tt's been the almost 3 years since the London Marathon - a few months of gradual build up to an expectation that wasn't satisfied, but with hindsight it was a satisfying result. The short break that followed was supposed to be just that, except it got longer, and longer, with the occasional sporadic effort thrown in.
Soon after London 2017, I had been persuaded to enter Dublin 2018, mainly because there would be a bit of a social element attached to the weekend with some of my fellow club runners. It was also an opportunity to achieve a target, not defined at that time. Sadly, the latter was not to be. Laziness crept in and fitness declined. Despite the lack of fitness, the Dublin weekend was a great experience, and great fun. I had done some training but it was very much back to the old methods of some consistency without pushing myself to do what really should be done for a marathon. In fact, it wasn't really that good. More sporadic really. Nevertheless, I did "enough" to get myself around. I'd had a bet with a work colleague leading up to the weekend that should I break 5:30, she would buy me breakfast when I returned to work on the following Tuesday. I somehow delivered, and claimed my reward. The period that followed included much time following my young Son's football, with stints of refereeing, alongside a continued decline in my commitment to running. I took part in The Big Half in March 2019 but with little training it was a case of dragging myself to the finish line. During the stint of refereeing, some touchline issues rekindled my football interest and I re-registered as a Senior County football referee in April 2019. I was fortunate to be allowed to join the Southern Counties East Football League - SCEFL (formerly the Kent League) for the 2019-20 season on the supplementary referee list. I was struck down by gout during the summer of 2019, living the high life I guess but was able to return to football as a match official in September as an Assistant Referee on two games on the Kent County Football League, a level lower than SCEFL, but intending to get a feel for the game again. My first referee appointment was at the end of September in SCEFL Division 1, Rusthall v Meridian VP, a match which ended 3-0. I was fortunate to have two experienced colleagues as my Assistant Referees that day and their feedback was complimentary, very pleasing considering my last outing as a referee was in an FA Vase match early in the 2003-04 season and my fitness, in my opinion, was not where I wanted it to be. One AR described my last 10 minutes as "leggy", a fair comment. Unfortunately, a pop in my left heel during the Rusthall match caused severe pain within an hour of completing the match and I had to withdraw from a couple of appointments which were scheduled soon after. I returned on 9 November in a match which I would describe as fairly unpleasant, not so much in the obvious nature of the game, but an unpleasant undercurrent of unnecessary comment, not just in my direction but also between players. It was however interesting to hear the work the home side does in its local community in their efforts to give young people a chance to be involved in something positive and irrespective of my views of the match itself, their efforts should be commended as they will benefit many more than just the players who get the opportunity to play football. As things stand, 28 December 2019 is a date to be remembered for me. At the time of writing, my last referee appointment on SCEFL in a match between two teams who shared the same ground. The home team included an ex Charlton player who felt he knew the laws/rules better than everyone else, or was he simply trying to assert himself over me and my team to get decisions in his favour? My saving grace was being green behind the ears again, I was always reading and questioning 'what if this happens?' as well as watching football on TV to support my re-learning and so I felt fairly comfortable to be able to deal with his challenges. There had been some major law changes at the start of the season and so it was important to me that I wasn't caught out. I got through the game but my still rusty skills were exposed a couple of times where I should have intervened - the game has changed from my previous time where a referee could manage a game, to today where players and managers ask why there was no yellow card! Feedback from my colleagues was again positive but I knew my performance wasn't at the level it should have been. That may well turn out to be my last senior referee appointment My running throughout 2019 had been sporadic, as it had been since London 2017. I tried to introduce a little more discipline in the latter stages of 2019, to support my football but also because I enjoy parkrun and club running. As we moved into 2020, I decided to make a positive effort to instil some discipline into my training. Tuesday night club runs, Thursday night track sessions, and Saturday parkruns would help me get back towards my previous fitness levels, and these would support my refereeing. As it turned out, work interfered with football and with the upcoming COVID-19 pandemic, I did not referee again that season. I did maintain parkrun most weeks until it was suspended, and I also joined the Tenterden 5 Mile race in February. My last running event was at Crystal Palace parkrun on 7 March and in football as a Referee Mentor/Observer for a new referee the following day. Lockdown was imposed two weeks later and despite good intentions with working at home, laziness set in further and over the months which followed, fitness all but disappeared. |
ABOUT MEHaving completed 5 marathons between 1999 and 2016, I decided this year, I would try to do it properly and plan my training! Alongside, I wanted to keep a blog as it went along, partly to look back on, and partly to help anyone else who may benefit from my own experiences. Archives
November 2023
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