Just before the 2008 I set up this blog to follow my training and push people towards my sponsorship pages. Back then I thought some people may find it enjoyable to follow my ups (and many downs) and learn a bit from it (I was also hopeful that people would get over the poor spelling, punctuation and grammar!) Over a year later I’m running the marathon again and still blogging – and hey here’s a new link to my sponsorship page of 2010…

Anyway for many months I suspect the readership of the blog was minimal, a few cursory glances but that’s about it, however in September 09 I published a blog post about my weight loss and general health. From being the kid in school who would use almost any excuse to get out of running I was now doing it of my free will and enjoying it! Just last week I was talking to a school mate and his brother (who is still at Forest – my old Secondary School) whilst out on my 4M warm up jog and said I bet if you told the teachers who you went out for a run with this morning they wouldn’t believe it – that’s if they remembered me! Anyway, I spammed that post over face book and Twitter and it actually got read a few times and it appears there is at least one person who read it and took notice of it.

A school mate is about to embark on a 50k trek and as is typical for every sponsored event I got the obligatory ‘Facebook Sponsor Me’ email. I had a squint as to what it was as it didn’t look like the typical race for life one plus it had a silly name! Anyway the challenge looked cool so I emailed saying I’d send money and he replied that day saying I had been a bit of an inspiration to him – he had read some of my blogs, gone out and bought a nike+ and was now running and had roped in more and more. How cool is that!

I don’t think he is alone in picking up running because of me, I’m pretty certain a number of my uni friends took seeing me run that 26 miles and realised that running is possible for anyone, I ran a 10k last summer with mates who I never expected and know there are others running 10ks this year too. I think people see what I was and think well if he can do it so can I.

I love the fact others are running and that maybe I have been an inspiration for them, I would love to reach out to others too and help get them the confidence to put a pair of trainers on and go for a run of any distance!

Keep running and this time next year it maybe you training for the marathon!

N

ps please feel free to comment on this post – would be great to know who has read this all the way to the end

This blog is way overdue and probably should have been put up a couple of months ago when I really was in my peak fitness, since then I have let it slide a bit. That said I am still fairly fit and if anyone ever fancy’s a 10k run or spinning session I’ll join you and hopefully keep up with you! Anyway this is a little post as I thought it rather appropriate during a time where another great story of a man who lost 15 stone through running is being released.

Whilst my achievement may be nowhere near that scale and Mike had to overcome far more hurdles than me I still have a sense of pride as to where I have got over the last few years in particular the last 12 months…

The picture on the right shows me at a work 2005 Xmas party . This was around the peak of my weight, I did nothing in regards to keeping fit and ate 2 ‘big’ meals a day. Weight gain was inevitable and a lazy lifestyle just speeded that up. At this time I reached a waist of 36inches and think (although can’t remember) these may have sometimes been tight. Unlike others I can’t blame alcohol, curries or late night kebabs it was just a case of snacking and ultimately eating poor food. During a sequence of events that saw my life change over the next few months I was given a reason for change, and slowly this started to happen.

Initially taking up squash with a colleague and occasionally hitting the gym I got a bit fitter but not much it wasn’t until a few of us started running at work and I got my Nike+ kit did I really start to really enjoy keeping fit. From March 08 I started running in a pretty big way. Having been the kid who was ready with the excuse as to why not to run cross country at school this came as a bit of a surprise to me and probably anyone who knew me back then. I genuinely enjoyed running and with the Nike technology I could be geeky with it too. Perfect!

As the months carried on and I was routinely doing a couple of runs a week at minimum I decided to get into a 10k, being the moneysaver that I am I entered a challenge with my Nike+ and after 30days of racking up the most miles I could (including runs in Florida!) I managed to blag a place in the 2008 Capital 10k. By this point I was already significantly fitter and had started to shed some weight. I was still enjoying running so it was perfect. I completed that run in a very respectable 53 minutes but deep down I wasn’t happy. Others around me had done better and I could be just as good as them!

For most people I know 10k would be the point they gave up, not me. I like a challenge, from a young age I have always been a trier and from that age I also got used to not winning and not being particularly good at anything but I would always give it my best. I think it is this competitive and never wanting to fail mentality that pushed me into my most extreme challenge of my life.

Now I can quite remember the sequence of events but around October 2008 I got the rejection marathon magazine but was also scheduled to run the Great South (another Nike+ competition!). I was upping my weekly mileage all the time and following the 10miler I had to decide whether 09 would be my first marathon year. Again by this point my fitness was still getting better, a gym membership for fitness first which resides quite literally across the road also kept me in shape with the option of quick lunch break sessions.

Following a sad family event with my girlfriend I was introduced to Fairhavens. This is a large hospice which is based in Southend, at the time I found out they had charity places and decided to sign one of those scary contracts confirming I’d raise the necessary funds in order to gain my place. Once I signed my contract I was in and running was now to consume my life for the next few months.

As a reader of runners world I knew how important it was to follow a schedule but what they suggested seemed to involve at the min 5 days of running a week. I could fit it 3/4 but to be honest I enjoyed spinning to much to take up another night with running so I proceeded to ignore all schedules and go it alone. I ensured, pretty much without fail, that every weekend I would do one long run ranging from 10 up-to 20 miles during the peak. I was dedicated, over the next few months I could probably count on one hand the amount of miss runs I did due to the typical feeble excuses.

Around Xmas Laura introduces me to Jon Robson, a personal trainer. Forking out a fair amount of money I was to add a fairly intense gym session on top of my already hectic running schedule. It was from October – March I really felt my weight come off but still amazingly I was having fun. Obviously marathon training is tough and eats away your time you need to factor in long runs which ontop of you have to remember how much it will take to recover.

In April, on a stupidly hot day (for England) I put on my running shoes and pounded the 26.2 miles of London streets. Perhaps my ignoring of the running schedule came back too haunt me but I was not in anyway prepared for the heat and 4:34 later I crossed the finish line. Slower than I hoped but more incredibly more than a stone lighter than when I started!! (obviously that weight went back on quickly).

So by April 09 I was down to around 12stone 8, a weight I have maintained till today. No doubt I could be lighter if someone assessed my diet. Whilst I have cut out a lot of rubbish from what I eat, I still enjoy bad foods too much to cut them completely. I have found what I think is a healthy balance between being a super fit 6 pack mens health guy and enjoying my life enough and being healthy enough not to care!

Recently a few of my mates went out and did a 10k, it was this event that really reinforced that I was probably quite fit. Completing a couple of minutes faster than my closest friend and also not far of 45mins I was almost at that next level of running! Foolishly after that run I stopped for a bit, but my shoes are back out and I have ideas as to where my next runs will be…

Anyway, I think what is probably due is a “then and now” photo to compare side by side and here you go, hopefully the difference is noticeable…

So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I’d just run across the great state of Alabama. And that’s what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going. When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go… you know… I went…

Forrest Gump.

nb the pic of me (above) is on Santa Monica Pier – where Forrest meets the West Coast (left).