An Accidental Athlete

Known by fans as The Penguin for his back-of-the-pack speed, John Bingham is the unlikely hero of the modern running boom. In his book An Accidental Athlete: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Middle Age , the best-selling author and magazine columnist recalls his childhood dreams of athletic glory, sedentary years of unhealthy excess, and a life-changing transformation from couch potato to adult-onset athlete. Overweight, uninspired, and saddled with a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoking habit, Bingham found himself firmly wedged into a middle-age slump. Then two frightening trips to the emergency department and a conversation with a happy piano tuner led him to discover running - and changed his life for the better. In turns inspiring, poignant, hilarious, and heartbreaking, An Accidental Athlete is a warm and engaging book for the everyday athlete. Bingham tells stories of the joys of running - the pride of the finisher's medal, a bureau-busting t-shirt collection, and intense back-of-the-pack strategising. An Accidental Athlete is about one man's discovery that middle age was not the finish line after all, but only the beginning.