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Half a haircut for half a marathon.

Croydon driver, Alan BoothNot only did Croydon driver Alan Booth run the Reading half marathon in just over two hours, he did it dressed as a nurse with half of his head and beard shaved too.

Alan ran in aid of the children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent raising over £800 with the donations coming from friends, family and work colleagues.

”I decided to run in the event because I was running every week and wanted to put it to good use and raise some cash for a worthwhile cause at the same time” said Alan.
 
“The head and beard shave came as an extra to try and boost the sponsorship, it definitely worked as the sum went up by about £400.

CLIC Sargent fund-raisers“I would really like to thank everyone who sponsored me, especially my mates in Croydon garage” he added.

His training programme for the 13 mile distance should have been spread over 12 weeks but had to be condensed to 5 because of the bad weather.

“I was running between 35 and 50 miles a week in the lead up to the race so was pleased with my time of 2 hours 6 minutes.

“I’m taking it easy now and am back to running between10 and 15 miles a week, I’ve also started doing some weight training and might do another half marathon in the future.”

But running hasn’t always come natural to Alan, when he joined Arriva in 2008 he weighed in at 17 and a half stone with a waist of 46 inches and did no exercise at all.

During his driver training Alan had noticed that a lot of the drivers were a little on the large side which made him think what may become of him if he didn’t change his eating habits and take up some exercise. That’s when he started his hobby of running and two years later had got down to 11 and a half stone and regularly running three times a week.
 

Published: Fri 26 Mar 2010Modified: Fri 26 Mar 2010

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