10 years ago, asthma and allergies plagued me, as they had my whole life. I was unhealthy & unfit, and so I distracted myself with my work, hiding behind the shadow of a computer screen. Better to let opportunities pass me by, and just focus on the geeky things I was good at, I thought.
Then came the day I overslept. Anxious to catch my train to work, I ran the half kilometre to the station, and managed to board in the nick of time. But I spent the 30 minute journey to London catching my breath from the exertion. It was in that moment I realised that fitness mattered, and I decided to train to run.
Roll forward a few years, after I’d joined a running club, run countless races, and discovered the delights of trail running. A race called the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc caught my attention, a 100 mile 10,000m v+ mountain race that seemed to be on everybody’s bucket list. While I wasn’t yet qualified to apply for that, I managed to obtain a spot on its little cousin; the UTMB CCC, a 100km traverse from Courmayeur in Italy to Chamonix in France.
As I read the rules of the race, I came across something called the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List: a list of drugs which cannot be taken by athletes participating in races without medical signoff. I was astonished to read that my asthma inhaler was one of those prohibited drugs. This was to be my second turning point: I vowed to fix my asthma, and my health.
After a lifetime of suffering, it only took a few weeks of research and experimentation to resolve most of my health problems. Nowadays, I’m a different person. I no longer bother with an inhaler. I’m healthier and happier than I’ve ever been. And I use running as a means of exploring land, people, culture, my physical and mental capabilities, and my philosophy of life.
I’ve run some of the longest and toughest races in the world, and in the process learnt more about myself than I ever could have sitting behind a computer screen.
If I can do it, then for goodness sake, anybody can.
Achievements
2024
Pyrenees fastpack (11 days, 287km, 16km v+)
UTS 100M by UTMB - 52nd
Baldock Beast – 3rd
Spine – 29th
2023
Stevenage Half – 3rd
UTMB – 174th
Centurion WW100 – 1st
Centurion SDW100 – 5th
Camino Lea Valley 50km – 3rd
MK Marathon 3h Pacer
Arc of Attrition – 40th
2022
Dragon’s Back – 69th
Val d’Aran by UTMB – 35th
Grand Trail du Saint Jacques by UTMB – 23rd
Hatfield Broad Oak 10k – 10th
Enigma Week at the Knees (7-in-7) – 1st, CR
Arc of Attrition – 31st
2021
Escape from Meriden – 9th
Metropolis – 1st
Cotswold Way Century – 9th
UTMB CCC – 227th
Centurion SDW100 – 61st
Classic Quarter – 20th
North Downs Ridge 50k – 18th
Dusk ’til Dawn – 6th
Chiltern Challenge – 11th
Personal Bests
100 miles – 18:12:41 (South Downs Way)
Marathon – 2:48:52 (London)
Half Marathon – 1:15:46 (Stevenage)
10K – 36:24 (Lee Valley)
5K – 17:32 (Kempton Park)
Parkrun – 16:55 (Stevenage)
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