2024 – A perspective following a year’s competition in the North Staff Road Runners Association and entry to London Marathon
I’ve been a member of Maryhill Harriers since 2019, when I moved to Glasgow for work. At the time, I’d just taken up road running and with moving to a new city, I started looking for a new club to develop my distance and speed. Having looked on Scottish Athletics website, a nearby club to where I was staying was Maryhill Harriers so in Dec-2029, I ventured down to John Paul Academy on a Thursday night to give the club a go.
Since that Thursday night in Dec-2019, when I first tackled the hill on Maxwell Ave near Westerton Train Station my journey with the club has included;
- taking part in a relay ultra race for the club and coming 1st in the Male category,
- discovered double nugget ice cream on The Isle of Cumbrae following the Around Cumbrae 10 Mile Road Race,
- getting lost on Cross Country runs,
- booking a hire car for the clubs Trail Race and offering Finn a lift. Only for it not to show up and Finn having to ask Natalie if she’d give us a lift to the race start in Blanefield even though, she hadn’t planned on doing the race,
- coming second in the 2022 Christmas Handicap race, having spent most of the night before in the Pot Still Whisky bar on a works night out,
- this year tackling, the London Marathon; my first ever marathon.
However, the biggest change since 2019 has been moving back to South Cheshire; so unfortunately, I don’t get to attend the training sessions midweek anymore. I’ve only made it along twice this year for training and to the Kenny Stevenson Memorial Trail Race in June-2024. I therefore find myself training with Sandback Striders but my first claim club remains Maryhill Harriers. This regularly causes confusion when entering local races with comments like “where’s that” or “never heard of them” and “Scottish Athletics you say, not English Athletics?”.
However, this reflection on my 2024 running starts last year at 2023 Christmas Do. The club had earlier been awarded a place at the London Marathon and maybe being a little bit tipsy, I put myself into the draw for the place scheduled to take place on Christmas Day. Christmas Day came and my present definitely came; my name was drawn out of Santas hat and I’d be the member representing the club at the 2024 London Marathon.
So where does the North Staff Road Runners Association (NSRRA) come into all this? Living in South Cheshire, there is a local road running league whereby twenty races are selected from the Staffordshire and Cheshire areas ranging from 5Mile to 20Mile; plus everything in between. The idea of the league is to develop your running by competing with other amateur athletes of a similar pace. To enter, you submit your previous year road results which allocates you a letter. This letter then places you into a class with similar paced runners and you’re expected to compete in a minimum of twelve races. In each race, there are 50 points for first place in your class, decreasing by one point for each subsequent finisher. So the faster you are, the more points you gain and potentially promotion into a higher group. For the 2024 year I was in Class D with another 35 runners.
With confirmation of my London place, I began marathon preparations. Increasing my mileage throughout January with the goal of my first race being the Maryhill Harriers Nigel Barge 10K. However, about a week before the race my left leg just didn’t feel right. When describing the symptoms to a colleague who’d undertook sports heavily with the RAF, he concluded I’d got shin splints; ouch. He said I had three options, first throw the towel in for the marathon, second pump myself up on Ibuprofen to mask the pain or take some time off. Neither Option 1 or 2 sounded good so I took the time off option and rested.
This meant instead of running The Barge, I volunteered in my usual spot with James and Sean at the former car wash on the corner off Bearsden Road and Temple Road. The day was awful weather wise, the rain was lashing down and the wind buffering. The three of us were glad to venture back to the Garscube Sports Complex for tea and cake at the races end. I also ended up staying an extra night as when I got back to Glasgow Central to travel home, all trains had been cancelled due to the weather. I subsequently ended up catching a coach South the next day because the trains still weren’t running and trying to do Microsoft Teams calls while travelling across moorlands; because of subsequent road closures.
With some time off, I ventured out for my first race of 2024 and, the first of the NSRRA series; Alsager 5 Mile on 04-Feb-2024. Standing on the start line, I hoped my left leg would be OK. Off I went at a very leisurely pace, being overtaken on the flat and fast course; chosen by local runners to obtain their 5 mile PB. Turing into the finish line at Alsager school, I was slower than the previous year but without any aches or pains and, my first 28points of the North Staff year. London was back on!
The next race in the series was Crewe 10K held on Easter Sunday. This race had a personal moment as in Nov-2023 a close friend Jay, suddenly died. Jay was a keen runner and regularly completed in this 10K race. So in memory of Jay, I entered this race along with his twin brother, wife and other friends. One of my friends Adam, by his own omission is not a runner. He had trained for the event and to keep him company, I ran with him around the course while chatting away. For Adam, I got him over the finish line in under an hour albeit, I came last in my NSRRA category scoring only 33 points. However, some things are more important on days like this than collecting points.
March brought the Madeley Half Marathon. A road event that started in the Staffordshire village of Madely before heading out onto the hills which surround the local area. I felt really comfortable on this event getting into a good pace and just plodding away. My time was 01:53; not my best (and only 43 points) but at the 12Mile marker, I felt in such a good place that I could have carried on if required. This is when I started to think I was maybe ready for London after the earlier injuries.
As part of my training plan, I’d also been attending the Sandbach Striders Sunday Funday runs. These runs lead by club member Martin were on average a minimum of 10miles and the chance to carry on further with those also marathon training. With Lindsay (who was the Sandbach Striders club entry for London) we gradually built our mileage up on the Sunday sessions using the back lanes of Sandbach, Hassall Green and Wheelock as our training area. These weekend sessions were a massive help as the difference running in a group, made a real difference. The thought of running 15miles while talking to somebody and also knowing I had to be at a meeting point for 09:00 got me into more of a routine.
I also need to put a big thank-you out to Liam Brown who was my Nutritionist for London. Liam is friends with my brother and is a professional sports nutritionist. So I asked would he be able to give me some guidance on what I should be eating and drinking in the lead up to the big day.
What came back from Liam was fantastic. He’d written me a full nutrition plan, guiding me on how many calories to eat before practise runs, how much liquid to be consuming and what isotonic additives to consider. Then for the practise runs, he guided me on what snacks and liquids I should be taking with me; something I’d not even thought about. Then for finally for race day, I had another customised plan based on my weight and estimated finish time saying what to eat and drink to be match ready.
So then it came, London Marathon 2024. With my brother and Dad, we drove down to London before making our way over to the ExCel centre to collect my number. Its from this point I came to appreciate what an excellent operation the organisers do for this event. The instructions for the ExCel centre said to expect queues however arriving just before 12:00, I had my number, bag and t-shirt by 12:10. The three of us then ventured back into London to check into our hotel near Liverpool Street Station. An early tea followed an early night for the subsequent big day.
Race Day came and I made my way to the start. By pure fluke, there was a bus stop outside my hotel with a regular service to London Bridge Station where I first needed to go. Once at London Bridge with all these other runners the next thought was which platform do I need. I didn’t have to worry, there were banners and volunteers everywhere directing people and regular trains. Subsequently, I arrived at the start about 1hr earlier then I needed to be! This worked to my advantage however as I was able to grab a quick photo with Cat, the other member of the club doing the race before she set off. Wishing her luck, I left my jumper and joggers with the trucks to collect at the end and made my way to the holding pen. I didn’t have nerves, I felt good having done two twenty mile runs before the event. Then the time came, I made my way up to the start line and I was off.
My main memories from the day were the route, the support and hitting the wall. After beginning in the London suburbs, first came the Cutty Sark (wow), then a right turn up to Tower Bridge (oh that’s impressive), into the Docklands (is that Canary Wharf!), the Embankment (there’s the London Eye), Big Ben and onto Buckingham Palace for the finish. The people supporting along the route were fantastic. There was not one point from the start to finish where there wasn’t a person clapping, cheering and encouraging me on. My personal favourite from the day was the individual who constructed a stage in their front garden and through massive speakers was playing music and cheering people along.
My wall moment however came at 18miles where I all of sudden I went fatigued. At 13miles you cross Tower Bridge and I felt great, seeing the landmarks, seeing my family cheer me on but the final eight miles were painful. I just kept moving and was so happy to see the finish line. I met my family on Trafalgar Square where my brother commented I’d gone grey in colour. However, after a drink, sandwich and of course an Ice Cream, I came back to life and colour.
With the marathon complete, the remainder of my year was concentrated on completing another nine races in the NSRRA. Clayton 10K was the next event, a midweek evening race on the outskirts of Newcastle – under – Lyme. This was one of those races where I just felt good and pushed to achieve my first sub 45min 10K a great feeling at the end and 44 points. This was followed in June by an incredibly hot Stone 10K where heat exhaustion got most people and I looked very red on the photos but another 42 points were gained.
In July the next event for the series that I entered, was the Ipstones 5ish which gained me 43 points. A peculiar event as it’s a 4.8mile race through rural Staffordshire taking in some brutal incline along the way. Apparently, the distance is because the village hall from where the race starts, was moved along the road when rebuilt; the race distance therefore being altered accordingly.
Into August and Trentham 10K was the next event which starts near the Wedgewood Pottery factory in Barlaston, Staffordshire. Not my best time for this event taking only 38 points but still an enjoyable well organised event from Trentham Running Club. August also brought another midweek 5mile event on the outskirts of Stone with an undulating route taking in the back lanes of the town and 45 points.
October was Congleton Half which I’ll openly admit I hadn’t trained for. Since April and London, I’d neglected my mileage and was quite happy doing 10K with Sandbach Striders on training nights and on my own at the weekend. However, two weeks before the event I was working away and before my shift started, I ventured out for a 5mile plod, which became 6miles then finishing at 10miles. So I thought why not enter Congleton plus sadly, I needed to make the twelve events for my NSRRA membership to count.
Race day came and off I went but I was glad once I’d finished. I can’t say why but, the race just felt monotonous; with nothing of particular note along the course to remember. Even the race goody bad was pretty naff, a tub of instant porridge, local free newspaper and a pack of dog biscuits. The volunteers looked slightly confused why I didn’t want any dog biscuits in celebration of completing the race… However, race ten was completed and 43 points awarded.
A week later was Werrington 10K a race I’d not done for five years. It was an incredibly cold day so with a warm up and stretches I was off. On the course I saw a few people I recognised as being quicker than myself but I was keeping up with them. Then I was overtaking them and coming into the finish, I achieved another sub 45min 10K, with 47 points but more importantly my 10K PB at 44:32.
November brought my favourite race, The Flying Fox 10Mile. The event takes in back lanes of Standon, Staffordshire know for being in a dire state due to heavy use by agriculture machinery. This makes the lanes incredibly mucky while also being on a significant incline. At the 6mile point, the course takes you up towards a church which you think is the summit. You then however turn a corner only to discover you have to keep going up again! With a flying finish to collect my bottle beer, pack of sweets and 45 points, I once again left thinking yep, it’s a horrible course with some nasty incline but I love it.
The last race of the NSRRA calendar is Cheddleton 10K with its Christmas Pudding prize and the Piper at the hill summit. Having not eaten last years Christmas pudding (which is still at the back of the cupboard), I ventured over to Cheddleton to sign off 2024 which a 46:03 finish time and 47points collected.
So looking back my reflections for the year are, I’ve been incredibly lucky to gain a club place for the London Marathon; one of the most iconic and memorable marathons in the world. I broke my 10K PB twice in a year on courses you wouldn’t normally associate this type of achievement with. Then finally listen to your body and take a rest when its needed.
Images (and information on each image) from the above report can be found at A 2024 reflection – Dan’s images