I want to fit in a rugby shirt

If you've read any of my blog posts before you'll know a few things about me. If you haven't here is a recap - - I'm from Bristol and have a tendency to type in Bristolian, - I'm trying to lose weight and do that through diet and running, - I've been married to my wife for 19 years, - We have 2 sons. Our first was born sleeping 16 years ago and we have a rainbow 'baby' who is 15 years old in a few weeks time. - I'm involved with the Bristol group of Sands and have set up a football team in Bristol for bereaved dads like myself. - Last year my father passed away and in December I was diagnosed with anxiety and stress (which I've probably been suffering with since our first son was born sleeping). - Our youngest son keeps hounding me to write more blog posts. So, you're all caught up now. Since I got involved with Sands back in May/June 2018 I've been fortunate enough to meet some truly amazing and inspiring people who befriend,

Harrison (our youngest son) has been nagging me for a while to write some more blog posts. I've kept putting it off because I didn’t think I had much that was interesting to say. It might be that what I’m about to say now isn’t that interesting but that what I say is read by someone who can recognise what I have to say in themselves and do better than I’ve done. So here goes...  It turns out I’m not as clever as I thought I was (yes, I'm already thinking of the humorous responses to that from friends, family and colleagues). Turns out I’m a dumbass.  Don’t get me wrong I’d like to think I’m clever enough to hold my own in conversations about most subjects. There are some topics I like to think I can do very well in when it comes to conversations. Depending on who you speak to (for example - the current Mrs Byrom) it might be the topic of sports facts that nobody can ever make use of for example.  It turns out what I’m not so clever at is trying to beat anxie

Over the last few months I've been getting involved with the Bristol branch of SANDS (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death). Every year from 9th - 15th October is 'Baby Loss Awareness Week'. One of the committee members (Abbie) was organising a virtual challenge for anyone who wanted to take part. It was up to everyone what distance they wanted to do - it could be a 5k, 10k, a cumulative distance over the month. I decided (inspired by a friend from Bristol Sands - Hilary) I was going to run 27 miles. Denise was 27 weeks pregnant when our angel baby Thomas was born sleeping so the distance seemed very apt. 27 miles was also just over 40 kilometres and 2018 is the 40th anniversary of the founding of SANDS which over the last few months has become incredibly important to us. However over the last couple of months I'd only run a handful of times. Mainly because I'd injured my back at the beginning of July so I knew the first few runs of this challenge might be hard wo

Now that's something I never envisaged saying - I completed the Bristol 10k. I did - on Sunday 13th May 2018. Its a couple of weeks since the run and every time I think about it I'm buzzing about it!! So if anyone has read any of my blogs before then you'll know that about a year ago I decided to try and get fit (well I want to fit into a rugby shirt) and signed up to do a 5k run and spent a couple of months training on bike and running before tackling it. Since then I've done a couple of more Park Runs and the Mo Run as well as kept up running through the winter. Late last year as I found how much I enjoyed running I'd contemplated doing the Bristol 10k in 2018, but thought that doing it in May might be to early for me to achieve the distance. The more I thought about it I spoke to friends who'd done the Bristol 10k (and other 10k runs) and took encouragement from them and began to wonder if it was something I might actually be able to do. It would cer