Richard Hoare

About me

Hi, I’m Richie, 41, originally from Ramsgate and have been living in Faversham for 5 years now and I love it here. I moved here to live with my then girlfriend and now lovely wife, Vicki. We got married in 2018 and were greedy and had 2 ceremonies! One in Ramsgate and one in Stalisfield. Without a doubt the two happiest days of my life.

I qualified as a primary school teacher in 2016 and absolutely love the job (most days!) and can’t really imagine doing anything else now. Before that I was lucky enough to have spent a few years either travelling or working abroad as an English language teacher. I spent 2 years in South America and 3 school years in Spain.

Another big hobby of mine is photography. It’s a fairly new hobby and I don’t get loads of time to practise so I’m still very much a novice. Recently I bought a telephoto lens and have started to photograph birds which is great fun – I’ve even managed to get a few OK photos. This is also ties in with a growing passion of both Vicki and I which is bird spotting. We’re both slowly but surely improving our identification skills. We love nature and go on lots of long walks together – probably my favourite thing to do!

It’s hard to beat the buzz of a long run in the beautiful countryside around Faversham

Richard Hoare

What’s in your kit bag?

I’ve never massively been into kit or gadgets though a decent pair of trainers is obviously a must. I find the older I get the more I need to wear on those cold winter runs so I’ve invested a bit more in some decent winter gear recently. Long gone are the days when I used to just go out in shorts and T-shirt no matter what the weather was like!

I use a Garmin watch though it actually belongs to Vicki. I’m sure I would have bought myself one by now though if Vicki wasn’t so kind as to let me use hers. Before I used the Garmin I used to just plan my runs on Map My Run (I still do that) and remember where each mile started and use a stopwatch to monitor pace. I still haven’t ventured into the world of Strava – not sure I can face the competition!

What’s been your greatest achievement so far?

My biggest achievement is probably running my first half-marathon (Canterbury) as I was still fairry new to running and somehow managed to train myself (I only started running with others after I joined FRC so didn’t have the benefit of Trevor’s expert guidance as I did when I was training for Brighton Marathon ) and get a half-decent time despite the fact that I barely knew what I was doing. This is also the only race where I raised sponsor money and was pleased to raise a fair amount for Demelza House which is an important charity for me as my nephew spent a lot of time there when he was younger.

Aside from that, I think my biggest ‘achievement’ is just discovering how to run for sheer pleasure. It’s hard to beat the buzz of a long run in the beautiful countryside around Faversham – normally with my running buddy, Jim.

My top tip

Do strength building and don't keep running through injuries. Enough said, really! If you do have an injury that won't go away, seek professional advice.

What would you say now to the pre-Faversham Running Club you?

I delayed starting at the club for a while as I was just getting back into running and wanted to build up to a decent level before I went along. I was worried that people might judge me or that I would be the ‘slow’ one. So the advice I would give myself is just go now, everyone is so friendly and supportive and you will not only improve your running but make some amazing friends along the way.