Malcolm & Sue

When I ran (OK, jogged) my first Race for Life a couple of weeks ago, with my personal trainer, Kim, it was her dad Malcolm with his wife Sue who took all the smashing photos of us by following us around the course. They kept popping up all over the route, encouraging and cheering us on, and being ready with the water bottles so we didn't need to carry them!

Malcolm is 74, started running in his 50s, and is staggeringly fit. I asked him when I (puff, puff) finished my first 5k race in 39 minutes, "how long would that have taken you?" He thought about it for a moment, and said "well, I did one the other day over some pretty rough ground, so it was a bit slower than usual... that took me 22 minutes." A quick Google finds Malcolm running some very impressive times, including a 10k in 48:30 - you can find the evidence on the Athletics Data website. Notice that he has a habit of coming in first rather a lot...

Sue is also a runner, and was disappointed that the R4L was fully booked so she couldn't join us - although she'd have been showing us her heels if she had. I was grateful that she could take photos of us instead!

Oh, and they've just started using a computer, too.

Malcolm, Sue - you're a huge inspiration to us all.


Malcolm with Henry the hound

Silver Surfers

One part of my professional career is the training of individuals to use their computers, and particularly the over-50s. I am a trainer in the Digital Unite network, which specialises in helping such people with 1:1 training on their own computers. They are instrumental in the now annual Silver Surfers Day, which celebrates the achievements of those who were born well before the digital age, but who have embraced it with enthusiasm.