Stringy’s Running Blog

Welcome to my Running Blog.

I’m aware that not many people will actually read this blog, but I enjoy messing around with websites and this site serves me as a reminder of my training and past races. If however you are reading this please feel free to have a look around and leave some comments.

If I like you, I might even consider adding you to my facebook.

Terry O’Gara

The words ‘legend’, ‘inspirational’ and ‘hero’ are words sometimes banded around when people talk about sportsmen and women and dare I say; on occasions these words are used with no credibility or substance at all.
There is however one gentleman who can be regarded as a legend, inspirational and a hero with 100% certainty and he is Terry O’Gara.

I first met Terry on a hot July evening at my very first Wallsend Harriers meeting. He asked if I was able to run for 60 mins which I was; however I wasn’t prepared for the pace!
Needless to say I struggled but Terry insisted I come along again, stick with it and see when happens after a few weeks.
That was my first encounter with Terry and even then I thought, what a nice bloke.

Over the following weeks and months I quickly realised how much respect people had for him. Here’s a bloke of 65+ years, running his socks off, getting his group through the tough Tuesday night hill sessions, pushing then hard, making them work and heaping masses of praise on them.
On numerous occasions following a race I would ask him how he done; he would quickly say something like, “ok” or “went well” and immediately ask me, or others how they done. He was very modest about his running exploits, instead asking how other people done. (by the way, at age 69 he did the Great North Run in 1:32:11)
I lost count of the times he would say on a club night “your running’s really coming on”  Those few words meant a great deal.

I’ll not go into the History of Wallsend Harriers here (click here for the history) i’ll just add that Terry was one of the driving forces in the mid 80′s, reviving Wallsend Harriers, putting them back on the North East harriers map and subsequently helping to improve North East athletics as a whole.

A fantastic personality, cheeky humour (verging on sexist?? nah, not ‘wor Terry. “there’s too many women in the club” ), fantastic running achievements, a motivator, selfless, an inspiration to all standards of runners, a dedicated family man and a really, really decent bloke who I will miss loads.
I only knew him for three years or so but it feels like i’ve known him for a lot longer.

Every time I pull on my Wallsend Harrier vest and take up my familiar ‘middle of the pack’ starting position I’ll be looking skywards and smiling; knowing that Terry will be pushing me along when the going gets tough.

So then…a legend, an inspiration and a hero. As I mentioned earlier, theses words are afforded to many people. Some deserving of the accolade and some not so much. These words however ARE Terry O’Gara and so much more.

Terry O’Gara
4 November 1941 – 23 January 2012

I haven’t wrote a race report for every race I’ve done as I just don’t have the time and I really can’t be atrsed,  however I did do a race report for………
the JEDBURGH HALF MARATHON (Oct 2011)….read on.

Jedburgh doesn’t feature high on my ‘places to visit’ as there seems to be less than nothing to do there, but as a venue to host a half marathon, it ticks all of the boxes with the scenery, crowd support (start and finish mainly with a few clumps of people around the route), medal, goody bag and changing/showering facilities.

This was my third stab at the Jedburgh Half Marathon and as this is a fairly hilly course in places and is prone to the wind I was never going to plan a PB challenge but the night before I had a rethink and threw caution to wind and planned a PB shot.

It might have been Sarah at Wallsend Harriers who mentioned that she wrote down her split times on her arm on the advice of Terry. So with the aid of a pencil, paper and an abacus I worked out what time I should hit 3.3, 6.6 and 10 miles.

I arrived well before the 11 o’clock start giving me ample opportunity to change, stretch the legs and more importantly have a couple a brews.
With the aid of a permanent pen I adorned my arm with a new tattoo. With splits and pace scribed on my arm, I got changed and made my way to the start area.

As Jedburgh is in Scotlandshire, at 10:50 a bunch of men wearing skirts blowing into a big bag which makes a horrendous screeching noise marched us to the start line.  Once the men in skirts had moved over; we were off!

The first mile is through the metropolis of Jedburgh which, as in previous years is well supported.
I have never been passed by as many runners before during the first half mile.  I started about mid field but was passed by easily 40 runners.  I stuck to my guns and stayed on pace, joyful in the fact that soon enough I would be passing the poor fools on the first hill…and I did.
The first 4 miles is undulating but it soon flattens out.  Then it’s a case of getting the head down and getting stuck in.

Checking my tattoo at 6.6 miles showed me as exactly 3 minutes up on what I should be doing.  But I knew there’s an arse of a hill at mile 10 and there’s a good long section of just under 2 miles with a guaranteed head wind so I carried on with the current pace.

It wasn’t long before I started the long windy bit.  From 7.5 to around 9 miles there’s a long stretch which in a strange way I enjoy.

The reason is, a hell of a lot of people slow right down or walk as the wind coupled with a steady incline tires people out. (It’s not exactly steep though; think of the John Reed Road in the GNR)
I had the bit between my teeth and enjoyed passing them, ticking them off one by one which was just as well as not soon after, the wheels didn’t fall off my wagon but there was a definite wheel wobble!

From around 9 and half miles I found it a struggle.  A previous injury was forcing me to stop and stretch a couple of time losing valuable time. My pace also took a hit (I apologise to those around as I was cursing a tad bit as my PB shot seemed to be crumbling)

Now I have a question for you.
Ten miles into a half marathon what would you like to see?
If you’re a Sunderland Harrier a bus would be the preferred choice but how
about a couple of jelly babies? A glug of Lucozade?  An energy gel?

How would you like a hill as steep as Rosehill Bank and a tad bit longer?
No, me neither but that’s what there was at 10.5 miles.
I ran up half and power walked the remainder, making best of my niggle.

The final 2 miles are pretty flat which was such a relief.  However I really hope there wasn’t a photographer at any point during the final  2 miles as I would have looked like a grimacing fool.
At mile 9 it looked like I might get under my PB by a massive 3 mins but it was now going to be as close as a close thing.
My previous PB was set 2 year ago on a very flat and PB friendly course in York (Brass Monkey) at 2:07:36 and today I salvaged a PB with 2:07:10.

Considering I was planning for a plod the fact that I got a PB on this course feels really good.  It stands me in good stead for January when I go for a sub 2 hour time at the very flat Brass Monkey.

I’m not too concerned about my returning niggle as I reckon it was just due to the distance at a higher pace than I’ve been used to recently.  A good few long runs should get me in tip top condition for the Brass!