Silver Machine - Hawkwind

Lyric:- 'You gotta know where I've been'...

Yes, it’s twenty-five years since my first marathon in Telford back in November 1994. And when I asked folk on my SM platforms, what they what they did on Sunday 6^th November 1994, no one could actually say what they were doing that day, they just said they were in a crappy job, probably nursing a hangover or were at University (same kinda thing). You see, I remember the day very clearly as I ran a very triumphant if somewhat annoying 4.04.16 after dying at 20 miles post halfway split of 1.45. I wrote about the experience a couple of years ago…

‘It wasn’t the biggest of road marathons, but I gave it my best. At the halfway point I was going strong and couldn’t see any other runners, so I asked one of the marshals if I was winning! Winning?! He just looked at me like my lights had gone out, like, ‘What?’ Of course, I wasn’t and when I got to 20 miles, I hit the proverbial ‘wall’ and had to jog-walk the last six miles, finishing in in 4 hours 4 minutes 16 seconds.

As for the winning, well in my own way - yes, I had won… as it was just one of those life-defining moments for me. A ‘Ker-ching! As I’d only gone and bloody done it!’ When people asked me, ‘What did you do at the weekend?’ I simply said, ‘Oh, I ran a marathon.’ And they said, ‘Really?’ Because it was quite a big deal back then, especially for the ‘Me’ they’d previously known.’

And after feeling that moment of success, I’ve done it again, and again, and again feeling that same ‘Ker-ching!’moment every time I’ve crossed the finish line – over 1,000 times with some amazing highlights along the way. If you’ve never run 26 miles 385 yards or gone on to push yourself through your limits of human endurance to running Mega-day Ultras, then you won’t understand where I’m coming from. When running huge disatnces, I’ve found out whom I am. What I’m made of and it’s provided me with a framework to build my life around especially when challenged by Guillain-Barre Syndrome in 2016.

If I’m being honest, Telford was a dress-rehearsal for my first London Marathon on 2^nd April 1995. I did it to see if I could actually cover the distance. I wasn’t even sure I’d survive it on the start line. Luckily for me I did, and I know now that my inexperience didn’t limit my ambition. I also know that 26.2 miles isn’t the huge Everest it was once seen as being back then– how times have changed. 

Now, I believe that Anyone that’s reasonably fit and healthy can run or walk 26.2 miles if they really want to – it’s just that not Everyone has the desire. I didn’t prior to Marathon #1 but now it’s second nature. What was once seeing being out of this world or impossible simply isn’t – Anything is possible if you are open to change. 

You just need to desire change to happen and that desire has taken me on an extraordinary journey for the past 25 years’, where have you been on your journey?

1,047 Marathons, 254 Ultras, 9 Guinness World Records, 15 Marathon des Sables
25 Years' Dry & Celebrating 25 Years' of Running Marathons