Marathon Time

Marathon Time

Welcome back... you find yourself here again, good work, you know it makes sense. Always like to say thanks for spending the time to have good read of me rattling on about my running, every credit to you. This will be my shortest blog ever I think, so you're in luck this time round. I would like to thank to every who has sponsored me recently, the total is slowly creeping up towards my target of £500. Yes I will admit that I have found a passion for running and setting myself challenges, 2 marathons in 2 weeks could possibly be the biggest challenge to date. Not only do I want to complete them, I want to run them in less that 3 hours. I know for a fact that if I don't reach these targets it will play on my mind for a long time, so I am risking part of my sanity with these challenges. At the end of March my total mileage stands at 383.8 miles. Running every day last year it took me until 17th May to reach this figure, so it clearly shows I am grafting. With the times I want, I have had no option but to commit to the training to reach these goals. By running a sub 3 hour marathon, I can definitely qualify for a good for age place for the London marathon. Then there are also options for Chicago, Tokyo, New York and possibly Boston depending on how fast I can go. I would have to apply still and go into a ballet for a few of these, gives me targets for the future and other potential marathons I may want to get involved in. Anything under the 3 hour mark I would be more than happy with for sure, I have confidence in my ability and I am hoping to smash this time. These are the first set of Marathons I will have properly trained for so it will be a great test to see how far I have come since my first marathon in October 2015, 3:27:28.

Week 13 - Marathon Training

On to the training and it was back to business as per usual. Week 13 was pretty steady, only doing a couple of easy runs. With parkrun arriving on Saturday 2nd April, I was no on my 5th day of no smoking. I had mentioned in the last blog that I was battling with this habit and it was still the case. It was hard, mentally it was so challenging. I was staying focused with it and was impressed with the progress I was making that week. So I thought I would test the lungs out at parkrun to see how there were.  I smashed the first 2 miles and was on for a PB but then I decided to back off, I don't know why but instinct kicked in and I settled into the last mile. I was the first finisher with a time of 18:59, still a bit off my PB but happy with under 19. I should have been tapering so pushing hard in runs was a bit silly, I couldn't help myself. The battle for the parkrun crown was in full flow and I was out in front opening up a good lead from the rest. Myself, Andy, Pete, Chris, Ian, we had no interest in this leaderboard at all. I only noticed it when Pete pointed it out to me one day. For those mentioned above, you will have to turn out every week to try and keep up with me. I only joke, a nice bit of healthy competition adds to the fun of running. With the Manchester marathon on the 10th April, I just had a small matter of the Darwen half marathon on the 3rd April. 7 days before possibly the biggest run of my short career so far, I was taking part in a 13.1 mile race with 1300ft of elevation. I thought tapering involved half marathon a week before the full marathon. I had debated all week on whether I would run this race and was advised not to by many people. If I was going to run it, I needed to take it easy. The only problem was this was part of the Red Rose Championship, so I couldn't miss out. I suppose I could but I wasn't going to. Plus I didn't want a certain Duncan Anderson opening up a massive lead over myself.

This being the 3rd race, the previous 2 I had finished with a 1st and a 3rd, lying on 4 points. Duncan had turned up to 1 and won 1, with the one point. Only having to attend 4 out of the 8 races, I had us even just on the first places. I wasn't racing Darwen, I was using it as a training run, so with the line up I knew Duncan would be taking another 1st place as long as nothing went wrong. I will have to admit deep down this got to me, my competitive side, I didn't want to let Duncan just have a free ride, I had to though with the marathon coming up. If I could secure 2nd spot I would be happy but I knew I had competition on the day. Even though I was annoyed that I wasn't racing, I knew it would be make a good change just to enjoy the run and I could settle into the race without pushing too hard. Before I knew it, we was off, up a massive hill to start. The leaders went off at one hell of a pace and Duncan wasn't far behind at all which was great to see. I just nicely settled into the race myself and tucked in behind 2 runners from Trawden that kept me at a very steady pace. It was a tough start, the first 3 miles up hill climbing 400ft at least. It soon went and then it was time to let gravity to do the work for the next 3 miles. It felt strange holding back on the down hills as this is usually the perfect time to make up ground and take off vital seconds. I kept within myself and just tried to stride it out. I was settled in now at a pace in which I knew I was working but everything was controlled. Once at the bottom, it was then back up a hill for 2 miles followed by a bit of a breather for another mile down hill. At mile 9 Duncan had well gone and he wasn't in view, from the way he set off I knew he was in for a top 10 finish and hoping he would do well. Richard, another fellow Red Rose started to make a move on the next uphill and was pulling away from me quite quickly. I watched him go up a couple of hills and he had me every day of the week on the climb which got me worried. I needed this 2nd place in the championship, every point counted in my eyes. We climbed for 2 miles pretty much neck and neck until the 11th mile then it was all down hill. I could see that a few people in front were tiring and I felt very good at that point. I decided to open my legs up just as a bit of a test, plus I had stayed steady for 11 so I was allowed. I had caught about 3-4 people on the last couple of miles, finishing with a 5:31 and 5:25 mile to take 12th spot. I thought I raced it well with the marathon coming up and held back as much as I could. I finished with a time of 1:25:32 which I was pleased with, it put me in great shape and gave me confidence for next weekend knowing I could run a hilly half in the time I did. Once again it was another great turn out for the RRRR gang with prizes awarded to some of the men and women in their categories. With Manchester only a week a way I was feeling good and really looking forward to it.

28.03.2016 - Run #58 - 3.3 Miles - 24:38 - 7:26 /mi - Easy 5k
30.03.2016 - Run #59 - 6.2 Miles - 39:50 - 6:23 /mi - Steady 10k
02.04.2016 - Run #60 - 3.1 Miles - 18:59 - 6:07 /mi - CV parkrun
03.04.2016 - Run #61 - 13.1 Miles - 1:25:32 - 6:32 /mi - Darwen 1/2 Marathon

Weekly Total - 25.7 Miles

Week 14 - Marathon Week

So after 14 weeks of training, sacrificing the poor social life I have, the Manchester marathon was here. After pushing myself a little harder than I should have in the previous week, I thought it was time to take this tapering business seriously. In the week leading up to the marathon I only ran three times, covering 8.3 miles, all very easy. I did my usual parkrun to see all the pretty faces. Two of those being Pita and Debbie, they were both celebrating their 50th runs which was emotional to say the least. They are both absolutely bonkers which is brilliant. They had both put in so much hard work to the CV parkrun and it was great to see everyone appreciate their hard work and how they had contributed to changing so many peoples life's for the better. This alone gave me a big boost knowing I was involved in such a good running community with inspiring dedicated leaders. Even though it was their big day I was wished well by everyone involved in the Valley. It was great to have so much support leading up to the race. In the morning Natalie had suggest that I run with Simon in the Marathon as we was both after running Sub 3. The seed had been planted, I messaged Simon later that day and that was that. We would both run together, which would give us both a great chance of reaching our target times, plus we would be able to push and motivate each other through the hard times. The night before I wasn't nervous at all, I had done all the training and I was very confident I would run a sub 3 hour marathon, the question was how fast I would do it. I do put a lot of pressure on myself when it comes to running, I need this to keep motivated and focused. I want to push myself and see how fast I can get. The night before I was in bed by 10 and asleep by 10:30, I was delighted with this as when my alarm went off at 5:45 the following morning I felt fresh and ready to go. For breakfast I had my usual 4 egg omelette with 2 slices of toast and a banana. I decided against the cup of coffee, I didn't want any additional liquid swilling around. Anyhow, a short drive to Manchester, quick toilet break and it was time to race. I felt no pressure and was relaxed on the day, I strolled towards the start line and came across Simon, then it was time to go. We made our way to the start line, a short discussion that we wanted to run between 6:35/6:40 miles, game time. We started about 15 rows back from the start, which was good for both of us as it meant a nice steady start. It was a nice start and I felt reasonably good, passing the 10k mark in just over 40 minutes which was a comfortable pace for both of us. Just a couple of miles after at mile 8, it was time for the 2nd biggest cheer of the day. Team Red Rose where out in force to cheer on everyone involved. I must admit got goosebumps as they cheered me and Simon on, it was a great feeling knowing so many had made the effort to come and support our efforts.

They were up earlier than myself, so much hard work had been put in and it was massively appreciated by everyone involved. After going past them the support was still good but it was kind of a low point for a couple of miles after that. We hit the 10 mile mark at about 1:06, which was target pace and was still well on for our time. I was struggling by this point, my legs seemed heavy and it was much harder than it should have been. Crossing the 1/2 way mark at around 1:26:00 I started questioning whether I could keep up the pace. I was getting pain down my left leg and I could feel my running technique was being upset by this. I soon blocked the negative thoughts out of my head and realised where I was and how far I had come. 1/2 marathon done, we had now had 1:34:00 for the Sub 3 target. At this point we was both working well together, just like the Kenyan boys do. Simon would get a drink, pass it do myself, I would dispose of it. Saving vital energy this way and sharing the workload. I had noticed even at the half way mark, we had started to make a move on people ahead of us. It seemed that we had practiced running together before, which we had raced against each other previously, Simon was 6-2 up on previous meetings (runbritain gives some good stats). Overtaking people, Simon would go left, I would go right, then we would meet up again and continue the onslaught of the people ahead that had set off to fast. Back to it, the next 7 miles seemed to fly, we encouraged each other all the way, at 16 miles we only had the Caldervale 10 to run, at 20 miles, it was the Trimpell 20 down and just the 10k to complete. We had reach the 20 mile mark at roughly 2:11:30, which left us 48:30 for the last 10k, it was easily doable but we just had to keep up the pace and knuckle down. It was steady going but I was starting to feel it in my legs, by the time we had completed mile 22 I knew I was slowing and was going to struggle to keep the 6:40/mi pace. Mile 23 and 24 we completed in 7:04 and 7:02 but I couldn't keep it up. Simon had stayed with me for those 2 miles, pushing me on and making me dig deep. I was working harder than I had ever done to keep up but I couldn't. It was at that point I told Simon to push on as I felt bad I had already slowed him down for 2 miles. At first he didn't want to and said we need to finish together. After a short chat it was for the best that he powered on to finish in the fastest time possible. Even though I was running at just over 7:00 /mi pace, Simon flew off and within a few moments he was pretty much out of my view. I watched him just glide past people with ease and at that point I knew he was on for a great time and was definitely hitting Sub 3 with only a couple of miles left. It took my mind off the pain for a couple of minutes, but then I realised I had over 2 miles left of the race and I was slowing. In my head at this point I knew I was going to smash the sub 3 hour mark. After 24 miles I was roughly at 2:39:30, leaving me 20 minutes to run 2.2 miles. It was on, all my training and hard work had paid off, I just needed to get to the finish. The last 2 miles I felt like I wasn't moving, the 25th mile I covered in 7:15, so I was still moving at a good pace, just 35 seconds slower a mile than I as moving just a few miles ago. Before the 25 mile mark I saw Steve and Lorna Taylor who shouted encouragement at me and told me I was well on to beat my time. This picked me up massively and I really started to enjoy it. The lack of smiling maybe didn't show it but deep down I was buzzing, I just had no energy to show it. At 25 miles the full crew that had been at the 8 mile mark, had made their way to cheer us on again. It was a great site approaching them, knowing I would get that buzz again with just over a mile to go. I cant remember seeing many faces at that point but I distinctly Gareth pretty much running next to me for maybe 5-10 seconds, I have no idea what he said but it kept me going. Heading down the 26th mile I started to pick up again, my pace didn't, just my enthusiasm for the day had. It was a tough last mile as quite a few people started to over take me, which didn't play well with my competitive side. I think I had stopped caring about what time I was going to end up with, I knew it was well under 3 hours and I was going to hit my target. At mile 26, which there wasn't a marker for - Don't get me started on the mile markers.

They were poor all day long, at one point it was over 0.5 of a mile out, which didn't do me any good after 19 miles.... at mile 26, I started to put my foot down and with about 100 yards left I picked up the pace and found my usual race sprint finish. I managed to take over about 4-5 people in the last 20 yards, at the time I didn't know but that would put me into 199th place. With over 9000 runners I was more than happy with that stat. I don't know where the sprint came from, think it was just the fact I wanted it over. I crossed the line in a time of 2:55:12, which I was ecstatic with. I had smashed my target and was well under 3 hours, did I mention I wanted to run under 3 hours? As soon as I had stopped running my legs seized up, all my muscles started to ache and throb. I didn't care, top 200 in my first proper marathon with a PB of over 32 minutes. Smashed it. Walking on from the finish line I caught up with Simon who had finished with a sub 2:54 time and beat his PB by over 9 minutes I think. Well and truly a successful day for the both of us. Just like to thank everyone at RRRR for their support and the day as this was a massive help and pushed me through the hard times. I had done it, Sub 3 hour with plenty of time spare. It was only the day after I found myself beating the deadline to apply for the Chicago marathon in October 2016. I was officially hooked. Why would I want to put myself through it again? I have no idea, whatever it was that was driving me I wanted more of it. Before I could even consider Chicago, I had the small matter of the London marathon in two weeks time. It was time to rest up and taper so I could try and replicate my performance in London. Did I mention I don't know the meaning of taper.....

07.04.2016 - Run #63 - 2.2 Miles - 17:20 - 7:34 /mi - Steady 2 Miles
09.04.2016 - Run #64 - 3.1 Miles - 20:15 - 6:30 /mi - CV parkrun
10.04.2016 - Run #65 - 26.2 Miles - 2:55:12 - 6:40 /mi - Greater Manchester Marathon

Weekly Total - 31.5 Miles

Week 15 - Taper Week

With my first marathon over and only two weeks to London, it was time to rest up and recover. The day after I didn't ache as much as I thought I would be but I was definitely feeling tired and dehydrated. I had a few days off and did my first run on Thursday that week, which went ok but I could feel I was still tired. I was enjoying the recovery as I could eat as much as I want and not have to worry about it, it was part of the plan. My next run came on Saturday morning at CV parkrun. I was meant to be taking it easy but still clocked a time of 20:15, it was nice to just stretch the legs out and put on some bursts to make sure my legs were recovering well. The week before there had been a whole debate and a decision that the local council would be charging £1 at the Little Stoke parkrun. I found this ridiculous, the fact parkruns encouraged fitness and changed peoples life's for the better, it was a silly decision that they may regret. Anyhow, that morning it was decided to support Little Stoke by joining hands with someone as you crossed the finish line. As you can tell from the photo, myself, Neil and Stuart all crossed the line together - You can also see Stuart putting on a little burst to get that first finish spot, which he claimed in all it's glory. On the run I have to say my legs felt pretty good and was looking forward to next weekend for sure. As it was taper time, I decided on the Saturday night that I was going to go and run the Valiants 1/2 marathon on the Sunday. I ran this race two years ago in over 1:47:00. I remember stopping to walk a couple of times. This was the first ever half marathon I had ever done, no training, plus I wasn't living a healthy lifestyle at all. So even though I had the London marathon the following week, I decided I would run in this just to prove a point to myself and to see how far I had come in that time. I felt quite bad doing this race as I had been advised strongly not to push myself and take it easy, never mind race a 1/2 marathon. The night before I had done my research and I knew that anything below 1:20:00 would potentially get me a 3rd place spot. This was obviously depending on who turned out on the day, with London and other marathons approaching, I was hoping for a small field and take it from there. I arrived on the morning feeling fresh and the legs felt good. As I pulled up onto the car park, Rob Danson was also pulling up, straight away I knew 2nd place would be my best finish. As I went to sign up, I recognised another face who I knew was a very good runner, 3rd place was going to be the highest I could finish. 3rd place it was then, I would go all out for this against the other runners. Thinking I had got away with sneaking to the race, I then saw Alison crossing the car park who was also part of Red Rose. I had been busted, Alison wasn't bothered I was running so we got a quick team photo for the fans.

With the race being a small one and only 90 people signed up, it was a quick warm up and stretch then straight to the start line. Off we went into a fairly strong headwind, the sun was out though so I was more than happy with the conditions. Setting off after the first mile places quickly started to take place. The two runners like I had predicted starting moving away from the crowd and I was left in 6th place. I knew it was going to be a battle for the next 12 miles so I settled into a pace that I was happy with, around 6:05 /mi, then it was up to the rest to maintain that pace until the end. Like never before after about 5k I found myself in a race with very similar runners to myself. I was loving it. I reached the 10k mark in about 37:20 which was fast and I still found myself in 6th place. At about 7 miles I made a bit of a move as the person in front was tiring, I managed to pass him quite easily even though he wasn't for letting me go. With 4th place not being to far head I felt comfortable that I would finish in the top 5 at least. As I approached 8 miles there was a long straight and from nowhere I could see 3rd place and he was slowing. I don't know if he had gone out too fast, was injured, I wasn't rightly bothered. He was now in my view and I was catching him at pace. I got a buzz I had never had before in a race, I could now possibly finish in the top 3 which I had never done before. Still with 5 miles left I had a lot of work to do but I was going for him. It was at the 10 mile mark it all changed, I went for a drink at the drinks station the from nowhere I found myself in 3rd. One of the guys had stopped and the other had slowed down massively. With 5k left I had to stay strong and keep pushing on. I had completed 10 miles in 1:00:34 which was the fastest I had run over that distance and I was feeling good. 3rd place didn't last that long as after about 1/2 mile I was caught and passed, it was then I just sat right next to him. My competitive instinct came in and I took up the line just to the left of the centre of the road. I knew this was flattest, with him being on the inside he was going to face potholes plus an uneven service as the previous 10 miles had been. We battled side by side until the 12 mile mark. I knew he was blowing and I was settled in to a good pace and had a lot left to give. I was confident in my ability to finish a race fast so I just had to stick with him. Still being side by side, just before the 13 mile marker I made my move and left him behind. After about 100 yards I checked behind and I had made up enough ground to relax as I approached the finish. I crossed the finish line in a time of 1:19:33, which was 21 seconds off my PB. I wasn't bothered about the time, I had finished 3rd. I raced the perfect race, even with a marathon in my legs was the week before, I still had enough to hold off some good runners. It wasn't my brightest idea running this race, I wasn't bothered though. I was well happy with my 3rd place spot in which I picked up £10, did I mention I finished 3rd? I had nearly beat my best 1/2 marathon time, I came out of the race injury free and full of confidence for the London marathon, all was looking good. A quick well done to Alison who finished 1st in her category and capped off a successful day for Red Rose.

14.04.2016 - Run #66 - 2.9 Miles - 20:43 - 6:58 /mi -  Easy 3 Miles
16.04.2016 - Run #67- 3.1 Miles - 20:15 - 6:30 /mi - CV parkrun
17.04.2016 - Run #68 - 13.1 Miles - 1:19:33 - 6:04 /mi - Vailiants 1/2 Marathon

Weekly Total - 19.1 Miles

Just to finish off and explain a few things on why I am doing these marathons and why I push myself all the time. Today being Wednesday 20th April, it was 10 years since I was diagnosed with cancer as a 17 year old boy. 10 years later being a 27 year old boy, I have an opportunity to prove to myself and others that you can push yourself further than you think. I never thought I would ever run a marathon, I am sat here now after running two 1/2 marathons and a full marathon within the space of 3 weeks. I had an appointment at The Christie hospital today, standard ECG, blood tests, general body checks etc. It was confirmed that I was fit and well and I would be around for at least another year until my next appointment. I don't get nervous about the appointments at all any more, it's part of my life. I will admit though there is that little part of me that thinks, 'what if?'. What if the test results don't come back negative? What if there is something wrong with me? What if it does return? These thoughts rarely come into my head but I am glad they do. It gives me all the motivation I need when I am running and it will keep pushing me until I reach my limits. In the Manchester marathon for example, 21 miles in and struggling. I knew that The Christie hospital had saved my life. With this only being about 5 miles down the road, it brought back a few memories which kept me occupied. Yes I was in pain, it could have been hell of a lot worse though. I soon began to enjoy the pain and actually take in race, remembering a few of the moments both good and bad. So my advice to anyone running a marathon or just any race in general. Yes at times it will hurt, you will struggle, you may not want to carry on at certain points. When these thoughts come around just think of the good times, take in the moment and realise what you are doing and why you are doing it. We all have our own stories and no one has any easy life, bad things and scenarios happen to all of us. Use these as motivation to push yourself and reach the goals you have set. For those running the London marathon, leave nothing on the course, give everything you have got, don't go out to quickly though.

Well Cheers for reading once again. London will soon be here and I have set myself a goal of beating my last time of 2:55:12 and I am looking at smashing this time if everything goes well. See you on the other side.

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Karl Hodgson

Mad March - Getting down to business

Mad March

Hi there, welcome back... again. Great to see you coming back and taking the time to read my blog once again. My last few blogs have been a little lengthy, I promise this one will be shorter than usual. I have actually caught up with my blog for a change, so I am writing events as they happen which makes it much easier for myself and means less reading for you guys.

Just to say a quick thanks for everyone who has sponsored me so far, I need a total of £500 and I am well on my way. It is all going to a great charity which helps disabled people and their carers have some time away from their usual routines, making new friends and creating memories.

Week 9 - Marathon Training

March for myself was a big month, I had races planned in that would test me in my lead up to both the Manchester and London Marathon. At the end of February I had clocked up 272.9 miles in 43 runs. Running every day last year, it took me until the end of March to reach this distance, so it shows the amount of time I was putting into the marathon training. However, I was dealt a bit of a blow at the beginning of March. I had caught the sickness bug which was going out and it had my pants down, literally. Usually weighing around 11st 3lbs, I ended up losing 10 lbs in 3 days and dropping to 10st 7lb. My training took a hit for about a week which I wasn't happy with, I was about 35 miles down on what I had planned. I had to move on from this quickly and gather myself for the weeks ahead.

29.02.2016 - Run #43 - 3.1 Miles - 22:38 - 7:15 /mi - Easy 5k
05.03.2016 - Run #44 - 3.4 Miles - 24:38 - 7:15 /mi - Easy 5k ish

Weekly Total - 6.5 Miles

Week 10 - Marathon Training

With now only 35 days until the Manchester marathon, I needed to get back to running some distance and getting back into the swing of things. With the Liverpool half marathon scheduled for the weekend, myself and Ste went out for a 10 mile run on the Monday. Ste was aiming for a Sub 1:40 time and myself a sub 1:22, which would give us both PB's. The Monday run we ran at a 7:34 /mi pace, which would take Ste well under the 1:40 mark for Liverpool. It was a successful run for the both of us, it got me back in the swing of things and gave Ste a great confidence boost. I told him that if he can run that pace over 10 miles on a training run then he can definitely break the 1:40 barrier. I wanted him to target 1:38 but he told me one step at a time, I let him off as his previous half PB was 1:41:42. The rest of the week I took things steady and worked my way back into the routine I had planned. The runs got easier, I did feel a little fatigued as my eating had taken a hit, was all god though. Cuerden Valley parkrun was back around before I knew it and I woke up feeling good. With it being my 50th run at CV, I was after a PB again, Mr competitive. I am a bit silly when it comes to my plans, having the Liverpool half the day after, I should have been taking it easy, what's the point when you can push yourself twice? It was a successful run and I took a whole second off my previous PB, finishing with a time of 18:27. I definitely had to work for this and it was the run I needed to give me confidence for the race tomorrow.

Liverpool soon arrived, after a good nights kip at Rob's house in Liverpool, myself Rob and Ste had a short 10 minute walk to the start line. This worked out so much better for myself, no need to travel in the morning and it gave me some extra time to wake up properly. Walking down to the start my legs felt heavy, don't know what it was but my legs didn't feel themselves. There was no pressure for the Liverpool half though, even though at the back of my mind with a sub 1:21 time I could possibly qualify for a good for age place in the NY marathon. No pressure whatsoever, the race was part of my marathon training and was a good test to see what pace I could sustain for half the distance. The plan for the day was for me and Ste to PB, didn't matter on the times really, faster the better. Rob had taken the Kenyan roll for the day and was pacing Ste round to a new PB, what a guy for taking the time to do this.

Ste's half PB - 1:41:42 - Last year at Liverpool - 1:44
My half PB - 1:25:12 - 1:22:54 on a training run in 2016

Race time was here, wishing Ste and Rob good luck I moved towards the front and think I got on the 4th row, near the men who would be running sub 1:10 races. I wanted to get a clear start so I didn't get held up, every second counts on a new PB. From what I knew, the course was flat except the first 2 miles, so my plan was to take the first 2 miles then steady, pick up the pace until 7 miles, steady from 7-10, then smash the last 5k with everything I had. To get sub 1:22, I had to run at 6:16 /mi, I had no idea if I could run that fast but time would soon tell. The race has started and my plan had gone out of the window after the first mile, 6:00 for the first mile, covering the first 3 miles in 18:01. I was feeling good and was involved with a group of 6/7 runners who pushed me a long. Through 6 miles I was at about 36:10 which I could believe, I was flying and still feeling really good. As my plan had gone anyway, In my head I just wanted to keep up with the pace I was running at. Even after 6 miles I knew I was a on for a big PB. I think at the 7th mile there was a drinks station, I took my drink but I saw another guy in our group had missed it. I kindly made a bit of an effort and caught him up and offered him the drink which he happily took. 30 seconds after he had overtaken me and was looking comfortable, the little burst took a bit out of my legs and was hoping I wouldn't regret it. My competitive side soon came into play, how could this man overtake me after I gave him a drink? He wasn't beating me, that was a fact. The next 4 miles went quick as I was focussed on sticking with this man and matched him for pace. The 10 mile marker went passed and I had it down as about 1:00:50, which would leave me a 21 minute 5k to get below 1:22:00. That wasn't an option now, sub 1:20 was the target if not faster and I was so happy inside. I was smashing it, faster than I ever thought. With there being a good group of us still the pace was still very good and it was picking up again. No-one has passed me since mile 5 and I was confidence of my finish.

 As I passed mile 12 I was on about 1:13:00, with just over a mile left I decided it was time to make my break. Within about 400 yards I had overtaken 3 people, the man who I had targeted was still 50 yards ahead and he was slowing, I had him and he didn't even know about it. I overtook another man and then with a couple 100 yards to the finish I flew past him and he had no response at all. Sprinting down the home straight I saw the clock turn 1:19:00 and I finished seconds after. I couldn't believe the timing but had little time to think about it at first. I went and collected my goody bag and then went back to watch Ste and Rob finish. At about 1:38 I saw Rob coming to the finish but no sign of Ste. I waited another couple of minutes but deep down I knew he hadn't run sower than 1:40. Walking back to the finish I was met by Rob who had finished in a time of 1:39, no sign of Ste. Eventually catching up with him, he had left Rob earlier on and picked up the pace. Finishing time for Ste was 1:33:36... We had both SMASHED to hell out of the Liverpool half. I had taken 3:50 off my best half and Ste over 8 minutes - He told me 6 days before 1:38 was unrealistic for him. As he was running at least a mile a day for 2016, you could clearly tell the fitness he had gained and he was only going to get faster. It was great to see someone improving so fast, it was exactly what I did last year and now he's on his way to great things. As for myself, I had smashed my PB, finished 38th out of 4825 runners, had given myself an opportunity to apply for the NY marathon in 2017. Liverpool was a successful trip and I was more confident than I had ever been going into my marathons now. My target for 2016 was the reach sub 1:22:00 - Smashed this in the first 3 months of 2016 - It was also Ste's 28th Birthday, happy birthday and all that.

07.03.2016 - Run #45 - 10 Miles - 1:15:49 - 7:34 /mi - Steady 10 Miles

08.03.2016 - Run #46 - 3.1 Miles - 18:27 - 5:55 /mi - Steady 5k

10.03.2016 - Run #47 - 5 Miles - 29:41 - 5:56 /mi - Steady 5 Miles

10.03.2016 - Run #47 - 1 Mile - 6:30 - Warm Down

12.03.2016 - Run #48 - 3.1 Miles - 18:27 - 5:56 - CV parkrun - New PB

13.03.2013 - Run #49 - 13.1 Miles - 1:19:04 - 6:02 /mi - New PB

Weekly Total - 36.3 Miles

Week 11 - Marathon Training

After a hard run on the Sunday I thought I would treat myself to a Monday off, it wasn't part of the plan but I allowed this. It had taken a lot out of me the day before so I had to refuel and rehydrate for the upcoming training.

My main aim for the week was to stay fit for Sunday, it was the Trimpell 20 race, 20 miles around Lancaster which would be a nice little tester a few weeks before the marathon. Leading up to this I did an easy 5k and 12 miles with the mighty RRRR. I had been a member for nearly 12 months and I had never been to a Thursday run at the poachers. Poor on my behalf really. I thoroughly enjoyed the outing as it was nice to ease of the pace a little bit. When I go out on my own I always push myself and very rarely take it easy. It was a great change to have a chat with fellow club members at a nice steady pace. Cleared up a few things on the marathon side and talked about the upcoming year and doing well for the club. I will make sure once the marathon training is over I make more of an effort to get involved with the people that help run the club and keep it going. As always, Saturday was here and it was parkrun time again. With the 20 miler in mind, I said to myself I would take it easy, I didn't. I set another PB with a time of 18:26, 1 second faster than the previous weeks and 4 PB's on the trot. I had to work very hard for that 1 second but it was progress still. Now onto the biggy, Trimpell 20. I had been looking forward to this for weeks. I had prepared well and it was going to be a great test just a few weeks before my marathon. After my really good half marathon the week before, I really didn't know what time I could achieve in race conditions. I had been through my plan and thought it through for the past week or so. My aim wasn't to run as fast as I could for 20 miles, it was to make it to 20 miles in a good pace and still have a lot left for the last 10k.

 If I could run 20 miles in between the times of 2:05 and 2:15, that would leave me a lot of time to play with come the last 10k. Thing is, I don't think I have ever stuck to any of my plans before so this was going to be a challenge on its own. Race time was here and it was time to get the legs moving. It was a very nice day, nice and fresh with a bit of a breeze but nothing too much. It was a quick start and the first mile I ran in 6:06, straight away I knew I had gone off to quick. I slowed it own straight away and settled into a pace of around 6:20 /mi. It took me a few miles to settle in but by mile 5 I was feel good about the day and already 1/4 in. I had covered the 5 miles in about 31:30 so was a really good pace. As for the past few races, I had been a similar pace to a certain Robert Walsh. As you can see in the photo he was ahead of me from the start. Robert is a really strong runner and I knew if I was close to him I was on for a good time for sure. The miles seem to fly by and before I knew it I was at the 10 mile marker. I had covered the distance in 1:03:27 which worked out 6:21 /mi. So half way through I was well on for my target time and feeling good. The course had been pretty flat so far and I knew there was more of a challenge in the 2nd half of the course. It was at about the 10 mile mark I eventually caught up with Robert and we ended up running together and pushing each other on. It was great to have him running next to me as he dragged me through some bad times. I wasn't struggling physically but at about the 14 mile mark we did a 180 degree turn and at this point I just started to waver for about a minute or so. Straight back into it I cracked on and kept up the good pace which was round 6:30 /mi. At about the 16 mile mark one of Rob's fellow club runner was coming up to the 12 mile mark the other way and he had shouted that we was in 25th/26th place. Straight away, literally seconds after I had eyed up the competition in front and was working out when I would be overtaking them. As long as no-one came past me I knew I could squeeze into the top 20. This kept me focused and no matter what distance I run I always have a strong finish. Some of the people ahead of me had already passed me earlier in the race, at speed, so I had a feeling I would be stronger over the last 2 miles.

Decision made, at the 18 mile mark I would make a break and step up the pace. At the 18 mile mark I was at about 1:55:35 so I knew I had run well so far and had a lot left in my legs. I started to make the break and overtook 3 people on the 19th mile which I ran in 6:35, pretty steady I thought. I kept working on the runners ahead and I was closing in on them towards the finish. What I had forgotten about was the horrific hill back up to the finish which was inside Lancaster Castle. I made a dash up the hill pushing hard and caught another 2 people and nearly caught a 3rd but just ran out of ground. I didn't know at the time but I had made the top 20 with a finish time of 2:09:12 - 6:28 /mi. I was more than happy with this, yes I had pushed myself at parts but I felt like I had quite a lot left in the tank. This pace would leave me over 50 minutes for the last 10k on marathon day. Overall a very successful day and with 3 weeks to the Manchester marathon I was feeling good about it all. A sub 3 marathon was well on the cards, this would qualify for a good for age place opening the door to London, Boston, New York and Chicago for future marathons.

15.03.2016 - Run #50 - 3.2 Miles - 22:32 - 7:02 /mi - Easy 5k

17.03.2016 - Run #51 - 11.4 Miles - 1:41:27 - 8:52 /mi - RRRR run

19.03.2016 - Run #52 - 3.1 Miles - 18:26 - 5:56 /mi - CV parkrun - New PB

20.03.2016 - Run #53 - 20 Miles - 2:09:12 - 6:28 /mi - Trimpell 20 - New PB

Weekly Total - 37.7 Miles

Week 12 - Marathon Training

With Manchester now 3 weeks away, it was time to begin the tapering process. I had read so much on how tapering will give you the best marathon results and it's better going into a marathon well rested than fatigued, which makes obvious sense. Being honest, yes I had followed some sort of marathon plan but I had pretty much blagged the past 12 weeks of training. Never the less I was blagging it well and was confident in my body and had a great mind set approaching the final few weeks. Over the period so far I had listened to peoples views on marathons and how they train. Everyone has a different view and it's great to pick up tips from each individual. Some people swear by the 3 weeks taper, as well as the magazines, which I should listen to really. Other people have said listen to your own body, if you're running well then why stop. I find myself as a confidence runner, if I am improving, running well, legs feeling good, then I would happily run all day long. This being the first set of marathons I have trained for, I am willing to make my own mistakes and learn from them. In the long run it will make me a better runner and going through certain experiences will only make me stronger. Not that I had made any real mistakes yet, I was prepared to though. Saying this, the taper was put on hold to an extent as the 3rd RRRR Championship race was scheduled in for Easter Friday. It was going to be a nice little trip to Calder Vale for a hilly 10 mile race. I spent the week resting up quite well after Trimpell as it had taken a little bit out of me, the rest was needed as Calver Vale was going to be a tough race. Race day soon arrived and it was time to head north. Traffic being a nightmare a lot of runners missed out on the start of the race and some missed out all together. I had also struggled getting there but I got there 10 minutes before the start. Trainers on, a quick jog to get my bib number and it was time to race. It wasn't the best prep at all but was my own fault. With there being a great turn out from RRRR again with some very good runners, I was going to have to work hard to maintain my good work. I knew before the race that I had competition from Duncan and Simon so had to run well to keep up with them. Race underway, I had a good start, this did help with the first 2 miles being down hill. The first 2 miles I covered in 5:39 and 5:27, I knew this was too fast.

After mile 2, the elevation started to kick in and at this point I was regretting the fast start. With some major hills to come I knew I was going to have to work. It did help at first by the fact Simon and Duncan were by my side and 3 Red Rosers were occupying 4th, 5th and 6th place and running strong. For the next couple of miles we kept as a trio and ran well, think it was about mile 5ish that Duncan made a break and start powering off up the hills. I think the fact me and Simon had run Trimpell we was both still recovering from that run 5 days earlier, even though Duncan had cycled 18 miles to the race. Anyhow, the hills started to get to me and I could feel my thighs burning and definitely working over time. Some of the hills were just silly, over 10% gradient, it felt like I was walking up them at times. It as a good feeling that after mile 7 a nice little down hill section appeared from nowhere which I was delighted to see. Me and Simon still pretty much neck and neck, I could still see Duncan a head. I had worked out he was about 45 seconds ahead at the 7.5 mile mark. I clocked him run past a car and timed it until I got there. These are the tactics I use in races sometimes, I told you I am not competitive at all. At mile 8 it was back up hill again and I had no power left to drive up, at this point Simon made a move and went passed me, I had no answer at all as I was spent. It lasted for about half a mile but he had already gained some good distance on me and it was going to be hard to claw it back. From what I knew it was all down hill for the rest of the race so it was going to be a good finish. I had covered mile 8 and 9 in 5:53 then 5:57. I was about 15 seconds behind Simon and about 40 behind Duncan at the end of mile 9. With only the 1 mile left, it was time to put my foot down and see if I could possibly catch either of them. I was moving fast over the last mile but didn't have enough to catch them. Duncan finished in 4th with 1:01:12, Simon 5th with 1:01:22 and myself 6th with 1:01:35.

It was a strong from all  3 of us and we had definitely won the men's team prize with those finishes. Was a great team run from the 3 but on the day I didn't have enough to keep up with them. My time of 1:01:35 averaged at 6:10 /mi which I was very happy with considering it was at least 750ft of elevation. Gave me a lot of confidence for other 10 mile races knowing I would be able to give it a good shot at running it under an hour. As well as the men's prize the mighty RRRR won about another 4/5 categories and several other individual prizes. Overall another great day out, 3 points towards my Championship quest but I knew there was a lot more work to be done to keep up with the big boys of running. Saturday saw me back at parkrun for a change, I was there but my legs didn't want to be. I ran a time of 19:23 and that was all out. With the tough race the day before my legs definitely didn't want to play ball and kept me from climbing hills any sort of speed. It was a good leg loosener and was great to be able to relax a bit and smile for a photo for a change. Sunday I had a day off as I classed the 10 miler as my long run for the week, also the small matter of tapering as well.

23.03.2016 - Run #54 - 6.2 Miles - 39:53 - 6:25 /mi - Steady 10k

24.03.2016 - Run #55 - 3 Miles - 22:09 - 7:21 /mi - Easy 3 mile

25.03.2016 - Run #56 - 10 Miles - 1:01:35 - 6:10 /mi - Calder Vale 10

26.03.2016 - Run #57 - 3.1 Miles - 19:23 - 6:14 /mi - CV parkrun

Weekly Total - 24 Miles

So with 12 weeks now done and dusted, I now had 14 days until the Manchester marathon and 28th days until London as well. I was very pleased with my progress and was training really well. I was most definitely the fittest I had ever been I was really looking forward to smashing both marathons in under 3 hours. I never find training an issue, I enjoy every part of it. Pushing myself hard and having to keep disciplined for sure. I have stayed away from drink for most of the year and this has kept me in good shape. I do not miss the hangovers at all but I am really looking forward to having a good night out after London, until then, I have to keep my head and stay strong. As you know I have been battling with smoking since February and smoking has taken over again which has disappointed me big time. I think it was the day before the Liverpool 1/2 marathon, I bought a pack for some reason and smoked 5 of them the day before the race. I then went and ran the fastest I had ever run which in my mind gave me a reason to then smoke the remainder of the cigarettes. To cut a very long story short, I was back smoking from the 13th March until the 29th March... 16 days of 3/4/5 a day and I was officially back smoking. How could I be so stupid? I was running well and getting better ever day, one good result and my mentality changed and I became cocky again. It definitely played a part in some of the races recently, especially Trimpell and Calder Vale. I will once again learn from my mistakes. Typing this on Sunday 3rd April, I have now done 6 days without cigarettes and I am feeling good about it all. Really hoping I can stay strong and resist the urge. With 2 marathons coming up I need to stay focused, if I want to reach my long term goals I need to change this way of life.

Well thanks for reading again - Manchester and London will soon be coming up and I am ready to smash both of them.

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Thanks as always.

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Karl Hodgson

2016 - The Master Plan

The Master Plan

Hello, welcome back for my first official post of 2016, there's a lot to talk about as per usual. Hopefully you will show me the same support as you did through 2015.

As you know I completed many challenges last year in aid of charity, most of it to The Christie charity which is close to my heart and always will be. 2015 was a very successful year for me on the running/fitness side of things, there is always room for improvement

though. Yes I ran every day of the year, mixing this in with cycling, boxing etc, it was a tough test to say the least, I knew I had more to offer. I had no real structure last year, my main aim was to complete at least one mile a day for the full year, which I successfully did. I found that after the first couple of months I had gained a general fitness in which one mile wasn't really too much of a challenge. I could go and do the distance in 6-7 minutes with general ease and this wasn't putting any strain on my body. The real battle was actually going out and completing the run, it took me longer to get ready for the run sometimes. The benefit to this was I was able to manage injuries/tiredness very well. If I had done a long run or a race on a Sunday, I could then have a couple of days after it just recovering and doing the lower mileage runs. I found this helpful after the Marathon in October, on the Monday I cold barely walk, I literally had to complete the one mile with straight legs, things like this were the little challenges that kept testing me.

As I awoke on New Years day 2016, it was a pretty strange feeling knowing that after 365 days straight I now didn't need to go running. I could stay in bed and not have to consider getting my trainers on, it was a good feeling in a way but there was already a sense of loss

creeping in. It hadn't crossed my mind that day to go running at all, until later on that day when my hangover really started to kick in and I wasn't willing to pay 4 euros for the can of coke in the mini bar. With it being New Years day in Barcelona and a public holiday, not many shops were open. In need of some snacks and fizzy pop, I went out running to find some of these essential items. Subconsciously I think I was just looking for a way to get myself out running. I did eventually find a shop which took me on a 2 mile round journey, I felt horrible once I got back to the hotel, hangover had properly kicked in and it was back to bed for the day to recover. On that brief run I had decided that I needed another challenge as I was now officially a runner and I loved it, what the challenge was going to be I wasn't sure, I was going to make the decision on a clear head, today wasn't the day for that at all. I needed rest and to clear my headache first of all, I really had grown to dislike hangovers in 2015, not that I ever enjoyed them.

The day after I decided to get up early to see the sunset, every place I had ever visited as far as I can remember, I had made the effort to get up at least once to see the spectacular event. No matter where you are on earth, there's something so satisfying about seeing this event. Yes it happens every day, it's the days that you actually sit and watch it rise that you really appreciate it's beauty. I was 10 floors up on one of the rooftop balconies, on my own waiting for the darkness to disappear and the suns rays to light up the streets of Barcelona. As the sun was rising, I saw it as a signal of opportunity to set myself some targets for the year ahead. The first that came to mind was another marathon. I had done pretty well in my first marathon, running a time of 3:27:28. Looking back at this I hadn't trained for the distance, with the way I work I was also disappointed the fact I had walked on several occasions throughout. With applying for the London marathon earlier in the year and not gaining entry, I had decided when I got home I would enter the Manchester Marathon scheduled for the 10th April 2016. Having previously looked at qualifying times for the London Marathon, I knew if I could run below 3:05:00 at Manchester then I could potentially qualify for the London Marathon in 2017. I had only been classed as a runner for just over 12 months but the London Marathon is one race I have always seen on the TV and had thought on many occasions how good it would be to complete the iconic race. That wasn't an option for now, the option of running and training hard for Manchester was a realistic option that I would be taking on. Even at 8 in the morning on my own I was already getting exciting at the prospect of running 26.2 miles, when did it all change?

As well as setting the short term target of the marathon which would be 14 weeks of training, I wanted to set some targets for the year ahead. I was going to aim high which meant I would have to train harder than ever. First of all I thought about the 4 main distances in running, 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathon and marathon. Also the small matter of a Cuerden Valley parkrun target as this had taken over my Saturday mornings.

2014 PB's

CV parkrun - 20:55 - 6:44 /mi
5k - 20:35 - 6:38 /mi
10k - 40:11 - 6:28 /mi
1/2 Marathon - 1:42:34 - 7:50 /mi
Marathon - N/A

2015 - PB's

CV parkrun - 18:55 - 6:05 /mi - 2:00 improvement.
5k - 17:53 - 5:45 /mi - 2:42 improvement.
10k - 36:33 - 5:53 /mi - 3:38 improvement.
1/2 Marathon - 1:25:12 - 6:30 /mi - 17:22 improvement.
Marathon - 3:27:28

As you can see from the above stats, I had massively improved from when I first started running in October 2014, this was without any targeted training. 2015 was spent as a beginner, yes I was improving massively but I knew with my determination, discipline and strong mind-set I could take it to a whole new level in 2016, I needed to stay focused on what I wanted to achieve. So saying that, I have made some targets below, they will be hard to achieve but that's the whole point of it. As I don't really know my limits yet, I have no idea how this will all turn out, which is part of the fun and excitement. Considering when I first started running I struggled with a mile, I feel quite privileged that I can set these sort of goals.

2016 Targets -

CV parkrun - Sub 18:15 - 5:52 /mi
5k - Sub 17:15 - 5:32 /mi
10k - Sub 36:00 - 5:48 /mi
1/2 Marathon - Sub 1:22:00 - 6:16 /mi
Marathon - Sub 3:00 - 6:52 /mi

The times above are very fast in my eyes, if I get my head down and stick to the training then I am sure I can reach these targets. Even writing this now, I can picture myself finishing races and hitting these targets. I do like to imagine the scenarios before they go ahead and I really think this works. If I can run these speeds and distances in my mind, then I can transfer that to real life scenarios. I have done it in football, rugby and definitely in running previously and I believe it works.

I do have a couple more targets that I am setting myself for different reasons. For my competitive side, I will be taking part in the Red Rose Road Runners club Championship. The Championship is Red Rose’s premier race competition. Its pits clubs members against each other in 8 road races, which are to held on Sundays, throughout the year. The results work in a way that the 1st Red Rose male finisher 1 point, 2nd Red Rose male 2 points and so forth until the final Red Rose finisher. So higher up I can finish the smaller the amount of points gained, faster I am the higher up I finish. Since joining Red Rose, I have enjoyed every event I have been involved in, so I want to carry that on this year for sure. This competition will hopefully push me on to the next level, with the healthy competition within Red Rose it will surely be a good year. Yes the competition is very tough, there are some very good runners involved, for myself I want to try and see if I can keep up with them and put them to the test. The great thing about Red Rose is no matter the level of runner you are, the encouragement is same all round and it's great to see. At every race you are guaranteed a wave of red support which definitely spares you along during the tough moments, it gives you that little kick that gets you going again. Bring it on!! Another target I have is to finish king of the valley at Cuerden Valley parkrun. The reasoning behind this is just so I can keep myself on track and focused. 

I know that if I am getting up at 7:30am on Saturday mornings to go and enjoy the free local 5k, then my head is in the right place. If I am lying in bed hangover, feeling sorry for myself, then I know I have gone wrong somewhere for now. This is more of a test of my commitment to improving my running and fitness. Since I first started attending Cuerden at the end of 2014 I have met some great friends and my life has changed for the better, this has definitely been a big part of it. 

By 11:30am on a Saturday, I have normally been and pushed myself round the tough 5k course, cheered on other runners, had a chat and a laugh with some buddies with a brew, got home, had a bacon butty, shower, then I am ready for the day. Previous to parkrun, it was stay up until silly hours doing silly things, lie in bed until silly hours, wasting my life away. I know now which I would rather be doing, that is getting up early and venturing to the valley, it isn't going to change soon either. So the concept behind the 'king of the valley' is to accumulate points over 52 weeks. 100 points for 1st, 99 for 2nd and so on.. You can also volunteer up to 3 times and earn 100 points for each of those weeks, it doesn't stop you volunteering more than the 3 times, more time the better. So really my target here is to keep up with my healthy lifestyle and to keep improving on my times week on week, with this, I may possibly finish with the most points over the timescale... I know I have some tough competition from Pete, Chris, Andy, John, Ian, Paul, Ian, the list goes on. This is definitely not a competition by any means, I know a few of the names I have mentioned have absolutely no interest in it whatsoever. Either way, it's just an added challenge to the Saturday morning outings. Also, I have to mention it's due to some great runners at Cuerden that I have progressed the way I have so far since taking up running, so keep it up ladies and gents.

So after finishing my year in Barcelona and having an unbelievable time, it was time to move on from my achievements of 2015 and to focus on the future and 2016. I would use everything I had learned about myself in 2015 to push on and grow as a person. Having run 366 days consecutively, I had the 2nd January off. It was the day I was flying back from Barcelona, it felt strange. Getting home I still felt I needed to go out running, I didn't, so I had a nice relaxing evening and enjoyed it thoroughly. I couldn't afford to get lazy as I was now signed up to the Manchester marathon on April 10th, so it was straight back into it, my one day of rest felt enough and I was definitely fit enough to start a gruelling 15 week marathon plan. Starting it on Monday 4th January, I had 98 days to get marathon fit, plenty of time.

After searching through a lot of marathon plans, I finally decided on the Bupa plan, which was designed for advanced runners. I wasn't sure if I was classed as an advanced runner but with me aiming high I thought it would suit me best. It would be a lot of hard work, over the 15 weeks I would be covering roughly 500 miles, plus the marathon as well. The fact I only just reached over 1000 over the previous 52 weeks shows the scale of the challenge ahead, I was well up for it. The schedule was 6 nights a week with a whole mixture of training styles. However this was just a guideline, I would be able to mix it up, do less, do more, depending how I was feeling. If I could realistically stick to the plan then I knew come April I would be in good shape to run a Sub 3 hour marathon, this was the aim. I know the qualification time for the London Marathon is at 3:05:00, so it gives me a little bit of room for a bad run/bad conditions on the day. The rough plan is below, I will go into a bit more detail later.

Monday - Easy Run - 4-6 Miles
Tuesday - Mainly speed work
Wednesday - Easy/Steady Run - 4-10 Miles
Thursday - Strength/speed work
Friday - Rest day
Saturday - Built in the CV parkrun - warm/cool down - 5 Miles
Sunday - Long Run - 10-22 Miles

Moving on from the marathon training for now, it was back to parkrun which I ran a time of 19:13, which I was pleased with after a hectic new year, for the first run of 2016 I was happy, room for improvement big time. The day after on Sunday 10th January, it was completion time. The first of the 8 Red Rose Championship events was already here and it was time to get serious. Being one of my targets for the year I really wanted to run well. My last 10k race I PB'd with 36:33 in November, I had an average week of training so I didn't expect to beat that, I still had a good time in me though.

From people that had done the Garstang 10k last year I knew it was pretty hilly with an uphill finish, so needed to pace myself well. As ever there was a great turn out for Red Rose with some good runners involved that I needed to watch out for. I obviously wanted to do well myself but was always willing other Red Rose members to do well as well. With the team days out and the great showing RRRR offer, there are always chances of the team prizes - Which I know the wine goes down well for most people.

With the race starting on a tight car park, I knew it was essential to get to the front and have a good steady start to avoid the human traffic. I certainly did that, my first mile I covered in 5:35, which I knew myself was far too fast to keep it up. Was a good start and it gave me a gap to fall of on later miles. I soon settled into a good comfortable pace, the next 3 miles I ran in 6:06, 6:01 and 6:11. After the 4th mile I felt myself tiring out, I have never done it on a race before but I ended up looking behind me. I don't like doing it, as if someone in front of me turns around in my mind I think they could be starting to struggle, which I was. I got a brief look and I knew my fellow Red Rose Daniel Hughes was close behind me, also Robert Walsh was close on my heels. I panicked a little in my mind which I never do, I managed to keep my pace somehow and my 5th mile was 6:05. Shortly after with about 1 mile to go
Robert started to run next to me and I thought he was going to push on and leave me in his tracks. The quality person he is, I think he realised I was struggling and spent a good 10 seconds encouraging me to get myself going again as there was only a mile left. Now he didn't have to do that, he could have kept his head down and cracked on, so thanks for that. It definitely spared me on as we both finished really well. It all came down to the last hill and the sprint finish, I managed to just squeeze in ahead by literally a couple of seconds, finishing with a time of 37:05, Rob with 37:09 I think. Was a great finish and it was really appreciated, this was one of the reasons I enjoyed running, the people you meet are fantastic. Our final efforts were awarded as we both managed to finish in the top 10, myself 9th and Robert 10th, Robert also with a PB. Deep down I knew Robert was in training for the London Marathon himself, so he would be improving over the year, got my eye on you young man ;-).

To finish with, it was another great event to run in, well organised as per usual and the marshals fantastic as always. Even though I hadn't run as well as I would have liked, I finished with my 2nd best time for the 10k, so the signs were there that I was improving my consistency. My main aim was to be the first Red Roser back and I achieved this as well. Dan Hughes was only a few places behind and was in sight of me all the way round. So this was another person I had to look at as well, if I didn't train well and put in a lot of hard work I knew Dan would come and take me at any opportunity. I had the first place in the first race, leaving me with a total of one point and 7 Championship races left. The next race was scheduled for March, Caldervale 10, so I had plenty of time to get fit and improve my running to continue my quest. Another note for the day, I cannot remember how many awards RRRR won, it was a lot, there must have been a good 5-10 minutes of applauding/whooping for the age category prizes. For the first time as well, I was involved in winning the men's team prize, was a great effort by everyone and I hope to be able to grab a few more of these in the year.

January Training

After the Garstang 10k, the rest of January was pretty much just spent getting into my marathon routine, which I was thoroughly enjoying. It was nice for a change to have a schedule to follow with certain distances/times to achieve, in 2015 I had no structure at all. I needed to get used to what speed I could run at on my training runs, also a massive factor was to get used to pacing myself, which would be key to a great marathon run. It was going to be even harder than running every day, I was glad I had a day in there to rest. Running every day in 2015 set me up well for this marathon for sure. There isn't too much to talk about on the training side, so I have added the details of my runs for the whole of January, just to indicate the distance/speed I was doing things at. I had worked out some times I wanted to follow, easy runs, between 7:00 - 7:30 /mi. Steady runs, between 6:30 - 7:00 /mi, anything faster than this I knew I would be pushing. In my head if I could get used to running at these speeds on training runs then it would set me up nicely for April.

January

01.01.2016 - Run #1 - 1.3 Miles - 9:17 - 7:40 /mi
03.01.2016 - Run #2 - 3 Miles - 25:45 - 8:27 /mi

Week 1 - Marathon Training

04.01.2016 - Run #3 - 4 Miles - 28:59 - 7:11 /mi - Easy 4 Miles
06.01.2016 - Run #4 - 6.2 Miles - 41:59 - 6:44 /mi - Steady 10k
07.01.2016 - Run #5 - 5.5 Miles - 43:05 - 7:45 /mi - Fartlek
09.01.2016 - Run #6 - 3.1 Miles - 19:13 - 6:11 /mi - CV parkrun
10.01.2016 - Run #7 - 6.2 Miles - 37:05 - 5:58 /mi - Garstang 10k

Weekly Total - 25 Miles

Week 2 - Marathon Training

11.01.2016 - Run #8 - 4 Miles - 29:03 - 7:15 /mi - Easy 4 Miles
12.01.2016 - Run #9 - 4.6 Miles - 30:02 - 6:31 /mi - Constant Speed - 2x10 mins - 5 Mins x 2 Recovery
13.01.2016 - Run #10 - 5.1 Miles - 36:26 - 7:08 /mi - Easy 5 Miles
16.01.2016 - Run #11 - 4 Miles - 29:09 - 7:15 /mi - Easy 4 Miles
17.01.2016 - Run #12 - 10 Miles - 1:09:29 - 6:59 /mi - Easy 10 Miles

Weekly Total - 27.7 Miles

Week 3 - Marathon Training

18.01.2016 - Run #13 - 4 Miles - 29:04 - 7:16 /mi - Easy 4 Miles
19.01.2016 - Run #14 - 5 Miles - 34:12 - 6:48 /mi - Constant Speed - 10 mins, 5 mins rest - 7 mins, 4 mins rest - 5 mins, 3 mins rest
20.01.2016 - Run #15 - 6.2 Miles - 40:49 - 6:33 mi - Steady 10k
21.01.2016 - Run #16 - 3.5 Miles - 26:16 - 7:29 /mi - Hill Reps

Weekly Total - 18.7 Miles

Week 4 - Marathon Training

25.01.2016 - Run #17 - 4 Miles - 28:33 - 7:08 /mi - Easy 4 Miles
27.01.2016 - Run #18 - 7 Miles - 45:15 - 6:27 /mi - Steady 7 Miles
28.01.2016 - Run #19 - 7.5 Miles - 51:36 - 6:52 /mi - Intervals - 6x1 Miles - 400m Easy In between
29.01.2016 - Run #20 - 13.1 Miles - 1:30:20 - 6:53 /mi - Steady 1/2 Marathon
30.01.2016 - Run #21 - 3.1 Miles - 19:45 - 6:22 /mi - CV parkrun

Weekly Total - 34.7 Miles

January - Total Miles - 110.3

Anne-Marie (mum) - tall bloke on the right.

Overall, by the end of January I was pretty pleased with my progress. I had pretty much stayed with the marathon programme and  was gaining some consistency with my running times. My main problem in January was the fact I had missed 3 long runs and I knew these were key to marathon training. To be fair, one was down to the Garstang 10k so that can be excused. The next one was just out of pure laziness and not being in the right frame of mind, not wanting to get up and run wasn't like me at all. Lastly the other was for my mums 50th birthday, now how could I not have a drink and celebrate my beautiful mums birthday. It was a great night and lets say she got a little bit tipsy and couldn't stand up by the end of the night, I didn't expect anything less. She's a great women and been there for me all of my life until this day. There'll be another time to go on about you mother, this is marathon talk now, priorities and that ;-)

Even though I had missed some important runs and was really hoping it wouldn't bite me in the arse in later days, we would have to wait and see. Either way, for now January ended very well. The fact pretty much all my running buddies had got a place in the London Marathon, including Pete, it had annoyed me throughout January. This all changed very soon, a certain Mr Steve Taylor presented me with an opportunity of a charity place for The great charity of Revitalise - (Revitalise was founded in 1963 as the Winged Fellowship Trust (WFT). In 2004 WFT became Vitalise and in 2014 Vitalise became Revitalise. We currently run three accessible holiday centres in Chigwell in Essex, Southampton and Southport. Our mission is to enable disabled people in the UK to access essential breaks with care, and provide inspirational opportunities for volunteers. We firmly believe that disabled people should have the same rights, freedoms, responsibilities and quality of life as those without disabilities).

Sponsor page for this found below :)

https://www.justgiving.com/Karl-Hodgson2LONDON?newPage=True

From nowhere, I was now signed up to the Virgin London Marathon, one of the most iconic races you could ever take part in. It was a great feeling. I had been given the challenge of raising a minimum of £500 for the charity. It felt a bit strange knowing I wouldn't be raising money for The Christie, in a way it was good as I could put something back into another charity and make a difference elsewhere. So from being involved in just the one marathon in Manchester, I now had two marathons which would be in the space of 2 weeks. Manchester on the 10th April, London on the 24th, what a month April was going to be. It seemed pretty fitting as in April 2016 it would be ten years since I was diagnosed with cancer, so it was really time to get serious, no playing games and being half hearted, it was time to make life changes, not just for the marathon but for myself that would change my life forever.

With it being the start of February, my parents wanted to make a few lifestyle changes, so instead of doing the dry January, they had decided to stop drinking for the full month of February instead. Which was good to see as it would do them the world of good. Thing is, I had to get on board as well. Not drinking for me wasn't an issue at all, so that would be easy for me. The main issue I had was my smoking... quite a few people know I smoke and have smoked for a while. Such a horrible habit. I had probably smoked between 5-10 a day since the age of 19 properly. From going through all my treatment etc and having a genuine life scare, literally 18 months after finish treatment I found myself smoking. The single thing I hated the most, I genuinely did used to be disgusted by it. I remember going for chemotherapy and there would be a lot of people stood outside having a fag, on treatment, drip attached, it used to make me so mad. My opinion was they had been giving a second chance and they are pretty much throwing back in the face of the hospital, nurses and everyone involved in The Christie charity. Looking back at it now, I had become that person that I never wanted to be. I had been given a second chance, now 27, I have spent 8 years of my life going against my morals. I knew it as well, I acted like it didn't bother me, I can assure you it did. Yes I am disappointed in myself, I am more annoyed the fact that I have been writing blogs, telling people how they can change, asking for donations for a great cause, when realistically I'd be finishing the blog and going for a fag. So I want to say sorry to everyone that has supported me, sponsored me and showed me encouraged me. I feel I had lied to you especially over the past 14 months and been very deceitful. I could have been putting that money towards charity myself instead of blowing it on cigarettes. I cannot blame anyone else than myself for starting, it was down to me to smoke, buy more, smoke more, you know the process. I am a little disappointed that after all I had been through that no-one ever pulled me to one side and had a serious word with me. Yes my mum and dad had done this several times, it's different when your parents tell you not to do something though.

Recently though certain people have stepped in and had that word with me, which honestly I can't thank them enough for it. Like I have said, I cannot blame anyone for me smoking, it's my fault and was solely down to me to take action and try to give up and get my life back on track. I thought I was running well in 2015, looking back at it now, everyone scenario I wrote about, just add 5-10 fags in a long the way. Parkrun for example, I would have one before it, finish the race, then I would be straight back to my car to have another. It's pathetic, I am getting annoyed about it now. Chester marathon, I had two fags before this as well, no wonder I hit a wall with 10 miles to go. Pretty much every run last year, I would have had 3/4/5 fags before them, then the same afterwards. Surprisingly, the 10k in November in which I PB's by over 2 minutes, I had spent the 2 weeks before this cutting down massively. Who would have believed it, not smoking would make me a better runner.? Once I had PB'd I felt it was now ok to start again, was a crazy attitude.

Anyhow, I could ramble on for hours about how disappointed I am with myself over the past 8 years and the past year raising money for charity. Turning this all into a positive, in 2015 I had ran very well considering the handicap I had put on myself. Back to the deal, my parents giving up drink in February, meant I was finally going to give it a real good go at stopping smoking. I felt it was the right time and was very focused in getting over the horrible habit. Speaking to people who had given up, it was going to be one hell of a battle, I was up for it, ready for the change and to relieve myself of the disappointment and low views I had of myself and smoking. This was now the time to step up my game and get my head focused on my running, I knew without the smoking I could up my game massively. If I didn't give up, all my hard work would be going to waste and it was likely I wouldn't reach my targets, which would drive me mad.

February

Week 5 - Marathon Training

The first couple of runs in February felt very good, I was angry on them but I felt my breathing massively improving, which I knew was going to happen. On the 2nd run I had tweaked my calf a bit, so was annoyed and sulking as I didn't know how long I would be out for. The fact I was trying to better myself and 2 days in I was injured, I wasn't happy at all. For those that have given up smoking you'll know the scenario of quitting. For those that didn't, moody doesn't even start to describe how I was in the first week, embarrassing really. I hadn't smoked for the first four days, Friday night came and I went out for a few drinks and really enjoyed it. I had a couple of pints and I stayed strong, a few pints in it went completely wrong. Let's just say I went through a full 10 pack on my own and as I was tipsy I wasn't bothered, my head was telling me I was really enjoying it. Saturday morning, waking up at 8am for parkrun with a hangover and the shame of telling my parents I had broken our promise after 4 days, it wasn't good. It got worse as I had he poorest run for a long time and got spanked my Ciaron and Dan, I wasn't happy at all. I had never blown up in a run before, I had now, dehydrated and full of carbon monoxide I just wanted to go home to bed and sulk.

I did exactly that, I needed some time to properly reflect on the situation and come up with a plan of action. I spent a lot of time that Saturday looking on forums and blogs of how people had given up smoking. There was one that caught my attention and I find it a really good idea. The guy had spoken about the pressure he put himself on giving up was making him more stressed, then when it got too much he would go and buy a pack of 20, eventually getting back into smoking. This went on and on for months until he decided to change his plan. His idea was to plan a day in which he was allowed 2/3 cigarettes, in his head he could look forward to a certain day of the week. After a couple of months of doing this, he eventually gave up and realised he didn't want the cigarettes any more. Months down the line he was still clean and enjoying being smoke free. I decided this would be a good way of approaching it and to stop putting so much pressure on myself. I know it wasn't giving up straight away like I would have liked, I felt this could really work for me, just to slowly get myself off them. An 8 year habit wasn't just going to go overnight, plus I would be smoking 68 less a week, this was surely only going to benefit me big time, only time would tell. I think this was the first time I had questioned my running and not enjoyed a run, ever. I am sounding quite dramatic, there are far worse problems in the world, I just want to change my ways. I did speak to coach Pita that Saturday evening and she put me back on the straight and narrow. She told me how it was, if I didn't change what I was doing then I wouldn't achieve any of my goals. I had to work harder than I had ever done and it needed to start now. A few other things were discussed and it seemed to hit home, coming from someone that had achieved so much it was great to have advice from her. It was time to re-focus and get my head back in the game. Sunday came very quickly and it was time for the Sunday long run, 15 miles this week. I completed the 15 miles in 1:50:30, averaging 7:22 /mi, I was pleased with this. It felt very comfortable and the last mile I had it in my legs to finish strong with a 6:23 mile. Felt really good to get in a good solid distance at the end of week 5.

01.02.2016 - Run #22 - 5 Miles - 36:02 - 7:11 /mi - Easy 5 Miles
02.02.2016 - Run #23 - 5.3 Miles - 34:57 - 6:31 /mi - Constant Speed - 15 mins, 5 mins rest, 10 mins, 5 mins rest
06.02.2016 - Run #24 - 3.1 Miles - 19:54 - 6:24 /mi - CV parkrun
07.02.2016 - Run #25 - 15 Miles - 1:50:30 - 7:22 /mi - Steady 15 Miles

Weekly Total - 28.4 Miles

Week 6 - Marathon Training

6 weeks in and I was now hoping to kick on and man up. It was time to start working hard and to stick to my guns with the smoking. I had my training runs throughout the week to keep me focused, then at the weekend I had a parkrun to aim for as well as the cross country in Fleetwood. On my runs I could really tell that cutting out the cigs was already benefiting me. I was running under 7 minute miles on some of the runs with ease, I could feel the oxygen being taken into my lungs and it powering my legs. Striding felt so much easier and I felt a lot more powerful, like I could just increase my speed at any point and have control over it. From Monday to Thursday I was still very moody and agitated at little things, the improvement in my running kept me strong. I kept reminding myself of why I was giving up on the long term goals I would be achieving. Saturday morning soon came round and it was another parkrun day in the valley, it was time to see if the week of hard training was paying off. I was feeling good in the morning and after a mile warm up my legs felt fresh, the Friday rest days helped out massively. To cut a long story short, it had paid off. I managed to finish with a time of 18:37 which was a new PB. My previous best was 18:55, so taking 18 seconds off over 5k, I was buzzing. The run felt good and I felt I ran the 2nd & 3rd mile in a more controlled manor, my breathing was coming back and it was very satisfying. The 18:55 time had taken me 16 months to achieve, within 2 weeks of being good I had smashed it, next up was the cross country. The first and only time I had done cross country was in Liverpool in November, so I was looking forward to mixing it up a bit. Arriving in the afternoon, the course looked pretty tough, with some steep inclines and muddy areas.

For myself there was no real aim for the day, it was just to run well and finish in the best position possible for the team. As always it was a great showing from the might RRRR, both the men and women having a great turnout. With the race underway, the course proved a lot more difficult than I thought. Some very boggy areas in which you was ankle deep, it was a real test on the thighs and you had to push very hard through some parts. It was great, as it was harder than road running, it took your mind of running for a change. I had a pretty solid performance, being the 2nd red roser back home in a time of 42:02, 6:30 /mi. I was more than happy with this considering I had ran hard in the morning. Another wicked day out with RRRR and awesome support, the same as every event I had attended. On the smoking side of things, I did have the 2 on Saturday evening, I didn't enjoy the first one but without lying I enjoyed the 2nd one. I had stayed strong all week and had built these 2 in, so it was now going to be another week before I considered having any more. Nearly 2 weeks down and 12 smoked, it was going well for sure. Sunday was here once again, time to get in some serious distance. 19 miles was in the plan for this one and again at a steady pace. I set off on the run without keeping an eye on my pace, once again only checking the splits every mile. I was hoping just to try and stay consistent on the long runs, trying to keep the mile splits very similar. I didn't do too bad with this one, covering the 19 miles in 2:20:56, averaging 7:25 /mi. Final mile again I picked up the pace, finishing with a 6:36 mile. Another successful run, with the 2 fast runs the previous day this was great progress for myself. My breathing was superb and legs exactly the same, things were looking up. I had covered the furthest distance ever this week, totalling 54.9 miles, it was benefitting me massively.

08.02.2016 - Run #26 - 5 Miles - 36:33 - 7:17 /mi - Easy 5 Miles
09.02.2016 - Run #27 - 6.5 Miles - 45:05 - 6:50 /mi - Constant Speed, 5 mins, 15 mins, 5 mins, 15 mins, 5 mins
10.02.2016 - Run #28 - 7 Miles - 44:50 - 6:24 /mi - Steady 7 Miles
11.02.2016 - Run #29 - 7 Miles - 48:02 /mi - 6:51 /mi - Easy 7 Miles
13.02.2016 - Run #30 - 3.1 Miles - 18:37 - 6:00 /mi - CV parkrun - New PB
13.02.2016 - Run #31 - 6.5 Miles - 42:02 - 6:30 /mi - Fleetwood XC - New PB
14.02.2016 - Run #32 - 19 Miles - 2:20:56 - /mi - 7:25 /mi - Steady 19 Miles

Weekly Total - 54.9 Miles

Week 7 - Marathon Training

After a good week the previous week and some great distance work, I decided to take a different approach to this weeks training. With me now feeling the benefits on not smoking, I thought I would try pushing myself to see if I could beat my PB's in every distance except the marathon. As I hadn't entered any races for a while, especially with the 5k, I didn't think my times matched my potential at the moment. Monday night was just an east 5 mile run to recover from the 19 miles on the Sunday, legs felt a little heavy but that was expected. For the Tuesday night I had planned the 5k run, the route I had marked out was very flat with sections being downhill. After an easy one mile warm up, it was time to test my new lungs out. I set off pretty fast but stayed comfortable as I didn't want to die off later on. Saying that, the first mile I ran in 5:26 which was a nice start. The 2nd mile was nicely downhill so I knew I could push on again, 5:35 I recorded for this one. Setting a new 2 mile PB on the way with 11:01. I was starting to feel it and was pushing hard for the 3rd mile as my quads started to feel heavy. I clung on and was at 5:54 for the 3rd mile, leaving me a couple of 100 yards to finish off. Finishing time of 17:31, smashed it with an average of 5:38 /mi. Yes it was slightly downhill but I had taken 22 seconds off my 5k PB from last year, 16 days into the no smoking plan and it was going well. All I needed to do was to keep building and play the waiting game for an official 5k race. Wednesday was a rest day, it was then onto my 10k test on the Thursday evening. I won't talk you through this one, but it was another PB. 36:28, my previous best was 36:33, so a 5 second improvement, well happy. Towards the end of the run I had felt a slight tweak in my left calf, so pretty much had to hobble home once I had finished. It wasn't anything too serious but I did take 2 days off as rest, plus is give me chance to volunteer for a change at parkrun. The only annoyance was the fact I had to miss my Sunday long run which was going to be my half marathon, I settled for a 5k to get back in the swing of things, with a few days off I was feeling good and ready to go again for the week after. Once again with the smoking, I had 2 on Saturday which I didn't enjoy at all, hopefully this was a good sign I was finally getting over them.

15.02.2016 - Run #33 - 5 Miles - 37:00 - 7:23 - Easy 5 Miles
16.02.2016 - Run #34 - 3.1 Miles - 17:31 - 5:38 /mi - 5k Test - New PB
18.02.2016 - Run #35 - 6.2 Miles - 36:28 - 5:52 /mi - 10k Test - New PB
21.02.2016 - Run #36 - 3.1 Miles - 19:00 - 6:08 /mi - Steady 5k

Weekly Total - 21.8 Miles

Week 8 - Marathon Training

7 weeks down on the training and I can genuinely say it was the fittest I had been and the healthiest also. I had eaten clean, hadn't drank and was doing well with the smoking. There was a saying I had seen recently - 'if you want to perform like an athlete, you need to train like an athlete'. I was doing just that and it was helping me massively on my quest for a sub 3 marathon. With the hard work and the training I was putting it, it didn't come without sacrifice. My social life had pretty much gone as I was training 6 days a week, by the time I had run in the evening, got home, showered, changed, eaten, prepared dinner for the day after, it was 9pm most nights. As I was working hard as well I couldn't be bothered doing anything. In a way it was working well as it kept me busy and out of scenarios for the smoking. One thing I may regret is missing a stag do the weekend before for my good friend Chris. I was booked on the trip to Latvia which was for two days, selfishly though with a week to go I backed out of the trip. I knew that if I went, I would be drinking in excess and doing the same with smoking. I couldn't justify spending £100's on these 2 marathons, accommodation, trains etc, then possibly throwing it all away with a weekend away. I do feel bad for it but Mr Willetts, being the legend he is fully understood my views and wished me luck with everything I was doing. Part of me now needs to run this sub 3 hour marathon for Chris, as if I do he played a big part in my achieving my goal. He could have taken it the wrong way and even tried to peer pressure me into the trip, he didn't. So thanks for that Chris, was much appreciated as I felt horrible not going in the first place. I will make it up to you babe! So yes I am massively improving, it isn't without working my arse off and putting everything into it.

Back to the training, with a quiet weekend and being well rested I started with an easy 6 miles on Monday. It felt very easy at 7:02 /mi, everything was becoming  more controlled as the weeks went on. Tuesday was test night, it was time to complete the half marathon to see if I could break all of my PB's the space of a week. I was focused and ready to run hard, I wasn't going all out but definitely pushing myself. I certainly did that and hit another PB with a time of 1:22:54 - 6:20 /mi over the distance. My previous time was 1:25:12 in race conditions, so I had smashed this one improving on my time by 2:18. I was tired at the end but I had a lot more to offer, was another achievement and I had proved to myself what I could do in the space of a week. I decided to treat myself and have a rest night Wednesday, back to the grind with an easy 9 mile run Thursday which yet again felt really good and my confidence was growing. Friday I went out with Emma, I was making it one of my aims for the year to try and help out non-runners/beginners. The aim was to get her to running 5k and then to enter a race over the summer. As she was only on her 2nd run I was very impressed, covering 2.2 miles in 29 minutes. I didn't tell her any plans, I just wanted her to run as far as she could, then rest when need be, then back to it. I didn't really need to push her, she took my encouragement well and pushed harder when I asked. For her 2nd run it was great work and the 5k target wouldn't be far away at all, sooner than she thinks. For someone new to running I wanted to get her onto the streets as well to build up her confidence. I know some people have fear of running on the streets due to shouts/comments people may make. I have had all sorts shouted at me that I cannot repeat, you just have to laugh it off and crack on, otherwise it will spoil the experience if you let it bother you. As within 30 seconds you're half way down the road and will never see those people ever again. If you do see them again, you'll be running faster next time so the shouts won't go on for long. Just use all these little things as motivation, people have said things to me that I still use as motivation, it keeps the fire burning inside me.

Just have to quickly mention that I had the 2 cigarette allowance on Friday night, first one I enjoyed, 2nd one was pointless. It had been a week since I had last touched them and it was getting easier to avoid. The mood swings where still there, it wasn't constantly on my mind though which was good. The one thing I had noticed was nights sweats, within seconds of nearly falling asleep I could literally feel the sweat building up, it was strange, definitely my body cleansing itself and clearing out years of bad habits - I was happy I was it this stage as it meant I was sticking to my guns.

To finish off the week in was that time again, 9am on a Saturday morning only meant one thing, Cuerden Valley parkrun. Was a special week for me as it was my 50th parkrun since I had taken up running. I had run 49 times in the valley and just the solo effort at Preston. So it was 50 times I had dragged myself out of bed at 7:30am, 50 times I had showed commitment and 50 times I had pushed myself on way or another. At parkrun they like to celebrate people's 50th but I kept it quiet as I had business to take care of, plus the 50th run at Cuerden was the one that meant the most to me. For my 50th parkrun I set myself a challenge of a new PB and a first finisher, so whoever turned up that week was going to have to work for a first finish as I was very determined. Seems a bit serious for a parkrun day, I like to set goals and push myself though. It was a very fast start and over the first mile I had run the 2nd fastest mile of 5:52. Dan was on my shoulder for this first mile and he pushed me big time, I could hear him and he didn't want to let up. I knew I had to keep pushing, not to get away from him but to get close to my PB. After 2 miles I was still feeling good and I was a few seconds up on my previous time, with only the mile left I decided to pick it up and start working. Coming up the last hill at the valley I knew it was going to be
close, with a strong sprint finish I crossed the line in 18:28, taking 9 seconds off my PB and coming in first. I could tell I had worked hard for it as I was blowing big time. Still recovering Dan crossed the line in which I knew was a very good time, turned out he had set a new PB of 18:58 and broke the 19 minute barrier. Yes I am competitive but it's also great to see other people achieving and doing well at the same time. Dan had been running great for weeks and this was long overdue for him. The top 4 finishers also PB'd that day so it was also great to see people being pushed by each other. Hopefully we could take the running into some races in 2016 and push each other to more PB's and some team prizes for Red Rose. So it was a great day again and was happy with my performance, I was rapidly improving and there was no real signs of it stopping. I just had to make the most of it and keep pushing as at some point it will stop, for now I was enjoying seeing my own personal gains. 50 parkruns done, I can guarantee that will get to 100, maybe not all in the valley as I will at some point start touring and looking to challenge for a few first finishes elsewhere. For now though, this was my home and I was loving it. There a few stats below for my 50 parkruns, well the 49 at Cuerden, long may it continue.

1st parkrun - 23:12 - 25/10/2014
50th parkrun - 18:28 - 27/02/2016
20 PB's in total - 40%
First finishes - 12/49 - 24.4%
Top 5 finishes - 34/49 - 69.3%
Top 10 finishes - 46/49 - 93.8%
Fastest 500 - 21/500 - 1st - 16:57 - Me - 18:28
Volunteering - 5 times - Need to work on this stat!!!

It was back around to Sunday again and 2 months into my marathon training, was time to test out both speed and distance. I was aiming for 20 miles at roughly marathon pace, there was no real pressure to get an exact time, it was more for the pace and test the legs. If I could get between 6:50-6:55 /mi over the 20 miles I would be very happy. I set off steady, 3/4 of a mile in a realised my garmin wasn't recording the distance, so I had to stop, reset my watch, then start again, 20 miles here we go. I was feeling good, around 6 miles I felt my hamstrings tighten up but I soon forgot about it. I covered my first half marathon in 1:28:31 - which was an average of 6:45, more than happy with this pace and I was feeling good. I carried on with a similar pace, finishing at 20 miles in a time of 2:15:12, which was exactly 6:45 /mi. It was a good 7 seconds a mile under my target pace. I Still felt like a had a lot left in me and could have easily carried on. Experience of my last marathon has taught me not to be too confident. It took me pretty much 1 hour to complete the last 10k in Chester, so I knew I still had to work hard to be able to finish strong. This practice run left me with 44:48 to complete the last 10k, which was 7:12 /mi. I have been told that on some marathons you can end up doing extra distance due to overtaking and the amount of people to run through. The work I was doing was very good and I had come along way in 2016, I just needed to keep focused and carry on with what I am doing, if I do, there's no reason I won't reach my goals. Another 50 plus mile week as well, everything is looking good with 6 weeks until Manchester and 8 weeks until London, bring it on!!!

22.02.2016 - Run #37 - 6 Miles - 42:10 - 7:02 /mi - Easy 6 Miles
23.02.2016 - Run #38 - 13.1 Miles - 1:22:54 - 6:20 /mi - 1/2 Marathon Test - New PB
25.02.2016 - Run #39 - 9 Miles - 1:04:30 - 7:10 /mi - Easy 9 Miles
26.02.2016 - Run #40 - 2.2 Miles - 29:05 - 12:41 /mi - Road to 5k
27.02.2016 - Rub #41 - 3.1 - 18:28 - 5:57 /mi - New PB
28.02.2016 - Run #42 - 20 Miles - 2:15:12 - 6:45 /mi - New PB

Weekly Total - 54.4 Miles

So 2 months into my training and I as running the best I had ever run and it was a great feeling. The countdown to Manchester and London was well and truly on. I had a lot lined up over the next couple of months, which include the Liverpool half marathon, Caldervale 10, Trimpell 20 and then the Darwen half marathon. All long distance runs that would test me and hopefully put me in good stead for the 2 marathons.

Just to finish off - If you've got this far then why not sponsor me - £500 is the target, only £470 to go :-) On the sponsoring side of things, I received over £1500 last year so I cannot expect much more from you lot, you have already helped me so much and that is greatly appreciated.

I have attached the link below if you need it. If not, just give it a quick share, that is all for now - Thanks for reading and all that.

https://www.justgiving.com/Karl-Hodgson2LONDON?newPage=True

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Karl Hodgson