So who exactly is Endurance Daddy?
Well permit me to explain. My name is Andy and I'm daddy to two great kids - Lily and Oscar. It's fair to say that along with my wife Nikki, these guys are my world. We live in Norwich, a fine city in the east of England.
Endurance Daddy has come about because over the last few years, I've found myself on a mission to increase my own personal fitness. Having hit my late 30s I'd become distinctly out of shape. Like a lot of people in my age demographic, I wasn't faring too well. As a result, in late 2013 I started a fitness campaign. Enrolling in a local Fitness Bootcamp lost me two and a half stone and over the course of 2014, I added to the fitness mantle by adding obstacle course races (two Tough Mudders), some 10k road running races and a couple of half marathons to my exercise résumé.
A desire to pick up new challenges in 2015 saw me take on Triathlon as a way to stretch myself. I joined my local Tri club (Tri-Anglia) and with their help over the 2015 season, I completed three Olympic distance Tri events (which, for the uninitiated, consist of a 1500m swim, 40km bike and a 10k run) as well as a smattering of half marathons and more 10k races. All of these were done with the rather selfish motive of simply enjoying myself!
For 2016, the mission was to do longer distance races. Endurance has been tested with my first full marathon in April and a half-iron distance triathlon (1900m swim, 90k bike, 21.1k run) in July. With the year drawing to a close, I have entered another marathon, this time the Suffolk event of the Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series. This event will take me around the trails of Dunwich forest and the marshes around Walberswick in Suffolk. Endurance sport takes time to train for, and as a daddy I don't want to compromise on spending time with the most important part of my world - my wife and kids . Finally, this year I have decided that with the events I have lined up, I want to be a bit more altruistic and do well for a worthy cause. That's why I have a set up this justgiving site to raise funds for East Anglian Air Ambulance.
I'm no elite athlete. I'm a daddy with a full time job, mortgage and all the other day to day stuff that you probably have too. If I can do this, chances are you could too...