Get to know…Nick Green
For this week’s chosen member we are joined by another Arena member who comes from the school of charm. We are lucky to have so many genuinely nice people at our club and Nick sits right in amongst them. Someone you would happily sit with at the pub and have a great evening’s conversation with. A solid performer on the track as well as racing for the club so let’s meet Mr Charming himself…
Name: Nick Green
1. When and why did you join Arena:
It was about 6 years ago I think. I have been running for a while but never got beyond being a keen jogger doing a few races now and again. I thought I’d see if I could get a bit better by joining a club and get to meet a few new people at the same time, it worked on both counts.
2. How long have you been running:
About 20 years. I started just to stay fit. I did one of the first Brighton half marathons which must have been in about 1998 and then the 2000 London marathon.
3. Where did you grow up:
Lots of places. My father was in the army so we tended to move house every 2 or 3 years. I was born in Singapore and went to school in Wiltshire, then on to university in Bristol. I lived in London after that before moving to Brighton about 15 years ago.
4. Which three words describe you best:
Understated, laid back, grey……
5. Apart from running what else do you do with your free time:
Road cycling, sailing, as much skiing in the winter as I can, a bit of climbing.
6. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you this year:
Surviving the Hartland Heartbreaker, a race around the North Devon coast path organised by a local club. It’s basically 18 miles of constant hills, one of those ‘never again’ races but I’m already thinking of doing it again next year…
7. Tell me about something you would happily do again:
Scuba diving. Only done it once but it was amazing.
8. What do you think about the most during the day:
Are southern trains running on time (or running at all)?
9. Who is your sporting hero:
Lots of people but I admire Mo Farah and Chris Froome for what they have achieved with professionalism and dignity.
10. What’s something that you aren’t:
Fashion conscious sadly.
11. Have you anything on your bucket list that you still want to do:
I’d love to do a sub 1.30 half marathon but that’s looking out of reach, my PB is about 1.34. Beyond running – definitely wing suit flying, although that’s an even more remote possibility.
12. Think fast, what do you like right now:
The summer weather…
13. What’s something or someone you miss the most from childhood:
Spare time and energy.
14. Name 3 people (dead or alive) you would like to sit in a pub with:
George Mallory (I’d like to ask if he got to the top of Everest), Neil Armstrong, Roger Bannister.
15. Tell us something we don’t know about you:
I broke my neck playing rugby when I was 18.
16. Is there anything that you are afraid of:
The usual stuff, losing my faculties, although that may have started already.
17. What would your epitaph say:
I have no idea, that’s for others to say. Hopefully something nice.
18. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 35, and find line 8. What does it read:
Squinting into the setting sun can make pilotage very difficult – (Reeds PBO Small Craft Almanac 2017).
19. If you didn’t run what other sport would you like to have done:
Probably road cycling, if I wasn’t a member of Arena I would join one of the local cycle clubs. I’d like to get better but you need to spend more time on the bike than running.
20. Would you prefer to go bungee jumping or sky diving or have you done either:
I haven’t done either but it would definitely be sky diving, I’ve always quite fancied it. Bungee jumping looks terrifying. What if the rope breaks?
Our biggest thanks to Nick for his Q&A’s this week and we hope that you feel that you have now got to know a little better. Check back next Wednesday for another set of Q&A’s with our chosen club member.