You can have a day off when you're dead!

Happy Father's day padre... yes, yes its technically 6 hours and 50 minutes late but I also rang him during the allotted 24 hours in which its socially acceptable to tell you Dad how great they are as long as its done subtly with minimal emotion and certainly no touching, except possibly a hand shake.

My Dad has taught me many things but two particular memories will always stick in my mind and continue to influence me today.

1. When I was about 6 living in Sheffield we had snow, not nancy London snow where everything stops because there is a foot, proper Northern snow, the kind global warming has killed off. I remember the railings of the school opposite just showing over the top and they were 6 foot high (in those days to keep the kids in rather than undesirables out!). Nothing was working and everything was closed. Being 6 and having no where to be this was officially the greatest day ever and I was up at about 4am. I'll never forget the image of my Father, climbing up the snow with his bike to cycle to work at 7:30! To give you an idea of how bad it was they had to send a JCB to plow us out at around 3pm. My Dad worked the whole day...

2. Aged 17 I was feeling lazy when my Dad (whose job it was to walk me and my brother) came in at 7:30 (which seemed early at the time) and told us with all the sympathy he could muster it was time to get our arses in gear. "I don't feel well, can I have a day off?" I whined. "You can have a day off when you're dead." Came the response. That was me told. I now try and live my sporting life by these words. Never miss a session, never give in, and if you have a rest day planned, you better make sure you kill yourself on the day before...

126mile bike @ IM wattage + 10mile run at 7:08 miles - JOB DONE!

Happy Father's Day!