Lacing Up for Weight Loss: Why I Ran the Duff 10K This Morning

I’m writing this with tired legs and a sense of achievement. This morning, my daughter Niamh and I lined up at Lidl Carryduff for the inaugural Run the Duff 10K, organised by Carryduff Running Club. It was cold, it was hilly, and it was exactly what we needed.
As a doctor who spends most of his week talking to patients about weight loss, I think it’s important to practise what I preach. So here’s what this morning taught me — and why I think events like this matter for anyone on a weight loss journey.

Signing Up Keeps You Accountable

Here’s a truth about exercise: motivation comes and goes. Some weeks you’re keen. Other weeks the sofa wins. That’s normal and it’s human.
What changes the equation is commitment. When you’ve signed up for an event, paid your entry fee and told people you’re doing it, you’ve created accountability. You can’t just skip it because it’s a bit cold outside. That entry fee and that bib number with your name on it become a promise to yourself.
I signed up for Run the Duff weeks ago. There were plenty of mornings between then and now when I could have let training slide. But knowing this race was coming kept me honest. That’s the power of having something on the calendar — it turns vague intentions into concrete plans.
If you’re trying to build exercise into your routine, signing up for an event is one of the best things you can do. It doesn’t have to be a 10K. A parkrun, a charity walk, a local 5K — anything with a date and a start line gives you something to work towards.

Running With Family Makes It Better

One of the best decisions I made was running this with Niamh. Exercise doesn’t have to be a solo grind. When you share it with someone you care about, the whole experience changes.
We talked our way through the tough hills, encouraged each other when the pace dropped, and crossed the finish line together. That shared experience is worth more than any time on a watch. It turns exercise from something you have to do into something you want to do.
If you can find a family member, friend or colleague to exercise with, do it. Walk together, run together, join a class together. The social element makes you more likely to show up, and it makes the time pass faster. Carryduff Running Club themselves offer a free Couch to 5K programme — that kind of community support makes all the difference for people starting out.

Those Hills Were No Joke

The Run the Duff 10K route takes you out through the countryside around Carryduff on quiet rural roads. It’s scenic, well-organised, and hillier than you might expect. The course has around 145 metres of elevation gain, which means you’re climbing and descending throughout.
My watch recorded 10.08km with an average pace of 6:16 per kilometre and an average heart rate of 149bpm. That’s firmly in the high aerobic zone — my Garmin classified it as “Threshold (High Aerobic)” training. In plain English, those hills made me work hard.
And here’s why that matters for weight loss: challenging terrain burns more calories than flat running. My total calorie burn for the morning was 726 calories. To put that in perspective, that’s roughly equivalent to a large meal out — burned off in just over an hour of running. For anyone using exercise alongside medical weight loss treatment, that kind of calorie expenditure makes a real, measurable difference to your weekly energy balance.
You don’t need to run a hilly 10K to get these benefits. Even walking on hilly terrain burns significantly more calories than walking on flat ground. If you’re in the Carryduff area, the roads around Killynure and the countryside beyond are brilliant for exactly this kind of varied-terrain exercise.

It’s Early Season — And That’s The Point

March 1st is early in the running calendar. The weather isn’t perfect, the fitness isn’t peaked, and the legs are still shaking off winter. That’s precisely why events like Run the Duff matter.
Getting an early-season event under your belt does several things. It gives you a baseline — a time and a feeling you can measure future progress against. It builds confidence that you can complete a distance. And it puts you in a cycle of training and racing that carries through the spring and summer months as the weather improves and the evenings get longer.
My time today wasn’t my fastest and it won’t be my last race this year. But it’s done. It’s in the legs. And when the next event comes around, I’ll be better prepared because I started here.
For patients on weight loss programmes, this is exactly the mindset I encourage. Don’t wait until you feel ready. Don’t wait until you’ve lost a certain amount of weight. Start where you are, with what you can do, and build from there.

The Bigger Picture

Exercise alone won’t solve obesity — I say that to patients regularly. But exercise combined with the right medical support creates something powerful. The appetite-regulating effects of GLP-1 medications like Mounjaro make it easier to maintain a calorie deficit, and regular activity like running amplifies that effect by increasing your energy expenditure.
Those 726 calories I burned this morning? They’re part of a bigger picture that includes medical treatment, nutrition and consistent physical activity. Each element supports the others.
If you’re on a weight loss journey and haven’t yet added regular exercise, consider starting with something social and structured — a local parkrun, a walking group, or an event like Run the Duff. You might surprise yourself.
And if you’re looking for the right medical support to go alongside your efforts, I’m happy to have that conversation.

References and Further Reading

• Run the Duff — Carryduff Running Club — details of the event, routes and community programmes
• Carryduff Running Club — Couch to 5K Programme — free beginner programme for anyone starting out
• parkrun — Find Your Local Event — free weekly 5K events across Northern Ireland and the UK
• NHS — Physical Activity Guidelines — current UK recommendations for adults