Tony

I had started a new job in the Civil Service in March 1985 and had been inspired by the London Marathon so I decided one Saturday in May or June 1985 to run for a mile or so. My legs were absolutely killing me for the next seven days, I wouldn’t even dare play five aside football after work the following Thursday as I was convinced that I would permanently damage my viciously aching legs! I finally recovered enough to try running again the following week. I needed the cheapest running shoes and I was lucky as a certain company in Shoeburyness in Essex made Silver Shadow trainers at very affordable prices so I purchased them. As the autumn and winter set in I improvised an old pair of wool trousers as makeshift trackie bottoms, I ran in the dark so nobody would see them. Between 1985 and 1990 my running was merely jogging 3-4 miles at most sometimes every few weeks. After 1990 it hardly happened at all. Bob Glovers Runners Handbook gave me the warm up and cool down exercises which I rigidly adhered to over the next 30 – 40 years. I didn’t even consider joining a running club or remotely contemplated racing, I was always overweight/obese and couldn’t run faster than 14-15 minute miles. After the long drought of 1990 to 2008 I finally ran again thanks to a nurse who scared me over my weight, I was 18 st and Parkrun Cardiff. I ran the Cardiff HM in 2010. 2011-2019 was another drought but in 2023 I really got going but was dragged down by my belly over the winter although I knew I had to get ready for the London Marathon in 2024. I went on to run the Amsterdam marathon in October. I started running in the Cornish Grand Prix series this year. I am 62 and it’s 40 years this year (2025) since I started running in my Silver Shadows. Naturally been an extremely late starter I have never won a race or been much higher than half way up the field in a Parkrun but I run for the pleasure of running. Might eventually win in my age category when I get to 95 and there’s nobody else in my age category. F