Where I've Come From - Part 1

Right. Now that I've figured out the Blogger basics it's time to post something informative. First thing's first is where I'm at right now and how I got here. Settle down children, this is gonna be a long one (multi-part in fact!).

I have never been a natural athlete. I was terrible at all sports at school. I wasn't fast, I wasn't strong and I had no endurance but I wasn't overweight and I never felt like I was unhealthy, although in hindsight my sedentary lifestyle meant I definitely was. Running for the bus or train was about the limit of my physical capabilities and I mean that literally.

In 2006 a friend suggested that we tackle the Great South Run as a group. I couldn't run 1 mile at the time let alone the full 10 mile distance but her enthusiasm, coupled with a recognition that I really needed to make a change, was enough for me to sign up. I bought my first pair of running shoes and I trained hard. I did my research and put a program together for myself and I was running 5 times a week doing different distances and tempos. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done and I would never have stuck with it had it not been for the support of my friends.

Digging into the darkest recesses of Facebook I've come up with these photographic gems; both photos of me at the time I was training. As you can see there's not a lot on my 6ft 2in frame.

I weighed under 11 stone here

Two mistakes. The poppered shirt and my hair!

I ended up doing the 10 mile run in about 1:24 and to this day it's an achievement that I'm incredibly proud of. The next couple of years were spent doing some running here and there and doing the Great South Run again in 2008, although it was about a minute slower than the last time. Running had become a bit boring (our group of runners having long since disbanded) and the motivation just wasn't there any more.

The worst thing about it was that, although I could hold my own on a lap of the park, my self confidence hadn't improved all that much. I was weaker than I looked and I looked pretty weak. It was getting to me and that meant I needed to make another change, so I started researching and that's when I found Strong Lifts, which I'll cover in part 2 as this getting far too long and I'm hungry!