A Review of 2015 - Life begins at 50 - Me, Myself and Gerry

It's that time of year when we say goodbye to one year and welcome in the next, for some its about what did or did not happen and for others its a new start or a new challenge, where resolutions are made and many are broken.

January arrived, i had come off the back of a successful 2014 campaign and really only wanted to keep the same momentum going, the first thing was to see out the Strava MTS, leading the board towards the end of the month and a 50th Birthday celebration ensued.




My first race arrived over the Easter weekend in the form of the Glasgow to Edinburgh Double Marathon, 55 Miles; this would be my tester for my race in May, i set off with Gerry Craig at a steady pace and eventually caught the two front runners Grant Jeans and Robert Turner,where i made some ground on Gerry and found myself crossing 1st over the finish Line in 6:51:20 and 6th fastest time recorded over the new distance.





The training continued without having any issues and May arrived, this was going to be my longest ever race, 145 miles from Birmingham to London, the GUCR or Grand Union Canal Race, as i was travelling down from Scotland most folk in the race come form England or Europe to take part so i

only knew names from Facebook, with the race under way at 6am, i met some very nice people along the way, Andy Horobin, Edward Batch, Paul Ali, John Knapp and Mimi Anderson to mention a few, i soon found myself on my own from 70 Miles to the 100 mark where i met Warwick Gooch, we ended up running together for the last 45 miles with some company in the form of buddy runners, Susie Chan (top triathlete) and Warwick's sister Shelley, we crossed the line jointly in 11th position in a time of 31 Hours and 39 Minutes.


After the GUCR i found it hard to get motivated and lost a lot of training days, it just so happened by chance on a local run one night that Gerry Craig drove by heading home, we chatted and before i knew it i was part of the JGS (Jordanhill Garden Supplies) relay team for the Cydestride in July. when race day arrived Alison went out on first followed by Duncan then me on third and Gerry on the anchor leg, the team came home in first position. it was during my wait on the third leg that i got talking to David Meldrum who offered me a place in the JL50 (John Lucas Memorial), i gladly sent away my entry fee.



The months were flying by and the summer had almost gone and we were now in August and myself and Gerry travelled through to the JL50, with near perfect conditions we were soon off, working together for the first 10 miles i was soon on my own until Gerry caught up with me around mile 41, by now i was struggling and this helped to get me through to the end, one that would bring its share on controversy as we both crossed the line together in joint first.







We were now into September and again i was in for one of my most attended races since taking up ultras, the RAW (River Ayr Way Challenge, a race that i had won the year before, i had arranged to pick up Jonny Pritchard who was staying in Glasgow after travelling down from Stornoway, i reckoned Jonny was in with a shout if he was making the long journey, the race set off and before i knew it Jonny and Willie
Robertson had opened up a lead, i sat with Mark Caldwell and continued to work away until i saw that the front runners had taken a wrong turn, this is where i decided to pick things up and try and go for a second win on the course, i arrived home in first with a new course record followed by Richard Cooper and then Jonny in third.


The training continued through October and into November where i was about to run my first Half Marathon in many years, The Kirkintilloch Half, and a very tough course again the usual suspects were on the starting line, once the gun went the leader and winner just seemed to disappear into the distance leaving the myself and Alex Chalmers to see who could take the podium places, Alex came home in second followed by me in 3rd and in a sub 1:20 with Gerry very close behind in 4th.


November also saw the annual SUMS awards, again Gerry and i travelled through to Edinburgh, it had been quite a successful year for the both of us, me taking overall male winner and vet 50 and Gerry with second male along with the vet 40 and third in the short category and second in the long, James Stewart our other training partner took third overall male and first in the short category, all in all a good night for three good friends.

As the year draws to a close the only aims i had left were to reach the 4,000 miles in a year, something i narrowly missed out on in 2014 with 3,741, this was achieved with 3 days of the year remaining and currently on 4.033.94, my second was to pass last years Marcothon Miles total of 679.4 miles , i am currently on 660.68 this will be achieved on the final day of the year.

As i said at the start, its not about making resolutions, its about doing your best to be happy and healthy, best wishes for 2016 when it arrives.