Recently, while out for a long training run in the fields, bridleways and woods near the village where I grew up, it struck me how much I had hated running cross-country at school. Yet here I was, more than 40 years later, volunteering to stride across muddy terrain in brutally cold weather.
What changed my mind? It was a posting overseas, to one of the most sports-mad places on the planet, that initially prompted me to invest in a pair of trainers, tackle a race or two, and gain a new perspective on a sport I once loathed.
Bermuda is the kind of place where virtually everyone is involved in some kind of outdoor leisure activity, be it tennis, scuba-diving, sailing, fishing, squash, golf or lawn bowls. I played the odd game of tennis and became a moderately proficient windsurfer, but it was running that really hooked me.
Jogging on roads flanked by palm trees and the turquoise ocean or along pink-sand beaches was a new experience. The scent of tropical flowers in summer and cedar wood fires in winter were also novelties for someone who grew up in England.
The camaraderie and fun were also new to me. At school, physical education meant enduring cross-country runs that were presided over by cruel, and sometimes violent, teachers. They would mock the fat, panting boy who finished last, and try to humiliate everyone else without natural athletic talent.
In Bermuda, nobody forced me to run. But I was entering 10-kilometre races and half-marathons within a year of living there, delighting in the chance to become fit and make friends. There was a weekly fun run at the Botanical Gardens, a fiercely competitive blast around a three-kilometre circuit. Beating a friend in that race gave you bragging rights for a week.
I was so hooked that I even ran the New York City Marathon, marvelling at the fervent support that came from ordinary people. Encouragement came from jazz bands, brass bands, rock bands, cheerleaders and excited children. The race goes through all the five boroughs, giving a real flavour of the city's diversity and the residents' love of a good spectacle.