I played football from an early age to 40+ and was either playing or training, adding some tennis and squash playing too. I ran a few half marathons in the 1980's and had in my mind to run in the London Marathon after watching it on the tv during the 1980/90's. I gained a Charity place in Jan 2004 aged 53, joined ELR and have since completed 7 London's and various other races interspersed with various injuries and knee operations! I joined the Club Committee in 2009 and was elected Chair in 2010. I was proud to be named Club Person of the Year for 2010 winning the Curtis Shield and again in 2019 winning the Roger Dixon Shield which had replaced the previous Shield a few years earlier. I was Race Director of Valentines Park Charity 5k (An ELVIS Race held annually on the last Sunday in September), for a number of years, standing down after the 2019 event. ELR history - Joined in Feb 2004, became a Committee Member in March 2009 and Chair in March 2010. I resigned as Chair in February 2020, following open heart surgery in 2019, see below, having given the Committee six months notice. I obtained a Charity place in that years London Marathon. With limited training and a calf injury I got around in 4 hrs 39 mins. I have now run 7 London's in total(to 2015) and many other races at shorter distances. Like most runners I have had my fair share of injuries including 2 keyhole surgery ops to repair torn cartilage since joining ELR. Following the April 2011 London Marathon I had a knee operation in June 2011 (Athroscopy, torn meniscus) and did very little running for the rest of 2011 and in the early months of 2012. Ran in the Olympic park 5m race on 31st March 2012 following some training in Feb/Mar 2012 then took 3 months off to try and stabilise my knee! I obtained a place in the 2013 Virgin London Marathon through the Club Ballot and stepped up my training. My aim was to run 4 times a week minimum for the 3 months January to March 2013 with additional cross training. Fingers crossed! No luck as my injuries worsened and I pulled out of the Marathon in March 2013, deferring my place until 2014. I was finally clear of injury in November 2013 after easing off in September 2013 and virtually no running in October 2013. I therefore trained and ran in and completed the VMLM in April 2014 in a time of 4:16:55 with 3 runs per week plus additional cross training and stretching. I managed to finish the London Marathon 2014 in 4 hrs 16 mins and since then I continued with my running and (June 2014) I am now injury free!! London Marthon 2015 training - A further calf injury restricted my running in Nov 2014 following a rest and holiday period in October. Having gained a place in the Virgin Money London Marathon 2015 I restarted my training during the last week of Nov 2014. Training went well and on a very cool morning I completed the London in a pb of 4:00:55 in 14,251st place. Despite not breaking my target time of 4 hours I was very pleased with my run and my time. More injury followed in mid September 2015, right knee this time. Five weeks "rest" with one steroid injection and with no running appeared to do the trick and running recommenced! November 2015 - My name was first (of 29) out of the hat in the Club ballot for a Marathon place in London 2016! So training has commenced again pre Christmas with the Benfleet 15 targetted on 17th January 2016. London Marathon 2016 - My training was going well, having completed Benfleet and the Essex 20 but about 6 weeks prior to London I started getting a discomfort just behind my left ankle bone which I aggravated the weekend before London. I nursed the leg for one week but the pain returned as soon as the Marathon started and gradually got worse. Although I managed to keep to my planned pace passing through halfway in 2:1:55 just after this point the pain became very severe and was spreading around my ankle and leg but mainly my achilles. I decided it would be impossible to finish without seriously damaging myself so pulled out along The Highway after about 13.6 miles and made my painfull way by walking back to Tower Hill and the Tube to Westminster to retrieve my belongings on The Mall. I must say that the LM people looked after me and the many others who were injured very well. My London Marathon Finish Times. 2004 - 4:39 2005 - 4:24:08 - 8,672 2007 - 4:12:45 - 2009 - 4:04:51pb - 9,441st 2011 - 4:10:36 - 11,538th 2014 - 4:16:55 - 15,700th 2015 - 4:00:55 - New pb! 14,251 In late 2018 I had been experiencing a discomfort in my back, just below my left shoulder blade. This was affecting my running and together with a stiff neck and other discomforts on my left side I attended my GP Practice on 5th March 2019. After explaining my symptoms I was given an ECG which identified potential problems with my heart. The GP called an emergency Ambulance and I was blue lighted straight to Barts Hospital who checked me over, admitted me and after an angiogram advised that a Triple Heart Bypass was recommended (needed). I had the operation on 11th March 2019 and was discharged 6 days later. During the rest of 2019 I aided my recovery with exercise and rest. Initially the main exercise was walking and very gradually I added some spinning and body bump classes using light weights. I also attended a 10 session Cardiac Recovery rehab exercise class at my local hospital. I used parkrun in my recovery starting with walking and gradually adding light jogs until in December 2019 I was able to run the 5k distance non-stop albeit much slower than I used too. I advised the Committee in August 2019 that I would be stepping down as Chair and leaving the Committee at the Club AGM in Feb 2020 which I subsequently did with Vice Chair Jonathan Wooldridge very kindly agreeing to take over from me.