THERE is no better advert for running than the extraordinary Steve Way.

Seven years ago, Way’s life was dominated by cigarettes, alcohol and a 60-hour-a-week job in IT.

But tomorrow the 40 year-old will be one of the elite athletes at his first Bupa Great South Run, two months after finishing tenth in the Commonwealth Games marathon in a time of 2:15:16.

Way now specialises in ultra-marathons and will be using the ten-mile Great South Run course in Portsmouth as a routine training exercise ahead of the 100k World Championships in Doha, Qatar next month. It has been a meteoric rise. Back in September 2007, Way weighed 16 and-a-half stone and was smoking 180 cigarettes a week.

“I was 33 when I first started running,” he said. “I was the heaviest I’ve ever been, a bit of a yo-yo dieter and my smoking was getting on top of me.

“I was starting to see the impact it was having so it was time for changes.”

Way had no inkling of his talent until he started training consistently, before finishing 100th in the 2008 London Marathon in 2:35.26.

“Before then, there were a few occasions when I would enter a race and jog all the way round with no training.

“I once rocked up at the Bournemouth half-marathon and did it in 1:45. In hindsight, I should have perhaps noticed that that was something most overweight people who smoked heavily couldn’t do, that I had a certain amount of ability that needed to be dug out. “Running the London Marathon in 3:07 after three weeks of training was another scenario where someone should have said ‘hang on a minute’.

“But I didn’t know anything about running so it didn’t really occur to me that there was some big potential there.

“I’m interested to know what I could have done if I started athletics as a teenager, especially over the shorter distances – I’ve got absolutely no speed when it comes to the shorter stuff.

“But I don’t regret it... I quite like the fact that I’ve taken this approach and now have a whole new life.”

Since leaving his well-paid IT job at Barclays for a 9-5 role to accommodate his training, Way has taken voluntary redundancy and is currently on gardening leave.

It has given him even more time to fit in his 135-mile-a-week training on the streets of Sturminster Marshall, the Dorset village where he lives with his wife Sarah, and on the Purbeck Hills.

Ten miles is a fraction of the distance facing Way in Doha. Having twice had to pull out of the Great South Run due to injury, Way is looking forward to the novelty.

“Although I’m specifically training for the 100k World Champs, I can’t neglect my speed so it will be ten miles of pain to try and get as much speed into my legs as I can,” he explained.

“My ten-mile PB is 50:48, in a New Forest 10 trail race, and I was hoping to be in shape for a sub-50 attempt.

“But I’m not quite there so would be more than happy with sub-51, bearing in mind how focused my training is to the 100k.”

Way has the opportunity to become one of the world’s best ultra-marathon winners, having set a new British 100k record of 6:19 earlier this year.

“Marathons are not my speciality, even my PB at the Commonwealth Games is not a world-class time, but as the distances get longer, I get stronger,” he explains.

“By dabbling in the ultra world I’ve found a distance I can compete in on a world level, admittedly partly due to the fact that the Kenyans and Ethiopians aren’t interested in ultra marathons!

“But that aside, my time at the UK 100k champs was in the top ten of all-time and that gives me encouragement that I can be competitive at the world championships, where I’m looking forward to wearing my new GB vest for the first time.”

Should he be successful, Way will even allow himself a return to the old days.

“I normally have a weak period after races where I let the old Steve out of the box!” he laughed. “Running has added passion and purpose to my life but it’s still a hobby. I haven’t had a cigarette since September 2007 but anything good in my running career is usually celebrated with a few drinks and a cigar – it’s my compromise!”