I was a stereotypical couch potato; I did little to no exercise and struggled to walk to the end of the street.

Dave Rosser recently received the 'Most Improved Male' award at the ORC 10 year anniversary party. He has been on quite a journey... keep reading to find out more details.

Before joining ORC, I was a stereotypical couch potato; I did little to no exercise and struggled to walk to the end of the street. I’d come home from work and sit in front of the TV until it was time to go to bed, quite often dozing on the sofa before finally heading up to bed.

My youngest daughter badgered myself and my wife to sign up for C25K in 2020, alongside her, as she was worried about our health. 

ORC did, and still do, a fantastic job of publicising their C25K programme through all of the local Facebook groups, it also helped that we actually live in Overseal. I did my first C25K session on 12th January 2020.

I found out about Jog Derbyshire later through the club when I wanted to give something back and signed up for the Co-leader training course.

My main goal when I first started was not to die, seriously! Then, to be able to jog 5km without stopping

There are so many benefits to being part of a group:

• The friends I’ve made.

• The chats on the run that make the time go quicker and distance seem less.

• The “well I’ve signed up for the run so I better go” pressure – but in a good motivating way.

• The shared goal of being out there – no matter how slow, the weather, the hills – is much better than being at home on the couch.

• “Plodding” to the next turn round point or the end of the run with like minded people.

• The inspiration and encouragement from other members on what they’ve done and what you could achieve too.

The group leaders at ORC are absolutely fantastic, without the Jog Leaders, Co-leaders and Justin and Simon I wouldn’t be who I am now. The club is run just right, as Justin sometimes says, “we’re just a bunch of people that have a running problem”. They keep the club feeling personal and connected to the local community through us helping local charities and even setting up our own “Angels along the Trent” run to collect money for Ward 10 at Nottingham Hospital.

Jogging gives you that sense of achievement and I've enjoyed seeing my progress over time. Also, the achievement of completing races and planning/training for ones in the future. So far, I’ve run three half marathons, the Cathedral to Castle 10 miler for the last three years and a Wolf Run. This year I’m planning to run - Ashby 20 (mile), Cathedral to Castle (again) and my first, and possibly last, marathon in Edinburgh.

Taking up jogging has prompted me to help out with the club so I could give something back by becoming first a Co-Leader and then a Jog Leader. I definitely feel that it’s helped with my mental well-being and I’ve also started doing a Circuits class and Pilates once a week.

Jogging has helped me lose weight. Back in January 2020 I was 19 stone 1 pound and as I’m only 5 foot 7, that was bad. Due to exercising and some dieting, I went down to 16 Stone 1 pound. I was then diagnosed with Diabetes and through the NHS Diabetes remission programme, I’ve now lost a substantial amount of weight and gone down to 11 Stone 13 Pounds.

I feel so much fitter and more capable of enjoying life, we go out for walks, do Pilates, Circuits and I just seem to have so much more “go”.

I have made a lot of new friends through ORC, it helps that we all have the same hobby and goals but also the “banter” on club runs. We also have social gatherings, themed runs and an Overseal walking club that was formed out of the running club.

I am so grateful to my daughter for making me join ORC, the support from my wife and all the club members for the encouragement to continue to run and push myself.

When I started, I was very over weight and unfit, I then became slightly less over weight and fitter, recently I have become thinner and fitter again.

In my wildest dreams, I would never have thought that I’d be entering a Marathon when I was persuaded to sign up for the ORC C25K five years ago.

I think the biggest setback was COVID. The country got locked down a week before our graduation in March 2020 and suddenly what had started to become a habit and something to look forward to was taken away.

Thankfully, as my wife Carol had also done the C25K programme we carried on “bubble” running together, keeping updated with the club through Strava and Facebook.

As soon as official bubble runs were allowed then these started being organised and run by the club and fortunately the “habit” was still there.