 |
| What's your full embarrassing name? |
Simon Phidippides Holford |
| Married, or are you young, free and single and like to mingle? |
Married, and not allowed to forget it! |
| Where do you live? |
Sarisbury Green |
| Do you work or stay at home? |
Work, and I definitely try to forget that. |
| How long have you been a member at Stubbington? |
Just over a year |
| Can you remember your first race? |
Poole 10K, run in June each year and, as is usual, it was blazing hot – over 80 degrees fahrenheit. |
| How often do you bother to go training? |
If, by training, you mean how many times do I go running, then, time-permitting, 3 or 4 times a week, but only one session with the club. |
| What is your favourite training run? |
Through Holly Hill, down to the foreshore at Warsash, from there keep going until the legs give out (and that’s not just at the Rising Sun!) |
| What was your best ever race? |
Marwell 10K – didn’t look at my watch and in spite of the hill came home with a good time (and beat a much younger guy from work who I didn’t know was running – men and their egos hey?!) |
| And what was your worst or most embarrassing race? |
Eastleigh 10K – call of nature required. You try finding a quiet spot on that route! |
| Do you have a pre-race ritual? |
I do now, and it involves making sure I don’t repeat my Eastleigh experience again. |
| What is the best piece of gear you have bought? |
Has to be my Brooks shoes. |
| Worst piece of gear? |
The wrong type of shoes! Doh! |
| Why do you run when you could be sat at home watching EastEnders? |
You obviously haven’t watched EastEnders recently. |
| What does she/he who must be obeyed think about your running? |
She’s pleased – it keeps me happy and gets me out of the house so everyone else can watch EastEnders. |
| What is the one piece of advice you would give to any new runner? |
Enjoy your running, don’t over do it, and it doesn’t have to be a solitary activity. Don’t underestimate how it can expand your social circle – I now know a chiropractor, physiotherapist, podiatrist – and thanks to the club I’ve met some great fellow runners. |