Adam Webster
Age
29
Occupation
Civil Servant. I have been working in DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) since September, firstly working on Brexit but now working on assessing the economic impact on DEFRA sectors of the coronavirus. Before joining DEFRA I have worked in the Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, Cabinet Office, the Prison Service and the Welsh Government. I’ve been quite fortunate to work in a variety of roles from working inside a prison to advising Ministers on proposed policies.
Reason you started running?
To make friends! When I moved to Cardiff to work in the Welsh Government I did not know anyone. When I was at university it was easy – everyone is in the same boat, but moving to a new city it’s not as obvious how to make friends. I spoke to a friend about this and she recommended that she had met people through a free run club organised by Nike which they hosted in major cities.
I hadn’t really done any sports since school and I had never done running apart from in PE classes or sports day. I remember lacing up my converse trainers (luckily a house mate later leant me some proper trainers) and feeling quite nervous turning up at the store and waiting. Thankfully, I enjoyed the session and found out that I enjoy running. Making friends outside of work and my house-share really helped me settle into my new city.
When I moved to St Albans I wanted to make friends who lived locally so I looked up the local run club and found Striders.
Favourite race distance
I am still trying to figure that out! I have really enjoyed the Fred Hughes so maybe 10 miles. I have been on a transition from short distances and I have found 10 miles a nice middle between a lung-busting short distance and feeling like I might collapse because of total exhaustion.
Favourite running route and race?
I have not done that many races (I have done 6 chipped races) but I have really enjoyed both times when I have raced the Fred Hughes, I really like the route and I find it gives me some motivation over Christmas. I quite often run around that route on my training runs. I will never forget the Fred Hughes in 2018 – my first race as a strider and my first race in the snow.
Running goals?
After my first marathon last year I wanted to run some chipped shorter distances. I want to run my first chipped 10K so I have an official time (aiming for somewhere in the 38 mins region) and getting a quicker half marathon PB.
A longer term goal is qualifying for the London Marathon through a quick enough good for age time. Although I have achieved the target time, now they have limited how many places they give out through the good for age I didn’t get in.
I say every year that I want to do some cross-country and one year I will sign up for Parliament Hill.
How often do you train?
It varies, but most weeks at least twice a week, which are the Striders sessions. More often than not there will also be a longer run to make it 3. When I was training for the marathon it went up to 5 times a week.
What motivates you?
When it comes to running I am quite competitive, there are a few other striders who I’m always trying to keep up with! Whilst speed does motivate me, I am more motivated by the social aspect and training with other people. The primary reason I sign-up to things is to race with people and to organise training runs with them. A new found enjoyment in my life is a longer weekend run with others. I also get quite claustrophobic staying indoors so having an excuse to get out is also quite important.
Most memorable run/race?
Completing my first marathon last year (Manchester). I had never trained and been so focused on anything like that before. When I crossed the line, I felt a wave of emotion and started sobbing. I never used to wear a running watch so I didn’t know how I had done and then when I saw my fiancée and she told me that I had achieved my target time of sub 3 hours the floodgates really opened!
The race was the culmination of a really enjoyable training period with some other striders who had also signed up to the race with the same target: sub-3 hours. I am now very good friends with them because of the shared experience. I also think I felt a bit emotional because I had a sense of guilt, throughout the training programme they did all the hard work of devising a training plan, pacing our training runs and giving me advice as the novice throughout. However, one had to pull out before the race because of injury, one caught the flu on the day before and one finished just outside the 3:00 target.
I also really enjoyed doing the Stampede as a team of 4. It was something that never appealed to me and then I volunteered in 2018 and I left thinking what a great vibe it was. When the fellow striders who I had trained for Manchester Marathon with suggesting forming a team I agreed straight away. It was a great day, I really enjoyed the camaraderie and how social it was. I can sometimes be quite focused on running and forget to chat with people.
Injuries?
When I just did short distances I used to suffer from my IT Band and my knee. This was particularly acute when I first got into running. The longer distance means that I often have tight calves.
Other hobbies?
I’m quite a book worm and often alternate between fiction and history. Now that I live a lot closer, I’m going to more Watford FC games (I used to be a season ticket holder when I grew up there)
Guilty Pleasures?
I feel embarrassed when my fiancée catches me ironing my shirts or doing house work to a medley of Blondie, Aretha Franklin, Kate Bush etc– so maybe my choice of music for house chores?
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