My Passion with Michael Richmond: Running man wins his race to get fit for marathons

Two years ago, my Sunday mornings changed forever. I hit the big 60 in 2008 and decided it was time to get healthy and to alter my life and my routine.

As a family man with two sons and a daughter, not only did I want to be fit for myself, I wanted to be fit and healthy for them.

As every father would say, seeing your children grow up is one of the most important things in life, so I realised it was time to actively take the steps to make sure that I would.

I didn't, however, do this all on my own; I knew I needed motivating and so I engaged the services of a personal trainer

When I began training with her, I could barely walk on a treadmill, let alone run on it. However, she saw the potential runner inside right from the start and encouraged me to continue.

As with all new hobbies, you need to start slowly and progressively increase your pace and distance until you can, literally, take it all in your stride.

Reading the Sunday newspapers over breakfast used to be my routine, but that has all changed.

Now I am up at 6am every Sunday morning ready for my weekly run. It's such a part of my week that on the odd occasion that I can't make it, I really notice that something is awry.

Thanks to my personal trainer's support and my hard work and

determination, I am proud to say that last year I ran my very first marathon – New York.

It was the first time I had ever been to the United States, let alone New York, and it was a wonderful way to see the sights in such a magnificent city.

I completed this very exciting challenge in four hours 49 minutes and it spurred me on to set new goals and challenges.

In June this year, I completed the Variety Club 10k, quickly followed by the Leeds 10k, in July.

I also have a number of other competitive runs planned, including the Great North Run, in Newcastle, Nice to Cannes and the London Marathon

in 2011.

My overall aim is to run five marathons before I am 65, in 2013, which will be an amazing achievement.

However, it's not all about competing; I still run just for fun and have even become something of a local celebrity, and in

Wakefield have become affectionately known as the "running man".