Can You Make a Chubby Man Happy?

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You may not know this, but I have a strange fascination with running. It's got nothing to do with using copious amounts of vaseline and wearing skimpy shorts either. Travel will always be that first special love, the one that took away my innocence, but now that I've returned to the joys of full time employment, it's this running malarchy that has stolen my affections. Maybe I'm just on the rebound?

Along with 1700 other 'athletes' I recently entered a competition in Runners World magazine for 4 months of professional training, entry to the Paris Marathon and the chance for Asics and Runners World to show the world how great they are at making a nobody like me run like a Kenyan.

Out of this 1700 that entered, I am now down to the final 4 in my category, which has now gone to a public vote. This was much more difficult than I thought. Running bootcamps, interviews, assessments, lots of frowning. I also had to answer the question "why should we pick you?" This was my response:

"The first few marathons I ran, I was beaten by athletes dressed as giant condoms, telephone boxes and half the Mr. Men cast. Since then I've dramatically improved, but many friends still view me as a 'fun-runner'. My wife stands at every finish line, rain and shine. There's not a better feeling than seeing her proud face. Although she's be happy if I came home after a sloth, I owe it to her AND myself to give a performance to be truly proud of, before the hours spent training are exchanged for nappy changing. Determination, enthusiasm and motivation to reach my goal won't be a problem. After losing several family members to cancer, with minimal training I walked 1160 miles from Lands End to John o'Groats for charity. My 15 marathons will provide a solid foundation for this experience and I'll share every high and low of this amazing opportunity."

I'd be ever in your debt if you would take 2 mins of your day to vote for me at the following link.

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/competitions/target-262-2013-on-a-plateau/496.html

They do make you register with Runners World, but it's definitely worth it to see the atrocious picture they took of me, and the absurd task they would face should I win.

If your votes are the only Christmas presents I get, I'll be a very happy man! If you know anyone else interested in voting, feel free to forward this on.

If you want to see a video of our final assessment and see an interview with me, where upon being asked what I expect to get from this experience, I uttered the words "I run so I can eat," then please chuckle at the following link;

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/events/boot-camp-day-asics-target-262-2013/9058.html

Another aspect of the competition is to ask the shortlisted runners probing questions. If you can think of any running related questions you could ask, such as 'Why on earth do you run?' or 'Do you run because you like the feel of lycra?' or even 'Do you have moobs in your photo or is it just the wrinkles in your shirt?' then you can ask these at the following link:

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/spring-marathon/vote-shadyady/234872.html

Thanks very much for any help received. My new job is quietening down now, so I hope to be back writing about my travels on here regularly very soon. Thanks fellow Travelbloggers!

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Photos

Athens Marathon
A hot, hot day!

Royal Parks Ultra
First 50km race.

Comments

[deleted_46288]

Copious Amounts of Vaseline??? Hmm, the mind boggles.....
Great blog Ady! You always make me giggle. I can just picture the look of horror on your face as Mr Bump cruised past you all those years ago. Anyway, you have just received a vote from me matey. Keep up the great work :)

[ShadyAdy]

Thanks very much Nick.......very much appreciated. It's worse when you're in a sprint finish with these fancy dress runners in the home straight and when you look at the photos, you just see all the effort you're having to put in to beat Mr. Tickle!

[Susurros somnolientos]

Cool little blog
Hey Ady, whoa, you are quite the worldwide runner. I liked your epic response to the rather difficult and dumb question 'why should we pick you?' I hope there's no direct connection between Vaseline and Mr. Tickle, btw. Cheers, Jens

[ShadyAdy]

Hey Jens! You are very good at reading between the lines. I will not either confirm or deny this connection! Cheers for your support.

[Stephanie and Andras]

"The first few marathons I ran, I was beaten by athletes dressed as giant condoms, telephone boxes and half the Mr. Men cast." - Ha, I hate that feeling! My marathon running sister has me training for my first half-marathon and I just don't know how you runners do it. Glad to support a fellow Travelblogger. Good luck!

[ShadyAdy]

Hi Andras and Stephanie.....it's the most demoralising feeling I've experienced when running. It's a shame it's happened so many times! Very good luck in your first half-marathon and thanks for your vote. Very much appreciated indeed.

[TinNiE]

Done! I hope you make it. x

[ShadyAdy]

Thank you very much. Fingers and toes crossed. They announce the winner on Thursday :\

[D MJ Binkley]

We were traveling
I've just read this blog today and am sorry we didn't see it when it came out so we could vote for you. Hope this turned out in your favor. Love your blogs and looking for more in the future.

[ShadyAdy]

Thanks........
........it did actually turn out in my favour. I managed to win the competition and for the last 14 weeks I've been enjoying Paris marathon training in the extended Winter weather we've been having. The marathon itself is in 2 weeks time, so I'm in the final stages of training. Now come the nerves! Unfortunately this training has taken up my entire free time for the past 14 weeks, which leaves no time for anything else. I hope once this is over normal writing duty can resume....I'm definitely missing this creative side to my free time!