I'd have to say that despite appearances to the contrary, I am not really a runner. Up until 2009 I had never run for exercise. Cycling, football, a bit of cricket. So I would say I have more of a cyclists body, strong quads and not much upper body and I never ran at school. I think the last time I ran for the sake of running was once in 1984. Back to this century and we'd moved house in late 2006 and got it plumbed and rewired in 2007 and I spent most of the rest of the year redecorating the whole place and rebuilding the bathroom and shower room. I got out of the habit of cycling to work - I was knackered most of the time.
Come to the end of 2008 and I was struggling to fit in 34" jeans and had bought my first pair of elasticated waist chinos from M&S. Any time I rode to work I got that disconcerting feeling as I leant over the handlebars of my gut forcing my cycling shorts to roll down in surrender.
My son Alfred was in to playing football, but had no interest in watching or supporting a team, so I couldn't interest him in watching a Boxing Day match. Off to the Memorial Park we went. A typical grey, damp December day, found a patch of grass on the football field not full of puddles and, rather than just stand still and kick the ball back and forth, we jogged up and down the pitch passing the ball between us.
Five minutes, maybe 400m and I was blowing hard and having to stop. Ridiculous! I couldn't keep up with a 5 year old. I always thought I was fit as I did a bit of gentle cycling to work, but how wrong I was.
Alf was born when I was 37. Then into my 40s I find I can't kick a ball around with him. That was embarrassing and serious, I could be a heart attack waiting to happen, or at the very least not be able to enjoy being a dad with him.
New Year's resolution - get a pair of running shoes, start running. I figured if I went out and spent £80 on shoes I was damn well going to get decent use out of them (Yorkshire upbringing). Found a couch to 5k training plan and went out running by myself. 9 Weeks later I could jog for 30 minutes without stopping. It was bloody hard, but I could do it. It freaked me out that I gained weight when I started running, I guess I needed to add some leg muscle, but eventually some came off and I was feeling much better.
That's where all this started - 400m, blew up, had to stop.
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