Steve Sidwell will tackle 26.2 miles of the capital next month to raise money for the British Heart Foundation and the former Chelsea and Fulham midfielder says there are three personal reasons behind his choice of charity
Steve Sidwell turned up at a friend’s 40th birthday recently and refused to have a drink because he had to be up early for a long run. “It’s been a social calendar killer.”
But if the former Chelsea and Fulham midfielder crosses the finish line at next month’s London Marathon in under four hours and raises awareness for the British Heart Foundation, the abstinence and alarm clocks will be worth it.
“You’ve got to remember what you’re doing it for,” Sidwell says. “For some it’s a bucket list thing but for a lot of people it’s about raising money and awareness for a charity.”
Sidwell’s choice of good cause comes down to three personal factors. His father had a heart attack when he was away on a pre-season tour as a player. He was alongside Glenn Hoddle when the former England manager had a cardiac arrest while in a TV studio seven years ago. And Sidwell’s youngest son, Lenny, was diagnosed with a rare condition that requires regular checks. “He could possibly need surgery down the line,” he says.
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Equally Sidwell seems to carry a desire to prove something to himself.
“Running was my strength as a player,” he says but his career was cut short in 2018 because of a crippling back injury that required two surgeries.
The road to recovery has been a long one. Once he retired, completing a marathon was on his wishlist but it took six years to feel physically capable. He had been spending a lot of time cycling but after watching last year’s London Marathon got his trainers on. “Last April I did one kilometre on a treadmill and I have built it up from there.”
The progress was slow but now he is close to hitting 20 miles in long runs, following a plan created by a physiologist he worked with as a player, and ran a confidence-boosting 1hr 50 at the Brighton half marathon in early March. “That was so beneficial in terms of the start, getting used to a lot of people being there and ducking and diving around people.”
He knows that nothing, however, can prepare him for the adrenaline of running past the cheers of hundreds of thousands across the capital on April 28. “Hopefully during the race I don’t have any bad hiccups,” he says. “I’d imagine there will be along the way but hopefully it doesn’t stop me in my tracks.”
A competitive streak remains within but he won’t be driven on by attempting to beat the other former footballers – including John Terry and Jack Wilshere. “As long as a deep sea diver in a suit doesn’t overtake me I’ll be happy with that.”
Sidwell misses the “ weird stuff” from football. “The aches and pains, getting home from away games at 1am or 2am, the stadiums,” he adds. But watching it as a pundit he feels that the character is being sucked away.
“Looking at the game now, where it’s gone, I probably don’t miss it much,” he says. “It’s become a bit sterilised, it’s too coached, the personality is missing, it’s not organic.
“How often do you see players having a shot outside the box? There’s an element of analysis that’s stopped that.”
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