So where to begin.......

I was broke, the business had just gone bust, I was jobless and the future looked bleak. Parnell, Kerr Foster, a firm of accountants, had advised a Trust Deed as I had no way of repaying the £130,000 that we owed following the collapse of elbowroom, my former business and fantasy. (a nightmare that I carried around with me for the next 7 years) I sat in my car, lost and unsure of what to do but my guts told me to wait until the next day before signing the papers. I don't know why as I had no reason to believe that things were going to get better but I never signed those papers. Life was about to change and change for good. Danielle and I had been married for 3 months, we were both struggling with the loss of the business and we had done nothing but work as we established and failed in our first venture. Many long nights working and carry out dinners had piled on the pounds and I'd put on a pound or forty. So sitting jobless I considered my options. I had no idea. First thought was do I drown my sorrows in the pub or should I use my new found freedom to get fit. I decided to try and get fit. Up until the age of thirty I'd always been reasonably fit. Cricket in the summer, five a side football and the odd bike ride had kept me fit. Sadly between thirty and forty one I did nothing. Well nothing other than taking clients out for lunch, taking clients out dinner, attending cocktail parties and growing increasingly large. My weight went from 12 and a half stone to 17 stone seemingly overnight. This might seem odd but I didn't feel big until I was huge and even then I kidded myself on that I carried it well! The bravado wore off when I donned my tee shirt and baggy training trousers. Nowhere to hide, I was super-sized. In the back of the cupboard I found a pair of lurid blue and fluorescent green trainers made by Nike at some point in the previous decade. Up until now the baggy trousers had been retained for evening attire in the flat as my jeans where too tight to chill out in. But there was still a problem, it was daytime and people might see me. So I waited.  Danielle arrived home from work and smiled when she heard my plan. The business failure had a massive impact on her and there hadn't been many smiles of late so it was good to see that my new 'get fit' idea entertained her. It entertained her so much that next thing she was changed into her gym stuff and ready to come out with me. As the sun set over Leith we left our 5th floor flat and headed into the deepening gloom. The park was no distance so we walked over, through the gates and set out running. When I say running I should qualify the exaggeration, we were plodding along and lasted about a minute before slowing down to a walk. In my head I was still a fit and active 25 year old but my body told an entirely different story. With the sound of my heartbeat banging a fast rhythmic melody in my ears, I accepted the depths to which my fitness had sunk and now needed something to keep me training.  We walked home, exhausted by our 15 minutes of effort, had a shower and I sloped online and started looking at races. There were a plethora of 5k, 10k and half marathon races but my eyes were drawn to the Edinburgh Marathon. It took me about 5 minutes to get the electronic entry in and that was it I was committed to running 26.2 miles. The journey had begun.......