Family Photo Shock Inspires Dad to Sign up For Great Birmingham Run

A Birmingham Dad has revealed how the shock of seeing himself in a holiday photo with his daughter led him to transform his life and sign up for the AJ Bell Great Birmingham Run in 2025.

The seeds of Simon Gilson’s running journey were sown during a family trip to a holiday park in Devon in 2023. The 39-year-old, who at that time weighed 19.5 stones, says he felt “ashamed” when he saw a photograph taken of him with 12-year-old Sophie and the park’s entertainment team.

“I absolutely hated how I looked and it’s quite a low feeling to be ashamed of a picture of yourself with your little girl, particularly a picture in which she looked so happy.” The parcel courier, from Smiths Wood, vowed to go on a diet and return to the same holiday park six months later and have the photograph retaken.

“I managed to lose four stone through diet and walking and when I saw the new photo it made me cry!” he says.

Simon decided to start running to try and shed the last 1.5 stones of his target and make sure he kept the weight off. “The diet was OK while I was so focussed on that one photograph,” he explains. “But I knew that wouldn’t last forever. I also found that now I looked and felt better I was also thinking “why not try to feel fitter?” At that point Simon says he “couldn’t run for more than 60 seconds”.

He started Couch to 5K, which helps beginners build up their fitness, and then joined a local Parkrun. Next, he signed up for the 2024 sell-out Great Birmingham Run 10K.

“The atmosphere on the course was amazing and I cried when I finished,” Simon recalls. “I’d done something that I would never have thought possible six months earlier.”

This year he’s signed up for his first half-marathon with the Great Birmingham Run and on Sunday, 4 May, he’ll join more than 16,000 other runners for the event, which starts outside the Library of Birmingham and takes in iconic landmarks including the world-famous Jewellery Quarter before a grandstand finish in Smithfield.

“I’ve had my heart set on the Great Birmingham Run being my first half because of the sentimental value of my first 10k being here,” Simon, who is a member of the Centurion Running Club, explains. “Had I not done the Great Birmingham Run last year I might not have carried on my running journey and been where I am today.”

Today Simon weighs 13 stone 9, and credits running with “changing his life”.“It’s given me an enormous amount of confidence and I’m happy with how I look and it’s probably the first time in 20 years I can say that. “I also feel like I can achieve things. I can set goals and meet them. I also feel a sense of belonging thanks to my running club and that’s good for your mental wellbeing.”
What advice would he give to others?

“To anyone considering running I would say absolutely do it. “As cliched as it might sound – if I can anyone can.”

Find out more and sign up for the Great Birmingham Run 10k or half marathon here, or the Junior and Mini events, which this year take place at the Alexander Stadium on Saturday 3 May, here.