I've got a problem... (From Daily Echo)

I've got a problem...

12:32pm Monday 9th February 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

MY name is Ash Bolton and I’m a run-a-holic.

I say that like it’s an illness and I suppose it is really. When you actually think about it, why would any sane person want to run 26.2 miles non-stop, often in the rain, alongside thousands of other like-minded nutters? To put it into perspective that’s the equivalent of running non-stop from Bournemouth to Southampton.

As any experienced runner will tell you, marathon running is no walk in the park. Over the past few years I’ve lost more toe nails than I care to remember, suffered the pain of jogger’s nipple and embarrassingly collapsed less than 100 metres from the end of Bournemouth’s Half Marathon (then to add insult to injury I was driven away in an ambulance).

But, despite the pain, the muscle ache and the countless number of times I swore I would never run another marathon, I started training for this year’s London Marathon this week.

My love of running started at the age of 23 really. It was the culmination of a competitive nature and a weight problem from years of abusing beer and fast food at university.

This lifestyle had given rise to the names ‘Big Mac Belly Bolton’, ‘Fatty Ash’ or my personal favourite (that remains to this day) ‘Fash’. I had hilarious friends as you can tell.

I remember getting on the tread mill the day university finished and feeling like I was going to have a heart attack after only eight minutes of jogging at some snail pace speed.

Around the same time I gave up smoking, which I quickly discovered was the reason I felt like I was going to die every time I went running.

Fast forward five years and I’ve got dozens of half marathons and three full marathons under my (not so large) belt.

And after weeks of excuses including the weather (too cold), a suspected broken toe (small bruise) and the dark evenings (could be mugged for my I-pod), I finally decided to start my training for my third London Marathon this year.

My training for previous marathons has been rather sporadic and were always sprinkled with mild bouts of alcoholism. Despite my shocking training routine, I actually ran last November’s New York Marathon in a respectable 3.21.

But this time I’ve decided to do the training properly. As of this week I’ve started running an hour a day on the treadmill at the local gym. It’s not the same as running through the park but my god man it’s the heaviest snowfall in 18 years and I’ll be damned if I’m going running around Southampton Common in temperatures more akin to that of Siberia.

Thus I’m hoping to shave ten minutes off this year’s time and complete the marathon in under 3.10min. I’ll be tracking my progress here on the Hampshire Chronicle each week and if I manage to stay off the booze there is every chance I might just be able to cross that finishing line on April 19 smiling like an idiot.

So if you spot a dapper looking journalist type nursing what could be his third double whisky in a Winchester watering hole, moaning about how unseasonably cold it is for this time of year and looking suspiciously at people staring at his I-pod, feel free to slap him round the face and demand I get running!

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)