The start of 1987 was marked by some pretty heavy snowfall in January, and a really consistent run of highish mileage which started to produce some strong training runs and races, albeit fatigue caused me to have a terrible run at the National XC in Luton in late February and made me anxious about the Tonbridge 10 – always one of my favourites. In the event I scored a PB of 56’10”, noting a “marvellous run – felt good the whole way”. I took very few rest days during this period, and the following Sunday did a measured 26.3 mile training run in 2 hours 56 mins, but then recorded a disappointing 79’27” for the Tunbridge Wells 1/2 Marathon the week after that, noting an “awful run, felt like I had the brakes applied the whole way”.
Early April saw the Mascalls 10k won by Tonbridge clubmate Steve Keywood in 33’45”. I came in 10th 90 seconds later. Another week of 60+ miles bought me to Sunday April 12th and one of my best ever races. 20 mile races were relatively few and far between, and to this day I’ve only run a couple, but one of my big ambitions was to run one in under 2 hours so I’d entered one of the oldest established events in the road racing calendar – The Finchley 20. I was in pretty good shape, and apart from being a bit breezy the weather was favourable. I settled quickly into a pace that felt quickish but comfortable. The course was very much to my liking – 4 laps of 5 miles, a mix of built up and rural areas and undulating. Going through the first lap in 29’53”, the pace was perfect. Amazingly, my second lap produced an identical split of 29’53”. Soon after this I had a brief spell where I started to struggle a little, but managed to relax and by trying to enjoy the run I was able to run through the bad patch and a third lap of 29’41” bought me to 15 miles in 1hr 29’27” feeling good and becoming confident of a sub-2 hour run. Keeping the tempo as quick as possible whilst trying to stay relaxed, as I got closer to the finish I pushed hard and covering the final lap in 29’24” I crossed the line in 1 hr 58’51”. Very well pleased with an ambition achieved.
No rest days were allowed as I put in a week of 70 miles and then ran a 10k in Yalding in 37’36” recording it as “jogged it for fun”. The next Marathon on the list was on 3rd May at Abingdon. Other than the fact that it became one of my very few DNFs, I recall very little of this race. I dropped out at 20 miles in 2hrs 07′ and wrote nothing in the diary – clearly a race to forget ! The fact that I was entered for the Maidstone marathon just 5 weeks later suggests the pretty haphazard and unstructured nature of my running at the time. I was simply training hard and racing often – sometimes with relative success, sometimes less so. The training in the immediate run-up to this year’s Maidstone was also notable as it included a 25 miler in 2hrs 38’30” with only 3 weeks to go, and in the second to last week I challenged myself to attempt 100 miles for the week for the first time ever. This challenge started badly as I had to go to work on the Sunday which meant I was only able to get 6.5 miles in. The rest of the week went like this : Monday – 18 miles, Tuesday a.m – 4 miles, p.m – 8.1 miles, Wednesday a.m – 8 miles, p.m – 6 miles, Thursday a.m- 5 miles, p.m – 6 miles, Friday a.m – 9.6 miles, p.m – 2.8 miles, Saturday 27 miles xc along the Wealdway. I recorded the achievement of totalling 101 miles as being “tedious, tiring and soul destroying” and recognised that I’d get better results from 50 miles of better quality per week. Covering just 10 miles in the week leading up to the Maidstone Marathon I went to the line, not wearing a watch and with the intention of enjoying the race whilst doing as well as I felt able. Through the 20 mile point in an enjoyable 2hrs 05’20” in 20th position, after 21 miles I opened up and made up another 7 places to finish in 2hrs 44’04” and pick up a £50 prize.. As usual, I was racing again 3 days later in a 2.6 mile road relay at Forbanks. One week later I ran my first ever flat 3000 metres on the track in 9’43.5″ which was a time I was well satisfied with. During these track meetings, to score points for the team, we all had to be willing to have a go at events to which we were not suited. For example, I was often asked to do shot put, or even throw the hammer ! And here is a picture which shows that many years before photo-shop existed – the camera could lie. This action shot of me pole vaulting looks convincing, but the height was embarrassingly low (don’t ask)
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Away from the actual running, throughout 1987 I was pursuing an idea to set up a business. My passion for running was such that I felt there were prospects for a specialist running gear shop to succeed in the Tunbridge Wells district. Large amounts of free time was used in market researching, business planning, searching for suitable premises and contacting potential suppliers. It’s perhaps the nature of these things (we were learning everything as we went along), but with this activity having started in March 1987, it was a full year later that we finally reached the position of securing shop premises to trade from. The premises required significant refurbishment and treatment to eradicate dry rot, however on Tuesday 3rd May 1988 “Up and Running” opened for business – more of this story here: On the subject of…..a tale of two running gear shops (part one) on the subject of…..a tale of two running gear shops (part two)
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Back to mid-1987, and the summer continued into autumn with the now familiar pattern of relentless racing at any distance from 400 metres through to ultra distance, including 3 races in one weekend – 5 mile Kent league cross country on an incredibly wet and heavy ploughed course at Hoo on the Saturday afternoon, the Sevenoaks ½ Marathon in 78’24” the following morning and a run in the Tunbridge Wells common relay in the afternoon ! A 2hr47’40” Harlow marathon in October amongst loads of shorter distance races brought a close to 1987. 2291 miles for the year.
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On the subject of running..... 