I’m A Runner
LABOUR’S FORMER DEPUTY LEADER, 54, ON SLOW STARTS AND THE POWER OF AC/DC
Labour’s former deputy leader Tom Watson on starting slow
EIGHTY-YEAR-OLD power walkers inspired me to run. I was 22 stone and had hypertension and type 2 diabetes, so in mid-2017 I changed my nutrition and started exercising gently.
BEGINNING WITH A daily target of 5,000 steps, I gradually increased it to 10,000. After the 2017 Labour Party Conference, I went to Torremolinos with friends. I’d walk by the sea to reach my steps target, but I was overtaken by power walkers twice my age, so I decided to jog from one lamppost to the next. By the end of the week I was intermittently walking and jogging. When I returned to London, I started jogging in a park.
THE PROUDEST MOMENT of my life was doing the run for the Jo Cox Foundation [Labour MP Cox was murdered in 2016]. I did the shorter, 2.5km run with my daughter Saoirse, who was 10, and we were both breathless. We held hands as we crossed the finish line, and afterwards I had that picture on my desk in parliament. It was one of the most emotional moments of my life because we were honouring my friend and colleague Jo. It was a great moment and running gave me that. AC/DC GETS ME THROUGH a run I don’t want to do. I start off with
Back in Black and I time the run to end with It’s a Long Way to the Top
– that’s my reward. Motivational speaker David Goggins stops me giving up. He’s a former Navy Seal who’s run thousands of miles and he’s my hero. If I’m chilled out, I’ll listen to playlists of 1980s tracks or classic rock. I also like crazy bio-hacking medical podcasts. I’ll listen to Peter Attia, who does deep dives into the science of longevity, and I’ve had great runs because of a crime writer named Jacob Ross.
I WEAR A RED WOOLLEN hat, like Bennie from Crossroads. The rest of my running kit is black – wearing luminous yellow doesn’t come easily when you’re a middle-aged bloke.
I’d never been into a Nike shop before I started getting fit, but there’s an outlet in my old constituency of West Bromwich and it was a godsend.
I’M A BIG FAN OF THE DAILY MILE run. I took part at a primary school near me in West Bromwich and it was a joy. Every child had a beaming smile on their face and there was no messing around – they just ran a mile in their uniforms. The Daily Mile is an easy, low-cost initiative that I wish could be scaled into all schools.
I’VE GOT MORE OUT of running over time. I run in the Wyre Forest and down the River Severn in Worcestershire. There are people half my age who can probably lap me round the river, but whatever time of day it is, there’s always a little nod or a wave. That’s the real joy of running. It’s free, it’s egalitarian and it’s freedom – that’s what I love about it.
‘Whatever time of day it is, there’s always a little nod or a
wave’