On Wednesday 10th August 2016, Max Whitlock wrote his name into the record books. A sensational night of performance across the whole spectrum of gymnastic apparatus led to him becoming the first British male to take a medal in the all around gymnastics competition in 108 years.
An unbelievable achievement, and an incredible series of performances and displays that he can be proud of - as were the rest of the watching nation back home, as Max flew the flag for team GB.
His bronze medal could be a watershed moment for Great British gymnastics, it could - and possibly should - be the moment that his sport is finally given the recognition it deserves for the level of difficulty, strength, endurance, creativity and commitment that it takes to perform as he did. He should be applauded and in my mind should be recognised in the next honours list, as should many of the other competing GB athletes that are proving to the world what a brilliant hotbed of sport our Island can be.
Sadly, in the immediate aftermath of his success however, a certain Piers Morgan decided to stick his considerable beak in and belittle the achievement, question why a bronze is seen as a success, and rather distastefully label Whitlock a 'loser' that needs to work harder and achieve a Gold medal to be truly considered successful.
In my mind that is a ridiculous point of view, a pathetic attempt to stir up controversy and to court publicity by a man that is a failed journalist, under whom The Mirror newspaper ran false stories and allegations against the British army, and which had a distasteful and very questionable attitude towards gathering their 'news' articles to say the least. He is a man that carved out a career in American television, but in less than a year was hounded out of the country such was his unpopularity. He came back with his tail between his legs and now sits on a morning soft news show back here in Britain once again - a shadow of his own previous success. His only sporting highlight is cowering next to his stumps as he was battered and bombarded by an over of Brett Lee deliveries in cricket nets for charity. Piers Morgan is the sort of guy that wouldn't understand the amount of hard work, commitment and desire that it takes to be successful in sport if he had it smacked in his face. In short, he is an arse.
We should be immensely proud of our sports men and women in Rio, they have been simply sensational once again, and have captured the imagination back home and hopefully will inspire the next generation. At the end of the day that will be their real legacy, not the colour of the medal hanging around their necks (or even if not at all!)
Last night Greg Rutherford secured a bronze in the long jump, whilst Jess Ennis-Hill claimed a silver in the Heptathlon. Neither took the Gold, but both gave us something to shout about, to cheer for, to stay up into the silly hours and roar at the tv for. These athletes make the ordinary Joe Public dream that anything is possible. For that we should salute them.
In the same athletics session we saw possibly our greatest ever track athlete stamp his name all over the history books once more again too. Magic Mo knows no bounds, his strength of belief to tuck in at the back of the field early doors, his strength of knowledge to ease his way through the field, his strength of courage and determination to pick himself up from that mid-race fall, and his strength of endurance to finish up with a 4:03 final mile to blow the opposition away was unbelievable. Yes last night truly was another Super Saturday.
We can't all be Olympians, but that doesn't mean we can't all be a success of our own. Success is something which should be judged on a sliding scale with relevance to who you are and how far you have come on. For many, if you get those trainers on and pound the miles out and cross that start and finish line, then that is a success in itself. Others of course will set higher standards, will focus on times and positions, that is only natural - but it doesn't make the achievements of anyone else become any less relevant.
On Wednesday night, whilst Whitlock was making history, a few hundred of us local amateur athletes took part in the latest of our own series of competition with our local interclub competition. After almost two years without defeat, spanning 11 races, I finally met my match at Chorley in the latest round. Luke Betts, running for the home team squeezed me out in a sprint through the final stages of the race, after a great three-way tussle with David Rigby of Preston.
It was a fantastic race in quite miserable conditions. The rain had poured down throughout the evening and was unrelenting through the entirety of the race as well, which made the underfoot conditions in the opening section through muddy woodland pretty difficult to negotiate. None the less, the early pace was fast (5:01 on the watch through mile one), with the three of us taking it in turns to lead out, stretch the field, push each other as much as possible and pull each other around the course.
Chorley is one of my favourite courses in the series, a 4.8 mile two and a bit lap course, which throws a long hilly section and a couple of short sharp and steep down hills at you too. After the first big lap (approximately 3 miles), myself and Luke managed to pull away slightly and then it became a straight head to head race for the line. I attacked from quite far out, second time up the hill, as I was aware that Luke's finishing speed would be greater than my own, but he stuck with me and once we came into the last 400 he came into his own and ran away from me. I couldn't react or pick up the pace beyond what I was already at, and with that my run was over. But I was delighted with my run, and it was great to be pushed so hard. My time of 24:53 was more than 30 seconds faster than my winning time from last year, so that bodes well for my upcoming races and shows that I am in form.
I really stepped up my efforts in training this week too, looking to build on strongly in the next few weeks now that I fell back up to speed after my rest. I managed to record my highest mileage week in a couple of months too, which was pleasing.
I did a slightly longer run on Monday (13 miles) to make up for missing out on my Sunday long run due to racing instead at Blackpool Airshow 10k.
Then on Tuesday I did a slightly reduced speed session, with one eye on the interclub. I did 10 x 480 metres, off a 320 metre recovery around Preston Docks. It was a nice session, and one which could almost be broken up into 3 sets - downwind I averaged 4:42 pace, into a headwind I averaged 5:03 pace and around the bend (traffic to contend with) I averaged 4:58 pace.
On Thursday I did a tempo session with Rob Affleck and was pleased with how comfortably I can now run on tired legs - a sign that the endurance is coming on now - we averaged 5:34 pace for 8.5 miles of the session.
Friday and Saturday were both easier running as I allowed the legs to recover from the previous 5 days exertions. I just went out and plodded a few steady miles on each day.
On Sunday I did my long run of 16.5 miles, at an average pace of 6:23, getting progressively quicker throughout and finishing at under 6 minute pace in the final miles. Not bad having been out for a few pints of the Saturday night and staying up to watch all the athletics!
That is it for this week - sorry for the rant! Believe in yourselves and keep doing what you are doing. Ignore Piers, we are all winners!
Total mileage for the week: 75
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24
Total mileage this month (August): 137
Total mileage so far 2016: 2072
Average miles per day 2016: 9.21
