| The Biggest Challenge of my Life 10:12 - Jul 23 with 15910 views | MarkTWTD |
Hi TWTDer's... it’s your resident hamster here. Well, the person who tries to keep the wheels of TWTD turning.
As some of you may know, from some of my recent posts, I am currently preparing to take part in the Great North Run on Sunday 8 September - it’s the World’s largest half marathon - a mere 21km/13.1 miles. I have never done anything like this before and I'm certainly not getting any younger.
So why am I doing this?
It all started on Thursday 20 July 2023 - Day Zero - when I awoke with the realisation that I had to do things differently. I had to make some fundamental changes to my lifestyle. I had to reboot myself and learn a new way of life.
Earlier in the year I had a random meeting with someone called Ken at a Jaguar car event I had organised. Over dinner I discovered that he supported Ipswich Town and that he was a member of TWTD, and that was how I first met NewcyBlue. We became good friends and it was during many long WhatsApp chats that his love for everything fitness-related came to light and so on the 20 July, when I was looking for advice and support, there was only one person I was going to turn to. I had placed an order for some Huel products - meal replacement shakes - but he recommended Protein Works. So I placed a second order with them. It just happened that the Protein Works products arrived the very next day (Huel didn't turn up until 2 days later) and so at lunchtime on Friday 21 July 2023 my "Weight Loss Challenge" started.
It wasn’t long before Ken suggested I should join a gym. My weight loss was off to a good start but a gym would allow me to achieve so much more. I’d never stepped foot inside a gym and so the idea was pretty terrifying so I gave myself a bit of time to get my head around the idea and to lose a bit more weight. Beginning of September, six weeks after starting the diet, I had lost 1.5st (9.5kg) and so I took the plunge and joined my local JD Gym, signed up a personal trainer and I’ve never looked back. One of the best decisions I have taken in my entire life.
The same week I joined the gym I decided to add another challenge to my growing list of goals - the Great North Run. I’d floated the idea with Ken a few weeks earlier by asking the question “Would it be crazy for me to think about running a half marathon? Would the GNR next year be too soon for me?”. Only one way to find out and so on 8 September 2023 I signed up to run for Bowel Cancer UK. I had exactly 12 months to prepare for what will be one of the biggest challenges of my life.
So where was my starting point in July 2023?
I was 55 years old, 5ft 7in, weighing 17st 4lb (109.9kg) with a 46in waist.
I had set myself an ambitious target of losing nearly 6.5st (40kg) by the end of April - just 9 months. It was suggested that I should perhaps reconsider that goal and push the timeframe out a bit further but my weight loss was consistent at around 1st (6.5kg) per month for the first few months. It slowed down a little bit in December and January due to a couple of injuries I had picked up in training, but it was still going in the right direction.
Back in September I started out training twice a week in the gym with additional cardio sessions on the remaining days. I joined ParkRun last October and slowly built up the running side of things. In November I bumped training with Matty my personal trainer up to three days a week (PPL - Push Pull Legs) and then by February (as I turned 56 years old) I stepped it up even more to four training sessions per week, now including body building/strength training, visiting the gym six days a week, usually twice a day, to also include treadmill and rowing machine cardio sessions.
I reached my target weight - (11st) 69.9kg - in the first week of April and have been maintaining my weight at around 70kg ever since. My waist line has shrunk to an unbelievable 30in.
Ken has been amazingly supportive and a massive part of my “journey”, as has my personal trainer Matty. The Great North Run is not the end of my journey, it’s just one stop along the way. I have so much more to achieve.
Last weekend was the first anniversary of starting this adventure and I managed to tick off another goal. I have always wanted a tattoo but never felt confident enough to think I could “pull it off”. Back in December I booked an appointment at a local tattoo studio for Saturday 20 July - 1 year to the day that this all started - to get my first tattoo. It took 3hrs 45mins, and I absolutely love the result. There was already the plan to have another in the future and that will hopefully follow early next year once I’ve put in a whole load more work at the gym!
So why am I running in aid of Bowel Cancer UK?
Back in November 2017 my dad was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer. He received amazing treatment at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary under the care of Thomas Raymond within four weeks of diagnosis and has made a full recovery. Nearly seven years on he remains cancer free.
Bowel cancer is the UK’s second biggest cancer killer with over 16,000 people dying annually of a disease that is preventable, treatable and curable. I’m determined to help Bowel Cancer UK to change that. The money I raise will help to provide support and information to patients and their families, enable them to fund and support research into bowel cancer and to campaign for early diagnosis and the best treatment and care for all.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. If you would like to, and are able to, it would be amazing if you could support the cause at the heart of all this - Bowel Cancer UK. They really do help to save peoples lives
https://www.justgiving.com/page/mark-brierley-great-north-run-2024
You can also read more about what I’ve been up to over the past 12 months at my website - https://www.gnr2024.co.uk
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 10:34 - Jul 23 with 11989 views | usm |
Best of luck at the GNR - it is a great event and you are doing it for a terrific course.
Very well done with the fitness progress and weight loss - very impressive!
I did the GNR in 2019, having only started running a year or so earlier - a bit like you.
I also raised money for Bowel Cancer UK, as my daughter's 27 year old boyfriend had died in January 2019, less than six months after diagnosis.
Hope it goes well - I am sure it will - there is so much support around you. Just dont set off too fast and remember there is an uphill bit at about Mile 11 - seemed to go on for ages.
I finished in 2 hours 39 minutes, which I was pleased with - I was hoping for 2 hours 30, but heyho.
Im doing the Great South Run this year - its a 10 miler in Portsmouth. |  |
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 10:44 - Jul 23 with 11959 views | MarkTWTD |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 10:34 - Jul 23 by usm |
Best of luck at the GNR - it is a great event and you are doing it for a terrific course.
Very well done with the fitness progress and weight loss - very impressive!
I did the GNR in 2019, having only started running a year or so earlier - a bit like you.
I also raised money for Bowel Cancer UK, as my daughter's 27 year old boyfriend had died in January 2019, less than six months after diagnosis.
Hope it goes well - I am sure it will - there is so much support around you. Just dont set off too fast and remember there is an uphill bit at about Mile 11 - seemed to go on for ages.
I finished in 2 hours 39 minutes, which I was pleased with - I was hoping for 2 hours 30, but heyho.
Im doing the Great South Run this year - its a 10 miler in Portsmouth. |
Thanks usm
Sorry to read about your daughters boyfriend - tragic! But well done on your GNR time. Good going!
I've not really set myself a time yet, more a case of "just finishing".
Good luck on your Great South Run. | | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 10:48 - Jul 23 with 11925 views | MarkTWTD |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 10:34 - Jul 23 by usm |
Best of luck at the GNR - it is a great event and you are doing it for a terrific course.
Very well done with the fitness progress and weight loss - very impressive!
I did the GNR in 2019, having only started running a year or so earlier - a bit like you.
I also raised money for Bowel Cancer UK, as my daughter's 27 year old boyfriend had died in January 2019, less than six months after diagnosis.
Hope it goes well - I am sure it will - there is so much support around you. Just dont set off too fast and remember there is an uphill bit at about Mile 11 - seemed to go on for ages.
I finished in 2 hours 39 minutes, which I was pleased with - I was hoping for 2 hours 30, but heyho.
Im doing the Great South Run this year - its a 10 miler in Portsmouth. |
... and thanks, usm, for the donation! Much appreciated!! | | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 11:15 - Jul 23 with 11834 views | GavTWTD |
Mark is my best mate so it would be wrong of me to let this pass without comment!
The change in Mark has been quite staggering. I think he's down to 3% body fat he told me the other day, and the way he's thrown himself into this is incredible. To do a run after never, ever even walking anywhere is extreme in itself.
Mark doesn't get a lot of exposure on TWTD (apart from those photos above - jees) but I can assure you that he's an important cog in the wheel that keeps this site running. I doubt I could do this without him to be honest and he's a good friend also.
Thanks Mark, and good luck with the run. |  |
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 11:22 - Jul 23 with 11815 views | blueasfook |
Amazing transformation Mark. Best of luck with the run. Have made a donation to help you get to your target. |  |
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 11:30 - Jul 23 with 11753 views | MarkTWTD |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 11:15 - Jul 23 by GavTWTD |
Mark is my best mate so it would be wrong of me to let this pass without comment!
The change in Mark has been quite staggering. I think he's down to 3% body fat he told me the other day, and the way he's thrown himself into this is incredible. To do a run after never, ever even walking anywhere is extreme in itself.
Mark doesn't get a lot of exposure on TWTD (apart from those photos above - jees) but I can assure you that he's an important cog in the wheel that keeps this site running. I doubt I could do this without him to be honest and he's a good friend also.
Thanks Mark, and good luck with the run. |
I've never been called a 'cog' before... many things, but never a cog :-)
Thanks Gav... and thanks for the donation too.
Thanks also to Blueas and Tom C | | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 16:36 - Jul 23 with 11360 views | MarkTWTD |
So of you may know that I'm into Jaguar cars and I organise quite a few Jaguar car events all over the UK. That's how I randomly met NewcyBlue.
When it came time to decide on my first tattoo, there was only really one theme I could go with.
This is what I had done on Saturday morning...
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 16:49 - Jul 23 with 11297 views | ElephantintheRoom |
Your problems clearly started with Jaguar cars. Should have paid more attention to Aston Martins.
Good luck in the grim north. Next stop the London Marathon? |  |
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 18:01 - Jul 23 with 11196 views | BloomBlue |
Mark I could have saved you all that gym work, in your July 2023 photo you have your socks on, but in 2024, you don't - those socks made all the difference in your weight.
Obviously only joking 😀, excellent work.
11st, 30 inch waist is amazing, from where you started. |  | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:04 - Jul 23 with 11101 views | MarkTWTD |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 18:01 - Jul 23 by BloomBlue |
Mark I could have saved you all that gym work, in your July 2023 photo you have your socks on, but in 2024, you don't - those socks made all the difference in your weight.
Obviously only joking 😀, excellent work.
11st, 30 inch waist is amazing, from where you started. |
:-) Thanks BloomBlue, appreciated. If it was only the socks I could have saved myself a lot of money by not buying an entire new wardrobe 
And thanks to Anonymous Marmalade Eater for your donation! | | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 08:06 - Jul 24 with 10812 views | MarkTWTD |
... and another thank you, to... PhilTWTD
Supporter Roll Call:
NewcyBlue
Tom C
USM
Blueasfook
GavTWTD
DarkHorse
Anonymous
PhilTWTD
Every donation goes towards helping Bowel Cancer UK continue their vital work.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/mark-brierley-great-north-run-2024
A few weeks ago I ran in my official Bowel Cancer UK running vest for the first time.
It was also the first run where my personal trainer, Matty from JD Gyms, came along. He's also joining me in the North East for the GNR.
https://gnr2024.co.uk/
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 14:43 - Jul 24 with 10555 views | _clive_baker_ |
Congratulations on your remarkable transformation and achievement Mark, you're looking great. Amongst all that you've also found the time to decorate the bedroom!
It takes an enormous amount of will power to break bad habits and change behaviours, but also very rewarding so I hope you're feeling proud of yourself and what your new found levels of fitness can allow you to feel and do.
I'll definitely throw a few quid to a great cause when I'm back home. |  | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:57 - Jul 24 with 10386 views | MarkTWTD |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 14:43 - Jul 24 by _clive_baker_ |
Congratulations on your remarkable transformation and achievement Mark, you're looking great. Amongst all that you've also found the time to decorate the bedroom!
It takes an enormous amount of will power to break bad habits and change behaviours, but also very rewarding so I hope you're feeling proud of yourself and what your new found levels of fitness can allow you to feel and do.
I'll definitely throw a few quid to a great cause when I'm back home. |
Thanks Clive. Your comments are very much appreciated.
I thought it would be difficult to break the habits of a lifetime, but it really wasn't. For whatever reason, I had managed to find my "why" very early on in the process and with that came the discipline to reach for my goals.
You're right in that making better choices and reinforcing new habits was key.
It's opened up a world I knew little about and now absolutely love.
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... and another thank you to... Jim, Heavyweight, Brazil1982 and Coastal Blue
Supporter Roll Call:
NewcyBlue
Tom C
USM
Blueasfook
GavTWTD
DarkHorse
Anonymous
PhilTWTD
Jim
Heavyweight
Brazil1982
Coastal Blue
Every donation goes towards helping Bowel Cancer UK continue their vital work.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/mark-brierley-great-north-run-2024
https://gnr2024.co.uk/
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 20:44 - Jul 24 with 10340 views | eireblue |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 08:06 - Jul 24 by MarkTWTD |
... and another thank you, to... PhilTWTD
Supporter Roll Call:
NewcyBlue
Tom C
USM
Blueasfook
GavTWTD
DarkHorse
Anonymous
PhilTWTD
Every donation goes towards helping Bowel Cancer UK continue their vital work.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/mark-brierley-great-north-run-2024
A few weeks ago I ran in my official Bowel Cancer UK running vest for the first time.
It was also the first run where my personal trainer, Matty from JD Gyms, came along. He's also joining me in the North East for the GNR.
https://gnr2024.co.uk/
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Now, if I had to have guessed which was the personal trainer,…well…… I would have felt a bit sorry for the tall fella that looks like they are about to be worked hard. |  | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 17:38 - Jul 25 with 9981 views | itfc_bucks |
Holy sheet - you're a real person and not just a spare login for the front man?
Take my money, sir - what a transformation! | | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:27 - Jul 25 with 9932 views | FoD_Blue |
Mark, the before and after pictures are amazing, and have inspired me to make some changes in my own lifestyle. I see your "before" picture and I very much see myself in that shot. My physique is currently very much like your starting point.
I'm also 55, and you have proved that it's never too late to make a change. The gym is out of the question due to a broken rib, but a better lifestyle and more gentle exercise is certainly something I can start right away.
Best of luck in the GNR and thank you for sharing your story. | | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:39 - Jul 25 with 9902 views | MarkTWTD |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:27 - Jul 25 by FoD_Blue |
Mark, the before and after pictures are amazing, and have inspired me to make some changes in my own lifestyle. I see your "before" picture and I very much see myself in that shot. My physique is currently very much like your starting point.
I'm also 55, and you have proved that it's never too late to make a change. The gym is out of the question due to a broken rib, but a better lifestyle and more gentle exercise is certainly something I can start right away.
Best of luck in the GNR and thank you for sharing your story. |
Thanks FoD... reading that makes my day! Diet is the biggest part of all this. It doesn't have to be overly complicated. Small adjustments can make a big difference,
Thanks for your donation too! Feel free to drop me a PM if you want to know anything.
Thanks also to itfc_bucks... I'll gladly take your money :-)
And eireblue... I better make sure Matty doesn't see your message. :-)
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... and another thank you to... Shadoof1016 and FoD_Blue
Supporter Roll Call:
NewcyBlue
Tom C
USM
Blueasfook
GavTWTD
DarkHorse
Anonymous
PhilTWTD
Jim
Heavyweight
Brazil1982
Coastal Blue
Shadoof1016
FoD_Blue
Every donation goes towards helping Bowel Cancer UK continue their vital work.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/mark-brierley-great-north-run-2024
https://gnr2024.co.uk/
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:26 - Jul 27 with 8906 views | MarkTWTD |
A good 5k run this morning at ParkRun. Even the thunderstorms held off.
... and another thank you to... GuateBlue
Supporter Roll Call:
NewcyBlue
Tom C
USM
Blueasfook
GavTWTD
DarkHorse
Anonymous
PhilTWTD
Jim
Heavyweight
Brazil1982
Coastal Blue
Shadoof1016
FoD_Blue
The Family Slave
GuateBlue
Every donation goes towards helping Bowel Cancer UK continue their vital work.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/mark-brierley-great-north-run-2024
Follow my story at: https://gnr2024.co.uk/
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 17:36 - Jul 28 with 8644 views | Portwoman |
Well done on the weight loss challenge - amazing self discipline. My father died of bowel cancer in 1985 aged 60, sadly not living long enough to get to know his two grandsons, of whom I know he would be very proud, so I have been pleased to donate. Good luck! | | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:22 - Jul 28 with 8615 views | MarkTWTD |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 17:36 - Jul 28 by Portwoman |
Well done on the weight loss challenge - amazing self discipline. My father died of bowel cancer in 1985 aged 60, sadly not living long enough to get to know his two grandsons, of whom I know he would be very proud, so I have been pleased to donate. Good luck! |
Sorry to hear about your father, Pauline. My dad was certainly very lucky to get his diagnosis and treatment when he did. It took a bit longer than it should to get the initial blood tests but once they suspected the big C the subsequent tests came quick and fast and surgery followed within 4 weeks.
... and another thank you to... Plums and Portwoman
The generosity of TWTDers is incredible. Thank you!
Supporter Roll Call:
NewcyBlue
Tom C
USM
Blueasfook
GavTWTD
DarkHorse
Anonymous
PhilTWTD
Jim
Heavyweight
Brazil1982
Coastal Blue
Shadoof1016
FoD_Blue
The Family Slave
GuateBlue
Plums
Portwoman
Every donation goes towards helping Bowel Cancer UK continue their vital work.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/mark-brierley-great-north-run-2024
Follow my story at: https://gnr2024.co.uk/
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:18 - Jul 30 with 8066 views | Swansea_Blue |
Truly inspiring buh. And never mind the weight loss and fitness. The transformation in undercrackers has been phenomenal  . |  |
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| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:38 - Jul 30 with 8052 views | MarkTWTD |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 19:18 - Jul 30 by Swansea_Blue |
Truly inspiring buh. And never mind the weight loss and fitness. The transformation in undercrackers has been phenomenal . |
Thanks Swanners... just call me Optimus Prime | | | |
| The Biggest Challenge of my Life on 20:04 - Jul 30 with 8025 views | MarkTWTD |
This is Bill, one of the organisers of my local ParkRun. These pics were taken about 7 months apart, on my first ParkRun in October last year and then again in May.
... and another thank you to... Gernon and Swansea_Blue
Supporter Roll Call:
NewcyBlue
Tom C
USM
Blueasfook
GavTWTD
DarkHorse
Anonymous
PhilTWTD
Jim
Heavyweight
Brazil1982
Coastal Blue
Shadoof1016
FoD_Blue
The Family Slave
GuateBlue
Plums
Portwoman
Gernon
Swansea_Blue
Every donation goes towards helping Bowel Cancer UK continue their vital work.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/mark-brierley-great-north-run-2024
Follow my story at: https://gnr2024.co.uk/
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