For Pete Shields

The Ilkley Moor Trail Race was held for the first time named in tribute to Pete Shields, as I'm sure it will be now for perpetuity. There could be no better way to honour Pete, the ultimate club man and all around good guy. Many of you will know who I'm talking about through the journal of mambo. It is very strange that despite having a connection through Mr P and through blipping, we'd never met properly until today. It was lovely to finally say hello. Thanks, S.

Although I've been a member of Ilkley Harriers for over 30 years (albeit with a couple of short periods of desertion to Wharfedale Harriers), I've never been much of a club man, nor one for the brutal training sessions that were run by Pete. I guess I'm a bit soft! Until quite recently, running has been more of an escape from people. Running was something I had to fit in when the opportunity arose amidst a hectic working life. I've always preferred to be spontaneous, finding it hard to commit to training sessions in advance.

In honour of Pete, I raced pretty hard today, which meant that I was not a pretty sight at the end. I heard Pete in my ear, pushing me on. With lots of local support, I probably pushed too hard in the first half. In a seven mile race, the wheels came off with two miles to go, ironically all downhill. My stats tell me that I lost all power. More training is required. A few painful speed sessions.

I checked to find that I last ran this race in the inaugural event of 2008 (28th in 50.25). Here's to returning far more regularly in the coming years. 

For the record, I finished 96th out of 178 finishers today, in 1:01:38, just being overtaken at the finish to miss out on first V65. Forrest was 20th in 47:45, pretty fast considering he played cricket all day on Saturday and did a 17 mile fell run the day before. He's a chip off the old block.