{"id":5672,"date":"2020-08-07T10:14:59","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T10:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/?p=5672"},"modified":"2020-08-11T11:03:09","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T11:03:09","slug":"runner-feature-matt-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/runner-feature-matt-robinson\/","title":{"rendered":"Runner Feature – Matt Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I find it a bit strange sitting here writing this as I haven’t technically run at all in the last 7 years!<\/em><\/p>\n

For those that don’t know me already, I’m the one who ‘runs<\/em>’ in a wheelchair<\/strong> – not the crazy one who dresses up (that’s Peter Smorthit), but the fatter one trying to loose weight. I’ll spare the gory details, but basically I was commuting home from London one evening and slipped off a platform edge<\/strong> (not while drunk!) a result of which means I’m a bit shorter. Luckily enough Command Officer Lieutenant Colonel Mark Budden from 101 Engineer Regiment and two members of the public; Pamela Abbott and John Thorp were on the platform and knew what to do. After a few months in hospital I returned to work in September 2013<\/strong> and use the same platform to this day (albeit not during lockdown).<\/p>\n

My general forms of exercise started around water<\/strong>. A long time ago I used to be a dive master<\/strong>, and had a dream of flying helicopters in the Navy, but ended up going in a different direction.<\/p>\n

\"Runner<\/p>\n

I found ‘open water<\/em>’ swimming<\/strong> after jumping in a lake one evening to cool off, since then I completed various ‘Great Swims<\/em>’ (Serpentine, Windermere, Lock Lomond, etc), gradually building up from a mile to two miles, etc.<\/p>\n

The couple of years back someone jokingly said I should do a triathlon<\/strong>. I never turn down a challenge, specially a crazy one, so I decided to investigate running and cycling with no legs. The cycling part was easiest; buy a hand bike, get some Lycra and try not to get hit by cars. As for running, I wasn’t too sure what to type into Google, but went along to my first RunThrough event in Battersea Park in October<\/strong> (it seems very strange that my first event was only a few months ago).<\/p>\n

\"RunnerSince then I’ve completed two sprint distance triathlons<\/strong> at Dorney Lake, and have signed up for two marathons<\/strong>; London 2020 (or 2021 if it gets moved again) and Brighton 2021.<\/p>\n

My other hobbies include skydiving, kayaking, abseiling and SCUBA diving<\/strong>; as my friends say I never have my feet on the ground…. If anyone likes (or needs to overcome a fear of) heights, the abseil team at the Orbit Tower in Olympic Park<\/strong> are very pro and you get a great view over London.<\/p>\n

Various people mention the ‘<\/strong>RunThrough Family’<\/strong><\/em> on facebook etc, it seems strange, but it does feel like a family – perhaps as everyone secretly hates running and is only in it for the flapjack.<\/p>\n

It’s awesome to see the team still coming up with ideas during the lockdown period. Organising virtual events at the drop of a hat and shipping the new kit is no easy challenge.<\/p>\n

Hope to see everyone at an event soon!<\/p>\n

Here’s a quote that I hope to see on a board one day – ‘Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right’<\/em> – I think it was by Henry Ford.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I find it a bit strange sitting here writing this as I haven’t technically run at all in the last 7 years! For those that don’t know me already, I’m the one who ‘runs’ in a wheelchair – not the crazy one who dresses up (that’s Peter Smorthit), but the fatter one trying to loose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2955,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2955"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5672"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5686,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672\/revisions\/5686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}