In 2012 i needed to go to the GP for an asthma review and it soon ended up as a full health check, i was a 18 and a half stone in weight my BP was 170/130 my cholesterol was over 9 i was put on statins and i was told that if i did not change my ways there was a 45% chance of a heart attack or stroke within 2 years.
The GP offered me 2 choices a 12 week gym membership or 12 weeks with Slimming world back then i would not even run for a bus so opted for Slimming world i could not believe what i could eat and still lose weight and in 7 months i lost just over 5 stone which i still maintain to this day, in 2015 my Slimming world consultant suggested i take up some form of exercise and she suggested park run i turned up for my first park run with no running experience but got round in just under 45 minutes to date i have now completed 172 park runs with a PB of 34:15
I have have also completed a half marathon, one 10k various 5ks and last year i did the thames bridge challenge which is 25k crossing 16 london bridges along the way.
My bp is now 125/70 and my cholesterol is below 5 and the chance of a heart attack or a stroke is now only 10% in the next 10 years not bad for someone who only took up running at the age of 51
