And so it begins... Part 1!

Soooooooooooooooooo,

Here I sit, (at my desk at work in North Lincs), dipping a big toe into the, thus far, limpid sea that is blogging.. More questions than answers, but we'll just have to learn as we go along!

… A bit of background you ask.. Well, I respond, a bit of background you'll have.. Just a little though as I could spend forever bringing shit up to speed and would, no doubt, get swept into a thousand tangents along the way. So, I shall attempt to stay post specific, (back to MAF), and offer the below:

I've always been an active type, basketball and the gym specifically though I was also getting into cycling having bought myself a new bike. It used to be all about bulking up, (I was 17+ stone at my peak... And 6 ft 3 to offer a little perspective), until I changed jobs.. At the new place I met a man, lets call him David, (because that's his name), who was into running. He'd mentioned he could run 5k in less than 23 minutes and I thought:

"I'm a fit guy, how hard can that shit be"

I went to the gym that night, got on the treadmill and, as it turned out, that shit was pretty damn hard.. I'd never ran that far in a 'oner' before and managed the distance in 26 minutes...….….But it completely fucking destroyed me! Sweat drops pooling into tributaries of my forheeeed then running directly into my eyeballs, legs like jelly and, I'd wager, the heart rate of a shark attack victim. But in that moment a runner was born. Dramatic, perhaps, but the seed had been sewn and I was determined to get my time down to the 22/23's /mi. So I persisted with the treadmill, knocking out a 5k each week at the end of a gym session. All the while David's constant, and consistent attempts to lure me outside would result in:

"It's too windy" 

"Far too cold man" 

"I don't do the outside" 

"What's the point when there's a treadmill at the gym" 

"Not my bag mate"

"Just No"

Epiphany No:1, I suppose, came as I was sweating my tits off in the gym, (on the treadmill), looking at a stunningly beautiful day through the window thinking "what the fuck am I doing?!" 
So I pulled the chord, fired up Strava on the phone, (my favoured choice of tracker when cycling), and stepped out into the light:

First Outdoor 5k!

My first thought being how much harder it was to run outdoors, my second being.. That was fucking lovely! Out in the sunshine, running along the waterfront, other runners smiling as I passed..

This became quite the habit, gym for a work out then finish with an outside run.. 

**Actually, looking at the training log that's complete bullshit! The above was done on the 18th April.. My next outdoor run, (below - Excuse the title), wasn't until 21st July..**

Second Outdoor Run, with Hills and Everything..

But this one, (I promise), did spark regularity. I was now outdoor running at least once a week, on top of the treadmill running. And I was getting more adventurous, upping the mileage and, on 23rd August, (2014), racked up a whole 7 miles, (09:28 /mi and a whopping 1 hour 10 minutes and three seconds of constant movement.. Check my bad ass out:

7 Mile Bad Boy

So, it was starting to come together nicely, but it was a freaky series of damn freaky events that lead to the next running evolution.

Hmmmmmmm, how long should a blog entry be? If I'm writing to be read should I keep it in bite sized pieces? I suppose there's no hard and fast rule but I will split it into bits. Makes it much more exciting no?! Then I can leave you all, (all none of you at the moment.. And that's another thing, how the hell does one get people to notice a blog/know it's even there?!?), hanging on.. Gagging for the next instalment!

Well, that was pretty painless.. Stuffs went from mind to screen ok, (and resembles some sort of an orderly fashion). A fine use of work time indeed!

…………… See you in Part 2