to take us on to the top of the Chevin, as we reach the top the support as always was unreal with people lining both sides of the trail. A few shouts of ‘come on east hull’ & ‘up the hull’ are always a welcome. With most of the hard work now out the mile 6 is a mixture of road & downhill trail before turning the corner for the last bit which is all downhill & it’s foot down time it was really pleasing to pass a few on runners on this section gives me confidence I still have a bit of toe. Looking at my my watch I knew I wasn’t going to be far off my best time of 2014. I crossed the line in 50.57 so was chuffed to dip under 51 minutes & also only ended up 14 seconds off my best. As always this race is superbly organised by the Airecentre Pacers & I will continue to have it in my race diary. Whilst I’m not a big fan of taking painkillers they do seem to be working although I would rather have a more permanent fix, with that said it was nice to end the year on a bit of a high & hopefully will carry this form in to 2019.