Going the distance for men’s health

You might think that anyone planning to run the equivalent of nearly one and a half marathons every day for a month would love running.

But that is not the case for CJ Flood.

“Believe it or not, I absolutely hate running,” CJ said from his Townsville home.

That makes his goal of running 60km every day for the 30 days of November even more remarkable.

His challenge is part of Move for Movember, an offshoot of the more-familiar Movember fundraising initiative for men’s health that sees men grow moustaches for the cause.

Move for Movember participants accept the challenge to run or walk 60km over the month to also raise money and awareness for men’s health.

Read The Road Ahead

The figure 60 represents the number of men who lose their lives to suicide every hour globally.

CJ has taken the challenge a step further; actually, tens of thousands of steps further.

“The campaign has two prongs – one is to raise $100,000 from Movember and the other is to spark 100,000 conversations around men’s health,” he said.

“I know money's one solution but it's not the only thing that we need to turn around men’s attitudes to their health.

“We need to come at this from the awareness side as well.”

Men urged to ask for help

CJ said too often men adopted a ‘she’ll be right’ attitude with their physical and mental wellbeing, choosing to suffer in silence rather than seek help.

“I would like to be able to show that if I can run 60km a day for 30 days then just maybe it's okay to reach out and ask somebody for help; just maybe you can go and ask your doctor about what to do,” he said.

“I have two sons (aged four and 11) and I don’t want them to grow up in a world where they feel scared about asking for help or talking to their mates about tough times or speaking up about an issue that’s bothering them.

“I don't want them to have to go through the same things that I have.”

CJ used the ‘she’ll be right’ excuse himself as the reason for not getting help when his physical health deteriorated to a point that it started taking a mental toll during his 20s.

The 33-year-old spent four years in the army before being medically discharged in 2011 because of injuries sustained while serving that made him unfit for duty.

Among these was a knee reconstruction and it was a second round of the same surgery in 2015 that led to his physical and mental health decline.

“After the second knee reconstruction I was not smart enough to realise that if I was not going to be moving or as active as I was in my daily life previously, then I should probably change how I eat,” CJ said.

“That led to me putting on weight and the weight led to more pain and the pain led to more weight and eventually it all became too much.”

It wasn’t until six years after the surgery that CJ realised he had to do something to regain control of his life.

“In September of 2021, I weighed 130kg,” CJ said.

“My nine-year-old son asked me to jump on the trampoline and I was just too big to be able to get on the trampoline.

“I was 130 kilos and I said I couldn't do it. I was in physical pain and I was downing three to five boxes of pain relievers a week just to try to make it through.

“I was hurting; emotionally and mentally, I was trapped.”

At this point, CJ knew he had to take action and after some lifestyle adjustments, he started losing weight.

He then decided to push himself further and took up running, despite his dislike of lacing up the joggers.

“I had this big goal that if I could run 10km I would feel like I was back at the level of my physical health before that second surgery,” CJ said.

“I did not start losing weight with that in mind. Back then I just wanted to be able to move and not be in pain and not miss out on life.”

10k event took running to next level

While slowly getting his weight under control he saw a promotion on social media for the Sunshine Coast Marathon Festival and set himself the goal of running in the event’s 10k race.

“From September 2021 to August 2022, when I ran the 10k, I had lost 40kg and completely turned my life around,” CJ said.

“I went and did the 10k faster than I ever thought was possible.

“After I did the 10k I did the 2K run with my son, who had been asking me to jump on the trampoline with him, and everything changed in that moment.”

That’s when CJ’s love-hate relationship with running got serious.

He joined Move for Movember on a whim last year, raising $1,800 on two weeks’ notice by running 60km.

This year he has set himself the huge goal of running 1,800km for Movember, which will take about six to eight hours each day in the energy-sapping Townsville heat.

“I can’t grow a moustache to save myself, but I can move,” said CJ, who now weighs 87kg.

“Running is not a natural thing that I am drawn to but what I am drawn to is seeing how far I can push the limits of trying to be an example to those around me in the community and show that so much more is possible than what you think.”

“Rather than just telling people, I want to show people.”

Click here to donate to CJ’s challenge and here to learn more about Movember.

cjflood.com

For mental health support contact a GP, SANE Australia (1800 18 SANE), Beyond Blue (1300 22 46 36 or MensLine Australia (1300 78 99 78).