Lee Robinson
Brathay 10in10 Athlete
I am not a member of the 100 Marathon Club. Nor did last year’s attempts to reach the start line of the Brathay 10 in 10 go particularly well. After 3 solid months of training, a whole load of (perfectly valid) earache from my Wife and a couple of trial marathons, I fell off a treadmill and fractured my tibia. Despite my best efforts, by February it was obvious that I wasn’t going to make it, so I slinked away with my tail between my legs and quietly disappeared from the wonderful 10in10 community.
So why you may ask, am I having another crack? Madness? Possibly. Was I inspired by the stories of the 2022 10in10 group? Who wouldn’t be! More than this though, I have made a career out of problem solving and it struck me that’s basically all the 10in10. ONE MASSIVE PROBLEM. But like all problems, it can be broken into a process and can be overcome.
My work life is all about continuous improvement and this is about simple step changes and accepting that a process will never be perfect. So just giving it go, expecting problems and fixing them in an agile fashion.
My approach to training this year has been very different. The root cause of my failings last year came from the fact that I simply wasn’t physically strong enough. Running alone will not get this 41-year-old body over the finishing line of the Windermere Marathon (the 10th race of 10) on the 21st May 2023.
This year I have trained 6 days a week, but the quality and diversity of the training has been very different. I train weights and core 2 days a week, do a bootcamp another day and then have 3 days focussed running (one of which is a speed session). As the 10in10 gets closer I intend to up my mileage but will not be running more than 4 sessions a week at peak. I believe that this process presents the best chance of getting to the start line in May.
When I start the 10in10 I will be leaving my Wife Helen and 2 young children (Harriet age 7 and Rafferty age 4) at home in Lincolnshire. I would like to thank them for making the sacrifice two years in a row. I promise that the life lessons from this event will make me a better Husband and Dad (and hopefully inspire the kids along the way).
Lastly, I would like to say a couple of things about Brathay Trust. We didn’t have a lot of money when we were growing up and with a dysfunctional Dad, life was often a battle. Aptitude in life is nothing without the confidence to apply it. Brathay is a vehicle for socio-economic mobility and any mechanism that supports this is truly a wonderful thing. It is a privilege to be running for them and I hope that this year I can do them justice.
Experience
- 2016: London Marathon
- 2016: Grim Reaper Ultra
- 2017: White Rose Ultra
- 2018: London Marathon
- 2018: Race to the Stones
- 2018: Belvoir Challenge
- 2018: Thunder Run (my 4th Thunder Run)
- 2019: White Rose Ultra
- 2021: Langdale Marathon
- 2022: Equinox 24 (my 5th Equinox 24)
- 2022: Langdale Marathon
- 2023: Brathay 10in10 Donate