#surreyhalfmarathon

Before February 2012 I had been a plodder for a number of years. Having not exactly set the sports world on fire at school, I was a late convert to running and discovered that whilst I wasn't much good at it, I can stumble my way through increasing distances, culminating in a couple of attempts at the London Marathon.

I found that following this, I could maintain a reasonable level of fitness without too much work, and got to the, slightly cocky, stage of being able to enter a half marathon without having to think about it too much.

In February 2012, my son Noah was born.  The circumstances of Noah's birth, which were fairly catastrophic, and involved 4 weeks in intensive care. Although having a child inevitable changes your life in so many brilliant ways, these events probably added an extra dimension.

Noah is now two, and has made brilliant progress. However, at a personal, and selfish level, one of the many things that has changed since he was born was my 'running life'.  

No longer could I just 'jump into a half marathon', and not unfairly could no longer could just say to my wife 'I'm going for a run'. In combination with the energy sapping impact of sleep deprivation, Fat Dad was born.

In Noah's first year I used my 'reserves' of fitness to somehow bumble through the Great North Run. This year, having run the inaugural Surrey Half Marathon have a couple of half's planned, including the GNR in September.

What is strange is that running a race as Fat Dad can have some unexpected results - I now feel like I'm running for two in a strange way. My vest now says 'Noah's dad' rather than my name, and that inspiration has proved to be a surprising boost.  I'll avoid laboring the 'son as energy gel' metaphor though...

So my goal is first and foremost to be a good dad and husband.  However, if along the way I can lead a running life that can still feature some challenges and maybe even a PB again then bring it on.