I’ve always considered myself to be someone who isn’t very active — I spend most of the day in front of a computer. I get up, and whilst having breakfast I’ll check my emails, RSS feeds, and check-up on social media. I then go to work and spend at least the next eight hours in front of a computer working, and then when I get home I’ll be in front of my computer again to either work on personal projects, play video games, or watch television. A very sedentary lifestyle.

Sure it’s true that during my time at school I ran, we all did. There was a time when I was always the slowest in my year. Every time we went for a run during PE I’d be at the back and would get a stitch for trying too hard. This was the case for years until one day I found myself being the third fastest at the 100 metres in the school. I liked to get places quickly, and I think that’s what interested me about the 100 metres, but never enough to bother with running outside of our PE lessons and sports day.

After leaving high school I no longer had any reason to stay active — I didn’t have to, so I didn’t. I’d play football with friends occasionally, but nothing serious. After finishing college I then started judo which I think surprised those that knew me. They knew I spent most of my time in front of my computer so this was very different. During the years I did judo it encouraged me to stay a little more active, and I even started cycling to work which was around 12 miles a day.

Years went by and I’d still not done any running since high school, other than when running after a football, or chasing down a bus I’d never catch. Eventually work got too busy and I gave up judo despite having not long passed my level 1 coaching for it. I carried on cycling though, and decided if I worked harder at that then it’d take less time to commute and would give me more time for other things I enjoy.

Cycling 60 miles a week made a noticeable difference — when I was staying at altitude during a trip to Peru I was the only one in our tour group unaffected by altitude sickness. My friend suggested it was because of how much cycling I was doing, and that it was making a difference.

Now you might be wondering what cycling has got to do with running? Well, it’s something that kept me active after quitting judo, and left me open to trying other outdoor activities even though I was now playing in a mid-week night football league.

Around this time, a friend I often travel with took up running as he figured that if being active helped me, then it might help him next time he encountered high altitudes during a trip. It made sense, but I was happy to carry on cycling. After all, I’d tried running a mile once after dropping my car off for an MOT and had failed miserably. I’d walked most of the way and running no longer appealed like it had during high school. It was nothing like running a few miles in orienteering as I was now used to cycling instead.

A few more years passed before I tried running again. A friend and at the time colleague had taken up running and I’d known she’d experienced a few races. I thought her commitment to the sport impressive, and occasionally thought to myself whether it was worth trying it again.

One day she suggested to a few of us that it might be fun to do a “Zombie Run”. This was a nighttime run around Halloween where you’d be chased by people dressed as zombies.

I wasn’t sure at first, but decided — why not? It’s something different and it’s good to be willing to try something new. I might even enjoy it. The only problem was that it was a 5 kilometre run — that was 3.1 miles more than I’d run in a very long time.

If I was going to do it, then I decided I need to train for it. I’d heard of people using “couch to 5K” to get into running so I bought a pair of running shoes, and downloaded a “C25K” application for my phone.

On my first run I ran around the area near where I worked during my lunch break — I had no idea where I was going as I’d never seen most of the area before. I got a little lost and had to run down a few different roads before I found my way back.

Over the weeks that followed I found it to be hard work, but I was managing what the application was telling me to do. In fact, I was running further than the application suggested I would be. One of my best friends, the one who’d taken up running, was convinced that I would need to slow down as the distance increased and that I’d never maintain it. I think this gave me the motivation to try harder, to be stubborn and prove him wrong.

A few weeks into this I joined a website, The Running Bug, and the people there were fantastically supportive and even offered advice from time to time. This was the first running community I’d encountered and found it to be a lot friendlier than other online communities — such as those you come across for computer hardware. I can’t remember how, but eventually this led to interacting with the #ukrunchat community on Twitter — the most incredible community you could ever hope to meet.

Before the Couch to 5K program was finished I was sneaking passed 5K earlier than I was supposed to, meaning I was running a little faster than the app intended. I did however finally finish and was ready for my first race.

Just before the race was due to take place it was cancelled due to what for weeks were unspecified reasons. They decided eventually to tell people they’d not had enough volunteers to make it safe. In some ways it was lucky as I’d been ill during the lead up to the race, but here I was ready to run 5K and the one race I was going to do had been cancelled.

I didn’t really want to waste the time I’d spent getting ready for the run so decided I’d enter the Sport Relief Miles event. This one was 6 miles so it meant I’d have a little more work to do. This time though I decided to do it by myself, trying to train on feel. I’d got about four months to double the distance I’d so far managed to get to over the previous eight weeks. It seemed possible, and by Christmas I managed to complete my first 10K training run in 45:02. Now I knew I could do it, and had a target to beat.

Things soon changed — I took a month off after Christmas whilst I went on an Antarctic expedition and didn’t think to take my running shoes with me.

In my naivety, when I got back to the UK I tried to carry on where I’d left off and found myself trying to force a running form that didn’t suit me and this resulted in my ankle becoming tender. I couldn’t run on it, and for the first time I’d injured myself running — I had no idea if I could do the event I’d trained hard for.

As with all injuries, time allowed it to heal and I got to try my first parkrun. This was the first time I’d run with other people around, and it actually seemed like a lot of fun. I then managed to do the Sport Relief Miles and was the first to finish, even though there was still some discomfort there. Unfortunately I think I was the only one seeing it as a race, so I decided I couldn’t count it as one. Running however, no longer seemed as bad as it once did, so I entered the Lincoln 10K so I'd have a 'proper' race experience.

A couple of weeks later I watched the London Marathon on TV and wondered what it’d be like to do. Whenever I’d watched it on the TV, and seeing people running in the rain for hours I thought them a bit bonkers. I entered the ballot for it, and had heard it's hard to get into, so probably wouldn't be doing it anyway. So I decided if I could get up to half marathon distance by May, more than double the distance I'd run so far, I'd enter a half marathon. I pestered another colleague to see his half marathon training plan, and I thought maybe it didn't seem all that bad. So thinking back and forth for a few days, I entered the Leicester Marathon which would take place twelve months since I first put on my running shoes. A marathon was something I’d had on my bucket list, but didn’t think I’d ever do. It was a tough journey to get there, trusting in the Bupa marathon training plan. I almost didn’t make it due to a knee injury but I adapted the training to what I could manage. During the training, I thought at times that I'd make the Leicester Marathon my final run, but then I got the London Marathon ballot result - I was in.

Leicester didn’t go as well as I’d have liked, but I finished it. I completed a marathon. I felt strongly that if I could manage it, then I was certain anyone could. Training for it had a noticeable impact on my other race times too — they’d started to drop and times that once felt impossible were now becoming my training run times.

I changed my training plan to a custom one that MyAsics generated, and found that resulted in me doing even better at the London Marathon. The finish outside of Buckingham Palace was one of the most memorable moments of any race I’ve done. I think at that point there was no turning back, running was just something I did now.

From there I moved on to designing my own training plans — having learnt what works for me. Although it’s unlikely to ever have been useful, I found myself also trying to help other runners with anecdotes of what I’d found works. Most of the time all I could really do to help, although not much, was to encourage and congratulate other runners. Sometimes that's all people need though.

I’m now approaching my fourth year of running with fifty races behind me. Ten of those are marathons, a distance I’d intended to only do the once. I’d never imagined one day running a marathon around a mountain in Nepal — yet it happened, and all because of that one day when zombies sounded like fun.

I’ve finished a number of ultra marathons as well with my longest being the 100 kilometre Race to the Stones. Somehow I’ve also been fortunate enough to get a second place finish in a 10K race, and a third place finish in a 5K race despite my times not yet being good enough for it to have been normally possible.

I’ve learnt a lot in those last four years. Running is what you want it to be. Everyone is different, and every story is different. What works for one person might not work for someone else.

For me, the start of my running adventure was something of an accident and yet somehow I’m still running today, and for that I’m very sure I can thank the #ukrunchat running community. I’ve met a lot of great people along the way, and some of which I hope I can consider friends. The training weekends I’ve been on with them have been incredible fun.

I can’t say where the adventure will lead me next, or if it will eventually end. I have some hopes though that one day I’ll manage to run all of the World Marathon Majors, and the amazing Marathon de Sables. One day. Nothing is out of reach as long as there is a willingness to work for it.