It's May 2013. Mum is hosting one of her (many) 90th birthday lunches. I'm kneeling on a chair in the fine dining area of The King's Arms. My trousers are rolled up, my shoes and socks are off, and my cousin Morgan is poking around at the bottoms of my feet. He has a new theory on alignment.
Morgan has no qualifications for examining me in this way. In fact, he's a cop. But, like me, he loves his sport (cycling). Like me, because he loves his sport, he's been injured, operated on and spent many an hour following the latest rehab regime. And like me, he's given up a number of times, deciding he's too old/too badly injured to continue. But it's never lasted - for either of us.
I first gave up running in my forties. It started one Christmas day when I'd been running up and down hills in Dorset's Jurassic World Heritage area. It was pretty challenging terrain (and weather) and I'd had a brilliant run. I was at the bottom of the drive that led to the cottage we were staying in when I felt my right hamstring go. I thought I could run through it - the drive was only a quarter of a mile long. But I was wrong. The next six months was one long round of physio treatment, stretching and bloody aqua aerobics. Which I hated only slightly more than doing nothing.
I was so happy the day I put my running shoes back on. I was doing frustratingly short distances, gradually building up, following all the advice, stretching like crazy. A few weeks in, the other hamstring went. Next it was my achilles. Then shin splints. And finally, plantar fasciitis - a vicious pain on the bottom of my foot so bad that I could hardly bear to put weight on it, never mind run on it. Resentfully and reluctantly, I decided I was too old for running.
But cycling, swimming and weight training, they didn't really do it for me. Within a year, I was out there again, pounding the pavements. Keeping the milage low (ish). Then my knee went. A meniscal tear. This time it was serious enough for an operation. 16 weeks later I was back to running short distances, which got longer. And longer. It was like a miracle. Like I had a new leg.
Within a year, I'd got exactly the same injury in my other knee. Back to the surgeon I went - a slightly bonkers Scotsman who is researching people like me - people who continue fairly intensive exercise well beyond middle age - to see whether arthroscopies have a lasting impact on keeping you active. After the second knee op, I decided it would be mad to put my knees through any more of this. I gave up running for good.
I tried aerobic weights sessions which I enjoyed. The weights got heavier. I started getting weight training injuries. Then my shoulder went. So badly, I couldn't stand up for half an hour after I'd done it without feeling sick. My upper body was out of action for a long while. I could barely lift a wine glass at one time. Back to the osteopath. The pain continued in varying degrees of intensity for 18 months.
In the last year, I've run further than I've ever run in my life. Not to mention working with some fairly heavy kettlebells. So why is it that I've not suffered so much as a twinge?
The aim of this challenge is distance. Speed is irrelevant. Right from the start, Matt, my trainer, told me to slow my pace to no faster than 10 minutes a mile. After years of going as fast as I can and feeling pleased if I get a good time, it's been hard training both my mind and body that faster isn't the goal. Also, I have been building the volume of miles gradually, week by week - adding only 2-3 miles a week across 4 runs. Then having a "back-off" week every 4-5 weeks, where I run less miles.
This has been complemented by kettlebell training. Where I work on parts of the body that either aren't performing too well - for example, getting my lazy glutes to fire up - or that aren't used much in running - so that the body is better balanced as a whole. Like the mileage, the weight or resistance has moved up gradually - enough to stimulate my body without pushing it too hard.
As for my cousin Morgan, he's now in his mid-40s, has a high pressure job in the CID and twins who are under 2 years old. Is he still cycling? Of course he is!