Dan's Story - Anything Is Possible If You Believe You Can

Three years ago, I was 18 stone, I didn’t exercise at all. I ate unhealthily and wasn’t really enjoying life to be honest. Today, I have lost 6 stone, I have ran over 7 half-marathons and 2 marathons and I am feeling on top of the world. Okay, how did I do it? Well, I simply believed it was possible, if you believe somethings possible, it will happen, you just have to focus on your goal, change your mindset and then the magic will happen.

Taking Those First Steps If you’re feeling down, anxious and want to change your life just as I did, start by simply moving. Go for a walk but start running some of your walks, the more walks you do the more you will start to feel you need to move, before you know it you’ll be addicted to exercise. I have Asperger’s Syndrome and at times I can get really anxious especially during social situations. Moving, a.k.a running’s really helped me not just to reduce my anxiety but increase my confidence in every single way possible. At work, I’m extremely more confident, I recently organised my own charity raffle last year for my London Marathon fundraising and raised over £2,000 for charity. This involved me approaching people in a shop (I would have never dreamt of doing this 5 or so year’s ago) and asking if they would like to buy a raffle ticket.

Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone One thing running has really helped me with is pushing myself out of my comfort zone. If you think about it, when your running you are out of comfort zone, whether you’re a beginner or a regular runner, you don’t know if your going to complete 3,10 or 26.2 miles, it’s you vs the road, but its YOU who choose to put those trainers on, its YOU who choose to finish. As I said above I recently organised a charity raffle pushing me out of my comfort zone. I also think everyday how I can push myself. Amazingly, I’ve just signed up to run the New York Marathon but the best bit is, I’m going on my own. For a person with Asperger’s this is incredible, to face the challenge of living in a foreign country for a week plus run a MARATHON. That’s not all, I’m planning on launching my own Run Talk Run group too, just so I can inspire you to make that decision to change your life. Remember, you only get one life, live it to the full, I truly believe running has changed mine.

Dan x

Dan is planning on doing his first Run Talk Run on Sunday 23rd February at 10am. Meeting outside Middleton Cheney Library, Banbury, OX17 2PD.

To follow the rest of Dan’s story at runningwithdan.com