Runner Profile: Andy Metcalfe

First I want to wish all FRR members and their families a Happy New Year and hope everyone had a great Christmas. Many thanks to Neil Winton for my nomination. I had managed to avoid being nominated for a while but was expecting it to be my turn soon. I would imagine many of you would have realised that I am introverted in nature, slightly awkward socially and not a great talker. So doing a runners profile is not going to come easy to me.

I have read a lot of the recent runner’s profiles and have been struck by how running and joining FRR has helped them feel better both physically and mentally. This is also something that I have felt.

So where to begin….

School life

My parents moved from South Africa in the 1970’s to Billericay in Essex where I went to the local Primary School. When I was there I can’t actually remember being involved in many sports events. I then went to a Secondary School in Basildon. Again, I didn’t initially get involved in any of the sports but I did tend to always play football at lunchtimes. I suppose things slightly changed (probably in the 4^th or 5^th year – can’t accurately remember) when my cousins came over from South Africa. The older cousin was into rugby and keeping fit and he asked if I wanted to go for a run with him one day. This I did and I remember quite enjoying it and starting to go out for the odd run from then on. During around the same time the school offered a wider range of activities during games lessons. One of these was, bizarrely, weight training with the woodwork teacher! I was quite a lightweight at school but enjoyed taking part in this.

I then moved to another school to do my A levels. (This was because there weren’t enough pupils who wanted to do A levels at my secondary school). During this time I remember still going running (and buying a pair of jazzy cycling shorts to go running in) and going to a gym in Brentwood with my sister and her boyfriend. This I continued to do until I started working.

Work life

After school I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and managed to end up working for a firm of Surveyors. Whilst I was there I joined a gym with my friends and still did a bit of running. I also remember buying some weights from the local Argos to use at home. Whilst working for the Surveyors there was a downturn in the economy which meant they reduced my hours. At this point I started to think about what I wanted to do. I always felt that Surveying wasn’t really for me but continued to study and eventually completed my qualification. I was still living at home and felt I wanted to do something different.

I had always had an interest in keeping fit and healthy so looked at studying for a Leisure/Sport qualification. I looked into the different courses and decided to do a Sport and Leisure Studies degree at De Montfort University. To their credit my Mum and Dad supported my decision even though they probably knew they would have to help finance me.

Also, around this time I met Jane (who was a Felixstowe girl) at a mutual friend’s engagement party. (Ironically, the place we met was Sutton Village Hall – which is now where Woodbridge Cross Country is based!) I then moved to Bedford to study. Whilst at University I continued to keep active and bought myself a bike to get around the town and between the different sites. Once qualified I looked for work in the Sports/Leisure industry. There wasn’t any work in the Suffolk/Essex area at that time so we ended up moving to a small village near Windsor and I got a job in a Marriott Hotel Leisure Club.

Although, the area was nice enough we felt that we wanted to be nearer family. So I applied to different gyms/leisure clubs in Suffolk and Essex and was successful at getting a job at a Leisure Club called Dragons in Brentwood. (Ironically, this was just up the road from the Surveying firm). I really enjoyed my job at Dragons and kept fit by using the Leisure Club’s facilities. I stayed there for quite a few years working at different roles within the club. During this time I got married to Jane.

After a while we decided we wanted to make a more permanent move to Suffolk. If my memory is correct this is also the time one of my friends persuaded me to take part in one of my first races which I think was a 10k race in Southend. I can’t remember the time I completed it in but I was in quite good shape so probably got around in a reasonable time.

Eventually, we moved to Rushmere St Andrew. Initially, everything was settled in our life and I had been able to maintain my fitness and life was going well. Then followed a few turbulent years where my fitness took a back seat. This started when Jane unexpectedly lost her Dad. Thankfully, this was followed by some joy when Ellie was born. (although that wasn’t particularly easy as she was born 5 weeks prematurely). The following years weren’t as joyful as we would lose a baby at 23 weeks, my mum passed away and we lost another baby at 35 weeks. Needless to say during these years everything went a bit downhill. Unfortunately, when we lost our first baby I didn’t feel completely supported by where I worked so decided to change what I was doing again. This was how I ended up at Ipswich Hospital. This was also the time when we moved to Felixstowe.

Back to running

After these terrible years I did want to get back into fitness. I remember I did come to a trial session at FRR. Unfortunately, it was around the same time as when we lost the second baby so I might have not been in the right mental state. Also, I don’t remember feeling that warmth that the club now shows so didn’t continue it. Something I probably regret.

However, I did still want to get my fitness back and one day I saw a sign advertising a Boot Camp at the Fire station so I decided to give it a go. This was probably one of the best decisions I made. I really enjoyed the sessions and they got me feeling fitter and better about myself. These continued for a while and I made some great friendships from them. The instructor sometimes couldn’t always make these sessions so it ended up turning into Felixstowe DIY Boot camp where we would still meet up and do our own thing. This is when I also did a few muddy runs including the Whole Hog and Insane Terrain.

At around the same time a friend at work asked if I had heard of ‘parkrun’. (The parkrun results tell me this was in 2015). I hadn’t heard of it but she said they did one over in Kesgrave. I remember being very nervous when attending my first parkrun but managed to get around in roughly 28 minutes. I then continued to go along to Kesgrave parkrun and started to go along with a friend. I continued to do this until Felixstowe parkrun was set up. I shall always be grateful to my colleague for encouraging me to go along as it probably started my running journey.

Also at work, around the same time, some colleagues were looked to put together a team to take part in a race called ‘Ekiden’. I thought I could do that so put myself down to do the 5k. We were the ‘drug runners’.

I can’t remember the timings but I think I must have continued doing bootcamp and running and somehow decided it was about time to enter an event. I had gradually increased my mileage and think I probably chose Coastal 10 as it was local and would be easy to get to. I have got to say I always find the best bit about the races is the actual running. I am always quite nervous before the race. I often get quite worried about the other aspects of the race. I always want to make sure I get to the venue on time, find a parking space, get my number, know where the start line is and have a good warm up. Once I start running I am ok.

With excitement and nervousness I turned up at the Leisure Centre to pick up my number not quite knowing what I was doing and where I was going. Luckily I saw some friendly faces who told me what I needed to do. (Looking at the results this appears to have been in 2018). For my first run this was quite an introduction as I can remember it raining all of the way around. I was pleased to finish in a respectable time of 1 hour 31 minutes.

FRR

I am not sure how I ended up joining FRR. I think after the Coastal 10 I wanted to try and get into running properly. I think I still wanted to find out what the club was all about but was probably a bit wary from my first trial visit. I must have just plucked up the courage to give it a go one day. It has been one of the best decisions of my life. I think what made the difference was the warm welcome I received. I can sometimes be a bit hard to talk to (I can’t help it – I am a bit rubbish at small talk) but I remember Dave Solomon running back with me after the first session and having a chat. That really made me feel included and made a big difference. I really feel that the members of FRR have made a huge difference to my enjoyment of running. When I first joined I really was grateful for the encouragement of members, such as Dave Church, Kaye Branton, Ian Duggan and Jo Harper. I truly feel this made the difference in me maintaining my running.

I believe that being part of FRR often gives you the confidence to believe that you can achieve certain distances or times. I think this was what led me to enter the Great East Run. So in 2019 I took on the Great East Run. I had trained regularly 3 times a week and had built up to the distance so was confident of getting around. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and set off at a good pace. It was a hot day so I tried to not to go too quick too early. I made it up Freston Hill but I think it took its toll as I remember coming down to mile 11 and finding my legs had just about had enough. I kept going with the encouragement of the other racers and the crowd and finished in 1:54:19 which I was really pleased with.

Favourite events

Two events which are definitely amongst my favourites are Cross Country and Ekiden.

Going from strength to strength

As Neil pointed out in his running profile my running has improved more recently. There are a few things that may have contributed to this.

During covid I continued my running when permitted but also looked at other ways to maintain my fitness. I have always believed that looking after other areas of fitness such as strength and flexibility help with running so was looking to do something which would encompass this. A colleague at work said that John Reynolds was doing some online ‘Core Club’ classes so I decided to give them a go. I had previously seen John so thought it might be something I would enjoy. I was pleased to find they benefitted me and helped to maintain my overall fitness during lockdown and have contributed to my improvement in running and still continue to do so.

Another slightly random thing that seems to have helped with my running is a change in diet. One day during lockdown our youngest daughter announced that she was going vegetarian as she didn’t believe in eating animals. We listened to her and decided to go along with her wishes. This eventually led to the whole family changing to a vegetarian diet and probably contributed to a slight weight loss for me.

Another thing that has helped with my running is that I have tried to listen to some of the tips that the FRR run leaders and other members have given out and tried to incorporate them in my running. I am pleased to say these changes along with regular running and support and encouragement from many members of the road runners has helped me improve many of my times.

What next?

It has really been enjoyable to actually be able to race again and go to different events since lockdown. When I now go to races I am really excited with the wide range of road runners who are around my level at the moment which has given the races a further competitive element.

I have been amazed that I have managed to get my parkrun PB to just below 21 mins but don’t think I will be able to reduce that by much more so I might look at different distances. In the New Year I have entered Great Bentley Half Marathon which I haven’t done before so am looking forward to that with anticipation. Other races I am considering are Tarpley 20 and maybe Boston (Lincolnshire) Marathon but I am not sure if I am in the right shape and am carrying a little niggle at the moment.

Regardless of that I plan to continue to be a member of FRR as it has been the club and its members which have made my running journey so enjoyable.

Next month’s nominee

For next month’s nomination I would like to nominate Tom Aykroyd who is a FRR member who has helped to support other members and contributed to FRR and I think it would be interesting to read his running profile.