Jo Gallacher
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.
‘I’ve been around a long time and I’ve seen a lot of changes, most notably the introduction of contact lenses in the 1960s. In fact I was one of the original people who started to fit Bausch and Lomb soft lenses. I’ve been through all the ups and downs and still survived.’
One thing that has always remained a constant over the decades for Barnaby is his love and dedication to athletics. ‘When I was at school we had a teacher who took athletics and he got me into race walking as he was an international walker himself.’
Classing himself as a much better walker than runner, Barnaby used his time in the army to further develop his skills and technique as a race walker, even competing internationally.
‘I began walking for the regiment, and then the entire army. I went to other countries to perform against other servicemen then throughout my university career I did much of the same’.
It is clear training is something that has never been classed as a chore for Barnaby. A lover of early morning sessions, his alarm rings at 5.30am. After an hour’s training session, he is off to the practice to start work for the day. ‘I always manage [to train] six times a week, sometimes seven. It’s like a drug for me, if I don’t go I don’t feel very well.’
Although a member of his athletics club, Barnaby prefers to train alone, often using markers to calculate the training distances from his house. ‘I know where five, 10 and 20 miles is. You’ve got to do at least four 20-mile runs in your training leading up to a marathon and I have courses that I do specific distance runs on. I recognise how far I’ve ran from markers like trees and telegraph poles,’ he says. He also manages to keep up his first passion of race walking, which sees him compete in races up to 100km.
As for successful marathon tips, Barnaby says the trick is to consistently keep a good pace rather than racing ahead. And forget aching muscles or mental blocks, Barnaby no longer finds any element of running particularly challenging. ‘Some people make it difficult for themselves by not having a proper programme of training,’ he says. ‘It’s not a question of being able to do it, you have to have the confidence you’re going to get to the other end, and on some marathons it’s simply a matter of your clothes being at the finishing line so you’ve got no choice but to get there.’
Globe-trotter
Barnaby manages to rack up a substantial number of miles each year, all precisely noted down in training diaries – another key feature he swears by in order to become a successful runner. It has become a tradition of his to get out the diaries on Christmas Day. Throughout his running career he totalled an incredible 152,000 miles which is the equivalent of six times around the world.
His marathon running has also seen him travel the globe, competing in marathons in Tokyo, Beijing, Budapest, Berlin, Chicago, Los Angeles, and his personal favourite, New York. ‘The race starts at Statten Island, and takes you across Verrazano Bridge through all the boroughs of New York, including Brooklyn and Queens. You also run through the Hispanic and Jewish quarters – it’s really quite fascinating,’ he says.
Many patients and employees have been inspired by Barnaby’s athleticism over the years. ‘People have always been interested in having a go and I like to try to help them with that. It’s good exercise and you meet a lot of good people, in marathons you meet thousands of them. The fellowship of runners is like nothing else,’ he says.
Considering the immense amount of pressure marathon running can have on the body, Barnaby has been very lucky throughout his career not to sustain any serious injuries, something he says is down to mere biology. ‘I put it down to the fact I’ve got straight legs, if your legs are straight you’ll last longer because your knee joint is never stretched to one side. After every step your foot is planted straight on the ground, you’re not stretching your knee joint so it’s all balanced,’ he says.
‘It also helps that I keep myself very light, I only weigh about 68kg – I’m a long thin bean pole.’
Giving a helping hand abroad
Although running has helped him raise money in the past, usually Barnaby does not run for charity, stating that he would run out of friends quite quickly if he asked them for money every time he did a
marathon. ‘It’s not as if I work in a great big place with hundreds of people and you can put posters up everywhere, I can’t do that when I’m a sole athlete.’
Instead, he says he does his charity by travelling overseas to offer his professional skills. Barnaby uses his experience as an optometrist to help those in need in the slums of Mumbai. He also takes time out to work as a general helper in an Indian convent hospital.
His charity work also sees him take regular trips to Romania for up to 10 days at a time. ‘I work in villages in Central Romania, between the border of Romania and Hungary and halfway to the capital, Bucharest – it’s a beautiful part of the world.
‘I can check the eyes of around 100 people a day. I then sort and ship lots of glasses straight from Lincoln, and send them direct to Romania by road.’
It looks like nothing can slow Barnaby down. His passion and drive for his hobbies and practice mean he continues to enjoy steady success in both fields. And his secret? It’s all down to time management. He says: ‘You’ve got to put it to good use in whatever way you want to do. Life is to use – to live and to use.’