Yorkshire Marathon 2015 (Week 10 of 12)

Week 10

Mon 21/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:23/mile

Mon 21/9: (pm) 6.0 miles @ 8:40/mile

Tues 22/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:42/mile

Tues 22/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:55/mile

Weds 23/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:54/mile

Thurs 24/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:56/mile

Thurs 24/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:31/mile

Thurs 24/9: (pm) 5.7 miles @ 9:20/mile

Fri 25/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:54/mile

Fri 25/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:32/mile

Sat 26/9: 4.0 miles incl. Halifax parkrun 18:02 (2nd) (3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile)  [Hannah 18:51 (1st)]

Sat 26/9: 4.0 miles incl. Ron Hill's 77th 5k 18:38 (3rd) (3.1 miles @ 5:59/mile) [Hannah 18:45 (1st)]

Sat 26/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 9:16/mile

Sun 27/9:  7.0 miles incl Bradford 10K 36:26 (24th) (6.21 miles @ 5:51/mile)  [Hannah 36:33 (1st)]

Sun 27/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:29/mile

Total Weekly Mileage:  66.70 Miles

Week 10 wasn't high mileage but it did contain 15 runs, the pattern of a high volume of short runs seems to work well compared to a lower volume of longer runs. It may be counter intuitive and contrary to nearly all marathon training advice but It seems to work for us.

As outlined a couple of weeks ago, with Yorkshire now getting close it is time for some shorter racing to get the legs turning over. With that in mind week 10 worked out well :

Sat 26th Sept - Halifax parkrun 18:02 (2nd)    [Hannah 18:51 (1st)]

As with last week our intended target was Birkenhead parkrun. Last week we missed our target by about 3 miles ending up at Princes parkrun, this week we excelled ourselves and missed the target by about 80 miles. If we try again next week we'll probably end up on the continent somewhere!

Anyway, it was a thoroughly enjoyable visit to Shroggs Park in Halifax, a parkrun consisting of 3.5 laps of quite stiff undulations. As there was a 180 degrees, come to a standstill, turnaround point on each lap it was quite a testing course all in all.

Sat 26th Sept (2pm) - Ron Hill's 77th Birthday 5K  18:38 (3rd)      [Hannah 18:45 (1st)]

It was over to Brownhouse Wham reservoir on the dark side of the Pennines on Saturday afternoon to have a bash at Ron Hill's birthday 5K.

This was a 5k course with no redeeming features, it was a fell race in all but name - hilly, rocky, muddy and 'orrible. In summary I concur with Ron's own view of 'not my type of course'.

However, putting the course to one side it was a superb event run with a really good atmosphere. It started in a residential cul-de-sac outside someone's house and ended at a pub ready for sunny beer garden Guinness swilling :)

Ron Hill crossing the finish sporting an appropriate race number:

As for the race itself, considering the type of course I was surprised to get up into 3rd place in the 2nd mile. It was only in the last 400m or so that there appeared to be someone closing from behind to try to nick the podium finish. I'll let you guess who it was ...........

Here she is receiving her prize for 1st lady (4th overall) from the ex marathon world record holder himself:

If only there was a speech bubble above Arth's head here - 'Yes, I know Mr Hill is very, very famous but what's that there that he's giving to Steve, is it food?'

(Pic courtesy of Andy O'sullivan MBE, race supremo)

For once I felt reasonably tall :)

It is probably worth a quick reminder at this stage of the achievements of Ron Hill:

1969 European Marathon - Gold

1971 European Marathon - Bronze

1970 Commonwealth Games Marathon - Gold

1970 Boston Marathon - Winner (new course record by 3 minutes in 2:10:30)

In 1968 he twice set stunning new world records for 10 miles - 47:02.2 and then lowered to 46:44.0 later in the year. Imagine 1 solitary mile in 4:40, Ron ran 10 back to back.

In the 1970 Commonwealth Games Marathon in Edinburgh he became only the 2nd man in history to break 2:10 and in the process set a new World Record of 2:09:28.

He is, of course, very well known for his running longevity and in total ran 115 marathons. Of these,

112 sub 2:50

29 sub 2:20

There are plenty more highlights to his career including National XC titles but as he will be reading this I won't embarrass him further ;)

Despite all the achievements though in my early days of running he always struck me as someone who raced because he enjoyed racing, regardless of the level. There was just the same determination to nick a place at the end of a local 10k as there was when he was winning major championships or at least it appeared that way.

Most elite athletes announce their retirement from competitive running, the scribes are still waiting for Ron Hill's announcement!

For anyone who thinks that similar achievements in the modern era would swiftly lead to a knighthood I believe a campaign to get Ron a knighthood is gathering a head of steam. Watch out for any petitions doing the rounds in the near future.

This was the pre-race number plate smackdown with Dr Hill :

As a momento of the event we all received a mug depicting the last time we crossed paths at Heaton Park in December for Ron's 50 years of daily running streak. I may even have taken this photo but there were a few of us gathered around at the time to capture the iconic moment.

Pictured from the left in blue is Paul Sinton-Hewitt, a little known chap who started a little known 5k run series, Paul Smith, Ron Hill and in the black on the right is Bruce Green.

This was Bruce Green post finish on Saturday still basking in his newly discovered mug fame :)

Sun 27th Sept - Bradford 10k 36:26 (24th)      [Hannah 36:33 (1st)]

Having last run this race in 2009 in a time of 39:17 it was going to be interesting to compare how the 49 year old version would do against the 43 year old version back then.

Conditions were perfect as the Mayor of Bradford got things underway at 9am. Frank Beresford (716, eventual 3rd) and Tom Adams (451, winner) already in prominent positions:

Just after 4k, hard at work but feeling pretty good:

(Pic courtesy of Ian Watson)

And literally a handful of seconds behind an airborne Hannah, sporting the purple gloves for the first time in months, very much in touch with PB pace:

(Pic courtesy of Ian Watson)

Just after 5k and this is the turnaround point showing just how short the gap was with Martin Fillingham in between having a strong run. From this point it was a straightforward 4.5km run back into the centre of Bradford to the finish:

For the whole run back into the city there was what seemed like a continuous stream of 'Come on Hannah' type comments. Clearly she was very close, it was a case of deja vu from the Ron Hill race the previous afternoon and, coincidentally, by the time we got back to City Hall the margin was exactly the same, ie a wafer thin 7 seconds:

The Ladies Podium:

1. Hannah Oldroyd 36:35

2. Jane McCarthy (Ilkley) 38:42

3. Kirsty Allen (Baildon) 39:15

Elsewhere on Sunday there seemed to be impressive performances all over the place. Of particular note:

Berlin Marathon

Adam Prentis (2:59:00)

Delighted to see that Adam Prentis has bagged his first sub 3 marathon at 52 years old after being on a continuous improvement cycle for the last 5 or 6 years.

His previous PB was 3:04 earlier in 2015 taking the total improvement to 11 minutes for the year.

Al Chapman (2:59:13)

Another excellently judged first time sub 3 performance although with a gun time of 3:00:01 there may well have been a moment or two where he thought it had been missed until realisation set in and a little prayer of thanks was offered to the God of chip timing :)

Jason Cherriman (left) and Phil Sanders (right)

Obviously the faster you get the harder it becomes to run PBs so it is fair to say that Jason had done himself no favours by running 2:22:49 at the Yorkshire Marathon last year and then 2:22:12 at London this year, running PBs at that kind of level must become exponentially more difficult.

Nonetheless the boy did good and timed yet another PB to perfection by clocking 2:21:51 in Berlin. That is quite a series of marathon performances!

As for Phil Sanders, well he's too old to be running really fast marathon times. The only problem is that nobody seems to have told him! At 42 a time of 2:30:30 speaks for itself.....

Matt Pyatt (2:36:59)

A massive achievement also for Matt Pyatt who yesterday achieved one of the big marathon running milestones, the sub 6:00/mile marathon!

From a first marathon of 3:44 as recently as 2012 this is a phenomenal achievement. Congratulations Matt.

Nottingham Marathon

Dave Crossley (3:01)

Not quite Dave's A target but a whopping 14 minute improvement on the previous PB of 3:15 from 2012. Sub 3 is inevitable in time .......

Causeway Coastal Ultra 40 Miles - Mark Ramsey

Last, and a long, long way from least our good friend Mark Ramsey completed his first Ultra at the weekend running 40 miles in 26Extreme's Causeway Coastal event in Northern Ireland.

There's no stopping the progress and determination of this chap along with Janine Ramsey. Between them they are inspiring a whole gang of new runners in Northern Ireland to achieve things they never thought possible.

I'm sure they won't mind me sharing this but this was Mark and Janine around 2010-11 :

And this is the same two trouble makers more recently :)

As a summary of the weekend it would be difficult to sum it up better than Hannah's post yesterday evening :)

Next Week:

As the next week is the penultimate week before Yorkshire it should probably involve lots of resting ;)

Marathon Building Blocks (getting a bit long now but this is the year in a nutshell once all the slow short runs are removed) :

15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile

22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile

8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile

21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile

28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

29th March:  11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)

4th April: 3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile

12th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile

18th April: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile

19th April: 5.8 miles @ 6:04/mile

26th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:32/mile

4th May: 26.21 miles @ 6:40/mile

6th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

10th May: 13.1 miles @ 6:15/mile

13th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

16th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

17th May: 13.1 miles @ 6:03/mile

20th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:37/mile

23rd May: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

24th May: 1.0 mile @ 5:07/mile

30th May: 26.21 miles @ 6:37/mile

6th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:58/mile

7th Jun: 13.1 miles @ 6:05/mile

10th Jun: 10.0 miles @ 6:20/mile

13th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

14th Jun: 13.1 miles @ 6:02/mile

20th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:54/mile

20th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile

21st Jun: 6.21 miles @ 6:31/mile

25th Jun: 10.0 miles @ 5:57/mile

26th Jun: 13.1 miles @ 6:11/mile

27th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:57/mile

27th Jun: 6.21 miles @ 6:15/mile

28th Jun: 6.21 miles @ 6:42/mile

1st Jul: 1.0 miles @ 5:11/mile

5th Jul: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile

9th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

11th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:54/mile

12th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

18th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:57/mile

18th Jul: 6.21 miles @ 5:43/mile

19th Jul: 13.1 miles @ 6:15/mile

22nd Jul: 2.75 miles @ 5:50/mile

25th/26th Jul: 62.1 miles @ 8:00/mile

1st Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:54/mile

1st Aug: 3.1 miles @ 6:47/mile

1st Aug: 6.21 miles @ 6:24/mile

2nd Aug: 13.1 miles @ 6:34/mile

6th Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:49/mile

8th Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

9th Aug: 5.0 miles @ 5:57/mile

15th Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile

16th Aug: 10.0 miles @ 6:00/mile

22nd Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:52/mile

22nd Aug: 10.0 miles @ 6:15/mile

23rd Aug: 6.5 miles @ 6:19/mile

29th Aug: 1.0 miles @ 5:05/mile

30th Aug: 6.21 miles @ 5:58/mile

5th Sept: 48.0 miles @ 7:11/mile

13th Sept: 26.21 miles @ 6:51/mile

19th Sept: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

20th Sept: 13.1 miles @ 6:03/mile

26th Sept: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile

26th Sept: 3.1 miles @ 5:59/mile

27th Sept: 6.21 miles @ 5:51/mile

Recent Marathon Record

2009 April - Blackpool Marathon 3:24:17 (Age 42)

2009 September - Fleetwood Marathon DNF (Age 43)
2010 October - Amsterdam Marathon 3:04:27 (Age 44)
2010 November - Milton Keynes Track Marathon DNF (Age 44)

2011 April - London Marathon 3:18:30 (Age 44)

2012 April - London Marathon 2:57:04 (Age 45)

2012 October - Chester 2:55:36 (Age 46)

2013 April - London Marathon 3:11:29 (Age 46)

2013 June - Cork Marathon 3:06:19 (Age 47)

2013 October - Budapest Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 47)

2013 December - Lancaster Marathon 2:54:17 (Age 47) (1st)

2013 December - Pisa Marathon 2:54:09 (Age 47)

2014 April - Manchester Marathon 2:51:52 (Age 47)

2014 April - London Marathon 2:57:52 (Age 47)

2014 June - Rhyl Marathon 2:58:24 (Age 48)

2014 October - Yorkshire Marathon 2:47:34 (Age 48)

2014 October - Dublin Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 48)

2014 November - Town Moor Marathon 2:54:56 (Age 48) (1st)

2015 March - Wrexham Marathon 2:48:12 (Age 48) (5th)

2015 April - Canberra ACT Marathon 2:52:10 (Age 48) (15th)

2015 April - London Marathon 2:50:55 (Age 48)

2015 May - Belfast City Marathon 2:54:54 (Age 48) 

2015 May - Kent Roadrunner Marathon 2:53:34 (Age 49) (4th)

2015 July - Potteries Marathon 2:52:40 (Age 49) (6th)

2015 September - Mary Anderson Colour Marathon 2:59:17 (Age 49) (7th)

Yorkshire Marathon 2015 (Week 9 of 12)

Week 9

Mon 14/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:40/mile

Mon 14/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 9:02/mile

Tues 15/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:50/mile

Tues 15/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 9:21/mile

Weds 16/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:40/mile

Thurs 17/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:49/mile

Thurs 17/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:40/mile

Fri 18/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:55/mile

Fri 18/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:45/mile

Sat 19/9: 4.0 miles incl. Princes parkrun 17:58 (4th) (3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile)  [Hannah 18:19 (1st)]

Sat 19/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 9:16/mile

Sun 20/9:  14.0 miles incl Vale of York HM 1:19:19 (22nd) (13.1 miles @ 6:03/mile)  [Hannah 1:21:31 (3rd)]

Sun 20/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:54/mile

Total Weekly Mileage:  62.00 Miles

The end of week 9 was about trying to get a bit of faster leg turnover going. 

Leading up to Saturday's parkrun the previous 33 runs spread over 20 days had seen no fast running at all, in fact the fastest run during this period was last Sunday's marathon which had averaged a pace of 6:51/mile. Everything else had been slower or much slower.

So sluggishness was expected.

Sat 19th Sept - Princes parkrun 17:58 (4th)  [Hannah 18:19 (1st)]

This was the the first parkrun for 4 weeks but the venue wasn't actually chosen until about 8:40am.

Birkenhead parkrun had been the intended destination but we arrived to discover some very large event taking place. A quick check online, which for once we hadn't done before setting off, and confirmation that the parkrun had been cancelled was discovered.

It was now getting a bit late to find another parkrun but Princes looked to be just about doable if we got our skates on,

At 9am we were actually standing on the start line of Princes parkrun #233. Having run at event #30 some 4 years ago it wasn't a completely unknown course but nonetheless I had forgotten just how much of a lung busting route it was.

To finish with a sub 18 time was surprising given the lack of fast runs mentioned previously and the nature of the course, so good news all round. Hannah had pretty much the same experience and got round at an average pace of 5:53/mile.

The Henge, a recent addition to Princes Park:

And the Arth seal of approval was readily granted :)

And an even more dog friendly park was visited for breakfast, nearby Calderstones Park:

Sunday 20th Sept - Vale of York HM 1:19:19 (22nd)    [Hannah 1:21:31 (3rd) ]

Having really enjoyed the inaugural Vale of York HM course last year this was going to be a good event to give an indication of fitness levels 3 weeks out from the York Marathon.

The route is as flat as you could want and with conditions on the day being absolutely perfect whatever came out as the final result would be a genuine reflection of current capabilities.

Mark Hetherington has created a superb event which will fill any capacity made available, in it's 2nd year the field had grown to something like 1200 finishers.

Based at Sherburn-In-Elmet airfield all the facilities work really well:

The unmistakable vests of St Theresa's, also known as STAC, warming up on the former RAF runway.

John Robson (in the shades) had completed the newly established Hull Marathon 7 days ago, so we weren't the only ones with a very recent marathon in the legs:

After a few minutes delay the field was primed for the off:

About 1 mile into the race and it was already clear that it was going to be a hot one. Here, shoulder to shoulder with the eventual 2nd placer, Sharon Barlow, as she settled into her reliably metronomic pacing. The last time we were shoulder to shoulder in a race was 16 weeks ago in the centre of Belfast at mile 23 of The Deep River Rock Belfast Marathon.

Miles 0-5 (30:11) (6:02/mile)

The reason that I really like this race is that it is all about getting into a sustainable rhythm and then switching off, there are no momentum breakers such as sharp corners or turnaround points. If I do lose momentum I'm worse than an oil tanker in the time taken to get back up to pace.

Going through 5 miles at an average of 6:02/mile was right up there with the best half marathon pace of the year at Swansea, which ended up at 1:19:04. Were the legs fresh enough to maintain that pace after the marathon and 48 miler in the previous 14 days?

Miles 5-10 (30:06) (6:01/mile)

The next 5 miles were uneventful and trouble free. To see that the pace had been maintained almost identical to the first 5 miles meant that there was now a good chance of dipping inside 80 minutes, which wasn't expected at the start of the day.

Would it hold together over the last 5k?

Miles 10-13.1 (19:01) (6:07/mile)

Going through 10 miles is where the 'switched off' sustainable pace comes to an end and the real work starts.

Increasingly more effort is required to maintain pace or, more usually, to limit slowing. It is usually a good idea to try to get involved in something at this stage, whether it is focussing on chasing someone down or getting involved in a head to head of some sort.

With that in mind, I was fortunate to be in a group of 3 at 10 miles with STAC's Richard Herrington and Horsforth's Neil Burton.

We were moving along at a pace that felt a little faster than what would be maintainable to the end but that fitted the bill nicely. The reckoning was that if we could cover the 11th mile in something close to 6:00 minutes then the sub 80 would just about be secure. It would then be a case of digging in and finding out what the legs really had in them.

And that is how it turned out, the other two eased away just after 11 miles and my legs gave their first indication  of the day that they'd rather be somewhere else.

Through the finish in 1:19:19 for the 5th sub 80 of 2015 was a huge plus and an unexpectedly good indication of how well the recovery from the long stuff was going.

That time was 11 secs quicker than last year's 1:19:30 and, very similarly, Hannah bettered last year's 1:22:05 with 1:21:31 this year, an improvement of 34 seconds to land 3rd place on a high quality podium:

1st Susan Partridge 1:16:00

2nd Sharon Barlow 1:20:40

3rd Hannah Oldroyd 1:21:31

So where was the expected sluggishness?

Who knows how these things work? Every time you come up with a theory there seems to be a contradictory theory just around the corner.

However, we do at least have a theory :)

As a result of residual muscle tiredness from the 48 miles at St Albans 2 weeks ago it felt as though the effort level at last week's marathon was being tempered somewhat. Because of that it may well be that not much damage was done and therefore recovery from the marathon was swift.

At the same time, since the fast twitch muscles have barely been used for 3 weeks they were probably at full strength?

The Elite

The ladies winner, none other than the UK's current No.1 marathon runner, Susan Partridge who completed the race in 1:16:00 and Andy May, back on form to finish 6th in 1:14:19.

The post race lawn area outside the aero club:

The results: 

Plenty good results in amongst these with strong runs from Mark Havenhand and John Robson, who also didn't seem to show much ill effect from his marathon 7 days earlier:

We may not have been in Ireland this weekend but on the way home we accidentally stumbled across some live Irish music being played by a group called Blimey O'Reilly as part of the Otley festival.

Someone certainly seemed to enjoy himself:

Next Week: 

With just 2 weekends between now and Yorkshire there will be a focus on some shorter stuff to get a bit of zip into the legs. A flat fast 10k will be next Sunday's target along Canal Road in Bradford.

Sub 3 Stats:

After completing his 11th Sub 3 marathon of 2015 on Sunday our friend (and Kent Roadrunner Marathon supremo) Ian Berry prompted the powers that be at Power of 10 to do some trawling of their records to have a look at sub 3s in a calendar year.

It turns out that Mr Berry is now right up there at No.2 on the all time Po10 list. Bear in mind that Po10 records are incomplete prior to 2005 but all the same an impressive stat.

This was the discussion that ensued that also threw up some more statistically interesting stuff:

In particular, this caught the eye. Not a bad selection of names to be mentioned amongst :)

Marathon Building Blocks (getting a bit long now but this is the year in a nutshell once all the slow short runs are removed) :

15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile

22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile

8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile

21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile

28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

29th March:  11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)

4th April: 3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile

12th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile

18th April: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile

19th April: 5.8 miles @ 6:04/mile

26th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:32/mile

4th May: 26.21 miles @ 6:40/mile

6th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

10th May: 13.1 miles @ 6:15/mile

13th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

16th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

17th May: 13.1 miles @ 6:03/mile

20th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:37/mile

23rd May: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

24th May: 1.0 mile @ 5:07/mile

30th May: 26.21 miles @ 6:37/mile

6th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:58/mile

7th Jun: 13.1 miles @ 6:05/mile

10th Jun: 10.0 miles @ 6:20/mile

13th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

14th Jun: 13.1 miles @ 6:02/mile

20th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:54/mile

20th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile

21st Jun: 6.21 miles @ 6:31/mile

25th Jun: 10.0 miles @ 5:57/mile

26th Jun: 13.1 miles @ 6:11/mile

27th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:57/mile

27th Jun: 6.21 miles @ 6:15/mile

28th Jun: 6.21 miles @ 6:42/mile

1st Jul: 1.0 miles @ 5:11/mile

5th Jul: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile

9th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

11th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:54/mile

12th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

18th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:57/mile

18th Jul: 6.21 miles @ 5:43/mile

19th Jul: 13.1 miles @ 6:15/mile

22nd Jul: 2.75 miles @ 5:50/mile

25th/26th Jul: 62.1 miles @ 8:00/mile

1st Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:54/mile

1st Aug: 3.1 miles @ 6:47/mile

1st Aug: 6.21 miles @ 6:24/mile

2nd Aug: 13.1 miles @ 6:34/mile

6th Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:49/mile

8th Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

9th Aug: 5.0 miles @ 5:57/mile

15th Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile

16th Aug: 10.0 miles @ 6:00/mile

22nd Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:52/mile

22nd Aug: 10.0 miles @ 6:15/mile

23rd Aug: 6.5 miles @ 6:19/mile

29th Aug: 1.0 miles @ 5:05/mile

30th Aug: 6.21 miles @ 5:58/mile

5th Sept: 48.0 miles @ 7:11/mile

13th Sept: 26.21 miles @ 6:51/mile

19th Sept: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

20th Sept: 13.1 miles @ 6:03/mile

Recent Marathon Record

2009 April - Blackpool Marathon 3:24:17 (Age 42)

2009 September - Fleetwood Marathon DNF (Age 43)
2010 October - Amsterdam Marathon 3:04:27 (Age 44)
2010 November - Milton Keynes Track Marathon DNF (Age 44)

2011 April - London Marathon 3:18:30 (Age 44)

2012 April - London Marathon 2:57:04 (Age 45)

2012 October - Chester 2:55:36 (Age 46)

2013 April - London Marathon 3:11:29 (Age 46)

2013 June - Cork Marathon 3:06:19 (Age 47)

2013 October - Budapest Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 47)

2013 December - Lancaster Marathon 2:54:17 (Age 47) (1st)

2013 December - Pisa Marathon 2:54:09 (Age 47)

2014 April - Manchester Marathon 2:51:52 (Age 47)

2014 April - London Marathon 2:57:52 (Age 47)

2014 June - Rhyl Marathon 2:58:24 (Age 48)

2014 October - Yorkshire Marathon 2:47:34 (Age 48)

2014 October - Dublin Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 48)

2014 November - Town Moor Marathon 2:54:56 (Age 48) (1st)

2015 March - Wrexham Marathon 2:48:12 (Age 48) (5th)

2015 April - Canberra ACT Marathon 2:52:10 (Age 48) (15th)

2015 April - London Marathon 2:50:55 (Age 48)

2015 May - Belfast City Marathon 2:54:54 (Age 48) 

2015 May - Kent Roadrunner Marathon 2:53:34 (Age 49) (4th)

2015 July - Potteries Marathon 2:52:40 (Age 49) (6th)

2015 September - Mary Anderson Colour Marathon 2:59:17 (Age 49) (7th)