My 11 year journey to get people active

I can't believe that it's been that long! I launched JoggingBuddy in 2009 following an idea that I had when out running at 4am near my north London home in Queens Park. Let me set the scene... I was seriously overweight, the weight had crept up on me from long lunches and late night drinking with friends and work colleagues. On top of that, I was smoking 40 a day! I was angry with myself. I let myself slip to a place that was making me very unhappy. What's more, I lost my motivation to do something about it, particularly because I knew that was going to be tough and painful journey to go on.

I went running at 4am because I could not sleep! and the decision to lace up my shoes and go for a jog changed my life. I remember vividly running down my road and within minutes seeing another runner, then another, and another. All doing their own thing. I remember thinking, 'I would have run with you, if I had known that you were running at this time too'. And there you have it, the idea for Joggingbuddy was born. Over the next few minutes I sketched the idea in my head, how it would work, how it might look and how powerful it might be. I went home energised and raced to the laptop to search for domain names, I had Joggingbuddy in my head right from the start and I said to myself, "if that URL is available I will do this" - and you know what, it was!

Joggingbuddy was created in a matter of weeks and launched in September 2009. Like most hobby businesses, it was the kindness of friends and family signing up and spreading the word that got it started!.. in a short space of time we hit 250 members!

Today we have over 50,000 members in 123 countries and I could not be more proud of our community of runners! We have a steady rate of growth with about 5,000 new members joining us every year. Finding someone to run with is the best tool you can have to achieving your long term health goals and I am delighted that our platform has been the catalyst for so many people to change their life chances. It is also important that we set a good example to our children, let them see that running, training and being healthy is something that we have to invest in and battle with. Let them see you sweat and hurt and succeed. My 4 year old said to me last week.. "Daddy, when I am older, can I come running with you" - nothing would make me more proud!

As for my own health, I haven't had a cigarette in over 11 years and my weight is in a more normal range.

I have had the pleasure of meeting and running with 100's of buddies in London, New York, Florida, San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Portugal and many other places. You know who you are, thank you for sharing my journey.

For those of you still struggling with your own personal battles I offer this advice. Find a couple of buddies and make a pact to walk, jog and run your way into better health! Motivate each other and I promise you, one day you will wake up and you will be a different person.

Happy running everyone! - stay safe. Sign up and be part of our community of runners: www.joggingbuddy.com - find someone in your area to run with