I'M A RUNNER
THE FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER FOR ENGLAND, 59, ON 70S TUNES AND THE JOY OF A SPONTANEOUS RACE IN RIGA
I WAS AN ACADEMIC CHILD, NOT AN ATHLETIC ONE.
But I could do the dreaded crosscountry, albeit not terribly well. Later, when I was 19, I spent a summer working as an occupational therapist. The PT instructor I worked with said he’d get me fit for a triathlon I’d entered. One day, during my training, he chained up the bike I rode to work, meaning I had to run 12 miles home and 12 miles back the next morning. It worked, though – Idid well – and that training got me into running.
RUNNING BECAME A BIG PART OF MY LIFE.
While I was a reservist in the Royal Army Medical Corps [attached to the Army Cadet Force] I was very fit and got into fell racing. For nine years, I ran the Cheviot 2000, a 23-miler with 11 peaks, each more than 2,000ft high. I enjoyed the mental challenge of running while navigating round this tough course in a team of three.
I FELL OUT OF SHAPE, BUT A FRIEND TOLD ME ABOUT COUCH TO 5K.
It’s an incredible gift the NHS has given the British people, because it takes you from being sedentary to being able to run 5km. Later, I got into parkrun, which is also phenomenal. It sends a message that running or walking is for everyone.
I’M A PARKRUN REGULAR AND WHEN I’M AWAY, I TRY TO FIND ONE NEARBY.
I’m far too slow to be competitive. Even if I feel I could burn someone up over the last 50m, I just don’t – it might wreck their day and it doesn’t really matter. Instead, I just compete with myself and, for now, getting round is a victory.
I WAS A MEMBER OF THE NEWARK NOTFAST RUNNING CLUB [IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE] FOR YEARS.
It led to me doing 5K, 10K and half marathon races. I’ve completed the Great North Run twice, but although it’s a lovely run, I like the smaller, low-key ones just as much.
Jonathan, who is now senior strategy adviser to the University of
