Journeys Lisa Pettifer has been exploring people's individual journeys, literal journeys of travelling across Staffordshire, and personal journeys that local people have made - that have affected their life today. Phil's story You might be planning a big party for your 50th birthday but Phil Greer is training for his 28th marathon!! Phil, who's from Bucknall in Stoke on Trent, was told as a child he would probably never walk again. He was diagnosed with rheumatic fever when he was 5 and he spent a year and a half in wheelchair because it paralysed him from the waist down. Determined to walk again His determination to be able to go out and play with his friends showed him he'd got the strength that would eventually take him 26 miles and 385 yards. "At school I could see the other kids playing in the street and I couldn't go out, and that inspired me to start getting back into exercise as soon as possible. Throughout school I pushed on with sport although when I left school I packed it all in!" It wasn't 'cool' to run on the streets in the 70s and his interest in sport was also way-layed by girls! But the start of the Potteries Marathon in 1982 encouraged him to take up running again. "I ran 3hrs 25 and that was the beginning of what was to become a 2hr 38 marathon which is a national qualifying time." One last marathon in Snowdonia Running such a long distance takes its toll on your body and Phil has decided that it's time to take it a bit easier. This year he's running his 28th and last marathon in Snowdonia, one of the most challenging courses. "I think I'll always run to keep myself fit, I owe my body that. And also I'm a qualified junior coach and I owe a lot to the kids. I'll never turn my back on them, I'll always be there for them." Click on the link below to hear Phil's story in his own words:
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