How did I get started on this quite horrifically addictive and painful past time of running long distances? The truth is there is no one answer, at school I was always a bit podgy and not into sports that much, how things change now I am an avid football supporter of my beloved Southampton and like to think of myself as a bit of a runner. Now I admit that even today I would not come close to considering myself a hard-core runner, you only have to look at my belly for that, I’m certainly no Mo Farrah or Haile Gebrselassie, but I do enjoy getting out there and hitting the streets, music in my ears letting my mind unwind and just focusing on my legs and feet taking me away from the stresses of life.
If there was one sport I always wanted to be able to do, it was to be able to run long distance. I tried a few times when I was younger, but I always took a break for too long before trying again. I remember my old run was a 1.5 mile run up and down an old back road, I used to think that was a long way hah! I would run every few days for a few weeks then stop, then start it all again a few months later. Even such a short distance for me back then seemed like my own personal marathon and I admit it I gave up far too easily, I failed to properly motivate myself and got bored easily on the run for me it became a chore and there was little reward or fun in it, there was no MP3 players back then and portable cd’s were terrible they would just jump around and get scratched if you tried to do anything but stand still with them (then again mine was a cheap old tatty one), its different now I have started running fairly regularly I can run with or without music.
In 2010 after joking around at work with a lad called James Mitchel who had just done the London marathon I suggested that I had always wanted to be able to run a marathon, it’s one of those things I think lots of people say without a second thought ‘I’d love to run a marathon’ as if it were just something you could do, I know I have heard it said to me in conversations many a time but how may actually do it in the end. James then joked that he would put my name in the ballot for me and filled out the application, I said in half jest that if you put my name in and I get in I will run it. I suppose for you reading not knowing the nearly 17 stone bloke I was how unlikely that all sounded not only to us but everyone who had a good laugh at the idea back then. ‘regrets I’ve had few’ but this was never one of them.
Then there was Brian my step dad, who was always as good to me as any dad could be, more importantly he was always good to my mum and I loved him for that. Brian had always been a bit of an athlete he had run marathons and half marathons and used to run 10 miles a day before he needed hip surgery.
Brian’s 1982 London marathon medal which I wore during the 2011 marathon
He was high up at one point with the British Tang soo do association, he had always been a bit of an athlete even in his youth. I always knew him to be a kind and strong man an ex-Navy man who enjoyed life and rum on occasion. Brian once upon a time even got my mum to run the St. Neots half marathon. I remember I went on a couple of runs with them as they trained I can’t even remember how old I was maybe 13 or 14, odd that I can’t remember my age but I could still find the place we went for our runs tomorrow. The important thing is Brian got my mum to do something I would never have thought possible, even now I’m still surprised he got my mum to a place where she could run a half marathon! it may have only ever been the one and she may have been near the back, but my mum got round the course, only Jesus returning to earth and curing the worlds ills would be a bigger miracle.
Brian first fell ill after a family holiday to Mexico in 2003 Prostate cancer but Brian being the sort of man he was wouldn’t give in that easily winning that round and fighting of the disease, sadly however in august 2010 Cancer had spread through his body and took him from us, A few weeks later I received a letter from Virgin confirming my place in the 2011 London marathon after my first ever ballot! I’m not really a believer in fate, but there she was staring right at me that day, I told myself that I would do Brian proud I would finish that marathon but that is another story...
Brian Burton 19/6/35- 6/8/10
So there it is a mixture of child hood dreams, a bit of a joke, and one of the best men I’ll ever know is what got me here.
Stories coming soon my first half, London 2011, Pain gate the 3 failed marathons, Fancy a half or two, training with friends and Berlin 2013 back on course.
The Real Run Fatboy Run 