Our runner feature of the week – Ben Green
March 2018, I attended a pre operation assessment while awaiting wrist surgery. At the time of my assessment I weighed 24st 11lbs. At this weight simple daily tasks were difficult, I was in constant pain with my ankles and knees and relied on air-cast ankle supports to help me.
I’ve missed out on so many activities over the years due to my weight. I’ve had to sit out whilst watching friends and family take part. During my pre operation appointment my surgeon said to me that if I was to have anaesthetic I could possibly have a stroke. This came to me as a shock, I am a father of two children age 10 and 8 and married for 12 years – the penny dropped!
That night I went home in tears, the next morning I looked at myself in the mirror and said to myself “this is it Ben you need to change your life and be here for your family”.
The next day I attended my local Slimming World group In Rhyl. This changed my life.
I began to educate myself in food optimising and started creating healthy meals. It wasn’t long before I started to loose weight and then came the training. I started with low impact sports like swimming and bike riding. A few months later I had lost 4 stone and was at less risk meaning I was finally able to have my operation.
When my wrist was healing I started to walk on the treadmill in my local gym. I would walk slow but on a elevation so I could burn up calories. I then noticed my ankles were not as painful as they once were. I then thought to myself would it be possible for me to up the distance to 5k. I jogged for half a k and walked the rest. It was an amazing feeling to have completed my first 5k on a time of 45 minutes.
A week later I set the treadmill to 2k and managed to run the whole distance! I was making good progress from being in pain all day to actually running for 10 to 15mins non stop. It was only January when I took my ankle supports off and tried a run without them. What a shock I had when I ran a full 5k with no ankle supports in 29 minutes totally pain free. I continued with my training and my time improved and the minutes came down.
My 5k PB is 24:36 On a tread mill. I wanted to build my confidence by entering a 5k chipped event. I went to Aintree racecourse in January, it was freezing but I was there for my first outdoor 5k event and I was so proud to be there. I completed the 5k and finished in 26:46 – I was hooked on running.
My second event was yesterday at Oulton park. The previous week I was I’ll with the flu and was unsure if I would make it to the event. Istayed positive and went for it. I was flying around until the 4k mark and the last hill got the better of me. My finishing time was 32 minutes.
I’m sure with a few more events and experience I will become a stronger runner. I have entered my next run in a few weeks raising money for Stroke association building up for my first 10k in the summer – bring it on!
I have now lost a total of 8st 11lbs in 11 months. I feel free now I can run, it’s amazing!!