Kev's reflections on his 'ordinary life' before his diagnosis:
“I always say 'I am just an ordinary guy, married, 3 kids, 2 cats, worked for a bank for 36 years, played low level rugby in my 20s and like watching AFC Wimbledon' and that’s me you see; minor variations apart I'm just like millions of others the world over. Whilst I like to think I was good at my job, I was never exceptional at anything really, except, maybe, tenaciousness.
“Whilst I enjoyed sport at school I was never any good although I did win the mile race at school sports day! I left school at 16 as I had had enough of the establishment but realised soon after that to get on I needed to get some better qualifications, so I spent 7 years at night school doing finance exams.
Playing Rugby
"At about 20 I started playing rugby. Again I was not great but I loved the exercise and the camaraderie and, in turn, that led to running the club half marathon and I kind of got the running bug; mainly as a way to stay fit for rugby and a hobby for the closed season.
“I do recall reading about the crazy desert marathon 'The Marathon des Sables' (MdS) at some point and fantasised a little about entering it, so it kind of became the 'Everest of running' for me, however it was so far beyond my ability that I conceded that it would never happen. I ran quite a few half marathons and 10k races but never any further; I had such massive respect for people who could do a full marathon. Sadly in my early 30s I tore both my calf muscles playing rugby which effectively ended both my running and rugby.
“I do recall reading about the crazy desert marathon 'The Marathon des Sables' (MdS) at some point and fantasised a little about entering it, so it kind of became the 'Everest of running' for me, however it was so far beyond my ability that I conceded that it would never happen. I ran quite a few half marathons and 10k races but never any further; I had such massive respect for people who could do a full marathon. Sadly in my early 30s I tore both my calf muscles playing rugby which effectively ended both my running and rugby.
Reality Check
“Then roll on 15 years; one of my wife’s friends died age 40 which I admit gave me some kind of reality check. My wife said that as I'd always wanted to run a marathon but never did I should give it one last go.
Tragedies happen all the time in life but because mostly they're 'off-stage' in our own lives we rarely tend to notice them much but when they hit closer to home we can choose how we allow them to influence our choices going forward. Sometimes these things can spur us on to make positive changes in our own lives....
Tragedies happen all the time in life but because mostly they're 'off-stage' in our own lives we rarely tend to notice them much but when they hit closer to home we can choose how we allow them to influence our choices going forward. Sometimes these things can spur us on to make positive changes in our own lives....
Physio & Rebuilding
"So I went to a physio who helped me run again and I entered the Orpington Marathon, a small event with only 80 runners. I got so many things wrong tactically but managed to finish in 4h18m
I had the bug again!
Ultra-Marathons
"So then I managed to run both the London and Brighton marathons twice setting a PB in April 2014 of 3h48m in Brighton. And then, somewhat against my previous convictions when I'd considered my ability to be well below that of the MDS, I went on to run 100k from London to Brighton, a great day and I'd started a new running hobby.... ultra-marathons!