Remarkable roles: No stopping the marathon man

It is almost guaranteed that owning your own practice leaves little time in the schedule for much else. All too often exercise can be one of the first things to be cast aside in order to make more time.

Not for Mike Barnaby, however, who over the past few decades – he ‘doesn’t do age’ – has been able to simultaneously run both a practice and an incredible 400 marathons, and there are no plans to hang up his running shoes anytime soon.

Barnaby began studying optometry in 1956 following a five-year stretch in the army. After graduating, he was quick to open up shop and an impressive 55 years later, the Lincoln-based independent Harold Barnaby Optical Practice is still booming. ‘I’ve just never worked for other people. At those times it wasn’t an easy thing to do to set up your own business but I managed it,’ he says.