Not the one from the telly...!

Jonathan Ross explains how he has got wrapped up in such a crazy challenge.

I always say at the beginning 'Not the one off the telly' so that if anyone should meet me they won't be disappointed. They usually still are, but for different reasons!! This happens almost on a daily basis. I arrange a meeting and when the other person turns up, their face drops as they see it isn't the bloke off the telly. C'est la vie!

By way of introduction though, I'm 47, very happily married to Sarah for 22 years and have 2 sons aged 18 and 20. We all live in Bournemouth and I have been a Property Manager in Wimborne for the past 4 years. Previously, I spent 24 years in the Royal Engineers.

In my spare time I am Chairman of the Wimborne British Legion Poppy Appeal. A grand title but we do raise a significant amount of money. It was at one of our meetings last year that Dennis Hart mentioned Project 65. Whilst Dennis was explaining what Project 65 was all about, I was thinking,'Why would anyone want to run 65 miles?!' I didn't even know that people even ran that far in one go. I'd certainly never heard of the term 'Ultra marathon' either!

Anyway, whilst I was having these thoughts Dennis said that as the event was taking place on our patch and wouldn't it be great if someone from Wimborne British Legion actually took part? Almost instantly I felt eight pairs of eyes fall in my direction. My chest constricted and I thought 'No way am I entering this, my body just won't handle it'.

Now, I keep myself fit by going to the gym and running about 4 miles occasionally but not 65 miles worth of 'fit' - that's insane! I of course instantly meant to say 'No' but it came out as 'Yes'. I went home from the meeting and said to Sarah that I was going to run 65 miles for charity. 'Yeah, right!' she said, thinking I was joking, in a strange way I actually hoped I was joking.

But I wasn't.

I've since sent off my £65 cheque and am now fully onboard. I then had a series of panic attacks after realising I'd better sort myself out. So that is what I have been attempting to do since Christmas. More later on my training...

Best regards to you all. Keep the miles coming!