It sounded a bit of fun so I thought I'd give it a bash. Afterall it's only a mile, how hard can it be?
The backwards run in Manchester started last year when the world record was set by Irishman Garret Doherty in just 7:03, a time many people would be happy with on a forwards facing mile. Such a time seemed to me to be vaguely attainable. That was until I actually tried running backwards.
Running backwards is a bit of an oddity, that may seem like an obvious statement, but what I mean is that when you first try it, it seems really easy. Well it does for about 20 metres and then it gets really, really hard.
Some months before the race I'd run a couple of quarter mile backwards training runs down the Salt Line, but with less than a week to race day I started to worry that I'd been seriously lax in my training regime. So a few days before the big day i grabbed a nearby Strider to act as a guide and set off down the Salt Line to run a backwards mile. It went quite well, one old chap out walking his dog said rather deadpan "I suppose you must be doing that for charity". About halfway I felt like I was really putting in some effort. For a minute I dared to imagine a sub 10 minute time, maybe even sub 9 minutes! That all disappeared in a flash when my guide Mat wryly though accurately pointed out he could walk forwards at the same speed.
Anyway, with a full mile of training in the bag, race day arrived. The race was held at Heaton park in North Manchester. I'd been there on a couple of occasions previously for the parkrun so I knew the park quite well. The roads the parkrun uses are wide and flat, perfect for an event such as this.
I picked up my number from the race HQ and attached it to my shirt much like I would do at any running event. Then I realised I'd attached it to the front so I had to take it off and put it in its proper place - on the back! It was quite a small field - maybe 50 runners in total, with a mix of people in it for a laugh to those in club shirts aiming for a new pb. There were a couple of people in fancy dress and indeed, I had every intention of giving my Marathon du Medoc costume a trial run. But I chickened out at the last minute when I realised I'd be going on my own.
After a few intentional false starts so that the press could get some good photographs of us all starting, we started the race for real. We'd been warned of a big dog turd on the first corner, not much of an issue on a normal run but significantly more of a hazard when you are running backwards. As it turns out the biggest issue was the steady climb, the race route was different from the parkrun route, which came as a surprise and not a pleasant one! This really took it out of my legs, by the time I got to the top I'd dropped a number of places and my calves felt like they were on fire. The subsequent downhill stretch was much more pleasant although the potholes and speed bumps meant each runner had to keep their wits about them.
A huge cheer erupted as we ran (hobbled?) our way parallel to the lake for the last stretch to the finish. I was particularly pleased because I managed to outsprint (!) a tall thin chap from a Liverpool running club who I felt would have no doubt hammered me on a normal run.
In the end I finished in 14:55. Only slightly behind the winner and current world champion Garret Doherty who finished in a new record, an astounding 6:59. Prior to this race I could say that no runner in the world was twice as fast as me at any distance, but no longer. That probably means I'll have to return next year to aim for a sub 14!
At the end of the race we were all awarded a medal, a bottle of mineral water and as much posh yoghurt as we could eat from the sponsors Chobani.
For more information visit the Wacky nation website.
Michael
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