I was the original fat kid at school, doing precisely no sport and not having any interest in doing any. That carried on until 2002, when I had to do an 8 week residential course in a 5 star hotel, and spent the first week eating this great food and sitting down all day (my normal job keeps me on my feet so I never really had weight problems). At the end of the first week I took up runnig in the morning, as I knew I'd finish the 8 weeks with a massive gut otherwise. Those were painful half hours spent run/walking but by the end of the 8 weeks I was hooked. I ran intermitantly after that, but not seriously, until I got a charity place in FLM 08, and I havn't looked back. 7 marathons later, a number of shorter races, my wife has started running, my kids want to join me running (but they're a little young yet (2019 edit...not so young now - they're 19 mand 17!)) - I'm really proud to call myself a runner.
May 2011 update....just completed 24 hour run, 105 miles. Hopefully that means I never have to run again. July 2012 update.....just completed IMUK (2.4m swim, 112m bike, marathon), felt great! July 2013 update....just completed Outlaw triathlon.....almost too easy. May 2014 update....just completed Grand Union Canal Race - 145 miles non stop in 33 hours 9 mins. Very tough, very satisfying. January 2015 update....training for Thames Ring 250 in June.....uh oh. July 2016 update...TR250 last year went badly, but just done the Lakeland 50 - and fell in love with the lake district
2017 finally got the Thyames Ring 250 done. 2018 Spine Challenger, UTS 50 done, and a few DNF's 2019...Monarchs Way...600 miles in May. Ouch, but I did finish. 2020...Volunteered at the Spine in January, which was amazing...then Northern Traverse in April.
...and you can read all about these races (and more) at ultra-average.com