In October 2011, a happily married father of two finally decided to get off the couch and in a period of seven months undertook an incredible journey From Couch to Marathon culminating in running the London Marathon in April 2012. The time irrelevant at 4:55:52

Fast forward nine months and this man found himself back on the couch and in a period of time, seemingly sponsored by New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and Bacon Frazzles, he (by whom you would now have guessed is me!) lost the fitness gained during the previous journey and gained over 10kgs in weight ! The reason became clear - I had no goal or target.

On 9th January, whilst reading the announcement of the first ever Yorkshire Marathon, I pressed the Enter button ! That simple action meant it was time to do it all over again. 4 weeks later and after an apologetic telephone call to Keith Anderson at Full Potential for undoing all his hard work, we started the journey again, but with a view to do even better this time around.

I trained hard from March to October 2013, running a couple of 10k races and The Great North Run along the way in a journey titled Back off the Couch . On 20th October 2013, I completed the Marathon in a time of 4 hours 29 mins and 42 secs - 18 seconds inside my target time of 4 hours 30 mins. A personal best by 25 minutes ! An emotional day where the lows of The Wall and cramps were overshadowed by a final last burst of grit and determination creating the poignant moment when I realised I would beat my goal.

Now with a level base of fitness, two stone shed and a focus for 2014, this blog is "Beyond the Couch" and will tell the tale of a journey through 2014 where I have two clear targets:

To run a half marathon in less than 2 hours
To run a full marathon in less that 4 hours 15 mins
With the help of Keith and his team at Full Potential I will follow a bespoke training plan and steely determination to get me there. Join me for the highs and lows and sheer honesty as I work my way through:

February – Brighton Half Marathon
March – Silverstone Half Marathon
April – Brighton Full Marathon
May – Hull 10k
June – Pennines 10k
July – Leeds 10k
August – York 10k
September – Great North Run Half Marathon
October – Yorkshire Full Marathon