A man called Bob.

Picture the scene;

A spit and sawdust saloon bar in America's mid-west.  The bar is propping up a couple of trail-beaten cowboys and a time ravaged prospector, sleeping off too much firewater, while the barman diligently wipes glasses with a greasy cloth.  In the corner an old timer is playing ragtime on an out of tune piano whilst keeping a keen eye on the card game being played out on the next table.

Suddenly the candle on the piano sputters out in a gust of wind from the now open saloon doors.  Stood in the doorway is the silhouetted frame of a stranger.  The music stops as the stranger steps in to the room and says "I'm looking for a man. Goes by the name of Graham. Bob Graham." 

The card game continues and the piano refills the silence of the saloon as people diligently avoid the eyes of the stranger.  "I said, I'm looking for a man called Bob Graham!" says the stranger, silencing the piano for a second time and walking up to the bar "Do any of you know where I can find him?" 

"Ain't nobody called Bob Graham in these parts stranger," replies the barman, putting down his cloth and moving slowly to where his trusty Smythe and Wilson lives under the counter. "can I get you a drink?" But before the stranger can reply the prospector raises his head from the bar "I've not heard the name Bob Graham for many a long year...that name brings trouble with it everywhere it goes."

A shot rings out...

Back in the real world I wasn't looking for Bob Graham, but he seems to have found me.  On the 1st June this year, a day after we had completed our last training session for August's 100k TrailTrekk challenge, Jonathan shared two words with me via Facebook, along with a link to a blog.  Bob Graham were those words.  At the time I was very confused. Bob who?  I needed to know more and as Jonathan is a trustworthy type I clicked on the link and discovered that I was being led down a pretty dangerous path, one that I'm teetering on the brink of walking along.

In 1932 Bob Graham, a hotelier from Keswick ran 66 miles through the Lake District, including 42 of the highest peaks, in 24 hours.  The Bob Graham Round was born and people still take it on to this day but less than 2000 people have successfully completed the round in under 24 hours.

I'm only just getting into the idea trail running and am yet to cover more than 17 miles in one go so there is no danger of me taking Bob on any time soon, but as the man himself was 42 when he set the record, I guess I have a few years to think about it.  I have a few other challenges to overcome first though.

There is the small matter of the York Marathon in August, but next year I'm planning on running the Yorkshire Three Peaks which will give me a much better idea of what would be involved running in the Lake District.  I'm not about to become the stranger walking, into town looking for Bob Graham. But I know his name, and I know that if I want to find him all I have to do is walk into the Moot Hall in Keswick, and then go for a very long run.

Leeds 10k 2015

Since starting up South Leeds Lakers in February there are certain things that I've said so often that they are starting to sound odd.  "Lets go for a run" and "Hills are your friends" are fast becoming annoying catch phrases, but "Not every run can be a good run", said almost every week for the last 22 weeks, is possibly something that I need to take to heart.

This weekend was the Leeds 10k.  It was the 3rd time in 3 years that I was running it and, during the week leading up to Sunday morning, I started to feel quite confident.  It had been my 1st ever race in 2013, I'd seen a massive improvement in 2014, and I felt like it was on the cards for me to improve again this year.

I set off to Millennium Square bright and early as per usual however, unlike the last two years, I wasn't alone.  Gary joined me for the walk in for his 1st Leeds 10k, and around 30 people who I know from running in South Leeds met us on the steps of the City Museum.  We stood around talking race strategy and telling tales of how we had done in previous years, whilst giving advice to our friends who had never run a 10k race before.  The atmosphere was great and rather than the usual pre-race nerves I was being swept along by a group's excitement.

South Leeds Lakers and Hunslet Hawks. One happy family.

We soon went our separate way to find our starting pens and I made the decision that my time in the  Hull 10k a few weeks ago wasn't a fluke and that I could at least achieve the same time again.  All I needed to do was maintain a pace around 4:30min/k and 45:30 would be mine.  If I managed to go just a little bit quicker my dream of a sub a 45 10k could become a reality.

Unlike Burnley a couple of weekends ago there was no delay in the start and we were off just as the temperatures started to climb.  The first couple of kilometres were over in a flash and before I knew it I was already on Kirkstall Road with the voices of friends shouting my name ringing in my ears for encouragement.

The 40 minute pace runner had disappeared into the distance but I was still keeping a good pace. I was inside what I wanted at the 4k point but I was already starting to feel tired.  I grabbed a bottle of water at the first water station took a couple of sips and pressed on, well aware that my pace was already slowing.  5k came and went with what would have been a parkrun PB but by the time I was through 6k I knew that I was losing valuable seconds.

I don't like running back into town on Kirkstall Road at the best of times.  It is a featureless stretch of tedious tarmac that has the ability to sap the strength from my legs.  No matter what I tried I just couldn't get any pace back.  Every attempt at increasing my cadence, thinking about breathing, working my arms, brought the same result.  By 8k I knew that I would miss out on running sub 45 and by 9k I knew, even with a strong last minute push along Westgate and The Headrow, that I was going to miss the PB that I had set in Hull.

I crossed the finish line outside the town hall in 45:48, 4:04 faster than last year.  Over twenty minutes faster than my first Leeds 10k two years ago.  I should have been over the moon but no.  I felt deflated.  I'd missed out on the Hull 10k time by 18 seconds and sub 45 felt like it was a life time away.

I know that I should have been listening to my own advice and that "Not every run can be a good run".  I also know that 45:48 is a good time for 10k and that my training recently has been all about the marathon and running for longer not for going faster.  But none of that is giving me any comfort.  Last year I would have ripped your arms off if you had offered me that time but there and then, at the end of the 2015 Leeds 10k it felt like the worst time possible.

At the start of the year I laid out my aims and targets for 2015.  The top target for the year is getting around the 26.2 miles of the Yorkshire Marathon.  Going sub 45 for 10k was only ever going to be a happy byproduct of that training, if it actually happened.  I now need to hold onto that and move on.  There will be other races and other chances to push myself harder and faster but for now I have a new PB for the Leeds 10k and a date with a 17 mile training run on Sunday.

Urban Trail Runner: Middleton Woods

For me the last few years have all been about the next challenge.  First it was getting out of the door and going for a run.  Then it was my first 10k.  A few races, and a year and a bit later, it was my first half marathon.  Now I'm training for my first marathon.  I don't know about anybody else, but for me that feels like quite a escalation of running distance since my first 2k run/walk back in 2012.

In fact, since I started running I've clocked up over 2,500k but most of those have been on tarmac and I'm starting to feel the onset road running fatigue.  This isn't great as there is still a long way to go before I take on the Yorkshire Marathon.  To give myself some more off-road miles, and following on from my first trail run at Over the Odda, I signed up for the inaugural Middleton Woods Urban Trail Runner race.

When I entered I did so on the basis that I had nothing else in the diary on the same day as the race.  What I should have done was looked at what I was doing in the weeks around it.  Last weekend was the Pennine Lancashire 10k and next weekend is the Leeds 10k.  I should have realised that I'm not a three races in three weekends kind of runner.  The distance isn't the problem but the intensity of race days takes a bit longer to get over.  Then there is the question of my Marathon Training plan.  So far it had been building gradually but the day after Middleton I was due to run 15 miles, my longest run to date.

With the LSR* in the back of my mind I set off for John Charles Stadium.  The morning wasn't great.  There was a chill and drizzle in the air.  I had also woken up feeling like somebody had dropped a hammer on my foot over night, but a trot around the athletics track at the stadium told me that I would be OK to run on it.  We lined up at the start and received the pre-race instructions.  It turns out the the locals were not content with removing the route markers, but they had moved them to make us through a swamp, luckily this had been discovered before we set off.

And they're off!

After a quick lap of the track we were off into the woods via "Scrooge Hill".  I got stuck in traffic but everything was going fine but then we got to the first serious hill up to the Rose Garden in Middleton Park.  I could have found the strength and stamina from somewhere to make it to the top of the slope, I've run up worse, but I remembered the 15 miles that lay ahead of me on Sunday and decided to walk and save my legs.

That set the pace for the rest of the race.  Happily running and maintaining a good pace through the twisty, muddy, bramble strewn trails and the mown paths of the clearings but then slowing to a walk on the steeper up-hill sections.  I covered the 8.6k route in 47:25, slower than I would have liked but, given my decision to walk, a time I should be happy with.

Once I have managed to get the marathon out of the way I think my next challenge will be improving my trail running, more off road, more hills, and more mud.  Roads are a safe bet when it comes to routes, especially organised races but trails, to me, are where the adventure can begin anew.**

*Long Slow Run
** The day after the Middleton Wood Trail race I set out to run 15 miles with Rich and Martin from South Leeds Lakers.  They ran with me for the first 4 miles before turning back and their company was very welcome.  I found a slow and comfortable pace, ran on pavements, along the canal, through the city centre, and Cross Flatts Park, and finished in 2:28:28.  My longest ever run in the bag.  The next long training run is 17 miles in a couple of weeks, but before that there is the small matter of the Leeds10k.