inspiration

I've been running for over 20 years. Blimey. I would have been running for longer, but I stopped in my early '20s just as I was getting into it. What keeps you going for that long? Health, fitness, competition, looking at the scenery, fresh air, company, laughs, seeing places you wouldn't see normally...lots of those things and more, probably different things at different times. I know, for instance, that i have spent an entire day of my life doing London Marathon(s), and outside of that race I can only remember a couple of short trips to London. I've been to the top of some of the highest UK mountains, and been privileged enough to run on some of the Uk's iconic athletics tracks. And I've had some running heroes too. Here are three.

1. Ron Hill. Everyone who has been running distances in the UK knows of Ron. His world records, his medals, his invention of modern running kit, and of course his running streak. My first experience of Ron was listening on the radio as a kid in 1972 as he finished 5th in the Olympic marathon in Munich and being very disappointed with him. It wasn't until many years later, reading his epic book 'The Long Hard Road' (or, as some put it 'The Long Hard Read') that I understood the full story. He is a legend and I met him once and was just about to have a chat when he was whisked away at the end of the Tour of Tameside to do a TV interview, but i have seen him several times since at many North-West races. And he's still going, into his 70's. Class act.

2. Steve Ovett. Ridiculously good at anything he deigned to enter, he won races from short sprints up to a half-marathon, often without seemingly breaking into a sweat. I loved his anti-establishment stance, the way he ran in a Soviet Vest, the ILU sign as he crossed the line in yet another victory, and the sheer raw power and grace of his running. If you were in front with 200m to go and he was on your tail, he would hunt you down like a deer and smash past you on his way to the line. His career faded in the '80s, blighted by illness and injury, and his attempt to become the first v40 to go under 4 minutes for the Mile was ended with a bizarre training accident. Of course he doesn't grab the modern headlines, unlike his former nemesis. But then, who needs to when you're as good as Steve Ovett, thanks Steve for being the difference between 146th and 147th place in many a race :))

3. Alf Tupper. He's not real, I hear you say. Yeah, but when you're a kid, he IS real. Alf is perhaps Ron and Steve combined, with a bit of 1950's/60's 'Angry Young Men' thrown in for good measure. He would think nothing of a 48-hour shift as a welder, sleeping in the bath before a fish supper, hitchhiking to the White City before running a new world record against some sneaky Cold War agents who had secretly tried to sabotage him somewhere along the way. Or maybe he was running cross country, stopped to save someone trapped in a demolished building, rejoined the course to be the last counter and save the day for his club. Or, famously, winning the 1970 Commonwealth games for Tristan da Cunha (sorry Ron, if you thought it was really you). His biggest battles were always reserved for the establishment, and he always finished a race with "I run 'im". I wanted to write a contemporary Alf story, and one day I will, it's all up in my head..