About

2016 I decided to focus on getting quicker, first I quit Hallamshire after my appearance at the relays back in October the prevous year had left my family and I with a bad view on elitism from some in the club. I thought going back to Steel City Striders was the right move. I represent them at the Dewsbury 10K where I lowered my PB even further to 36:02 then I posted a fantastic 52:57 at the Norton 9 as I focused on my goal of going sub 80 at the Chester HM in May. Leading up to that I revisited Cheshire 10K posting a new PB of 35:14 (To this day this is my official PB but I know the course was short as when I raced it again a few years later the start/finish line had moved further down the track) Chester I ran one of my greatest races with a 79:15 and to this day is one of only two times I’ve gone sub 80 (although since 2017 I’ve only done 1 half marathon) Again I made same error as I did after Leeds the previous year, instead of focusing on improving further I lost a little bit of motivation over the summer months. I decided to train for a marathon in October but truth be told my head wasn’t in it. Then I ended up breaking my ribs at Race the Train and took months for my breathing to feel normal. Also during this time I raced for Belgrave Harriers as 2nd claim due to my job with LEGO taking me down to London most weeks. The traveling though was taking it’s toll on me so come the autumn moved positions in company. This meant was back locally and at this time I started running with Penistone on a Tuesday night and back doing Track on a Thursday night.

The autumn also so me do my first 3000m track race running 10:08.9 I also lowered my mile PB to 5:08.50. At Holmfirth 10K I went two better than previous year by winning the race, I then had a fantastic end to the year, lowering my 5K down to 17:12, my 5 mile down to 28:38 when I won the Sneyd Striders Christmas Pudding 5, plus I dipped under 60 minuted for 10 miles with a 59:30.

Going in 2017 I would say I was in the form of my life, the training was working and I continued with a massive PB at the Inskip HM with a time of 77:26 which is still my PB to this day. I had entered the Manchester marathon and I used the Stamford Striders 30K as a warm up race with a 1:57:35. I then made mistake of getting a coach very late in the game and instead of sticking to what was working I changed my entire routine. I ran Trafford 10K in 36:33 and then following week went and won the Raceways Spring Shakespeare 10K in 36:05 the problem was I wasn’t focused on the marathon and despite being in shape, mentally I wasn’t and I literally talked myself into a DNF and by 11 miles pulled out. Instead of looking at what went wrong I ignored the issues and was back racing the following week, finishing 4th at the Hornsea 1/3rd marathon. I then entered the Boston Marathon to try and have another go. The race was a disaster, went off too hard then by mile 18 had nothing left. Thankfully had done enough earlier on to scrape home a PB in 3:07:11.

Again instead of working at what went wrong I switch to track racing as I became the track secretary for Penistone, however within a few months I had fallen out with the members as no one was willing to represent the club and at some meets those that did turn up had to do 3 or 4 events to make up numbers. Over the summer I set personal bests at 800m, 1500m, 3000m, mile and 5000m. As I was now classed as a vet I also entered the Northern Masters track championships coming away with a silver and gold in 800m and 1500m. I was also won the Ryedale 5K, the Northern Masters Multi Terrain Championships and the Yorkshire Vets 5K Championships. I was more focused on winning stuff then getting faster. With some races they went hand in hand due to me being new to them but for the road disciplines times were not improving as I had hit a plateau. I once again swapped clubs to represent Manchester Harriers at XC but having done two XC I hated it. I continued to race for them for the rest of 2017 with the biggest highlight being the Leeds Abbery Dash where I went sub 36 for only the second time with a 35:50 time.

2018 wasn’t a good year firstly a lot of races in the early part of the year was lost to the beast from the east. However on a personal level Molly was taken ill. The early highlight was me winning gold in my age category in the Northern Masters XC Championship.

The nightmare run of unfortunate events started on 4th March when after taking Molly ice-skating she had a stroke while out for our evening meal. We rushed her to the local Children’s hospital where it was the start of a long battle to get the right diagnosis. As a family we would spend the next 14 months of our lives in and out of the local hospital as Molly continued having seizures and mini strokes. The worse episode came when her heart rate got that high the doctors in the emergency room had to give her a drug call adenosine to stop her heart to bring it back under control. The doctors kept missing the signs and misreading the ECG. At one point a doctor even accused Molly of faking it. They put her on BETA blockers which made our daughter a zombie, it was heart breaking to see such a fit and active young girl become so poorly.

However, after a year of non-stop battles with the local hospital, we requested to see a specialist in Leeds called Dr. Hares. We were finally granted our wish and when we saw him on the 7th May 2019 he did an ECG and diagnosed Molly straight away with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome which is a relatively common heart condition that causes the heart to beat abnormally fast for periods of time. The cause is an extra electrical connection in the heart. This problem with the heart is present at birth (congenital), although symptoms may not develop until later in life. He was shocked that the cardiologist at our local hospital had missed it on the ECG so many times.

He gave us the option to have an operation to fix it, so on the 7th November 2019 Molly had her heart operation in Leeds and after 4 and half hours Molly’s surgery was a massive success. It is awesome to write that on the 4th February Molly was given the all clear and was discharged. To finish off this story Molly has been running with me since 2022 and has already won races, she is now at sixth form and is predicted A* across the board and is aiming to join either the Royal Navy or RAF as a pilot. She has not let what happened define her, if anything it has made her more determind not to be remembered as the girl with a poorly heart.

So back to 2018’s running recap I got local sponsorship from Fox Valley/Dransfield to do another challenge 18 in 2018. A series of races for the Childrens Hospital but with Molly’s issues racing was very hit and miss, I managed to do a handful of races for the challenge, including the North Lincs HM which was the last time I did a half marathon, due to lack of training and the heat on the day could only manage 84:21, I did manage a few sub 18’s either side of the HM. I then clocked 36:47 at the Great Manchester Run, to this day I’ve never had a decent race there. Although I did the Barnsley AC 800m and clocked a new PB in June I ran 35:50 at the Hull 10K before I switched my focus to the track. Going sub 5 minuted for a mile in 4:55.73. Getting gold again at 1500m and also doubling up at 800m at the Northern Masters Track Championships. I also claimed my first every national gold medal by winning my age category in the England Masters Championships at 1500m. I continued to run several lower 17 minute 5K’s over the summer but by September the constant trips to hospital meant I ended the year in September with gold at the Northern Masters 10K road championships and then my final race with Manchester Harriers at the Northern Road Relays.

2019 was similar in terms of I raced around Molly, I didn’t race till March doing the Thirsk 10 miler in 61:03, I then ran a local 6 hour event at Penistone where I did the HM distance coming first, I used it as a training run but was good to pick up a win at a low key event. I then followed that up with a win at the Elvington Flyer 5 miler in 29:09.  In April I ran my all time fastest ever 5K times in 17:06 and then 29:05 at the Hale Village 5 miler, May I did a 2 hour race in Leeds which I won and lapped the entire field by at least a lap, I also won another low key event again at Penistone. I then had a crack at a fell race for first time since 2014 but this would end my season early as I tore my quad and suffered a meniscal tear in my right knee. I tried to race a few times but knee just wasn’t up to it.