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Date : 11th July, 2019
Number of talk attendees (total to date) : 380 (5517)
Run map and details : https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3837961539
The Latymer School in Edmonton is rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and has just enjoyed some equally outstanding GCSE results. From personal experience I can also tell you that it’s an absolute pleasure to talk there.
But, before we get onto the talk, a bit of background. I’m currently undertaking a challenge – Run the World – to complete a 10 km run in all 206 countries in the world. (I’ve run in 176 countries to date.) I’m doing the challenge to raise funds for Cancer Research and to promote the importance of an active, healthy lifestyle.
A couple of years ago I was running in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, and I was asked to give a talk at a local school about my experiences. It seemed to go well and ever since then I’ve been giving an increasing number of talks.
Run the World now offers schools a menu of activities including the talk ; a Q&A session ; a run ; and in-talk exercise sessions. And Mr Brice and Mr Rentell had been good enough to invite me to give a talk to Ys 7 & 8.
The talk starts with stories about my runs around the world – the good times ; the bad times ; and the extraordinary, and often inspiring, people I’ve met and things I’ve seen. In particular I talk about my experiences in Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands, Iraq and a Syrian refugee camp. Places where people have faced, and are facing, hugely difficult conditions and yet are finding a way to keep going (and keep running!).
Then we move on to the healthy living section of the talk finishing with the slide that really summarises why I do these talks.
In 2018, Harvard aggregated a huge amount of research on healthy living and its impact on life expectancy. The conclusion? If you adopt the five healthy habits referred to in the talk – healthy weight, diet and levels of exercise combined with no smoking and no/low alcohol consumption – then, on average, women will live 14 years longer and men will live 12 years longer. Even adopting one healthy habit will, on average, extend your life by two years.
It just remains for me to say that I very much hope the students enjoyed the talk as much as I enjoyed meeting them!
And I also hope they will stay involved with Run the World – either via social media (links below) or by joining the UK, and final, leg of Run the World on Hampstead Heath on 4thJuly 2020.
Finally, a big thank you to Nicholas Brice, Scott Rentell and all the staff at the school for the invitation and warm welcome !
If you’d like to help fight cancer then I and, far more importantly, cancer sufferers around the world, would be immensely grateful for any donations to Cancer Research : https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Dan-Thompson11
Please like / follow Run the World on Facebook , Instagram and Twitter because it would be great to stay in touch and because, however silly it may sound, it makes all the travel and running that little bit easier if you think people care!
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