Running with the ‘Running with the Kenyans’ Man and the Kenyans…
Me (left) and Adharanand Finn (right) post Lewa Marathon 2015
How’s that for a blog title?
My first athletic club was South Devon AC. It was my Dad’s Athletic Club. William Peter Baker was a sub 2hr half marathoner (post quadruple heart bypass - YES DAD!). He used to attend their runs and ran with the ‘chatty group’. Apparently he was faster but preferred their company.
I was alright at school cross country but as a late developer was often 2nd or 3rd to some lucky recipient of a recent growth spurt. Dad encouraged me. He said “start slow, build into the race and finish fast”. I used to run off as quick as I could and hang on for dear life. At 15 I suffered 3 wrist fractures in a year and began to fear contact sports. I joined South Devon AC and we met weekly in Brixham. When the two nice encouraging coaches couldn’t keep the Brixham group going I was offered a chance to train in Paignton and I declined. Sport didn’t wasn’t really a thing for me during my 6th form years and I didn’t run again until University.
University Athletics was great. I made great friends. I also mixed my training with being the clown of the group and I was generally clueless. I wasn’t awful so I must have had some level of natural talent and I really enjoyed the track. My big goal was to run a fast half marathon and I was incredibly proud of my top 100 finish at Sheffield Half Marathon (running sub 1 hr 30). After University I went back to South Devon AC, a bit but again I didn’t really train. I also tried a bit of football again but the Mighty Plums (Dittisham AC) didn’t recognise my insane talent - perhaps because I practically missed an open goal and my football dreams were replaced with travelling and skiing.
Next up was travelling in Canada. I ran a bit before the snow came but was mostly terrified of bears. Two ski seasons later I had dreams of skiing the world. Unfortunately returning home from my second winter I dislocated my knee-cap and ski instructing in New Zealand was put on hold!
Football dreams - in tatters
Skiing dreams - on hold
I returned to Physiotherapy, the job I probably should have been doing after that 3 year degree. Next I got back running. It took forever on a poorly knee. Wall squats really hurt but I persevered. I could run about a mile and a half before runner’s knee felt like a vice and caused me to walk. But positivity said if you can run 1 mile and a half why don’t you just do that - every day. Twice a day. Before I knew it I was running 20 miles a week and loving life.
I joined Torbay Athletic Club. Possibly the more serious Torbay Club. In Torquay… the big city. Apparently 10% of people from Brixham never leave Brixham. I’d done it. I was brave.
I had been running along the seafront in Paignton trying to hit 6.30 minute mile pace - I think I tried to hit this on every run. When a nice chap called Steve asked if I ran for a club? I said I didn’t and he recommended Torbay A.C. He said “we’ve got a Kenyan coming to the club this week, you should come along”. I was listening to ‘Running with the Kenyans’ by Adharranand Finn at the time on Audible. I did my research and it turned out ‘Finn’ ran for Torbay and had engineered Japhet Koech (possibly the true hero of his book) coming from Kenya to England and then Scotland to run the Edinburgh marathon. In true stalker form I joined Torbay A.C. found Finn and waited for him to say hi. He fell for my trap. It turned out we were pretty similar paces and had some good races. Later on he was heading to Kenya and he gave me an invite. I was really excited and packed my bags and headed for Kenya.
A Kenya write-up would be nothing without mentioning how amazing it was to hear Michael Bolton’s ‘Lean on Me’ accompany the visual of my first African sunset. Michael became somewhat of a theme of our trip. We met elite Kenyan athletes, ran the Lewa marathon (my first marathon) and went on some amazing safari’s, socially it was an incredible trip too!
You cannot visit Iten “The home of champions” and not be inspired. I met David Rudisha’s coach Brother Colm. We saw Kenyans running around the track at insane speeds and we learned a lot about training and the athlete’s way of life.
When I came home I was so inspired I went for a run, tripped over a log and broke my wrist. But this wouldn’t stop me. I was dreaming of sport. I wanted to train like an athlete and live like an athlete. I heard about a job at Sheffield Wednesday FC (too much of a diversion and a silly story but I’d been a fan since my childhood, growing up in Devon??!!)
I moved to Sheffield. My half marathon pb was now 1 hr 23 and I was running for Hallamshire Harriers. I had two passions. Sheffield Wednesday and Running. I was rich in inspiration and Chef Wednesday’s (however hard I tried I could never get the training ground Chef to adopt this name) porridge and incredible lunch menu. I was learning, living the dream and 2 years later I had won Chesterfield Half Marathon in 1 hr 18 mins. That’s enough for now but if you haven’t read running with the Kenyans then I suggest you do.
All my improvements in these years came from optimism, pushing myself and dreaming of success. I always talk about Chesterfield Half Marathon - partly because it’s a long running joke with my mate Bart, partly because nothing makes you feel like you’ve hit the big time more than seeing a car with numbers on the top and nobody being between you and the car! It was surreal.
I thank all the people that ever encouraged me because it was that desire to be fast and to be better that inspired so much of my running and running has brought so much to my life - physically, mentally and socially. It’s a huge part of what I do daily and I feel very lucky to share this passion with others.
In ‘Running with the Kenyans’ he says “the secret is there is no secret” - pointing to it’s about doing everything well, there is no cheat code or hack.
But I’ll let you in on a secret which you probably already know - running is the best!
