About

I started back running in late 2020 only easy but did manage to win a local Santa 5K on Christmas Eve, I didn’t race again till April 2021 and kept it to only 5Ks for 5 months, I did manage to clock them all under 18 minutes and picked up another gold medal at the Northern Masters 5000m championships. I then joined Dronfield RC in the autumn running the Cheshire 10K in 36:54 and followed that up with 36:08 at the Leeds Abbey Dash.

2022 was a strange year as I felt I never got out the blocks or found a goal and focused on it. I was struggling to run sub 19 for 5K , I did win another 2 hour race in Leeds in May, before racing a few local races. The biggest thing in terms of results was running 35:46 at Leeds in July and followed that by running two 17:xx times at the Leeds 5K series. August though I ran the York 10K with Molly who ran her first 10K as she had gotten the bug for running as a way to get fit after her illness and she did amazing to say she was the youngest in the field with a time of 54:03. We both then won the Leeds Santa Dash a few months later and was featured in the local news.  Also she was named as Fundraiser of the Month for the Childrens Heart Surgery Fund.

2023 Molly and I both joined Best Athletics and I started the year with a bang running 28:37 at the Alsager 5 miler. I then followed that up with a solid 36:13 at the Wakefield 10K in March. April I ran 61:00 at the Vale of York 10 miler (still couldn’t get that elusive sub 60 again). Then I ran a trail HM at Cromford HM in 81:29 to come 2nd overall and also recieve my first ever bit of prize money.

It was also my first race for Stocksbridge Running Club a local club I formed in May 2023 with the support of the local football team Stocksbridge Park Steels. A local club for local runners. For first year I ran in on my own with the football club committee as support. The first year was a massive success as local runners, the majority who had never been in a club joined our weekly Monday night club run. We trailed a second night on a Thursday but Mondays became our go to night. 2023 was a really good year of running, I ran sub 36 at Leeds again, won the Sir Titus Summer Trot 5K, with Molly winning the ladies race. I won gold at the Yorkshire Vets 5k Champs in October before I posteda stunning 35:34 at Leeds Abbey Dash. My season though was ended earlier as I turned my ankle during the Preston 10 miler running 60:19 but it put my out for the rest of 2023.

To last year, I started my season early by doing some winter track races, while I wasn’t turning up any trees with my times it was helping me get my fitness back. I clocked a couple of mile races, a rare 2 mile race and an 800m race. I did a local 5 mile race, again it was nothing special in terms of times but I was just working on my race fitness. I ran a sub 18 minute on track in Keighley then came away with two silver and a bronze at the Joe Moran Memorial competition, taking silver in the 800m and 3000m, then a bronze in the 1500m. All within one evening.  I continued my track season with another 3000m and 800m in Sheffield. I clocked sub 18 at both the Leeds 5K Series and the DonFaster 5K before finishing July with gold at the Yorkshire Vets track champs for 3000m.

Over the summer the running club became a stand alone club with me becoming chairman, a committee was formed and we updated our badge and colours to showcase our new found independence. Looking back we should have stuck with being part of the running club, soon as you have more that one person running something it stops being the idea you created and becomes something entirely different.

From August onwards my focus was on an autumn marathon building up the weekly miles with 30K plus long runs. In August I also did a 6 hour event in Penistone where I covered 28 miles in 3:53:53. I used it as a training run to go over distance. In September I ran my first 20 mile race in Lancaster finishing 13th in 2:16:12. Again I used it as marathon pacing practive but I did struggle the last few miles. October things got good, well sort of. Firstly I ran 17:36 at the Tameside 5K, the following week I ran the Leeds Abby Dash and got what I class as my best ever performance in 35:23.

The following week was the Yorkshire marathon, what was suppose to be the achievement of a long term goal because the worse day of my running career. What happened on that day was my darkest day, something I can’t change and it’s something I will have to live with for the rest of my life. 12 years of running and building a reputation ruined all in one day. The result was a reputation in tatters, my position at my running club became untenable, so I resigned to save the club any further embrassement.

For those who are reading this, the marathon will always be my darkest day in running, nothing can change it now. I can’t change the past but what I can do is take it one run at a time and one race at a time, slowly try to rebuild my reputation, for some there will be no forgiveness and I’ve except that, all I can do is make sure I’m transparent in everything I do.  After the fallout, I shut down the all social running accounts and/or deleted anything running related. I dropped the mohican runner username and picked punkfortytwo being a punk and 42 at the time. Its a username that I’ve grown fond off and it’s stuck.

My daughter and I experimented with a joint running account “two punks running” but it didn’t work but we carried on running together going into 2025, so far this I’ve done two races but truth be told the spark and buzz from racing had gone, I lost all motivation to race but for me running was all about being as fast as possible. It what motivated me to get out on a dark, wet and windy winters day. When I did race it didn’t feel right even though I finished 3rd at the Monsal Trail 10K and then following month finish 2nd at the Down in a Shot 10K where I beat the old course record by over a minute. Luck wasn’t on my side I ended up injured after that race with a groin injury and spent past few months slowly building back up then at start of October manage to have an accident and bruised my tail bone which has put me out again.

However something in me changed in September and getting injured was the setback I needed and the spark was back. I want to get back what was lost and see if I can recaptured past glory……..