What a day! I had a great run and I’m not going to even mention all the eating I did afterwards!
Huge congratulations to:
Dr Martin Davey from Rose Street General Practice who was the fastest GP from Glenelg – 57.31 – magnificent effort!
Martin – you Legend!
Dr Jennie Wright, for running a great time, but mostly for getting us all organised and setting up the fundraising for Zaidi Ya Dreams (donate here).
Dr Lane Hinchcliffe for running the full 12kms after breaking his leg in 2015 (I won’t post his selfie here…I will release it for the right amount to charity 😉)
To Bayside Family Musculoskeletal Practice and The Health Hub for the fastest male and female runners respectively!
And finally to the awesome team at Partridge Street General Practice who walked, cooked, prepared, fundraised, and supported our patients (and me!) for far more than 12kms in September!!
This week, we’re all back to work – and looking forward to bigger and better things to come in 2016 and beyond!
On the 25th of June this year, I started a little experiment. I was a Guinea Pig. I felt my chubby cheeks and willingness to run around made me a good choice of test subject.
Along the way I made some connections, raised a little money for charity, drank lots of coffee, worked hard, and had fun.
Coffee and Website
What have I learned?
1. Exercise for mental health and to do things (walk up a hill, explore a new place, move furniture). Your basal metabolic rate goes down as you age and you tend to eat the same amount (or more) and your exercise is generally less vigorous. Exercise – sometimes it hurts!
2. Weight loss comes from your diet. Don’t kid yourselves. See 1. above. I’ve run faster before but with far more training. My time in this years City to Bay was based on weight loss not kilometres of training.
beforeafter
3. Sugar is addictive and unequivocally bad for you. Sugar crashes hurt. I have nothing good to say about sugar.
Water – still best for you
4. Routine works. During the time I was watching my diet and trying to train, life tried to get in the way. If you don’t make time to train it won’t happen. No excuses.
5. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I had a ball working all of these things out, but my main passion in life is Partridge Street General Practice. If you’re thinking of seeing us as a patient or aspire to working here and being part of an awesome team, say hi right here!
In 2005, I turned 30. I was fat, and had been fat for the better part of 10 years. I had put on 6kg a year throughout university and had carried this into my working life. I had a sedentary job, did little or no exercise, ate everything that moved slower than me, and enjoyed a drink. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here’s one I prepared earlier.
fat not phat
Looking at this picture after the event moved me from contemplation to determination. I had the knowledge and the ability to lose weight – now I had to do it. Action was needed. In my experience, this is where people fall down. There is plenty of information and advice out there, and plenty of people are willing to help you. Many think about doing things, fewer talk about doing things, and fewer still actually do things. Just do it!
there is no try
I decided to take some time off in 2006, after 6 years of solid work. I started to move more – I walked, took the stairs, and got up during the day. I cut down my television and reduced my portion sizes. I resolved to drink on social occasions and not at home. I could not run – I got out of breath jogging to my door. I found a local lake, and ran/walked from lamp post to lamp post around it, daily. I set myself the goal of running the City to Bay (12 kilometres) that year, and had a bet with my work colleagues, with the proceeds going to charity. You may have noticed that all of these sentences start with ‘I’. It’s bad writing but a good example – it all started and finished with me. I couldn’t buy health, fitness, and weight loss, I couldn’t pay someone else to do it for me – I had to do it.
something to crow about
I lost nearly 15 kilos for the City to Bay 2006 and ran it in just under 90 minutes at just over 100 kilos. A good start. There was more work to be done. I continued to run and go to the gym, but my next leap forward was to associate more with like minded people. I was talking more about running and exercise, and people could see the changes. People (and patients) started talking to me about what they were doing. My City to Bay time in 2007 was around 75 minutes, at around 95 kilos. There was still progress – but it had slowed. I’d already plucked the ‘low hanging fruit’ and further progress was going to get harder. However, I now had a support group of friends, colleagues, patients, and family to help me move on. I then joined a Bootcamp group – making friends that I have to this day. This added activity to my week, and allowed me to reach the next level. My 2008 City to Bay time came down to 65 minutes. What next?
glenelg 10km 2009
When you start trying to improve yourself, you attract like minded individuals, and I was lucky enough to have one such person literally walk in my door at work. She knows who she is so I won’t embarrass her here, but she took me under her wing and decided to train me to run marathons.
hi doctor nickfresh as a daisyultra shorts
Despite some fairly ordinary fashion sense and my shorts trying to migrate to unmentionable areas, I think I can declare the experiment a success! I’m continuing to train, continuing to run, and looking forward to this years Adelaide Marathon and City to Bay. Take control, take action, and write your own story! 😎
partridgegp 