I am a 50 something  British male based mainly in Tokyo since my early 20’s, while recently having the opportunity to stay and train on the Costa Blanca. For many years of my life I was the epitome of un-athletic waster, drinking heavily, smoking 40 plus a day, avoiding exercise and eating whatever I wanted, that eventually saw me reach over 100kg in weight. A health scare in my late 30s got me up off the sofa and I started going to the gym and then racing for a while, but after a few years fell back into my bad ways. After an operation to open a blockage in my heart caused by “lifestyle” and an epiphany early one morning in January 2012 over a bottle of rum and a full ashtray, I got back on the wagon and stayed there for a good 7 years,  and completed various races from ekiden through to Ironman through to the Marathon des Sables.

I recently became aware that I had lost my mojo, and that I was just going through the same routines, so I decided was time to shake things up and reset my goals. This blog is the first step of the journey that will hopefully see me qualify for Boston, go under 12 hrs in an Ironman and (whisper it) hopefully one day make it to both the Half ironman and Full Ironman World Championships. I also dream to go on as many adventures and challenges as I can, with plans to run the Sahara, bike India and even swim the channel… if a drinker/smoker/eater such as myself can eventually reach a point to be called sporty (I have been compared to Forest Gump, Mr Bean and a bullfrog in the past), then believe me, anyone can!

Drop by and take a peek at my thoughts and adventures, leave a comment and feel free to follow me here or on Strava. As they say in Japan – “gambarimasho!”