Long road to recovery....

I'm having a day off the bike today and having a spare hour decided to run.

I've not been running much because of my achilles as mentioned before. In reality, running was my first love and I started running before I got into biking. It was December 2004 and I started out from a very poor base. I was 17 stone, very unfit, my business had gone bust in the October and life was in turmoil. I didn't know what to do. I don't know why but I decided to get myself fit.

I went home and dug out an old pair of trainers, top and jogging bottoms but I was embarrassed about trying to run so I waited until dark and went out to the local park. I walked/run for 15 minutes and was knackered. I went home determined to improve. Being a bit mad when I went home and before I showered, I entered the Edinburgh marathon in June 2005. Danielle and I had got married earlier in that year and she has been a source of constant support and encouragement. That Christmas she bought me a marathon book by Sam Murphy.

So that was it, I was off. I followed the programme to the letter and duly completed the marathon in a modest 4.32. Once the journey started and the weight started coming off I completely fell in love with running.

I've had 8 weeks off running because of the achilles and I've missed it. So 5 miles today in 40 minutes brought back the old joy. I still love running!