A little about me, what I’m up to and why……

My mum always thought I was clever.  But really I am a very stupid boy.  There can’t really be any other explanation why I will be doing an Ironman event on 7th August 2011.  I would love to say it was a long story dating back to a deep childhood desire to conquer the world’s toughest single day endurance event but it was really rather more impulsive.

On 5th January 2009 I was coaxed by a couple of colleagues to enter the Great Edinburgh Run.  With hindsight they were either trying to kill me or just thought it would be awfully funny watching an 18st fella running 10k through the centre of Edinburgh.  Anyways, when the 10k was done in May I was quite fit, the best part of 5st lighter and a bit restless.  I didn’t have a target or a plan and I was becoming more conscious of approaching 40.  Obviously the only sensible thing a bloke could do in that situation was enter an Ironman before I turned 40.  I have since heard that apparently the normal thing to do in that type of crisis is to book a wine tasting tour in Napa or take a cruise.  Och well…..

So without a moment’s hesitation I signed up for the Rome Marathon in March 2010 and a Half Ironman in August 2010 as part of a bumper month of sponsored challenges.  I had to buy a bike (she’s un-named) and then another bike (she’s called the Sultry Temptress and is beautiful) and then a rubber suit.  I had to get used to eating meals on my bike of gloopy gels that taste of coal and sick and energy bars that taste of sawdust.  I had to get used to living with really dodgy tan lines and my diagnosis of having clinically stumpy legs.  I continued losing weight…….not so much the inches off my waist but more the metres of skin that I left stretched along country roads when bike ambition and incompetence frequently met head on.  And worst of all I had to get used to constantly picking up niggles and injuries ending 2010 having subachromial decompression with clavicular excision surgery (I’m becoming quite proficient at doc chat) on my dislocated and broken shoulder. 

So, what on earth is Ironman?  In 1979, a debate ensued amongst a group that our American cousins would call jocks about whether swimmers, runners or cyclists were the most fit.  Obviously swimmers can swim faster than runners and so on, so Navy Commander John Collins had a fine moment of clarity and dreamt up combining three events done back to back, in one day and without any rest – the 2.4mile Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the 112mile around-Oahu Bike Race and the Honolulu Marathon.  15 loonies started the race and 12 finished with the winner finishing in 11hours 46minutes to be called the Ironman.  A couple of years later Ironman and it’s “anything is possible” spirit exploded in the public consciousness to become the phenomenon it is now when Julie Moss crawled across the finish line live on US telly in 1982……

So, like last year, this new and improved blog is really my training diary up to Ironman.  Pam got last years version made into a book and I can look back on it now through rose tinted goggles so hopefully sometime next year I can do the same with this.

I am very proud of my fundraising for the Anaphylaxis Campaign last year but this year I am going to have to focus my efforts on becoming a parent for the first time in April and surviving my assault on the Ironman.  However, if you do wish to make a donation to the Anaphylaxis Campaign just out of pity for me my JustGiving page from last year is still open and taking donations.