Marathon man runs for men's health
Last month I turned 50 and I decided to mark the occasion by entering myself in the Melbourne Marathon.
As I’m planning to live to at least 100 years old, then 50 marks my mid-life point and deciding to run a marathon was probably some kind of mid-life crisis.
While getting fit enough to run a marathon is obviously good for one man’s health, I also used the occasion to raise money #4MensHealth with friends and family donating over $1,000 to the Australian Men’s Health Forum.
If you want to add to that total and make a donation today you can do it by giving online at the Give Now website.
Historically, AMHF hasn’t engaged in much public fundraising and I’m keen to build a culture of fundraising to support the important work of Australia’s peak body for men’s health.
So if you want to get involved in raising funds for AMHF in future do please reach out and get in touch.
For those interested in the back story, I’ve never been a particularly keen runner, I always saw it as something you did to stay fit so you could take part in other more interesting activities.
The agony and the ecstasy: Glen Poole crosses the finishing line of the Melbourne Marathon.
However, I ran three marathons in my late 30s as a personal challenge, to prove to myself that even the biggest task is possible if you just break it down into lots of small steps and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
As I approached my 50th birthday I realised I’d let an entire decade go past without doing any serious exercise and so set myself the task of getting “fit for fifty” and decided I needed a big goal to get motivated.
With just 16 weeks of training I managed to progress for being ft enough to run a slow 5km to running (and at times walking) the full 42.2km of the Melbourne Marathon, one step at a time.
What I failed to do at such short notice was persuade anyone else to join me. I had no idea that so many of my friends had dodgy knees, hips, hearts and long-term commitments to “washing their hair” on the day the marathon was held.
So one step at a time, as we look to build a culture of fundraising #4MensHealth through AMHF, I’m on the hunt again to find some awesome men and women who want to take on the challenge of running a marathon with me in 2020.
This time I’m giving people lots of notice to start the training. So if you want to join me in 2020 and run a marathon #4MensHealth, I’d love to hear from you.
Glen Poole is CEO of the Australian Men's Health Forum
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Want to help raise funds for AMHF? Email: [email protected]
Make a donation to AMHF today at the Give Now website.