{"id":3745,"date":"2017-11-24T11:49:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T11:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/?p=3745"},"modified":"2021-09-28T08:26:01","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T08:26:01","slug":"runner-feature-andy-walter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/runner-feature-andy-walter\/","title":{"rendered":"Runner Feature – Andy Walter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Andy Walter<\/strong> is a RunThrough regular who absolutely loves a challenge and with his 50th Birthday coming up this weekend – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, he had to set some tough ones! We’ve asked him to tell us about his running background and whether he completed his challenges throughout the year. <\/em><\/p>\n My first real race was at The Harvey Grammar School<\/strong> for boys in Folkestone. All the first years raced each other a 5 miles<\/strong> cross-country<\/strong> run over and around the hills, and I won! I was 12<\/strong> and proudly received a tiny trophy at the end of year awards. After that I ran the same inter-house race for the next 5 years<\/strong> and finished runner-up every time. I competed in the Shepway cross-country championships every year and at the Kent cross-country championships 4 times. On the track I ran 1500m<\/strong> races mainly, a lot on grass tracks winning often, and sometimes dipped into 3k and 5k races<\/strong><\/a>. I trained with Folkestone Athletics Club<\/strong> for a couple of years (5 miles every Tuesday and Thursday and track work on a cinder track in the army camp on Sundays) and used to scrump for pears on the way home. This was before flapjacks were around!<\/em>! The teachers nicknamed me ‘Running Walter<\/strong>‘ and I was awarded ‘Full Colours’ for my achievements before I left school in 85 which was nice.<\/p>\n My idol was Seb Coe<\/strong> – I had a scrapbook with all his Olympic triumphs from 1980 and 1984 and followed all his races including the famous 3 world records in 41 days. He should have competed in 1988 Olympics but they gave his place to Peter Elliot – a crazy decision I thought!<\/em><\/p>\n I left Folkestone<\/strong> in 1985<\/strong> and moved to Bromley and stopped running. I cycled a lot and then after dropping out of college after a year started working full time, supermarkets, the courts service, and eventually joined the Met Police in 2004. In late 2008<\/strong>, sometime after my divorce, I applied through work for the London Marathon<\/strong> for a laugh and got it, so I trained and ran the 09 Flora London marathon<\/strong>, and the next year the 2010 Virgin London<\/strong>, both as a smoker<\/strong>, beating my 09 time by 41 minutes in 2010 with a time of 4 hours and 22 seconds<\/strong> as I trained more sensibly for it. I raised over £4000<\/strong> between the two runs for a charity that helps children born with no eyes or deformed eyes and was lucky enough to meet some of them at the end of the races. Completing these, especially the emotional first, is up there with my proudest life achievements<\/em>.<\/p>\n I then took a 6 year hiatus<\/strong> and put on weight ballooning to over 15 stone<\/strong>. In Feb 2012<\/strong> I finally quit my long smoking habit (after my wife found out I still did) and in 2015 after shifting 1 1\/2 stone<\/strong> through swimming and diet I was diagnosed with IBS <\/strong>(Irritable bowel syndrome). I took various herbal remedies to heal me inside and started jogging gently again as it helped the symptoms. I then saw an advert for the 2016 Hampton Court Palace half marathon<\/strong> and the challenge was born! I managed to sustain a nasty calf injury almost immediately, rested for 2 weeks, then trained on a treadmill at the local police stations gym for 7-8 weeks during early 2017, and completed it in 1 hr 41:58<\/strong>.<\/p>\n