Brian down 7.5st and aiming for half marathon
In January of 2019, Brian Crum couldn’t – he says now – run 10 yards.
By January 2020, he ran 9k without stopping – and on St Patrick’s Day, he will take part in the Mullingar Half Marathon – a distance of 21km.
In those 12 months, Brian has shed an incredible 7.5 stones in weight.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for the Multyfarnham man, who began his transformation a year ago when he signed up for Slimming World, under the leadership of John ‘Banjo’ Quinn.
“For Christmas, I went into O’Sullivan’s in Mullingar to get a new shirt and trousers – and for the shirt, I had dropped four neck sizes,” says Brian, a former Fianna Fáil representative on Westmeath County Council.
By September, Brian had dropped five and a half stone – but afraid that he was flagging, he appealed to the community to support him by joining in a weekly walk.
He got great support – especially from the principal of St Cremin’s NS, Karl Dermody, an experienced runner, and vice-principal, Sharon Haughey.
“They covered every kilometre of the road with me for 15 consecutive Wednesday evenings and introduced me to a new running world when I didn’t think it was possible for me to run a kilometre, never mind 21 of them,” says Brian.
The outcome is that the three are running in the half marathon to raise funds for St Cremin’s, where Brian’s youngest son, Andrew, is a pupil.
“On March 7, 2016, I could only look on with envy as 30 or 40 parents from St Cremin’s NS completed the Mullingar Half Marathon and raised €10,000 for the school,” says Brian, who has sponsorship cards in shops locally to help him in his fundraising effort.
“I helped out in whatever way I could and admired everyone, some first timers, as they completed the 21km course,” he recalls, little daring to imagine that he would ever get to undertake such a challenge himself.
To run 21km is a challenge – for anybody. But Brian has been doing a lot of preparation for the event. By early January, he had managed to run the 9km without stopping and he has continued his progress since.
He does his “short runs” of 5k, 6k and 3k on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and on Saturdays, his longer runs; heading to Slimming World on Tuesdays.
“I’m hoping to run 6k, walk 3k, run 6k, walk 3k and run the rest,” says Brian of his plan for the St Patrick’s Day run, in which both Sharon and Karl are also participating.
He admits he is thrilled at how well he has progressed since walking into The Mullingar Park Hotel to join Slimming World, especially since he has battled weight problems all his life even while, as a younger man, playing football with Bunbrosna.
His top tips for tackling weight are to cut out bread and butter, and to make sure to eat a breakfast – something such as a couple of Weetabix or some overnight oats.
The weekly walk/runs started by Brian are continuing. The meeting point is Multyfarnham Community Centre on Wednesdays at 8pm.