all (anyone),

My name is Mark. I am a 35 year old Doctor who has a penchant for new challenges.

This started on Boxing Day 2005 when I decided that in April 2006 I would run the London Marathon. My preparation for this event over the preceding 10 years, since leaving school, was one of socialising, smoking and drinking with little or no exercise, other than the odd game of 5-a-side football. When I made the decision on a whim, I gave up smoking and started running. To start with I could only run a mile without stopping (which took me 11 minutes- so it was essentially fast walking!).

Regardless the big day came and I completed the London Marathon in 3 hours and 56 minutes.

My well-deserved post-race recovery several years until I decided I wanted to play a game of rugby, something I hadn’t done since 1994 (when incidentally we drew with Campbell College Belfast in the final of the 2nd XV schools cup at Ravenhill). My goal of playing one game of Rugby turned out to be 2 seasons for Fylde Rugby Club- which was extremely enjoyable, if not a little painful.

Realising I was getting too old for Rugby I looked for a new challenge. In January 2010 I decided I was going to do an Ironman. Without going into too much detail (which will be published in a book at some point) I went from non-swimmer (I could swim 20m front crawl in one go), practically non biker (15 miles was my record distance) and ex-runner I completed the Ironman course in 12 hours 26 minutes in July 2011.

So what’s next? It’s obvious isn’t it?

An ultra marathon! With 15 weeks to go, I figured I’d record the journey for my own sake and those who wish to read about it. My contacts on Facebook got bored with my antics long ago, at least this way they have a choice to read it or not!

Thanks for reading