The Teacher Feature is our way of letting our runners tell their story. Do you have an amazing achievement you want to share, an inspirational story or a charity challenge you’d like to spread the word about?

To have the chance to be a TRC Teacher Feature use the hashtag #TRCThursday every Thursday on Twitter or Instagram to share what you have been up to recently, or click here to email us your story.

24.

Meet this week’s Teacher Feature…

Name: Greg Bradley

Job Role in School: Teaching mathematics to 11-18 years old, and Head of Year

Run Streak: 1,462 days

Greg’s Story…

“I bought some trainers and thought about trying to pass some of my old army fitness tests. 1.5 miles in 10 mins 30 seconds. Wow, I was brought back down to earth…”

I started my teacher training at MMU in 2003/4 after attending Manchester University and achieving a First Class Degree in Mathematics. Prior to this I had spent 7 years in the Army, serving with 47 Regt RA and completing several tours of Northern Ireland, one with 7 Para RHA.

I had left the army in order to save my marriage and did not have any real plans to become a teacher, but that’s where my life had taken me. My eldest daughter was born just before I left the army, my second daughter on the day of my graduation, that in itself is a story, and my son was born the day before I started my first teaching job in Oldham. Back then I was not entitled to any paternity leave so left my wife at home with a 1 day old and a pre-school age daughter and a daughter about to start at reception.

The previous 4 years of studying for my degree and a year of teaching training has been busy, and without any savings behind us, I had joined the Territorial Army, found employment as an agency long distance lorry driver, my local Sainsburys and at the BBC in Manchester. This meant that the hectic lifestyle from my armed forces days were being replicated and I was keeping very fit.

However, in my NQT year I realised that my extracurricular work was not going to be viable to keep up alongside a career such as teaching and raising a young family. I had, after all, left the army to save my marriage, there was no point wrecking it now. So, one by one my outside interests were cut back until work was all consuming. However, I kept up the army lifestyle of drinking, and slowly over the years, without me noticing, I was no longer a fit, strapping soldier, but I was an overweight, 22 stone, middle aged man who drank far too much. Three bottles of wine a night at a weekend and every night of the long school holidays can do that to you. Not long after my dad basically drunk himself into an early grave and I realised that each year I was buying a bigger size of trousers and 44inch trousers were not really where I wanted to be I knew I had to change. But my lifestyle was pretty set.

August 31st 2019 was the last Saturday of the summer holidays before returning to work and I had my last ever drink. I did not know it at the time though. The next day, being a school day, I did not have a drink and all week I kept that up, but that was usual pattern. On Friday, I visited Tesco on my way home and bought 6 bottles of wine for the weekend, dropped them off at home and went tutoring. Then I took my son to his karate club and got home about 21:30. I was reaching for the first bottle, my hand was inches away from it and I just thought ‘I cannot be arsed, I am tired and want to go bed. So, I did, and I had the best night’s sleep I had had in years. I woke up feeling rested and without a hangover on a weekend for the first time in what felt like forever. I felt so snug and comfortable I decided to do it again that night, so I did.

Then before I knew it, it was Sunday, a school night so I managed another week without drinking, and I just thought…. what if?

“So I committed to doing better, I decided to run each day, just keeping the pace the same but building up how far I could run.”

So, I did it again. And it felt wonderful. Then another week at work and another dry weekend and so on. Then it was half term, by now I had lost a fair bit of weight. I bought some trainers and thought about trying to pass some of my old army fitness tests. 1.5 miles in 10 mins 30 seconds. Wow, I was brought back down to earth, I couldn’t even run that far let alone run at that pace. But I now had a goal. I started at park run, 48 minutes for my one and I felt really embarrassed. In my head I was a ft squaddie not someone who couldn’t run for more than 10 minutes and have elderly person jog past me whilst chatting away as if they were not even trying. There is no disrespect meant here, but it shocked me just where my body was to where I thought it was, it was just a big dose of reality.

So I committed to doing better, I decided to run each day, just keeping the pace the same but building up how far I could run. My PBs at parkrun came down each week and I found I could run further each week. 3 months later I managed to run the whole 5k without stopping. My times were coming down and I had 30 minutes as a goal.

About this time, I came across a Facebook group called Gone Tabbing. A strange mix of veterans and complete civilians alike who completed in military style Tabbing events. Essentially running in boots with a heavy rucksack on your back. This appealed to me, and I started running with weight. The group had a strong link with an event called the ‘Fan Dance’ This is forms part of the United Kingdom Special Forces selection process, essentially the most famous test march of the Hill Phase of what is known as ‘selection’ for the SAS. It seemed like my Everest for me to even contemplate it, let alone finish it or compete at it.

It became my goal.

Complete it I did, and a couple of events later I even achieved what would have been a SAS pass time, all be it carrying only around 44lbs on my back whereas Selection candidates would have been around 60 to 70lbs.

” I completed the extreme version of David Goggins 4x4x48 challenge. That means carrying 48 lbs and adding 400ft of elevation to each 4-mile lap, and then doing a 13th lap to get to 52 miles, a double marathon.”

From there I have continued to push my Tabbing and running. I have completed 2 marathons carrying 40lbs on my back, one in a team where we had a goal to break the world record for this. We did not break it, but to be even doing something with that kind of lofty goal is one of the proudest moments of my life. The other was this year’s London marathon which I ran on my own. I have also done multiple half marathons and many mountain and military style events. I am always on the lookout for new challenges, and I continue to Run Every Day. As I am writing this, I currently at #RED1442 days of consecutive running, that’s 206 weeks. I have run Heaton Parkrun carrying 100lb in under 36 minutes, completed the extreme version of David Goggins 4x4x48 challenge. That means carrying 48 lbs and adding 400ft of elevation to each 4-mile lap, and then doing a 13th lap to get to 52 miles, a double marathon.

I continue to compete in many military style events such as the Fan Dance, Paras10 and the Spean Bridge Commando Speed march, which is the original special forces selection event dating back to the second World War.

For those that are interested, I managed to save my marriage, we are still together after 26 years, and my wonderful 3 children are all grown up. I currently teach Mathematics to 11-18 years old, and I am also a Head of Year and heavily involved in the Outdoor Learning department as well as being the Lead DofE Coordinator.

Click the link bellow to follow Greg’s active journey on Social Media!!!

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