Having flirted with running in the early 1990s at primary and secondary school I managed to banish any hopes of real development by deciding running wasn’t for me.
Prior to this I had joined a club, placed top 10 in all cross country races I competed in and spurned an offer of training under the watch of the legendary coach Stan Long at Gateshead Harriers. If only I understood what that meant at the time.
Fast forward to February 2012 and the running bug returned just before my 30th birthday when I ran a local 5km parkrun in 22m 39s. A little disappointed with my sluggishness, I have since set about making up for lost time and seeing if I could rediscover any potential from my school days.
In this blog I will write about my experiences trying to run a sub 17min 5km before my 35th birthday on 10th March 2016. [Note1: deadline missed but still working towards goal!] [Note2: sub 17 done May ’17 and new target of sub 16 set!!!]
Coached by Dave Tune of Blizard Physio from October 2014 until November 2015. Rejoined Coach Tune October 2017. Now self coached once more. Strong advocate for BLSDwRPP (Building Long Slow Distance with Race Pace Practice) and Heart Rate training. As of late 2020 training to Power using the Stryd foot pod.
Joined Elswick Harriers in July 2015.
Joined Tyne Bridge Harriers in early 2018.
Ran my debut Half Marathon in the Great North Run in 1hr 20m 27s in September 2017. Ran an unofficial Half Marathon PB of 1hr 16m 32s at the Newcastle racecourse HM in May 2019. Ran 1hr 17m 46s at the Great North Run 2021 on 12th September. In October 2021 ran the Manchester Half Marathon in 1hr 13m 34s.
Current 5k pb is 16:01 ran in August 2021.
Current 10k pb is 34:49 ran in November 2018.
I ran 55:37 for 10 miles at the Brampton to Carlisle race in November 2019.
Current goal is to qualify to represent England Atheltics in 2022 in the Half Marathon distance.
My website is at krruns.com.
I offer online running mentorship. For more information visit my mentorship page.
Check out my YouTube channel here.
Follow me on Twitter @kevrich1981.
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