Noel Thatcher: ‘All you need is a pair of shoes and a love of life’
Where is your favourite place to run – and why? My favourite place to run has changed with time. It used to be a packed Olympic stadium (the gladiator in me) but now I am loving London’s streets and parks and the mountains of Japan. Basically, anywhere that stimulates the senses.
Is it true that you were made to run five miles a day every day for a month in punishment for being caught smoking when you were 12? True. The teacher would follow us in his car. We dreaded those runs but they made me tough and that training got me third in the school cross-country, which gave me the incentive to achieve.
Do you remember your first ever race? I remember coming second in my primary school sports day but my first “real” taste of success was when our school (a boarding school for blind and visually impaired kids) won the Warwickshire schools cross-country, beating all the “normal” kids! Big kudos in our eyes! We were 14 or 15, I think.
What’s your greatest running achievement? Winning the 5k/10k double at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics carrying a stress fracture in my left tibia.
When someone asks for a training tip what do you tell them? Consistent hard work. No secrets to success.
Do you like a running gadget? If so, what’s your favourite?
I love the new Garmin with the cadence data function but that’s because I’m a geeky running specialist physiotherapist. However, if push comes to shove, all you need is a pair of shoes and love of life.
Do you run to music? What do you listen to? No music. Having one sense compromised when I run is probably enough!
What’s your favourite post-race indulgence? Cake or a good burger.
You are a physiotherapist – can (and do) you treat, or at least diagnose yourself? Yes. I do practise what I preach as a physio. Simple principles, applied specifically.
What is the worst thing about running? There’s no worst thing about running. If you’re able to run it’s all good. (Though we tend to take that for granted)
And the best..? Those runs where the harder you push, the better it feels.
What do you eat on the morning of a race (or a long run)?I don’t eat on the morning of a long run because I am trying to become fat adapted but eat carbs on race day, with some fat and protein.
What’s the furthest distance you’ve ever run? 50k in training which was how I managed to get a stress fracture pre-Atlanta 1996. My bucket list does however include the Ultra Trail Mount Fuji 100-mile race so I am working on longer runs.
Do you ever run barefoot? Or in barefoot-style shoes..? I am a big fan both as a runner and as a physio in the “concept” of natural running. I run in lightweight low-drop shoes but wouldn’t try a true barefoot shoe as it represents a significant risk even with gradual adaptation. I do think barefoot running will improve strength and may reduce injury, but the latter in a small percentage of runners.
If you had to choose who to watch, would it be Mo Farah or Usain Bolt? Mo every time
Who is the greatest runner ever? Difficult to determine given the breadth of the sport. Mo has to be up there because of his range but the beauty of running is that our concept of “impossible” is continually being challenged.
Noel Thatcher is an ambassador for the Standard Chartered Great City Race, which takes place on 10 July 2014. The race aims to raise vital funds for its official beneficiary, Seeing is Believing – a global initiative which helps tackle avoidable blindness www.cityrace.co.uk @GreatCityRace
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