5,600!! I’m going to throw a lot of numbers at you in this blog. I love stats and data. I’ve even made up my own stats to coach the Team. That’s how much I love them.

5,600?? That’s the distance from the finish lines at Hastings and Cali Half Marathons.

Ben ran Cali last year, it was the reason he decided to find a coach. Through word of mouth, despite living in different continents, he found me. 12 months on from teaming up, he knocked 8 minutes off his time from 2025, to clock 1:24:47. Superb.

Now before I start saying how wonderful you guys are, and the PBs we achieved, let’s have a moment of gratitude. Not everyone I coach was able to run yesterday. A few have injuries, others unavailable, but we often forget this from time to time, especially in the world of Social Media, where everyone lives the perfect life and is performing at their best.

So for those that didn’t hit your targets yesterday, your time will come, be grateful you got to take part in such a wonderful event with the sun shining. Taking part and hopefully with a smile on your face, is far more important that what the giant clock says when we cross the finish line.

After a tricky winter myself, where I’ve spent more time on the magic stairs than actual running, it was great to be part of the event as an official 2 hour pacer. I tried not to overthink the build up, but the excitement got the better of me and I was wide awake at 4:30am. Just the 6 hours to prepare then.

The weather was perfect. Pre race I was very fortunate to bump into the Clarkes – Adam, Charlotte and Dave – and duly shoved my Go Pro in their faces and had a lovely chat with them, with Jax giving them the heads up on the local pothole situation – hopefully the chat will make the edit of the You Tube HHM 2026 edition out later in the week.

I did my best to wish as many of my Team good luck, and slowly, one by one, more and more joined in the pre event drills, until we eventually ran out of space.

How did my run go? Perfect. I’m glad I came prepared. The ink on the back of my hand had smudged and when I poured water over my back up notes at mile 8, panic kicked in, but I could just about make out my targets.

I enjoyed every minute, a few twinges here and there, but the crowd were incredible as always, the sun came out to play, and the temperate was idea. We even had a slight breeze on our backs along the seafront. When does that happen?

1:59:33 my official time.

So what of the team? 37 current members of Team Orange ran HHM this year. If my numbers are right, there were 12 half marathon PBs and 5 course PBs.

If somehow I have missed you off, please do get in touch. And if Strava is lying, and it wasn’t a PB, perhaps just pretend.

I can take zero credit for Shain smashing out an impressive 1:28:45, other than perhaps a little bit of pacing strategy, as he’s brand new to the team.

Paul recorded a Course PB, just two weeks after his heroics at Paddock Wood (I make it sound like he saved people from a burning building, he didn’t, he just ran a great time), clocking 1:23:39.

The other 11 PBs, in no particular order, were produced by Chrissie (2:46:24), Sarah (2:24:28), Rebecca (2:19:42), Jodie (2:09:37), Maria (2:11:50), Anna (2:03:19), Michelle (1:58:04), Louise Ha (2:01:50), Emily (1:54:33), Ellie (2:36:30) Victoria (1:45:21 – also 2nd HR lady). That’s 11 right?

Then there were course PBs for Lou M (2:27:13), Lou W (2:09:37), Michael (1:41:29) and Jamie (1:32:17).

Also taking part and again apologies if I missed you, it’s a time consuming task this, we had Debbie (2:51:36), Matt (1:49:45), Patrick (1:38:49), Mark (2:46:23), Philippa (2:28:35), Kirsty (2:27:42), Sue M (2;27:00), Sally (2:28:45), Jo (2:42:06), Sam (1:31:03), Allan (2:10:56), Martin (2:08:59), Jan (2:04:13), Mitch (1:57:14), Ben (1:54:24), Karl (1:51:46), Conal (1:41:44), Glenn (1:42:40), Klare (2:15:37) and Lucy (2:34:44).

I feel like what started as a blog to share what a wonderful day it was, has turned into me just listing numbers.

Thank you all for your support. To have so many runners take part, and do so with such a positive attitude and determination, makes me so proud. Some of the feedback you left means an awful lot.

I always walk away from an event with the desire to work even harder and become a better coach. The more days like this we can experience together as a team, the better.