notbadforafitfatlad

At some point in our lives we will all come across the horrible disease that is dementia. But what is it? It is a blanket word that describes a set of symptoms that include difficulties in thinking and memory loss. The symptoms start small but, over time, will effect the person's everyday life and then those around them. It can be brought on by a series of strokes, reduced oxygen to the brain (Vascular dementia) or by the most common form of dementia - Alzheimer's. There are over 850,000 people in the world who have dementia in some form, with 1 in 14 people over the age of 65 being affected. Think it's just for the elderly? Think again - there are over 42,000 in the UK alone under the age of 65 that have dementia - and that number keeps rising. To help in the fight to find a cure, to fund research and allow to help pay for the amazing carers that look after those suffering, Alzheimer's Research UK and Alzheimer's Society have joined forces to form Dementia Revolu...

Bournemouth, October 2016, the starting pen. Having just had my third pre race wee in the space of 20 minutes, me and the other 7,000 runners are ushered in to our starting pens like lambs being led to slaughter. All of us picturing our own doom, looking around for someone who appears more afraid of the next 6 hours, looking for hope. It's at this moment, when I'm packed tightly in to the last starting group, unable to move, unable to escape, that I ask that question that all runners ask; 'What am I doing here?' To answer that I need to rewind 5 months to the day that I was taking part in the Milton Keynes half marathon. Or at least I should have been. Having been taken ill on the Thursday before May day Bank holiday weekend with pneumonia symptoms, I awoke Friday morning to the disgusting sight of chicken pox. If anyone has had chicken pox as an adult you will know that it is very unforgiving and robs you of all your dignity. Having tried to convinced my wife that it...

Why Not bad for a fit fat lad? The journey. Everyone has a story to tell on how they became a runner, whether they are an elite athlete or aiming to complete their 1st 5km run, everyone has that driving factor behind them. For me, it was not wanting to be that short fat lad who found it difficult to lose weight and shake off the comments that came my way - people can be cruel. Once you reach a certain weight it is so difficult to lose the flab, and for me (and many others) it's not because of the reasons that people think. "Just eat less." Whilst eating less would be beneficial in the fight to shed the pounds, food had become a comfort. After a day at work where you had received numerous jibes about your size or how out of breath you were after walking up the 3 flights of stairs to the office, and having starved yourself because each time you ate someone had to remark that you were 'eating again,' food was everything I craved. Food doesn't judge you when you...