Way back in 2006 I went to watch the lovely Gemma, the one person on the planet who is lumbered with the title of “my best friend”, perform in a play in Wales. As a friend of the cast, I found myself at the theatre a good three hours before the curtain with nothing to do other than drink coffee in the commissary whilst those around me beavered away in furious Thespian activity.
It was in the commissary that I met Les. Les was the grandfather of one of the players, and like me, had been shoved out of the way in a coffee themed corner whilst the cast and crew got on with the real business of having dreadful realisations about what vital piece of costume or equipment they had forgotten to bring with them. As we were the only people in the eatery we ended up chatting and for a few hours sat together drinking coffee, eating cake and talking about everything and nothing.
I was utterly enthralled by Les. Sharp as a tack, funny and engaging; he has a well thought out and interesting opinion on any topic you could name. We talked about life, politics, history, religion, sport and everything in between swapping tales of tragedy and woe, excitement and glory as the play was formed around us.
I have to admit, despite enjoying the play, the highlight of the evening for me was sitting chatting to Les and discussing all of the finer things that life had to offer. It was in those few hours Les convinced me to do the Manchester Run as Les had done it the previous year and finishing in an amazing 47 minutes. Positive that I had found a friend, I agreed to join him in the 2006 run and vowed to let him know my running number so that we could start the race together. I had no illusions that Les would finish before me, but I promised him that I would do my best to make it around the course in as close to 47 minutes as I couple possibly make it.
Les passed away three days after I met him and despite only meeting him less than a week before, I attended the funeral of this quite remarkable man and was truly saddened by his passing.
I did the Manchester Run on the 21st of May 2006, finishing in 58 minutes (just in front of a guy dressed in a Scooby-Doo costume), despite pushing myself to my limits, I simply could not make it round in a time that Les would be proud of and therefore vowed to try again. Sadly I moved away from Manchester a few months later but was back in Manchester by 2010 and fillt intended to make it round the course in less than 50 minutes. I had no illusion that I would not be able to beat Les, but 50 minutes seemed achievable. It was not. I managed the course in 53 minutes 19 second. I tried again in 2011 I managed to finish the course in 55 minutes 42 seconds, worse that I managed in 2010. I had booked to run the 2012 race and was once again aiming to finish the run in less than 47 minutes. However this year the 2012 race is on the same weekend as the second Victoriana Event. So I’m looking for another 10km race I can do, hopefully with a guy running who’s dressed like Scooby-Doo.
