six months to fifteen years

Back in January 2017, after the Australia Day Ultra in Australind, I wrote a short post called five years.

I had arrived in Australind on Friday 20 January without realising that it was exactly five years since I had put the no more mr fat guy site and Facebook page online, published the first blog post, and publicly committed to changing my life and becoming capable of completing a marathon.

Five years later, the tally in that post was four marathons, seven ultras and a 5,400-kilometre crossing of Australia on foot. That weekend I added a 75-kilometre run at the Australia Day Ultra while trying to reach 100.

I finished the post with a question: “I wonder what the next 5 will bring?”

It has taken me a little longer than five years to answer.

back to australind

On 16 January 2027, the event now known as the True Blue Ultra will take place four days before the fifteenth anniversary of that first no more mr fat guy post.

I will be back in Australind. I entered the 75-kilometre event as soon as registrations opened.

That does not mean I expect to cover 75 kilometres. At the moment, I think that is unlikely. I chose the distance because it gives me the maximum time available to cover whatever distance I am able to.

I love this event. I have volunteered there for the past couple of years, but this time race director Ron and his wife Gaby persuaded me to enter. Gaby is also entering for the first time in a few years. In the running community, this is known as “enabling” 😆

Ultimately, it might just give me the focus I need to finally get back on track with my health, fitness and running.

where I am starting

In 2017 I arrived with 32 weeks of training behind me. This time, the story begins on the couch.

I would classify my current fitness as non-existent, and I probably weigh around 160 kilograms.

Two things are different from 2012: my mindset, and the fact that I recently walked 10 kilometres. It was slow, and it took me a few days to recover, but I did it.

Having walked across Australia does not do the training for me now. Knowing what I was once capable of does not change what I can manage today. If anything, the gap between those two things is part of the reason to write again.

no more mr fat guy, again

For the next six months, I am bringing no more mr fat guy back to record what actually happens between the couch and True Blue.

I have written this sort of beginning before. In 2016 I called one of them a new dawn?. In 2017 it became week zero, day one. The final post that year talked about getting back to basics, and then the blog went quiet.

During the years that followed, I was diagnosed first with sleep apnoea and then with type 2 diabetes. Both contributed to the decline in my training and the limits I kept hitting when I tried to train for an Ironman triathlon. They are part of what happened after the blog went quiet, and part of where I am starting from now.

So I am not going to fill this first post with another grand list of promises. The next post will set out the first practical steps. After that, I will write about the training that happens, the sessions that do not, and the work of starting again when I already know how far a finish line can be.

Back in 2017, I wondered what the next five years would bring. For now, I want to see what the next six months bring, one honest update at a time.