If you have never heard of Steve Way then please read on because someday his life story will be made into a feel-good B grade movie. Way was a 20 a day smoker who was considerably overweight. He turned his life around to represent his country in the commonwealth games as a marathon runner.
At the age of 33, Way’s health was the worst it had ever been and it was continuing to deteriorate. He knew he had to change something or he would not live to see his grandkids. He decided to run a marathon and with only three weeks of training recorded an exceptional time of 3 hours and 7 minutes. Sadly he fell back into old habits, stopped training and continued to eat and smoke his way to an early grave.
He stopped running for 18 months and started to have serious health problems. At that moment he gave up smoking and takeaways and never looked back. Way started to a 24-week fitness regime to get healthy. He loved running and decided to aim for a sub three hour time in the next marathon. He smashed his goal, achieving a time of 2 hours and 35 minutes instead.
As he continued to train he found he could run great lengths without tiring or a need for long recovery spells. He was able to run 150 miles a week without issue. He continued to train and eventually recorded a marathon time of 2 hours 16 minutes and 27 seconds, finishing 15th in the London marathon.
He finished 15th overall but was the third-fastest Englishman. It turned out the race was also a qualifier for the Commonwealth team and Steve was selected.
Steve’s story is an incredibly inspiring one. While most of us likely won’t start running 150 miles each week we can at least take a lesson on the potential that is out in the world if we just give it a chance. If you sit at home and watch TV then it is easy to see how life will turn out, but if you go out there and take a chance, life will surprise you.
