Lisa Combats Depression And Signs Up For South Run

Entries for the Simplyhealth Great South Run are now open: Greatrun.org/South

A woman who suffered depression for almost ten years finally managed to overcome her demons through the help of running and will now take on a 10 mile challenge to raise awareness about mental health.

Lisa Young, from Aldershot in Hampshire, struggled through school and college when she was bullied and admitted that she felt lost knowing what to do with her life.

Throughout six months of her diagnosis, she suffered from a handful of severe episodes where she wasn’t sleeping, struggled to leave the house and would have daily panic attacks.

After being diagnosed with depression, she was put on medication to be able to carry out day-to-day things but suffered with the side effects and she began to comfort eat and gain weight.

Two years ago, Lisa then decided to take control of her life and took up running as a way of focus. 24 months on, Lisa is now medication free and has signed up to the Simplyhealth Great South Run which takes place in Portsmouth on Sunday 22 October.

Lisa, 29, said: “I had a long struggle through school and college of being bullied but not knowing why I felt the way I did about life.

“The worst part was when I would spend all day crying and not knowing why. I couldn’t even bath or wash my own hair and I felt extremely low and I felt that life wasn’t worth living any more.

“I had my dosage of medication put up to enable me to do day to day things although I started to struggle with the tablet’s side effects. “The next few years, I had to deal with each day as it came and attempted to wean myself off my medication.

“I am a very emotional eater so feeling down a lot of the time made me want to eat more and I began to become overweight.

“The turning point for me was going to Florida 2 years ago and having my photo taken with so many of my favourite Disney characters and not being able to look at any of them because of how overweight I looked.

“I became so fed up that I decided to start running and I never imagined how it could change my life.

“I am now two years free of medication and feeling great as when I am running I am able to let all my issues out and just push through them.”

Lisa will join 20,000 other runners on a tour of Portsmouth for the Simplyhealth Great South Run. The fast and flat course offers runners the unique chance to run through the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, passing the likes of HMS Victory and Spinnaker Tower.

Runners then cross the finish line on the Southsea sea front, with beautiful views of the Isle of Wight. Lisa, who works as a care worker, will be raising money for mental health charity MIND, in the hope that the charity will be able to carry on helping people with their own personal issues.

She added: “Running has become my new medication and I would highly recommend people to try it.

“Six months ago I couldn’t run for more than 30 seconds and now I am well into my training for the Simplyhealth Great South Run! “The feeling you get after being out for a run is amazing, you feel full of energy and ready to face anything.

“When I first started running I struggled with the anxiety of running on the road as people would see me and probably laugh, so I would find places to run where there were no other people.

“Now I feel more confident I run on the road and every single person I pass gives me a huge smile as they can obviously see I’m trying to change my life.

“I feel that anti depressants is a quick fix and can sometimes just mask the true problems, running allows me to let all those feelings go, I put on my head phones turn my music up loud and just go for it.”

Suppport Lisa’s fundraising here: http://www.justgiving.com/Leisa-Young

Entries for the Simplyhealth Great South Run are now open: Greatrun.org/South