INSPIR AT IO NAL PEOPLE
parkrun: stories of inspirational people Simon Tobin GP, Norwood Surgery, Southport; parkrun ambassador for health and wellbeing
parkrun is a collection of five-kilometre running events that take place every Saturday morning in 20 countries across five continents. My local parkrun has, quite simply, changed my life. The truly amazing and inspirational people I’ve met have transformed both my clinical practice as a GP and me as a human being. My hope in sharing these wonderful stories is that others may appreciate the phenomenal potential of parkrun to change lives. For those that have never been to a parkrun, I’d be thrilled if you registered with your local parkrun and tried it just once – run, walk or volunteer. It might transform your life too.
© Journal of holistic healthcare
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I’ve been an NHS GP and trainer in Southport for 25 years. My interests include diabetes, lifestyle medicine and deprescribing. I worry a lot about overprescribing, overdiagnosis and doctors who slavishly follow guidelines without asking the person in front of them what matters to them. I love offering lifestyle change as a possible alternative to medication. Fell-running was my passion until a tragic knee injury (walking up a flight of stairs!) ended what promised to be at best a decidedly mediocre career. I now swim in beautiful lakes instead of limping around them. I am an unpaid parkrun ambassador for health and wellbeing.
Eileen’s story ‘I did it!’ declared the triumphant text below a photo of a Lycra-clad Eileen beaming from ear to ear at the finish of the Great North Run. The message continued: ‘From feeling very low to a half marathon via parkrun and an excellent GP. Thank you so much’. This was only the second time I had ever given my mobile phone number to a patient of mine but I was excited to hear how Eileen had got on. A year previously, she had come to see me at the surgery to ask for my help. She told me ‘I feel broken’. I’ve known Eileen for 20 years since she moved to Southport and have always been fond of her. She has a broad Geordie accent and a wonderful, warm nature. Life has been challenging for her as a lone parent and moving across the country with a young daughter but she has worked tirelessly and done everything possible to make a good life for the two of them. Eileen’s father suffered from severe shell shock during the Second World War and was ‘never the same’ after the war ended. She vividly recalls how terrifying it was to visit him in hospital during his admissions for electroconvulsive treatment. She and I have met many times over the years to discuss her recurrent issues with stress, anxiety, depression
Volume 15 Issue 3 Autumn 2018
and low self-esteem. Periodically she has used alcohol as a coping mechanism and has been on and off antidepressants for many years. This time though she seemed different. She told me that she had stopped drinking two weeks previously and that she was fed up with the constant cycle of feeling bad about herself, needing medication, getting better for a short while only to relapse a few months later. She wanted my advice on how she might be able to change things permanently. I was thrilled that she’d come to discuss this with me and after applauding her brilliant efforts with the alcohol, asked her if she did any kind of physical activity. She said that she didn’t, so we chatted about whether feeling physically fitter might help improve her mental health too. That was two years ago, when Southport parkrun had just launched, so I asked Eileen if she might be interested in coming down to see how she got on. ‘But I’m not a runner’ was the reply. I explained that roughly a quarter of people who come to parkruns across the country don’t run, they often walk or sometimes do a mixture of walking and jogging – either way, everyone was welcome. I promised her that she wouldn’t come last – every parkrun has volunteer tail walkers so nobody has to suffer that indignity. Interestingly, Eileen said that
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