5 years ago my life changed for the better!

Today is a very special day in my life, it was the day that changed my life for the good, because 5 years ago today I quit smoking. I quit for lots of reasons like the smell, the cost, the health issues and the standing outside in the cold on your own. But the main reason I quit was for my family, Dexter was about 18 months and running around all over the place and I was constantly out of breath or outside having a cig. So as a promise and a birthday present to my lovely wife I agreed to quit on her birthday, now her birthday is tomorrow...so what happened? Well what happen the day before her birthday is probably the most contributing factor to why I managed to quit for good. I had planned my cigarettes so that I had enough to take me through to SJ's birthday but about halfway through the day Dexter, being the inquisitive little boy that he was, got hold of my cigs. He then did what later turned out be the best thing for me but at the time was devastating, to me anyway. He ripped up every last cig I had and not just a little, he totally obliterated them, on seeing the mess and panicking how I was going to manage the rest of the day, I cried a little. It was one of those life changing moments as after a minute or two I thought to myself, why am I crying about cigarettes? How pathetic was I? 

So I just STOPPED. Stopped worrying about them, stopped feeling silly and stopped smoking, just like that. Well almost the next day I booked an appointment with the nurse at the doctors and got some patches. I wore them for a week then from then on just went cold turkey and haven't had one regret since. For the first week or two it was lots of first, like first solo trip to the shops without thinking about them, first night without wanting to pop outside and other little firsts. It wasn't until about a month in that I managed to go out for a drink to the pub without worrying about temptation. All these, let's call them events were massive at the time but as soon as you manage to do one you instantly question why it was so difficult and why I had worried in the first place. Soon the months were turning into 6 months and years, and the events were less and less, and the times I even thought of a cig were down to about once a year, around this time of year. The final event came about a month ago when I realised the anniversary was coming but couldn't remember how many years it had been, I think it's safe to say I've QUIT.

For those of you that are wondering but this is a running blog what's this all about? Well this past fortnight has been my best couple of weekends runningwise since I started running 2 and a bit years ago. I've been feeling great about my running lately and 10 days ago at parkrun I smashed my PB by nearly 30 seconds then this past weekend at the Barnsley 10k I again smashed my PB by nearly 30 seconds, more on that in a bit. I can't believe how well I'm feeling at the moment and I wouldn't like to think where I would be now if I hadn't quit smoking when I did. It's been the best thing I've done healthwise and if it wasn't for my fantastic family and friends supporting me I probably would have slipped and started smoking again, so thank you everyone. I am now fitter, healthier and happier than ever and the running is just the icing on the cake. 

So this Sunday I headed over to Roysten to do the Barnsley 10k for the first time, I had heard good things about it and was in great spirits when I arrived at 9am to collect my number. Then on my way to the start line I saw a few familiar faces, some I expected to see and some I didn't, which was nice. I went for a warm up jog round the park and ended up marshalling/cheering on the junior race, which was ace as I was missing huddersfield juniors parkrun to be at Barnsley. Watching the junior race there was a familiar feel to it as there was a wide range of abilities very similar to junior parkrun, complete with parents not being able to keep up with their awesome juniors. Once that was over the seniors started to gather and the Stadium runners started to arrive running the Barnsley 10k in memory of Olive, who died a couple of months ago. This was her favourite race and even signed up this year before her illness became terminal, I have recently signed up with them but was torn whether or not to run with them for Olive, I hadn't done it before and after getting my 5k PB the week before was feeling up for it this week. So I decide that even though paying tribute to Olive was high on my mind I thought that even though I didn't know her very well I know she would want be to go out there and give it my best. So that is what I was going to do, and I lined up at the start all ready to smash it. Whilst waiting I saw another 4/5 people that I knew but didn't expect to see them running, so I said hello and then set up my Strava ready to go. It was fairly busy at the start and we were all expecting a run brief but all of a sudden there was an air horn and we were off.

It was a slow start because of the congestion but once we got out onto the open road it soon spread out. As I hadn't done this run before I didn't know what to expect so when we completed the first Km and were then confronted by a monster of a first climb I thought we were in for a tough run. Still feeling good I pushed up the hill overtaking a few people and reaching the top in no time. Then after a steady climb we started to flatten out a bit and at the next turning the course seemed to take a slight downward tilt and it meant I could catch my breath whilst picking up the pace again. About 2 and a half miles in I passed Simon E our event director at Hudds juniors, after a quick chat he told me to push on and go smash it, so I did. I pushed hard for the next 3 miles and even after about 4 small hills I was still in good spirits and was feeling great. 

With only about a mile to go I was ready to push for the finish but was taken by surprise at the last hill that seemed to come out of nowhere and it took every little bit energy I had left. Luckily it was only a few hundred metres to the finish now and I mustered up a sprint finish to cross the line in 45.33 knocking nearly 30 seconds of my PB and on a tough route too. Once I had gone and got my finishers t-shirt I went to congratulate all my friends I had seen along the way. 

Then I took up a place on the finish funnel ready to cheer the Stadium Runners across the line after their tribute run for Olive. As they appeared in the distance everyone started clapping and Olives Daughter and Grandson who were running just in front of them looked very emotional, understandably of course. They crossed the lined then the Stadium runners came into the funnel and most of them couldn't look at anyone as they were very emotional and knew that if they caught your eye that would set the tears flowing. Olive would have been very proud of all of them and it was a lovely tribute to her and her favourite race. 

So in the words of Olive 'keep going love'

Olives parkrun

I haven't written a blog for a while and I thought that my run report of the Shepley 10k would be my latest but something happen during the week that has completely thrown everyone out of sync. So this is my tribute to an amazing lady who gave her heart and time to everyone at Huddersfield parkrun and the running community, this is Olives parkrun.

The news broke during the week that Olive Brearey had passed away after a battle with Cancer and from that point on the tributes began to pour in. Big, small, long, short or just a simple thank you Olive, each and every message was a testament to how much of an impact just one person can have on a community when they give up a small amount of time to support and cheer people on. There were tributes from close friends that were heartfelt, and also messages of thanks from people who only knew her as the lady on the second to last corner cheering 'keep going, keep going'. It didn't seem to matter who the messages were from or how well they knew Olive, they all had had something in common and that was how much those few words she spoke each week helped them and stuck with them. I never had the pleasure of speaking to Olive properly but every time I passed her she always gave me or my son and I, if I was running with him, great encouragement which always helped you and picked you up for the final sprint to the finish.

So on parkrunday when Simon Brass approach the skate park to address the gathering parkrun crowd as he usually would, there was a look on everyone's face of 'urgggmmm this is going to be emotionally hard'. You could see how hard it already was on Simon just from his walk up the skateboard ramp, and then he reach the top and said his hello and welcome to Huddersfield parkrun as usual. It was at this point that Simon did something that made the nearly 600 runners stood at the start line completely quiet and got their complete attention. He reach up and took off his Bunny ears.......which if you know Simon you know that those bunny ears are a part of him on parkrun weekend without fail. It was that one gesture and offer of respect which silenced nearly 600 runners. On a normal parkrunday there are still a few people that talk over the run brief as it difficult to hold everyone's attention but today everyone knew what he was about to do. It wasn't about who you were today, or which part of town you came from, how many runs you've done, no we were all here to remember a truly amazing lady and pay tribute to everything she has done for parkrun, for running in the community and for all the people that she had help or encouraged. I don't think she will have realised how many people she had touched, but I hope she does now. Simon kept it together long enough to give his own brilliant tribute, we all gave a moment of applause, and he asked people to join him and the volunteers after we had finished our runs on Olives corner to clap and cheer the remaining runners through to the finish. He then he set us going on our parkruns with Olive in our thoughts. 

As people were running I could see they were all very determine to do well for Olive just as she would have wanted us to. This was always going to be an emotional parkrun but the feelings and thought you got when reaching Olives corner for the first time was a little surprising and overwhelming, Olives sign was placed on the corner and there was a gathering of flowers left by people before the run. Everyone who ran by paid their own tribute or respects to Olive if it was a clap, a touch of the sign or a 'Thank you Olive'.

By the time I was approaching Olives corner for the second and final time there were a few runners starting to line the corner with Simon and the cheers and claps I got really pushed me to finish hard and on a sprint. So after I had my barcode scanned I went and joined the at this point 20 people on Olives corner clapping and cheering. It was very emotional and as more and more runners finished and joined us the more intense it got, but it also got louder and at its peak you could apparently hear us from the bottom of the park. I think no one went round that corner today and didn't give their all, because of all the support that was given and no one wanted to let Olive down. As the tail runner came round for the final time there was at least 300 people lining the corner clapping, and as the clapping disapated there was a few tears and lots of emotional hugs and handshakes, never has 'our parkrun family' been so apt. 

There is talk of raising money for a plaque in rememberence of Olive and after today I think they will have no problem in raising the funds. There is also a group of people that are going to the Barnsley 10k and running together in rememberence of Olive, as she loved the Barnsley 10k and had optimistically entered it this year.  I'm sure Olive will be remembered for many years to come and with the possible plaque maybe for generations to come too.

So as a final word I will just say Keep going, Keep going

RIP Olive