Running – Charlierobinsonbooks

Where It All Began 31 The Finale

After eleven years in Hampshire, we decided it was time for a change. Well, someone did 😂. We’d enjoyed the time in sleepy Over Wallop. I’d got some running in, lots of hiking, and we’d had some adventures in Cuba, Italy, Spain and Greece. Although my running was still mainly for fun, I did a couple of races with good times.

York was a strong possibility but no teaching jobs were coming up. Eventually Beverley College advertised for a Carpentry Lecturer. I travelled up for the interview and it was less pay, but this was East Yorkshire, not Hampshire, and I was promised promotion to Team Leader. So starts the finale. (Yup last one in this series folks) I have to say the first 12 months were difficult! If you’ve ever worked in education you’ll know that there is a lot of BS. The promotion never happened. When I left Fareham college we had had been given Outstanding by OFSTED, voted College of the Year by TESS, and the principle recieved an MBE for services to Education. I’m not one to winge, so lets just say Beverley College wasn’t Fareham 😂.

Gillian and I continued to visit Greece often, and I took advantage of the hilly trails to get up early and test myself. I joined a running club for the first time and started competing seriously, finishing 1st, 2nd, or third in my age group regularly in races. I also started doing Triathlons, now these are fun, if you take out the swimming and the cycling 😂I fancied a marathon but Ultras seemed more attratctive. I tried a 35 mile Ultra and found it quite good fun. I completed my first marathon race with a time of 03:36:00 in 2022. I’d run long distances before but never competitvely, so fairly happy with that. After that I did the Hardwolds 40 which is good value as they give you an extra 7 miles for free. So 47 miles in ten and half hours was kinda acceptable.

I changed my job at the college to Apprentice Assessor, which meant no more classrooms, and spent my time on site assessing apprentices in the work place. But i wanted to write. I’d done a course with the Writers Bureau some years back and if you want a comprehensive writing course I’d highly reccommend them. I completed my first novel in 2022. The Siege of Mr Khan’s Curry Shop, loosely based on my experiences in Bradford in the early 1970s. It was intended to be a one off, but people kept asking me. “What happens next?” I decided to retire and take my running and writing seriously. I published a sequel in 2025 Who’s Got The Biscuits and both books have had some success, and I have to mention Esther Chilton here because I couldn’t have done it without her editorial expertise. And of course Gillian for her continued support, and I have to say “patience” 😂 That’s basically it! Thank you if you’ve stayed all the way through, I do really appreciate your support and comments 💜If you remember at the very beginning I said I’d asked my wife if I should get therapy and recieved and empathatic. “No! It would be too much for them.” Maybe now you understand her answer? 😂

Happy Trails, Folks x

Reavaluate or Reboot?

Sometimes I need to reavalute, and if you’ve read Where It All Began 1-28 you’ll know I seem to do a lot of that 😂 Last year I entered the Jersey Marathon. So, on Sunday I found myself on the start line. As preparation I’d done Boston and Windermere marathons earlier this year, so all was good. Except 14 weeks before Jersey I tore a calf muscle which put me out for 9 weeks. But hey ho, surley five weeks to train for a 26 mile race is enough? The age category prize was 60-70 year olds… at 69 I wasn’t going to win anyway. 😂

The weather was glorious, the crowds turned out in their droves and my eleven year old grandaughter was excited. Nothing to do with my run, she had entered the one mile race starting an hour after me. 😂 Yes my eldest son (mentioned in Where It All Began 15) is now 48 years-old and still living in Jersey. The first thirteen miles were fine, and it looked like I was going to get under 4 hours. Not my best time but under the circumstances, I’d take that. At twenty miles my legs began to feel tired and when I speeded up my calf gave a little yelp 😂. The final few miles took me all the way down the main esplanade from St Aubins to St Helier with the sea on your right. Sounds great? Except by this time everyone else was well in front of me or behind me. Ah, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. I remember it well.

During those last, lonely 6 miles I began to wonder about my life choices and decided it was time to reavaluate. Maybe, after running for fifty years, it was time to take it easy. Swop the running shoes for some golf clubs? Yes, that seemed like a plan. But then… my Garmin watch told me I was still running at 6mins per kilometer with two miles to go. As I reached the last 500m’s there are people again, lots of people, cheering people, clapping people. Yup! There was the finish line, the clock above it said 04:06:00. I was 8th out of 23 in my age category, with only five weeks proper preparation. Okay, maybe it was time to reavaluate my running, but let’s leave it until next year, eh? 😂

Happy Trails, Folks x

Can You Do It?

Apparently I Can

Boston, that’s Lincolnshire, England, not USA. Its a market town, I know this because on Saturday the sat nav wanted me to drive through the Saturday Market. It became upset when I didn’t, so had to be switched off. I was in Boston for my first marathon of the year. It was going to be tricky as I’d missed nearly 8 weeks of training because of that broken rib, but the flattest marathon in the country? It’d be fine. Boston is quite nice, and the parking is cheap. We lodged at No 20 Hotel and Bar. It was a four minute walk to the start of the race. They didn’t do breakfast which was fine as I was leaving at 7am anyway. There’s a lovely church down by the river.

There is also a Mexican restaurant, if you’re a runner you’ll know how important carb loading is before a race, so I had no choice 😂

Sunday morning I found myself in the Market Place (the market had gone) 90s House Music blared out from some speakers, a man on a michrophone was sayin stuff (I think they were words of encouragement) Was I the only one shivering under three layers? It was windy! Gillian had her route map for photos, I found some friends, had a photo with one, wished each other good luck and waited until 8am for the start.

Boston Marathon — Trust me the sky is decieving

Boston UK Marathon — Trust me the sky is decieving

The flattest marathon in the country sounds great, but then there is a reason… the terrain is flat with no shelter. 😂

The first 10 miles were okay, averaging 5 min kilometers and looking at an overall time of 03:40:00, but it dawned on me, I had for the most time, a tail wind. By 11 miles the route had turned. 30mph head wind with gusts to 40mph, but I was still smiling when I saw Gillian and her trusty camera at a water station.

Around 13 miles the sciatica started playing up and the hips began to grumble, pace had dropped to 6-7 mins per kilometer, everyone was swearing at the wind 😂 I decided it wasn’t worth it, and the next time I saw her, I’d go home. The problem was I didn’t see her until 18 miles. Now, when you’ve run 18 miles in that wind and only have 8 miles left… well, you may as well carry on?

By 20 miles the rib decided it wanted to play too, I thought I’d broken it again😂 It was then I made some life changing decisions. I was going to sell all my races. Windemere Marathon, Hardwolds 47mile ultra, and 50k ultra, Jersey Marathon… yup, that’s me from now on, just your average fun runner. Spend the rest of my days, relaxing and not dragging Gillian round the country, carrying my gear and taking pictures.

I didn’t get the time I wanted it ended up at 04:17:00, I was in pain and a tad disappointed, but apparently there were 32 people who didn’t finish, I did finish at least.

Boston UK Marathon finish. — Smile or grimace?

But now I’ve slept, I’m warm, and I’m thinking. If I improve the hip therapy, reintroduce the sciatica exercises, get some good quality trail runs in, with lots of hills, Windemere Marathon is eight weeks away. I could probably do it 😂

Happy Trails, Folks x

Never Give Up

That’s my advice. I guess I could stop there, short post! But I’ve been called many things in my life and “Gobshite” is one of them so I’ll carry on 😂

I did a blog about going away at Christmas recently and while I was ‘away’ (which where I come from means in prison). Anyaways, I planned a fabulous January upon my return. I won’t bore you with all the details. Basically… Running, cycling, strength training. Preparing for the next marathon in April. Writing was in there too, I’m about 15,000 words into my third novel. It was going well, and on the 6th Jan I decided to run the 7 Hills.

This is a group of 7 Hills nearby, which I love. It’s only 11k, but as you can probably guess by the title… a little challenging. With 3k left, and powering downhill, I glanced at my Garmin, and realised it was probably going to be a fast time. That’s when I found myself on the ground. Luckily my head hit first, they say where there’s no sense there’s no feeling😉. I checked the nose was still in position and the tooth as they both hurt a little. After I’d lain there for a few minutes all seemed okay, so up I jumped to find a stabbing pain in the chest. I’ve been told I’ll drop dead running a few times so, I thought I’d better crack on, and see if I could finish the run. After I had run another 1k or so I realised it wasn’t a heart attack, but probably a broken rib. I returned home to find a cut head too and an eye already blackening, oh! and a wife, not happy I was doing it in the first place 😂 Twas a bit slippy.

So, why never give up? Well, after 49 years of running I’ve had more injuries you could count, but I always comeback. I’d give Bob Dylan and Cher a run for their money 😂 So, no matter where you are, or who you are, when times are tough, just remember, Never Give Up. There’s always someone or something out there, in your corner, willing you on.

I’m nearly 3 weeks in to this broke rib thing, got a serious cough and cold, but today I did 3k on the Elliptical, tomorrow it’ll be 5k and then first run next week. Maybe, just maybe, I might achieve my 3:30 target for that Marathon. Although my wife tells me I will die running, I tell her “Not today, though.”😉

Happy Trails, Folks X