Does runner Rockin' Robin use twitter?

PICTURE this. We’re five miles into the Swindon Half Marathon being buffeted by winds along the Ridgeway which sits high overlooking the town. Holding aloft a sprightly banner, I’m pacing a chatty bunch of runners at 10 minutes a mile, chasing a fancy-dressed robin.

We’ve had Rockin’ Robin, the Swindon Town mascot, in our sights since he passed us at the two mile mark. As we made our way up the stiff climb that is Badbury Hill, the motley crew chimed in with an assortment of inane cheap bird jokes;

“What do you give a sick robin? Paratweetamol.”

“What do you call a bunch of robins playing hide and seek? Fowl play”.

“What do you call a very rude Robin? A mockingbird!”

“When is the best time to buy a budgie? When it’s cheep!”

with suggestions of putting robin’s picture on Twitter?”!!!

Eventually we caught up with Rockin’ Robin who was struggling a little. In fact he was sweating like a weightwatcher in a cream cake shop, beads of sweat running down his forehead, as he clutched his mascot head with one hand. “I ran a marathon in this costume recently and lost almost a couple of stone,” he told me. “Today is really, really tough. I am so hot.”

We chatted for a while. I took the mascot’s head while he fed himself with a bottle of water. The lining of Rockin’ Robin’s thick, hairy costume was something else. You’ve really got to be fit to run in that outfit, and sure enough he finished the course. Respect!

As we ran into the village of Liddington, which always has a great turn out of spectators, he quickly put back on his head and played to the crowd waving and offering high fives as we took the hairpin bend and ran back towards Swindon.

Impressively, Rockin’ Robin finished just behind our pacing group, as fellow pacer Mike Affleck and myself crossed the line in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 17 seconds – 17 seconds over our target finish time, which wasn’t too bad. It was a privilege to take part and enjoy a very different way of running a race – a bit pressurised at times with one eye on the Garmin pacing watch to make sure we kept on schedule even up the excruciatingly steep hills.

This was the fourth year I have run the Swindon Half Marathon which is, without doubt, one of the best organised and friendliest race around. Girlfriend Alison helped out on the baggage area along with several Swindon councillors and volunteers who seemed to have a great time amidst a sea of bananas, water and chocolate!

The race is a carnival and celebration, albeit a tough hilly half marathon. For me it was great to see so many runners wearing their new sky blue Shin Splints running tops. This is the running group which I have helped to mentor over the past couple of years, who meet every Saturday morning at The Sun Inn and on a Wednesday evening as part of a 22 week training programme to build towards running the magic half. 

It’s more than just a running group, but a social group too with no airs or graces, simply a spirit of encouragement and positivity and now the Swindon half is over, they will continue to meet throughout the winter.

Many of those who belong to Shin Splints are newbies; people who used to run but stopped, those who see running a vehicle to improve their health and reduce weight, and those who see Shin Splints as kick-starting something new in their life.

Shin Splints is all about confidence-building so that from running for just a couple of minutes without stopping, you’re soon running a couple of miles non-stop and beyond. Beyond to 13 miles.

It’s the speedies at the front who take the headlines, but the biggest achievement of all was among some of the folks running with me at 10 minutes a mile and those who finished further behind.

I’ve never run a half marathon as slow in my life, and it’s hard to be on your feet for 140 minutes. But for these runners, the achievement of running a half marathon is palpable. Thirteen miles is a major milestone for some who have not enjoyed this sort of exercise since school. A year ago, one Shin Splint told me the last time she had this much exercise was when she gave birth.

For everyone, running is about achievement in your zone. For some of the finishers, it is the achievement of simply finishing, for others it is a personal best or more.

I ran with one elderly guy and as we passed the nine mile mark in 90 minutes he recalled somewhat despondently that years ago he would have finished the half marathon. I said to him that running is about what you achieve now, and not in the past. As we set get older, we set fresh goals.

“Tell me this” I asked. “How many of your friends or family could run a half marathon right now?” “None,” he replied. “Absolutely none of them.”

“That,” I said. “Is the achievement, and as long as you are running every day you are achieving your goals and achieving something new.”

I had a fabulous weekend in Wiltshire. Thank you Swindon!