No Rest until Blackheath Common by nigeruns

150.000 miles a running legend...

Let me take you back to the December of 1964, to a year when I was a wee child of the grand old age of three. It was a age were I had evolved from being a babe in arms who crawled around on all fours, to becoming a toddler that was able to walk, albeit in the fashion of a binge drinker. I was at that age was I was like a clockwork toy. You would wind me up, fill me full of milk and rusks, and then off I would go, scurrying off at speed across the lounge floor. As the years rolled on, nothing has changed as for today you can still wind me up, fill me full of Lucozade and Mars bars, and then off I go running madly over hill and dale.

Meanwhile up north, roughly at the same time that I was causing mayhem as an inquisitive toddler down south. A twenty six year old Lancashire lad had just returned from a long run. He recorded the session in his training log: "December 22nd 1964 - Today I confidently ran a few miles...!"

Forty three years on, slightly older and worldlier wise, this son of Lancashire again returned from his long run. Once more he made an entry into his training log:  "December 22nd 2007 - Today I confidently ran a few more miles...!”

Actually, this log for 22nd December 2007 should have contained a little more content, a little more glory and a little more self satisfaction, as the few more miles that he had run that day was a mile stone in his running career.

Let me explain further. That afternoon his run had finished at the Accrington Stanley football ground, the heart of the Lancashire town where he had grew up. It was the grey mill town that spawned his interested in running. In those days, he was inspired by the exploits of Alf Tupper, 'Hard of the track'. Alf was a fictional character, who had an amazing talent for running, especially when he didn’t own a pair of running shoes. He would train in hob nailed boots, and then would win track races bare foot.

Tupper’s diet was one of eating fish and chips out of newspaper and drinking fizzy lemonade.  He was so talented that he could run faster than a whippet wearing a flat cap and smoking a pipe, and every race that he ran he was undefeated, which made Alf Tupper a comic book legend.  As he read more of the exploits of Tupper, the stories would inspire this Lancashire lad to emulate Tupper. But did he ever really think that one day that he too would be a legend like his hero...?

Legend is an apt title for this Lancashire lad. Especially when you excel in events such as the marathon and your name is Ron Hill.  Legendary indeed as virtually every runner in the land, including myself has wore a item of running kit baring the name Ron Hill. I never grew up with Alf Tupper, but it was the name Ron Hill who inspired me the most to run, and Ron became the Alf Tupper of my generation.

In Germany Adi Dassler was playing tug of war with his brother Rudolf over a shoe company. An argument that would spawn the worldwide brands known as Adidas and Puma, over in the United States, Bill Bowman, was gluing shoes together in his garage and discovered the Greek God of running, Nike, hiding amongst the boxes and paint tins.  Meanwhile up north in Lancashire, the creation of one of the most iconic and classic items of running apparel emerged from the grey textile mills. Ron, not only a marathon record holder, Commonwealth champion and a Olympian, also studied hard and earned a PhD in fibre technology. This combination of his knowledge of the textile world, and his own running experience, resulted in the birth of the Ron Hill Trackster.  Ron’s textile knowledge brought further developments in the technology of the clothing that we train in today. Who else would run around in a string vest, other than Alf Tupper, unless there was a beneficial reason to do so.

Everyday, while Ron was working at the mill, he would run to and from work.  In September 1956, he began recording these daily runs in a training log. These initial scribblings were the beginning of a monumental achievement, as from 1964 Ron had run consecutively everyday up until the present. So this is the reason to why his entry into his running log should have been exceptional. Over the 43 years, Ron had clocked up a staggering 150,000 miles, making this is a significant date and inspiring achievement in running history.

With the countless miles that I have run over the years, I may never reach that total mileage. My attempt of running everyday was once thwarted when I had a day off with a verruca, but I did have a sick note off my Mom, which I guess doesn’t really count. Forty three years of daily running not only shows a dedication, but also a commitment. It shows strength of character that rightly deserves the accolades associated with it. No one may ever know how many miles that Alf Tupper ran, nor do they know if he was anywhere close to Hills achievement. Though the one thing we do know is that they have both earned the well deserved title 'Running Legend'.

(22/12/2007)