Still Running (weakly). Issue 08

PAST – inspiration – On 15th July 2023, Veniamin Soldatenko died. The Kazakhstan race walker was 84. One of the greatest 50km walkers of all time, he won Olympic silver in 1972 and World Championship gold in 1976 (when the 50km was temporarily removed from the Olympic programme.) His time on that occasion was 3:54:40, or 7:33 minute miles – walking – for over 31 miles!! And at a time when the European Championships were the equivalent of the Olympics in his event, he also won gold (1971), silver (1978) and bronze (1969) there.

I saw him race in 1977 and what was refreshing about him was the fact that he was the complete opposite to his somewhat robotic Soviet colleagues. Sporting a weightlifter’s narrow vest to showcase his impressive torso, and a headband, he certainly justified his nickname of the Alma Ata Hippy. Based in the sweeping farmland of his homeland, his training was legendary: he once raced and “beat” a tractor, when its engine overheated and had to stop! RIP Veniamin

PRESENT – perspiration – On 23rd July, I attended the Diamond League Athletics in London’s Olympic Stadium. An athletics fan of over 50 years, I have never seen a 200 metres as fast as American Noah Lyles’s 19.46, beating Zharnel Hughes’s British record of 19.73. I have never seen a 23-metre shot put before – but Ryan Crouser (US) obliged. Femke Bol of the Netherlands ran the second fastest 400 metres hurdles ever, with 51.45, and Jemma Reekie (UK) topped off the afternoon with a great win in the 800.

Even more momentous, though, were the events of two days before in Monaco, where Faith Kipyegon of Kenya ran a mile in 4:07.64, taking nearly five seconds off the female world record. Will I live to see a woman break four minutes?!

FUTURE – suggestion – The correct target makes motivation easy. When I realised that I had reached my peak in 10km, half and full marathon running, in race walking and in triathlon, I wondered where my next target would come from. I thought long and hard about it.

Ultrarunning. I had done a couple of ultras and they seemed to suit me – there I was a bigger fish in a smaller pond. What should my target be? Win an ultra race? I could probably do that – I’d already come second in one. Set some personal bests? Sub-8 hours 100km, more than 140 miles in a 24 hours? But what would that mean?

A British vest. Yes, that switched the light bulb on in my head. I started thinking and planning all the sessions I’d need to complete to be in with a chance. 50 miles on each of the three consecutive days of a Bank Holiday weekend. A marathon before breakfast. A long run with an all-out penultimate hour – to make the last 60 minutes as painful as possible. 10 hard miles in the evening, no food, and another hard 10 the next morning. But if I could just get there………… forevermore, no matter what else life threw at me, I would always be an international athlete.

So…. The motivation for those sessions was no problem once I’d grasped what the resulting achievement would mean to me. They simply HAD to be done. What is YOUR “light bulb” target?