Andrew Lloyd doesn't keep track of his daily steps. He isn't counting his strides while he's training either. In fact, he'll rarely even wear a watch to monitor the time while he's running.
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Averaging 150 kilometres a week and two runs a day at the peak of his running career, you could safely assume he was ticking off any daily step goals with enough left over to send a fitness tracker into overdrive.
It's been 25 years since Andrew Lloyd won the first Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon, in 1992. Countless kilometres, at least 20 marathons and 15 half marathons later - as well as 16 kilograms heavier - at age 56 the former professional athlete is getting ready to return to the 21.1km course.
"I got the idea when the video of me winning the 5000m race at the 1990 Commonwealth Games clocked up on my Facebook feed," Lloyd said. The video features Lloyd's dramatic finish in which he overtook four runners in the last 150m to take the gold medal.
"It got a hell of a lot of hits. I couldn't work out why I was getting so many hits on my phone," said Lloyd. "That got me thinking I might start running again. I thought, I'm not getting any younger ... it's a good time to set some goals".
His advice for half marathon first-timers is to "make sure you've got lots of fluid on board before you start" and "don't go out too fast".
"It's a long way," said Lloyd, "If you feel good in the last 5km then let it go."
Lloyd spent his career winning races all over the world and remembers the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon as "a pretty easy race". But he has his sights set more modestly this time around: he's aiming to finish without any injuries.
