A matter of racing

Why does racing matter to me when there is zero prospect of ever finishing first? There is never going to be a top step on a podium for me. No way that I will be standing there with some luminary putting my winner’s medal round my neck or handing me a trophy of some kind. That ship sailed a long, long time ago. But if that is the case, then why bother?

The easy answer is, of course, to point out that a race is not between me and the other competitors, it is simply a race between me and two things- the distance and the clock. Conquer the first one and the second one comes along naturally. And this is totally true and is the case for the vast majority of runners who turn up for a race, perhaps hoping to set a personal best or to finish a distance they have never achieved before. But I think there is more to it than that, and I think it is at a more fundamental level.

“It provides an edge”

I think racing – and I know that racing is not for everyone – truly matters to me because it raises my consciousness and awareness of what I can achieve. It provides an edge to my running; an inflection point among my other runs which is fundamentally different to the rest of them. In normal running, I am not truly challenging myself every time. In a race, there is always that element of the challenge; of the test; of the desire to do my best.

This does not mean setting out to run a personal best. It just means that when I go to a race, I want to do the best I can do on that day, in those circumstances, on that course. Clearly, not every time is this achieved but at least trying is half of the battle. Signing up for the race and getting it done are what matters.

“an excited nervousness, a positive energy”

I always get nervous before races – this is another part of the attraction I feel – and the race I did last weekend was no different. Not nervous because I was anxious about completing the distance or setting a great time, much more an excited nervousness, a positive energy that I feel inside me as the runners gather together behind that start line, ready to go.

I ran the race with my friend Maxine, one of a group of about ten of us from the local JogScotland group who took part in the the Friends of Anchor Red Run 10km race near the small town on Kemnay last weekend. I had not done this race before, but I had heard positive things about it, so I was really looking forward to it. What I was not looking forward to was the forecasted weather.

As everyone in the UK is very aware, recently the weather has been very warm and the forecast was for a humid, potentially hot day. As it transpired, the humidity was certainly there, but thankfully there was cloud cover for the race and even a few light raindrops on the way round. The start time of 9am also helped – as an aside I am a big fan of early start times for races. The later the start time the less favourably I think the conditions may potentially be as we head towards the hotter parts of the day.

The course was a mix of roads (some still open to traffic) and a bit of off road trail running on gravel paths. The opening mile was mostly downhill, so this naturally resulted in us going out a bit quicker than planned but as the second mile was then uphill this balanced things out and we settled into a pace which was challenging but we felt we could maintain.

Early in the race – I almost look like I am smiling -with Maxine#

The fact that part of the course was on open roads – now let’s be clear this was a very rural course so there was not a lot of traffic – and that meant that every so often you would hear a call of “car!” from behind or in front of you and you made sure you were on the right hand side of the road to stay out of the way of any cars coming along. It was a bit distracting, but to be honest, did not make any difference to how the race panned out.

As we progressed, we settled into a good rhythm, at a pace slightly ahead of what we had talked about before we started. We were both ok with the pace so then it was a goal of maintaining it as we headed towards the halfway mark. This photo is as we approached 5km and I think we both look strong as we headed towards the trail part of the event.

Making our way to halfway in the race

The trail part was quite tricky to navigate for me – in general terms I am not a fan of trail running – as I found it hard to feel totally balanced through this part of the race, on both the uphill and downhill sections. But returning to what I talked about at the start, a race gives me a heightened awareness, so this sectin played into that too. It was also the part of the race where we both failed to spot the 7km marker, so from 6km onwards it felt like things went on forever. We were therefore both very glad when we spied the 8km marker and knew that we had not too much further to go.

By the time I get to 8km in a 10km race, it really is then just a case of digging in, but not pushing too hard that it becomes unsustainable. In many ways, that is how I try and run a 10km overall these days, pushing myself but not trying to kill myself!!

Into the final kilometre and then it is the time to push if you can. I think we were both feeling it by this point and at one stage Maxine urged me to go ahead, but there was no way, with only a few hundred metres to go, that that was going to happen, so as we rounded the final corner and made the final sprint to the line, we held hands and drove towards the finish.

The final push

Crossing the line

We were both delighted with our time – pleased with the effort and the determination to get it done together. Did our time matter? Not really. What matter was the enjoyment of the event, going from the nerves at the start, through the struggles of the final kilometres, to the relief of the finish. Plus a nice bit of wooden bling into the bargain (and a lovely spread of cakes too!).

With the reward at the end

What mattered was not that we had not finished first and won the race. What mattered was not the time in which we completed the course. What mattered was not how many people we overtook (or who overtook us, including one guy who I swear was the heaviest breather I have ever heard in my life!). What mattered was how the event made us feel. That challenge, that excitement, that determination to finish. That is what mattered. That is why racing matters to me. And that is why I have entered an option to run in the Paris Olympic Marathon mass event next year, but that is for another blog.

Inspire

Comparison is something you should never do when assessing running. Trust me, you will always find someone who can run faster, is running further, is doing more miles in a week then you are doing. And when you do discover that, it can be quite demoralising. But one thing you can do, when looking at other runners, is use their achievements to be inspired. I am lucky enough to know some inspiring people and it has been the achievements of others in recent weeks that have truly inspired me.

Many runners I know, have, this year, taken on challenges which they have never done before. I see this in our JogScotland group when people move up between certain groups, taking on longer distances and running faster than they have done previously and it is great to see people pushing themselves and doing things they themselves potentially thought they would never achieve.

And then there are the events. People running their first parkrun or 10k, or their first half marathon or first marathon, or running their quickest time. People who set themselves a target to perhaps go under two hours for a half marathon or four hours for a marathon and achieve that after months of intensive training, is fantastic to see. I always think the major step is simply signing up for the challenge in the first place, putting your faith in the training which will get you there, but I like nothing more than viewing other’s achievements once they are done and thinking, “good on you for getting out there and doing it”.

But this week, a couple of things happened which prompted me to want to write about inspiration. Now I think you can be inspired by performances at the highest level and two moments stand out for me. The first was watching the Scottish athlete Eilish McColgan win the 10,000m for women at the Commonwealth Games last year in Birmingham. You cannot fail to be impressed at her surge down the home straight to win that race, her face riven with determination that no matter how hard it felt or how much of a struggle it was, she was totally going to get to that finish line first.

The second is not even specifically a run itself, but the reaction to one. Another Scottish athlete, Laura Muir, competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and won a silver medal in the 1500m event. That in itself was exceptional, but what I loved was her interview afterwards and the emotion in her voice as she talked about how hard she had worked to achieve this result. Proper goosebump stuff.

But my inspiration is from much closer to home, and it encapsulates all that is positive about the nature of sport.

This week, one of my friends from my JogScotland group, Aaron, took on an amazing challenge to fundraise for charity. Having turned fifty earlier in the year, he decided to run a 50k ultramarathon, starting from his home a few miles outside Aberdeen and then taking in a route into the city before finishing close to the outskirts.

Aaron at around 30km

Now lots of people run ultras so you might think why is this so inspiring? What was inspiring was that this was not a formal event. There was no medal or buckle at the end. There were no crowds lining the route to encourage him along. This was something which he was motivated to do purely for the opportunity to fundraise for a cause which is extremely close to his heart. (this is a link to his page). And what was even more inspiring was not just Aaron running it, but also how so many of his friends took the chance to run with him for at least part of the event, with a couple of them – Ann and Michael – running the full route. I joined for about 10km around the 30km mark.

Some of the runners with Aaron on the route

And one of the other runners who also took part is another inspiration for me, my friend Susan. We have run together for a few years now and through that time Susan has overcome serious health issues and has done that running all the way through. Even when she was going through pretty strenuous treatment back in 2020, she was determined that our regular weekend runs would continue . Sure there were times when it was tough and we walked a bit of our routes uphill rather than run, but her attitude through that period was amazing and her positivity in the face of everything that was going on was a privilege to witness and genuinely humbling.

Susan, on the right, with Lynn and just ahead of Aaron

Thankfully, her treatment was successful and as she returned to full health not only did she continue running but she then set faster times than she had ever set before, culminating in running the London Marathon. To see Susan run with Aaron – and to be so determined and run twenty four miles of the route – was great to see, even more so as it was only fairly recently that she got back up beyond half marathon distance in any training!

So my advice to any runners, particularly those who are perhaps new to the sport, is to avoid comparing yourself to others – even Mo Farrah never set a world record, there were always runners faster than him but he achieved great things – but to seek inspiration from the actions of others.

Be inspired by the greatest in the world. Be inspired by their achievements at the highest level. But be inspired by those around you. Look at what they do and how they do it and take belief and encouragement from them. By doing that, you can then see what you can achieve.