1. Give us a short history of your running or fitness experience. Are you a typically sporty person?
I never thought of myself as 'sporty' at all at school. I didnt fit into the cricket/rugby set and so languished in the changing rooms polishing my thick glasses and sucking on my inhaler. I discovered the gym at Uni when an American call Dave Lowry dragged me to the University gym, by the time i left Kent University I had won the Colin Boswell Sports Trophy for outstanding work in Uni sports and had my name up on the Uni Sports Hall roll of honour. I showed my dad the roll of honour entry proudly up high in gold on the wall the year I graduated and he didnt believe it was my name on the board. I still think he suspects it was a prank.
During University i learnt to SCUBA dive, became an instructor and taught diving and went on to qualify for technical diving with advanced gases to greater depths and now dive on a rebreather. Im also a keen underwater amateur photographer ( i will post about this another time as i love taking pics when im out running)
I first started running 'properly' when i trained for the London Marathon in 2003. I did over 800 combined miles in training but actually still ran it quite overweight. My running languished for a few years as my career got in the way and I started running again in 2007 after i was spurred on having lost 3/4 stone in one week on a diving holiday. On that holiday I lived on a boat with three other divers who had each lost more than 4 stone having had an 'enough is enough' moment. As a keen diver I had logged over 25 underwater hours in one week and the calorie usage had meant despite eating enormous amounts of food I had suffered crash weight loss whilst still having fun!
2. All of you have lost a good chunk of weight. What was your top weight, and how much do you weigh now?
I was at my heaviest around 2007 when i weighed in well above fourteen stone, possibly even fourteen and a half stone.
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| Lee Fat |
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| lee not fat |
3. What kind of mileage do you run per week currently?
I run 6 miles every morning at 7am through the woods behind my house. at the weekends I run a 6 mile run and a 9 or 10 mile run as well. In total about 45 miles per week.
4. What's the longest or craziest run you've done so far?
My longest run to date is the London Marathon in 2003. This is over 4 times less than the Greensand Way.
My craziest run is ANY run i do with the Guildford Hash House Harriers. Their website is here http://www.guildfordh3.org.uk/
Running with the Hash House Harriers is like going on a pub crawl with Hunter S Thompson wearing trainers in the dark. I will post much more about hashing on a later date.
One of the most recent Christmas runs we did in Guildford involved us wearing santa hats and crossing the canal in a row boat. running doesnt get more mental.
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| Hashing in Guildford |
5. Why on earth are you doing the Greensand Way 2012?!
For the same reason im planning to be the first guy to continously scuba dive the english channel from England to France. (seriously Im not kidding )
6. Who are you raising money for?
Claire is one of 7 leaders taking 33 young people on a Scout and Guide Expedition to Tanzania in 2012, to help build a medical centre in the rural village of Itete. Im sure she will post much more about what a great cause this is.
7. What's your most embarrassing running or sport story?
The short answer is finding out recently i was deemed a 'senior runner' at the Hellrunner event.
The long answer is that when i was about 9 at my school swimming competition my school as some weird sick joke thought they would field me as an ace 100m freestyle swimmer. It was a very busy event in the massive Victoria Swimming Baths in Portsmouth in an Olympic pool. The whole school were there watching and many parents etc. I was not wearing my glasses (i am a minus ten prescription) and so no one thought to tell me that the pool had been split into two areas so whilst one race was on the other was being set up. I was shoved onto a small plinth and stood squinting at the fuzzy blue before me convinced I was going to come last. I heard the gun go off, I jumped in like a person abandoning ship, surfaced, started thrashing as hard as i could and was AMAZED to see no other fuzzy shapes in front of me.....I swam as hard as i could......I was a swimming god..........until i got to the other side and was told by a bemused teacher the gun was for the race on the other side of the pool. I had to walk back to the plinth and was so knackered when my race started im not sure the school has technically logged me as having yet finished that race.
8. Which do you prefer?
A. Lee Evans (comedian) or Lee Latchford Evans?
Lee Latchford Evans as he is planning to run to Berlin this year.
B. Craig David or PJ Harvey?
Craig David as he did a desert trek in 2011 for comic relief
C. Claire from Steps or Tina Turner?
Claire Richards as she is a member of the '4 stone club'
9. You're all billed as musicians as well as insane running type people. What are your rockstar credentials?
Dave will tell you that gigging in his band Belligerence at the Download Festival last year makes him have the highest rock credentials. He is wrong.
I have been the Frank Zappa of music since my debut album 'The Marrows - Live and Crap 92' recorded live at the Microbes of Rock Festival in Havant. Although poorly understood myself many people who have gigged with me have gone on to greatness as a result of my encouragement of my 'crew' to try new things ( I once did an electric triangle solo at a gig).
Emma from the marrows is now part of the German Dance Act Boy Girl Society, Gavin is now with the Rock giants Godsized and Craig Copland now plays in Belligerence with Dave. My other bands include Ephemarrow (didnt come last at Havant College battle of the bands 1993) , the Marrows , The Rolling Clones ,Pogul Mchgee (we were supported by Gomez at a gig in Cambridge in 1997) ZZ Topless (were named the least talented but most entertaining band of Keynes stock 1999) , Soul Glow (played my wedding) , Jeepster (played my 30th), The Hunter S Thompson Twins (played my 35th) and more recently my appearance in Ukejam who gigged Guildfest and Weyfest this year as well as supporting Hayseed Dixie in the Boileroom. Like George Harrison I dabble with the sitar and banjolele. Most amazing was that i gigged on lead vocals and guitar from 1993 to 1997 having not yet got round to learning to actually play the guitar. I also now regularly fill the revered 'cannon fodder' first slot at Wizzi Wednesday open mic night in Guildford.
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| Leather jumpsuit Lee in Jeepster |
10. You're all going to be spending a long weekend together at the end of this. Who do you think would win in a fight between the other two runners?
Claire (anyone that knows her will back me up on this)
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