Story
About me…
Married to Caroline and Dad to Charlie (20), Theo (16) and Ted (8), I’m a 48 year old IT manager, who up until around 3 years ago was a complete stranger to any form of exercise. Totally reliant on my over active metabolism, for years I was able to pretty much eat and drink whatever I liked. However, as my mid-forties arrived, my weight was gradually increasing, as was my developing “Dad-bod”.
Why do I run?
Well, around 3 years ago, a heart attack scare gave me a wake up call and as I was being carted off to Lincoln General from work in an ambulance with chest pains and a peculiar ECG reading, I realised I was no longer invincible. Thankfully, a large dose of Gaviscon sorted me out! Yes, it was just indigestion.
So I decided to do something and actually do it, rather than just talk about it. I ordered a particularly loud pair of orange running shoes and downloaded the NHS Couch to 5K podcasts. Little did I know then what I was starting. With the help of some headphones and a running app, I was hooked within weeks.
I remember the first time I ran 20 minutes without stopping; I felt so emotional, I couldn’t quite believe I achieved it. From there the distances have kept increasing. 5K was achieved on target within the 9 week schedule. A few weeks later I ran 10K and now that’s a routine training run. The miles just keep mounting up; over 2,100 miles since I started.
Why run a marathon?
I was asked regularly when I started running, what my goal was? To be honest, I didn’t start out with one. I just enjoyed the solitude of running on my own at the end of a day. Get some exercise, de-clutter the mind after work and look forward to checking out my stats update. Then around 2 years ago, my younger (and much fitter) brother-in-law ran the Authentic Greek Marathon, from Marathon to Athens. That got me thinking, could I, am I too old, could I step it up? That weekend I went out and ran 22km (13.1miles), further than I had run since I was 21 years old. I was already booked for the Lincoln 10k so I registered for the Hull 1/2 marathon. Then around 12 months ago, while watching the London Marathon, I thought, could this be me?
Why the London Marathon?
That’s easy - I was born and raised not far from the start at Blackheath, so if I was to going to run any marathon, it had to be London.
Why Diabetes UK.
My wife, Caroline has type 1 Diabetes, and has since 1989. It is hard to describe the burden this places on an individual and how she shoulders this in my mind is amazing. It is true I could provide her with better support day to day, and its a testament to how well she copes with it, that all too often I forget she has this. How anyone copes with having to self medicate so many times a day, just to stay alive is beyond me; but she does. Caroline and her family have always been active supporters of Diabetes UK, raising funds through charity events. In years gone by, Caroline would also regularly volunteer, working with children and teenagers with Diabetes.
Therefore any funds that I can raise, to help Diabetes UK in their cause and to raise awareness , will be helping those with Diabetes and investing in finding a cure. I believe this is an extremely worthwhile cause.
I hope you do too, therefore I would be very grateful if anyone were to donate whatever they can to this JustGiving page of mine. The event was Sunday 28th April 2019. But please, still donate whatever you can, many people donated while I was running, which was awesome motivation as I saw donations come in as I went round.
Thanks, Andrew.
Married to Caroline and Dad to Charlie (20), Theo (16) and Ted (8), I’m a 48 year old IT manager, who up until around 3 years ago was a complete stranger to any form of exercise. Totally reliant on my over active metabolism, for years I was able to pretty much eat and drink whatever I liked. However, as my mid-forties arrived, my weight was gradually increasing, as was my developing “Dad-bod”.
Why do I run?
Well, around 3 years ago, a heart attack scare gave me a wake up call and as I was being carted off to Lincoln General from work in an ambulance with chest pains and a peculiar ECG reading, I realised I was no longer invincible. Thankfully, a large dose of Gaviscon sorted me out! Yes, it was just indigestion.
So I decided to do something and actually do it, rather than just talk about it. I ordered a particularly loud pair of orange running shoes and downloaded the NHS Couch to 5K podcasts. Little did I know then what I was starting. With the help of some headphones and a running app, I was hooked within weeks.
I remember the first time I ran 20 minutes without stopping; I felt so emotional, I couldn’t quite believe I achieved it. From there the distances have kept increasing. 5K was achieved on target within the 9 week schedule. A few weeks later I ran 10K and now that’s a routine training run. The miles just keep mounting up; over 2,100 miles since I started.
Why run a marathon?
I was asked regularly when I started running, what my goal was? To be honest, I didn’t start out with one. I just enjoyed the solitude of running on my own at the end of a day. Get some exercise, de-clutter the mind after work and look forward to checking out my stats update. Then around 2 years ago, my younger (and much fitter) brother-in-law ran the Authentic Greek Marathon, from Marathon to Athens. That got me thinking, could I, am I too old, could I step it up? That weekend I went out and ran 22km (13.1miles), further than I had run since I was 21 years old. I was already booked for the Lincoln 10k so I registered for the Hull 1/2 marathon. Then around 12 months ago, while watching the London Marathon, I thought, could this be me?
Why the London Marathon?
That’s easy - I was born and raised not far from the start at Blackheath, so if I was to going to run any marathon, it had to be London.
Why Diabetes UK.
My wife, Caroline has type 1 Diabetes, and has since 1989. It is hard to describe the burden this places on an individual and how she shoulders this in my mind is amazing. It is true I could provide her with better support day to day, and its a testament to how well she copes with it, that all too often I forget she has this. How anyone copes with having to self medicate so many times a day, just to stay alive is beyond me; but she does. Caroline and her family have always been active supporters of Diabetes UK, raising funds through charity events. In years gone by, Caroline would also regularly volunteer, working with children and teenagers with Diabetes.
Therefore any funds that I can raise, to help Diabetes UK in their cause and to raise awareness , will be helping those with Diabetes and investing in finding a cure. I believe this is an extremely worthwhile cause.
I hope you do too, therefore I would be very grateful if anyone were to donate whatever they can to this JustGiving page of mine. The event was Sunday 28th April 2019. But please, still donate whatever you can, many people donated while I was running, which was awesome motivation as I saw donations come in as I went round.
Thanks, Andrew.