I think it is fair to say that 2017 has been a year of positive change for me. Not only have I found a new sporting passion in running but I have got my feet under the table at my current place of work, stopped taking anti depressants and (most importantly) bought a brand new car for the first time in my life. Yes I’m aware that buying a car isn’t really as important as I just made it sound!
Although the year still has a couple of weeks left to run, my running year culminated on Sunday 17th December with the Warrington Road Runners’ Winter Handicap race. Similar to the Summer Handicap but this time double the distance and on a cold December morning rather than a warm summer Evening.
A 10k route around some of the most beautiful parts of the south of Warrington began with earnest at 10am on a cold and wet December Sunday. I had been unsure as to whether I was going to make it myself due to being in work until 3am the night before but the thrill of getting out there amongst my fellow club members was too much to resist.
As with the summer version, handicaps were worked out by the “super computer”, or Ian as we like to call him, in advance. I was down to start 11 minutes after the gun was fired. As it turned out, I was the first person to set off due to the other members due to go before me not taking part. I remember being incredibly nervous at the start of the summer version of this race and this time, sure there were nerves but not as much as before. If I’m honest I think I overplayed my chances of wining the summer handicap and I was determined to just go out there and enjoy the winter one as nothing more than just a simple 10k run out. Before I was told to get going I checked in with my only fellow ‘newbie’, Carolyn, who was setting off a full 4 minutes after me. I joked that I fully expected her to catch me and to make sure she did so before the 7k mark as I couldn’t remember the rest of the route from there! I’m sure Carolyn thought I was purely joking but I was serious! I genuinely wasn’t sure where to go once the route passed the Appleton Thorne pub. Even studying the map the night before hadn’t really helped me.
The start came around nice and quickly for me and with Bryan’s words of wisdom echoing in my ears – “Don’t set off too quick, the first 5k is uphill while the second is mostly downhill. Give yourself enough room to run home” – I ran out of Broomfields leisure centre car park and down Bridge Lane. When I reached the bottom I checked my watch. I only did it to see if Carolyn would have set off yet. She had done, about a minute earlier. It had taken me 5 minutes to get to the bottom of Bridge Lane and Carolyn set off after I’d been running for 4 of those. I imagined Carolyn being at the top of Bridge Lane at that moment before the thought was replaced with a feeling of dread as Stockton Lane loomed up in front of me. I’m not going to bore you with the whole route here but Stockton Lane starts with an incline that a year ago would have killed me. It still hurts now but it represented the first uphill section of the route and the first chance anyone had of gaining time on me. I didn’t push too hard as it was still very early into the race but I made sure I got up the hill before settling down into a comfortable pace that looking back over the data was actually pretty quick for me.
It wasn’t long before I hit Broad Lane. You may remember from my EHM training and race, Broad Lane is the scariest road of Warrington for me to run on. Not because it is dangerous as such but because it is just one long uphill road. It goes on and on and on and the worst part is that you can see what you perceive to be the top of the hill right from the start. I say perceive because it isn’t the top at all. The white house is first of all a lot further away than it looks from the bottom of the road but there is also at least another kilometre of uphill to go once you get there. There is a slight respite of downhill on Broad Lane and it was at the bottom of this dip that I had my first look over my shoulder. I was completely expecting to see Carolyn behind me at the top but there was nothing. Not even a car.
Finally Broad Lane was conquered and I was starting to enjoy myself. I took the racing line, going straight over a roundabout before heading into Appleton village. At the pub I took the shortcut through the car park only to then lose my bearings and take the wrong road, going straight across the green triangle rather than the sharp right down Lumb Brook Road. I was sure this mistake, although only a momentarily one, would cost me valuable time but when my watch buzzed to mark the 8k point I had a second look over my shoulder. There was still no one. At this point I wasn’t really looking for Carolyn exactly, I was just expecting any one of the other runners to be charging up behind me. Except there wasn’t. I was still all on my own. This was the turning point. I started to believe I could win this thing. The nerves kicked in with aplomb and it took everything I mentally had to try and suppress them. I felt my pace increase naturally as I was now heading downhill instead of fighting against a never ending incline. It was a relief but the butterflies in my stomach wouldn’t go away.
All of a sudden I reached the end of the road and immediately felt defeated. I couldn’t remember the route. I was panicking. I knew I should be staying on Lumb Brook Road until I reached the bottom of Bridge Lane but I couldn’t remember how to get there. Almost as quickly as I felt lost, I found the right turning, somehow the image of the map entered my mind just at the right moment. I knew where I was and I knew I wasn’t far from home. My watch buzzed again for 9k and the nerves returned. The bottom of Bridge Lane had arrived. I remembered Bryan telling me to keep on the land hand side of the road rather than the right. Or was it the other way around? I had no idea. I kept on the left hand side and gave it as much welly as I could without going mad like I normally do at the end of a club run. I reached the shops and, for the first time all race, had to stop. I was retching. I wanted to be sick. I was done in. At that moment I felt utterly defeated. I had stopped running and I wasn’t at the finish line. I can’t have been stood on the side of the road for very long but it felt like an eternity. I regained my composure and control of my breathing and started jogging. I knew I had nothing left to give but as we know, I have a competitive streak and even though I was now resigned to not finishing first I damn well was going to finish the race.
I may as well have been walking as I turned into the car park at Broomfields. The finish line was in sight but it was right at the other end of the road. Expletives roared inside as my head as Bryan and Ian started yelling at me to get a shift on. About 50 metres from the finish line I took one more look behind me, expecting to see all the runners at full sprint just steps away from over taking me but somehow I was still alone.
I don’t have any explanation for why I did what I did as I crossed the line in first position but when you win a race knowing that it will most likely be the only race you ever win in your life as a runner all sense disappears. I did the MoBot. I’m not impressed with myself for doing it but I also don’t really want to apologise. It was a once in a lifetime experience and one I definitely won’t ever forget. Yes I looked like a tit but I was a wining tit so stuff the lot of you laughing at the thought of it right now.
After being congratulated by Bryan and Ian the sheer joy over took my whole being. I was so so happy. I’ll probably never feel that way ever again whilst running but I also felt a little bit sad. I had no one to revel in my glory. Carolyn was the next runner home, not quite 3 minutes after me. She had gained a full minute and more on me and had achieved the a time under one hour! I hadn’t quite managed that but I did beat my existing 10k PB by 10 full seconds on a really difficult course that is actually a little longer than 10k.
The rest of the field trickled in, Dan being the first of ‘quick lot’ home and completing the course in the quickest time. The handicap obviously worked very well in my favour that day as I’m pretty sure I should never have had that much of a head start over Carolyn and the rest of the field. Looking at the handicap start times really puts my run into perspective. I should have started at the same time as both Jo and Kate and if they had turned up I definitely wouldn’t have ended up as the winner. First of all, none of us would have probably believed we stood a chance and therefore would have just aimed to get round in a respectable time, chatting and laughing all the way. Secondly, there is no way Kate would have let me get away had I decided to make a race of it. She is too stubborn for that. Thirdly, if my run had gone exactly the same as it did in reality, Kate would have left me on Bridge Lane coughing my guts up, victory in her grasp. Jo wouldn’t have done but that’s because she loves me and Kate loves winning more than she loves me!
So there we go. In my first year of being a runner I have accomplished so much. I have countless medals, t-shirts and personal bests. I have made a whole bunch of new friends, a lovely hand stitched picture of Widnes parkrun (complete with date and PB time) from Sarah and to top it all off I will have a trophy for winning the Winter Handicap.
2017 you have been unbelievable. 2018, you have some pretty big shoes to fill.
charles will run 