My Running Journey

​Introduction

Hello there my fellow readers, I present to you the spectacular journey of my running career from the very beginning up to the present day.

There will be lots of twists & turns probably more than a peak Game of Thrones episode 😆 but for real, this will be a great adventure for you all.

Strap yourselves in, get those snacks ready & prepare to be amazed from a journey that will take you into my life of running.

I hope you will find it enjoyable as I have always found running enjoyable.

Chapter 1

The Very Beginning

I first started running when I was at my primary school St Teresa’s located on Devon Street in my hometown St. Helens where I still live today.

I got involved in loads of running events in sports days & more often than not I would always come away with a Top 3 finish.

However, it wasn’t until I started high school at De La Salle School St. Helens located on Alder Hey Road that I took running a hell of a lot more seriously.

I always entered myself into running events mainly into the 100,200,400 or 1500m events where I won a couple of these. I forgot how many because I left school in 2014 (yes I’m that old).

That wasn’t the main reason why I took running seriously though because…

Chapter 2

The Road to Greatness

I joined a local running club called St Helens Sutton Athletic Club when I was 10 years old & stayed until I was around 12 or 13.

I enjoyed the running events that were done at the track & the cross country runs through Sherdley Park.

After a few weeks of training twice a week, my running coach told me that I had potential & that I should enter a race to try & make a career out of it.

Naturally I was excited by this prospect & decided to accept & the race was held at the Old Trafford running track in Manchester.

However, this wasn’t what it was cracked up to be.

Chapter 3

The Love Has Died

I obviously wasn’t ready for competitive racing at the time because I finished last in the race by a margin & I was truly devastated.

I was crying on the way home because I thought that I had let everyone down.

Eventually I came to a decision that I would be leaving the running club & stop running for good. It crushed me mentally & I was totally embarrassed for months after.

On a happier note, it gave me time to reflect on my life & what I wanted to do with running if I ever wanted to get back into it again.

I didn’t join a club, never ran another event or do any athletics related activities for years. I just fell out of love with it.

However, my Dad decided to enter a 10K running event called the St Helens 10K in 2017 so I decided to enter to see if I could get that hunger back.

Me & my Dad at the St Helens 10K

Chapter 4

The 10K Races

The day finally arrived in March 2017. Many runners whether advanced, athlete or otherwise entered.

I ran with my Dad for my very first event because I wanted to ease myself back slowly.

I got a respectable time of around 52 minutes which was good for a guy that hadn’t ran in years before that.

I thought to myself in the weeks that followed “I think I want to get back running again”

I really enjoyed it & wanted to enter more.

Then unfortunately Covid hit.

After Covid, I decided to start a new running journey & that is how my parkrun adventures were born.

My local parkrun.

Chapter 5

A Parkrun Life

I started doing parkrun in January 2022 so straight after Covid. I was already still fit because I was hitting the gym mainly doing weights & swimming but I wanted to prove to myself that I can love running again.

For those that don’t know, parkrun is a weekly 5K run that is held across the country at 9am every Saturday morning. It’s a great way to warm up for an event, make friends, stay fit & having fun with some amazing people.

It is a volunteer event so those people are the backbone of the community. Without them, there is no parkrun. We all owe (myself included) a debt of gratitude to these legends who give up their time to hold an awesome run.

I did my first parkrun at Victoria Park in St. Helens which is my local parkrun & I got a time of 31:09. Not bad considering it was my first one.

I really enjoyed it so from then on, I did it more or less every Saturday morning unless it was cancelled due to weather.

I still do parkruns today & as of writing this blog, I have done 186 different parkruns at 32 locations throughout the country including one in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 called Pollok near Glasgow.

In 4 years, my time has massively improved.

2022: 20:01

2023: 18:46

2024: 18:37

2025: 18:03

My overall PB is 18:03 which I achieved at Hull in May 2025.

Some courses are flat, some are moderate & some are hard.

The hardest one I’ve ever done is Whinlatter Forest in the Lake District because of its high terrain & altitude so I could only achieve a time of around 25 minutes on that one.

If you haven’t done parkrun before, what are you waiting for? Try it out at your local park & I guarantee you will enjoy it. Not just the running but the friendly atmosphere that goes with it.

My various parkruns I have done.

Chapter 6

The Races

As well as doing 5K weekly parkruns, I also decided to stretch my running journey even further by entering 10K’s & I even entered a marathon as an extra challenge.

I always love doing 10K events mainly because you get a medal & other goodies at the end. A photo doesn’t go amiss either.

Like I said, my best 10K time was 52 minutes when I did my first one in 2017.

Since then, my times have improved to:

37:10 which is my overall PB which was achieved at Wigan but I always get on average around 37-38 minutes.

Some times are:

37:10 Wigan

37:30 St Helens

37:50 Warrington & Everton

I have many more 10K’s coming up soon so hopefully I can be better.

My only marathon that I did was in Chester where I got 3:14:34. I was impressed by that & I enjoyed it even though it was hard.

Here’s all my medals from 10K’s

My best 10K time

Chester Marathon Photos

Chapter 7

The Future

Now that 2025 has concluded, I can only imagine what 2026 will hold in terms of running.

My goals for 2026 are:

• Sub-18 5K
• Sub-37 10K
• Sub-90 HM
• Sub-3Hr M

I will definitely be entering more running races in 2026 which will include a Half Marathon as I haven’t run that one yet. I know crazy huh? I will enter another marathon to try & beat my time.

I have also done a running season schedule for myself so that I can have a bit of time off to recharge my batteries & to keep myself in top shape.

My running season will be from March-November to take advantage of the warmer weather because I love running in the sun more than cold.

My time off (not entirely because I will still be doing parkruns & going to the gym) will be from December-February so that the colder weather is used as a keeping fit cycle.

Me at the gym & the one I go to.

Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed this detailed, thorough breakdown of my running journey.

Please make sure to follow me on my social media & share this blog to others. It really helps.

I really hope that all runners can create a community where we all share our love for the running that we do. Athletes, club runners, intermediates & beginners all of you are welcome.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/macaulaymccormick/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/100005946464899/

My best times. Ignore HM. I only did it because of my Marathon time.