“Two pints in, I foolishly asked what she meant and she explained that every Saturday morning you get to Memorial Park for 9am and run 5k. I said I’d go with her, and the park run spiral started from there.”
Shipman, in his mid-30s and working in HR, had taken up running after his son was born two months premature. Running became a cathartic coping mechanism during that highly stressful period of his life. To start, he’d grab his trainers for a jog round the block, “because the street is always open,” before park run entered his life and became not only a treasured pastime, but an “incredible change for good” for his mental health.
Five years ago, Shipman was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety. “Everybody knew it was coming,” he explains, “including me, but I'd avoided going to the doctors and being treated, and I couldn't cope with it.”
With the issues around his son’s birth, his diagnosis, and a stressful duration in his career, Shipman found running therapeutic. “Running is mine,” he says. “The only person it relies on is me, the only person it’s down to is me.”
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Popping along to Coventry’s Memorial Park that Saturday morning proved even more revelatory. Shipman met a friend of a friend, and then another, and they ran together at an easy pace. He was applauded by the stewards as he went around, and when they finished he and his new mates went for coffee.
This story is from the Febraury 2020 edition of Men's Fitness.
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This story is from the Febraury 2020 edition of Men's Fitness.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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