Why I went on breakfast TV in my bra & pants
riday morning, 7am. I am sitting in the Good Morning Britain green room next to the writer and investigative journalist Tom Bower, about to go on television in my underwear. Bower is fully clothed, as are the other guests – a member of a boyband and the actor David Suchet. This eclectic mix is what makes breakfast television such a joy – you never know what you’re going to get next. Poirot? A pop star? The writer of explosive books about world leaders? An overweight woman in her underwear? I once went on This Morning on a bill that included Warren Beatty and Kerry Katona. It was the pinnacle of my career.
They say that running takes you places, but when I first took it up 18 months ago, I had no idea quite how many places it would take me, or that I would one day travel to them in barely a stitch of clothing. Back then, I weighed 16 and a half stone and the only place it took me was out of my house and down the road to the park, where I would huff and puff for 20 minutes, wondering how on earth I was going to run the London Marathon six months later. I could barely run for a bus, let alone 26.2 miles.
Tomorrow, all being well, I will complete my second marathon in a year and I will do it in my underwear. I am running with my friend, the plus-size model Jada Sezer, in an attempt to show people that curvier women – women classed as overweight and obese by the standards of BMI – can be fit and healthy, too. To show that there is not one way to look; that exercise is for everyone and fitness is for all.
And so it was that yesterday morning, Jada and I appeared on Good Morning Britain in our bra and pants. It was the stuff of nightmares, taking me back to childhood dreams where I would find myself in public as naked as the day I was born. In my dream, people would point and laugh.
In reality, Jada and I were inundated with messages on social media telling us how inspiring we were – cellulite and all. And as we watched the weatherman’s forecasts for the hottest London Marathon on record, suddenly our idea didn’t seem quite as bonkers as it did back in February, when we first decided that we would run in nothing more than our undies. Then, it was so cold that it hurt to breathe in. Tomorrow, it will be warm enough that race organisers have warned those who are planning to run in fancy dress to reconsider. I bet that there will still be a fair few dressed as rhinos, or lugging washing machines on their back.
At the marathon expo on Wednesday, a Telegraph reader approached me to tell me he was running as a penguin. These are the heroes, the people who deserve more than just a medal. Marathons are special things, both for the people taking part and the people watching.
I remember feeding my newborn baby in front of the TV as 40,000 people crossed the start line in 2013. Even there, sitting on my large bottom, it sent shivers down my spine: a huge group of people coming together as one, most of them doing it for charity. When you are running long distances, it can sometimes feel like its bringing out the worst in you – just two weeks ago I had a mini-breakdown on the side of the A3, 17 miles into a 20 mile training run. But marathons bring out the best in people.
See Matthew Rees, who sacrificed a personal best to help David Wyeth, a stranger who had collapsed on the Mall last year just before the finish line.
Or Paul Morris, a father of four who had already entered the ballot for this year’s race when he was diagnosed with terminal oesophageal and liver cancer in 2017. Paul had been training for tomorrow’s race when he died suddenly at the end of last month. He was 36. A team of five friends will be running in his memory, raising money for the Severn Hospice and Tenovus Cancer Care.
You don’t have to be like Sarah Sellers, the nurse who entered last weekend’s Boston Marathon and ended up coming second, netting $75,000 (£53,000).
It doesn’t matter if you are speedy or slow. All you need is two functioning legs, and away you go. Your own body, however flabby or jiggly, taking you to strange places like the Good Morning Britain studios, and creating highs in the process. Now that to me is real magic.
To sponsor Bryony and Jada, go to: http://uk.virginmoneygiving. com/gutsygirls