The WDAC's adventure and beer loving (and now ex) Web Site
Editor
Thanks to Sarah (I think?)
for the questions!?
How
long have you been running and why did you start in the first
place?
I was never a runner!!!
Back in 1997 I decided to enter for the 1998 London Marathon
with a very good friend Sam Smith for charity. We were so
unprepared! Our Longest and only long run was the Half
Marathon Daffodil Run back when it was held at Althorpe!
At London at 14 miles I
was on for a 3:45 debut marathon and feeling good! I
didn't hit the wall, it collapsed and fell on top of me!
At 22 miles I swore that if I just got to the finish, I would
never ever run again and put myself through this again! I
finished in 4:32 barely able to walk with Sam suffering half
hour behind me in 5:02. I kept my promise and never ran
again, while Sam started running with a local running club, The
Wellingborough Road Runners? I found the life of non-stop
partying suited me better!
I kept my promise until
late August 2003, 5 years of heavy partying and alcohol had paid
it's toll in a big way! I weight nearly 16 stone
(photo) and couldn't walk up
stairs without being painfully out of breath! I went
to my cousins 21st birthday bash in Yorkshire which turned into
a week long party! On the final day though my cousin
Victoria got me to go for a few miles jog! Needless to say
she wiped the floor with me! But I was kinda proud of
myself for doing it!
2 weeks after I had been
suffering with depression and was fed up with my weight,
especially after finding out I was medically obese! and I
just thought screw this! I put on a pair of trainers and
went jogging! 2 miles later, I was dead on my feet I was
screaming with agony! The next day I hurt all over and
with my weight my joints were agony! I got home that night
and ran 3 miles! then the same the next night, then the next and
the next! By December I had lost 3 1/2 stone! I felt
so much better! All my depression and stress had gone!
I could breathe easier and felt relaxed and could sleep properly
again!
Then something unexpected
happened! I didn't want to run anymore to lose weight!
I wanted to run because I was now good at it!!! and I
loved it!
What made you join the club?
Well I was still shedding
weight but now wanted a bigger challenge! Being a
Kettering Lad I looked to join the Kettering Town Harriers just
so I could run with others to push me!
I soon started running
with the harriers! I need to be be careful with what I say
here as I have some good friends with the harriers! But
even as the complete novice I was, I could see the club was a
bloody shambles! The juniors side was brilliant but the
seniors was a mess! They had talented runners but to me
the ethos seemed to be that If you couldn't keep up,
then....tough! I was there for 7 months and in that time I
was the only new runner who turned up and actually came back a
second time!
They made me a lot fitter
though! I was now under 12 stone for the first time in a
decade! It was strange though as no one ever asked me to
join the club! I asked twice and the reply was "go to the
track, ask for Ted and give him £50!" Now am I allowed to
use the words bollox to that?
After a few abysmal first
races I started to have some great results! mainly at
Silverstone in both the half and 10k. But I did notice
that I was the only harrier at the half (even though I'd yet to
join) and one of only 2 at the 10k. For a month I turned
up to training and found that I was only one of two senior
runners turning up!
I really put effort into
the East Midlands Grand Prix but was really heaved at the
attendance of the club!....Me! But I got used to
seeing a sea of Green vests, which I soon saw was the
Wellingborough Road Runners!, now, the WDAC! I didn't see
Sam much any more as he was married and had a child, but he kept
bugging me to move and join Wellingborough! He'd left the
club for his family after a 3:02 marathon at London!!! But
the Harriers were 2 minutes from my house, Wellingborough was 20
minutes!
My next challenge was the
Colworth 3 day challenge! Bad choice! It hurt!
I had been given advice to help by a friend at the harriers,
Glenn (who happened to be the World Stick Fighting Champion!!!)
but on day 3, I was in a bad way! I was the only
'supposed' harrier there, but again there was the sea of green
vests! While staggering along, I chatted to now close
friends Sarah Geddes and Jon Kemp, But I died a death and was
walking - badly!!! At that point a runner started pushing me and
pushing me and he got me running, virtually to the end! It
turned out he was one of the founding members of the club Noel
Betts! When I finally finished I was lying on my back and
all I could see was a group of the WDAC and I thought, I
really am with the wrong bloody club here!!
It took 3 weeks to recover
from the Colworth challenge but then I turned up again eager for
training! This time though I was in Wellingborough!
What were your first
impressions of the club?
I
didn't know what to expect! I turned up and I looked lost!
there was 50 people there! I was used to 2 people! I
was approached by a man called Alan Mills who told me about the
club. When it came to run he introduced me to the whole
group which made me feel embarrassed and suggested that I run
with a guy called Steve Stredwick who would be slower?
I
didn't have any proper running gear so I'd tuned up in a
football strip! I've heard Guy say since that he though I
wouldn't be up to much dressed like that! but after 4 miles I
was running at the front! chatting to everyone! - I soon died a
death! But at the end I was talking to people! I met
the a girl called Liz Karley who ran the club website and gave
me details of it! I met social secretary Julia Cooke Simmons!
She asked if I would be available to join the club trip to
Longtown at the weekend?
I
would have loved to but I had made plans to meet a very dear
friend from Australia! and she's a babe!
But I
soon realised, I have found a new home!!
What have been your favourite events with the club?
Where do I start!
There has been a few!
The Weedon 10k, I died
there in 2004! It is a true runners race! I died a
death! I swore I would never run that again ever!!!!
in 2005 I came to watch! Determined never to run it again
I turned up to watch, hungover, dehydrated and hungry! As
everyone went to the start line I thought...what the bloody hell
am I doing? at the last minue I scrambled for a running
kit and crossed the line last!!! It turned out to be one of my
proudest running moments! I beat my 2004 time by 5 minutes
and beat Tim! Since then, every time I suffer and have a bad
race, I make sure I am there next year and and go hell for
leather!!
Last year I had my most
incredible run of races! I signed up to the Lochaber
Marathon with a few others and decided upon and extremely
punishing training schedule with club captain Tim! I don't
think I've ever had a had a better running companion! At
races all we were interested in was beating each other and in
doing so thrashed every pb!
I loved the Bedford Cross
Country! Just a down and out race with Tim! I
overtook him 4 times! He overtook me 5 times! The first
time he overtook me he'd jumped a 5 bar gate in one while I had
to go through the kissing gate! The last time he passed he
turned grinning and said "is that the best that you can do?"
I hated loosing to Tim but that would be one of the last times!
The following week I had a
blinding result at the new gruelling Kelmarsh 15 in tough
conditions, setting up for tone of my favourite races (no
hills!) the Silverstone Half the week later! Lining up at
the start again with Tim, we were saying we would take it easy
to start! At 5k I had taken a minute of that pb and it
only got quicker! At 7 miles I could here Tim Struggling,
so I just sped up some more. When he didn't respond I got
my own back by turning round and yelling "Is that the best you
can do?" I thought he was gonna throttle me! But we
both set huge pb's!
I have really enjoyed some of the more
adventurous events we've done! The Real Ale Ramble
was the most fun event I've ever done! But the cross Wales
for me was the best! Despite pulling out this year with
illness and injury in 60mph hour winds at 39 miles!
How did you get involved with the website?
Yeah wish I
new! Thanks Tim!
LIz Karley
had been running it for a while and she took huge pride in it!
But as she had been so busy working as a police special hadn't
updated it as much as the club would like. So a newer
runner Neil offered a lot and sounded very promising, so Liz was
asked to hand the job over. I really felt sorry for her
and we haven't seen her at the club since. After an
initial flurry Neil also got bogged down with more than he could
do and the website came to a standstill.
Then in May
2006, at a committee meeting I was 'volunteered' for the job by
vice chairman Tim Ellwood! You know who you're mates are!
On the way to a party the following night I was informed that I
had 'volunteered' and the job was now mine!
Over the past year, you have begun to build up a
reputation as a 'one lap wonder'. When was the last time
you completed a full race?
Urgh! How
unfair is that!? I badly injured myself at the Silverstone
10k by being stupid! I was in the best form of my life and
my biggest ever goal was to beat 40 mins for the 10k! It
should have been a piece of cake in the form I was in! But
I had only ran the Lochaber marathon days before!!! Stuart
and Jon decided to pace me and Jon pushed me the entire way!
I've never felt so bad! Heavy legged and tired from the
start with the marathon in my legs! I started to really
falter in the last 3k but Jon got me through and I came in
39:20. I was amazed with my time! thanks Jon, thanks
Stuart! but a minute after the finish my knee gave way were I
had taken the tendon away from my knee joint!
The recovery
wasn't easy and mixed with a problem of strained chest muscles I
had a hard time! I did have to pull out of cross Wales at
39 miles with chest problems and damaged ankle ligaments and the
Biggleswade X/C. I apologise!
I finally
came back into good form this year and finished a tough
Folksworth in fantastic time, followed by the Charnwood Hills
fell race and the Stamford 30k
Away from running, you have built up a reputation
as a lightweight when it comes to drinking. Do you think
you'll find another club that likes to party so much?
Again Urgh!
The club loves to party! It's been great fun and I've had
a lot of good times!!! When I started to run with
Wellingborough I used to drink constantly! But to improve
as I runner I soon started cutting down and last year even
stopped while I trained for Lochaber! So for most of last
years annual trip to Krov I was flat on my back!
Will there
ever be a club that likes to party as much? I bloody hope
so!
What will you miss most about the club?
The people!
I've made some great friends! Most of which I'll keep in
touch with and visit if I ever return! I will definately
miss the good times and the fun! And then there is the
actual running! The support, competitiveness and the
banter (insults!, mainly from Tim!)
If you like us so much, why are you going to the
other side of the world?
I've been
offered an amazing career opportunity working with my uncle in
Batemans Bay, New South Wales, Australia! It's too good to
miss out on and if I didn't try, I would always regret it!
I'm really
looking forward to it! New career, life and home! As
well as running there are a lot of sporting activities in the
bay! It's surrounded my trees, mountains, rivers!
There's lot's of surfing as it's on the coast, kayaking,
canoeing, climbing, mountain biking, treking and sunshine!
What are your.......
most embarassing moment.............
Did you have to remind me? For the clubs challenge on the 24
hour 3 peak challenge, everyone was flying to Glasgow, while
myself and David (the iceman) Turner drove the mini bus from
Wellingborough with all the gear to meet them! 5 miles
from Dunfries on the A5 I wrote of the mini bus! Ahead of
me in the road, a man braked sharply to turn, the woman behind
slammed her brakes on. She stopped in time, but the horse
box she was towing (it was empty!) came off and the hitch dug
into the road and it's emergency brakes slammed on stopping it
dead in the road! There was no way to avoid it!
While Tim & Tony amazingly managed back in Wellingborough to get
a new van and kit it out we were at the crash site! The
most embarrasing part was while surrounded by police and towing
vehicles and the occupants of all the other vehicles that were
caught up in the crash, David made me sit on the the remains of
the bus so he could discreetly take a photo!
best running achievement..........
Nothing major yet. County medals are my only proper prizes
in the trophy cabinet! But cross Wales 2005, the Kelmarsh
15 2006, the Silverstone Half 2006 where my proudest moments!
best pre-race preparation..........
Tried and tested, works every time! And I have tried
everything!!! Lots of Pasta with 4 pints of beer!
Only Guinness or Theakston Old Peculiar will do!
I would like to say thanks to Tim for volunteering me for the
website job! I started from scratch without a clue what to
do! It's been fun, frustrating at times, rewarding and a
learning experience! I felt I should thank him properly by
showing a
photo of Tim at his best from Krov 2006
- too late, Tim is now in control!!!
Thanks Also to Alan Mills, Sarah Geddes, Tony & Lucia Hale for all
their help and everyone else at the club!
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