Race to BUCS

After Steven Spielberg bought the film rights to Ben Snowball's life on Wednesday, it was thought the young athlete's life couldn't get better. How wrong we were...

Feeling mildly energetic at 6pm, Snowball - having recently acquired Spotify unlimited - set out on a monster run. A run that would prove his fitness for the greatest show on earth... The BUCS Cross Country Championships.

Three-hundred metres into his journey, all of which had been downhill, cars stopped - beeping their horns in appreciation - as Snowball flew in front of them.

Still he went on, overtaking parked cars and litter bins, only being matched for pace by two young girls accompanied by their granddad who shot past at presumably world record pace.

He reached the 2km mark, a new 2012-best, and courageously stopped to let a woman with her pram squeeze through a small gap on the pavement. She smiled; they shared a moment. Then he ploughed on.

Understandably the intensity of 12-minute miles was taking it's toll and his knee's were in desperate need of an oil. Morale was low as his iPod had died leaving Ellie Goulding's Lights unfinished in the second chorus.

It was then that two youths arrived on the scene. With banter ranging from "yeah, go on fatty" (a remark that I still don't quite understand) to "keep running, d**khead", it was all very amusing. It's nice to see the home fans out in force on a cold Thursday night - you just don't get that level of support outside council estates.

Soon the run ended, 3.88km (via Google Earth) or 17km (via estimation) the distance. Just nine days until BUCS in Cardiff, and with nearly 4km clocked in 2012 who would want to bet against Snowball returning victorious..?

Comeback Announced

Saturday 27th February 2010. The date where I finished with my youth and became a Senior Man. And what a way to do it. 199th/207 at the nationals was a superb end to what has already been described as a 'glittering and astonishing career'. It's also the date I last did any form of meaningful exercise.

On Monday 26th April 2010, two months on after injury struck me down, my world of running starts again. After talking with my coach, who's also me, we (I) decided that the time to dust off the cobwebs from my limbs was now.

I have been labeled my many as a 'no-hoper' and was recently described, after an outstanding three-figure placing in a Birmingham League, as a 'joke'. The fact remains that I am the only person to have a national (team...) gold medal and not moved from the sofa.

The track. A thing of beauty: red (or blue), round(ish) and so many lanes. Every runners fetish involves one. That is what this blog will feature, exciting stories from the world of athletics.

It will take you on my Olympic journey.