If anyone sees me pounding the streets of Plymouth, red faced, panting and wheezing, don’t be alarmed, I am training for the Plymouth Half Marathon on April 28th. Just to save you re reading that bit again….in capitals: I AM TRAINING FOR THE PLYMOUTH HALF MARATHON. It is all part of the BBC Inside Out series looking at getting Fitz fitter and will be shown on BBC1 in September or as part of a short memorial programme on or around April 29th. The series started with me giving up alcohol at Christmas 2011, then with me joining a gym and taking regular exercise in early 2012. So far I have managed to loose two stone in weight since the bad old days.
My current training regime consists of running along my road and up to the first lamppost on the hill opposite. Being slightly asthmatic, I then collapse at number 12. The doctor has given me an inhaler, which has worked nicely and I am now collapsing at number 18. That’s a distance of nearly three quarters of a mile. The other 12 and a quarter miles are a work in progress at the moment.
I have called upon my old friend, Commonwealth medal winning sprinter Katherine Endacott, to assist me and she did sound a little stunned and confused in a recent phone call when I asked if she could help me train. She thought I wanted picking up from the railway station! When I explained what I was doing her first question was ‘Do you own a track suit?’ Charming! It is nice to know who your friends are. Anyway, hastily buying track suit trousers after that comment I arrived on The Hoe for a training session with her. Being a bloke, I never checked the size and slipped on the garment in hopes I would look like Mo Farah. In truth the XXL made me look more like MC Hammer. Still, as I wandered back through the town centre at little later in trackies and trainers, at least I blended in.
It is not the first time I have pushed myself into extreme exercise. On 5th November 2000 I entered the New York marathon and came 29109th. Actually I have just noticed that my runner number was 39616 so I did beat quite a few people, the number slip is framed in my office.
I can still remember the fight for the line between myself and a gent in a wheelchair who had pushed himself backwards for 13 miles. In the last hundred yards he was shouting encouragement to me and gave me a sprint finish. He beat me. His name was Robert Triggs and I would love to meet him again one day, a true inspiration.
My medal hangs on the side of the frame and reads 7 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds which is about 45 minutes slower than the Jumbo took to cross the Atlantic but I made it.
I hope to do Plymouth in four hours or on all fours. Katherine pointed out that four hours would be handy as they open the roads again after four hours….which is quite an incentive!
Fitz
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