Yorkshire Marathon 2015 (Week 11 of 12)

Week 11

Mon 28/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:41/mile

Mon 28/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:58/mile

Tues 29/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:50/mile

Tues 29/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:35/mile

Weds 30/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:10/mile

Thurs 1/10: (am) 3.0 miles @ 8:41/mile

Thurs 1/10: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:35/mile

Fri 2/10: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:24/mile

Sat 3/10: 4.0 miles incl. Antrim parkrun 18:00 (3rd) (3.1 miles @ 5:47/mile)  [Hannah 18:03 (1st)]

Sat 3/10: Run For Autism 10 Miles 1:01:47 (1st) (10 miles @ 6:10/mile) [Hannah 1:05:42 (1st)]

Sun 4/10: 5.5 miles @ 8:30/mile  [Hannah Titanic RunHer 10K 38:05 (2nd)]

Total Weekly Mileage:  50.50 Miles

The penultimate week in the build up to Yorkshire comprised of dropping the mileage back and having some more racing fun in Northern Ireland.

Sat 3rd Oct - Antrim parkrun 18:00 (3rd)      [Hannah 18:03 (1st) ]

It was the 100th event at Antrim parkrun on Saturday which coincided with International parkrun day, ie the anniversary of the very first parkrun at Bushy 11 years earlier.

We have visited the venue several times before but the last official run there was back at event no. 2, which coincidentally was also International parkrun day 2 years ago.

We were reminded of this fact by Ollie Cook during the race briefing. Ollie first got involved with parkrunning up at Durham under the influence of the legends that are Alister and Jacquie Robson. But on this day he was on marshalling duties saving his legs for the NI and Ulster Road Relays in Victoria Park, Belfast, later in the day. It turned out to be a very wise move as he clocked 11:05 for his 2.1 mile leg in that event. Very speedy.

Very scenic starting area on the banks of Lough Neagh:

Hannah with Antrim parkrun ED Anne Smith in front of the dual celebration banners, Antrim's 100th event and parkrun's 11th birthday:

The run itself was encouraging but did involve the first 'early morning cold air on the lungs' type run for a few months. I'm sure that acclimitisation to those types of conditions will swiftly follow in the next few weeks.

After the run it was time for coffee and scones with Ollie before swiftly setting off to get down to South Armagh for the Run For Autism H.A.N.D 10 Mile race from Newtownhamilton to Lissummon.

Saturday 3rd October (pm) - Run For Autism H.A.N.D. 10 Miles 1:01:47 (1st)     [Hannah 1:05:42 (1st)]

After thoroughly enjoying this event 2 years ago we really wanted to go back and give it another go. Consisting of 10 mile and half marathon runs along with a 10 mile walk option we opted for the 10 miler with next week's marathon in mind.

Run over the tough country lanes of South Armagh from Newtownhamilton to Lissummon this is no race for being concerned about times. Just as well really as my £6 Argos stopwatch finally fell apart just before the off :p

About 3 miles in and the hills are already proving challenging:

(pics courtesy of Colm O'Brien)

This type of course can easily result in a legacy of sore calves for the next few days so the race was run with a bit of caution on the (many) uphill sections.

Not having a watch meant that the pace was unknown until after the finish line. A time of 1:01:47 was about two minutes quicker than I was expecting taking into account the course profile and the cautious approach to the hills, so I'm taking that as a sign that fitness levels are in reasonable nick going into next week's marathon :)

Besides taking account of the hills, Hannah also had to bear in mind that she was also racing a 10k in Belfast the next day. 

Not often that I get on a podium:

And the wonderful organisers of this Run For Autism H.A.N.D. event always ensure that you get well fed afterwards:

Our starter for the day displaying a host of Paralympic Dressage medals:

The Newry Reporter decided to scare their readers :

Sunday 4th October - Titanic Runher 10K (Hannah 38:05 2nd)

On to Sunday and the Titanic Quarter in Belfast was the venue for the latest Runher events.

Approx 1600 runners took part, split evenly between the 5k and 10k events.

Just after the off in the 10k:

And a couple of hundred metres later with Hannah settling in about 5th position. Note the filming studios for Game of Thrones in the background:

Out on the open roads and there was plenty of nice flat tarmac to get stuck into. Hannah now in 2nd:

An unusual sight at the 2k mark, two deep sea oil platforms in for servicing. You really do get a sense of the sheer scale of these things when you get this close:

 

The podium finishers in the 10k Julie Balmer (3rd), Laura Graham (1st), Hannah Oldroyd (2nd)

Greg McClure, Hannah and an unusual looking Max McRoberts:

A small selection out of the 79 Ormeau runners that took part at Runher. This group is going from strength to strength, always competing in the right spirit and enjoying every minute:

Post race they dragged us kicking and screaming to the oldest building in Belfast, McHughs next to Custom House Square:

Thank goodness they did! On arrival we were greeted with the news that there was a FREE Guinness promotion for the Rugby World Cup. Oh, go on then :)

Next Week:

As this was week 11 of 12 it would be reasonable to assume that there is probably a marathon next week.......

There are the makings of a cracking day out in York next Sunday. Good luck to Jackson Biwott, who may well be featuring prominently in the closing stages. I think he is finding it a bit chilly around Bingley compared to his hometown of Iten in Kenya so he needs to run pretty swiftly just to keep warm ;)

It will also be interesting to see the metronome that is Kelvin Dickinson performing Sub 3 pacing duties, just 7 days after delivering the same duties, along with Rich Spooner, at the Chester Marathon. In that race every 10k split was delivered in a time of 42:xx by the Pacer Extraordinaire.

The approach from my point of view will be to get to 18 miles as smoothly as possible, allowing the pace to ebb and flow with the course undulations. It will then be time to start thinking about finishing times and mentally breaking down the remaining distance into manageable chunks.

What time will result from this will become clear on Sunday but there is a special incentive to record a sub 3 time as it will be 30 years and 14 days since the first sub 3 (2:52) was run in the Brussels Marathon on 30th September 1985. 30 year spans between first and most recent sub 3s are not that common apparently!

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

2nd Oct: 3.1 miles @ 5:47/mile

2nd Oct: 10.0 miles @ 6:10/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 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)