I spent my school years being told how bad I was at sport and as such becoming totally disengaged with sport. I took up running in my early 30s following medical advice to take more exercise, initially trying to get prepared to run the Manchester 10k. Having felt so much better in myself for doing this I started to do more running, 10k and even a couple of half-marathons. I had a couple of years off due to illness but then decided to run Greater Manchester Marathon for charity in 2012. Following this I started doing a lot more running, mostly at half-marathon distance and found that I really enjoyed participating in organised events. In 2015 I qualified as a Run Leader and was recruited by Lyme Park (National Trust property) to set up a running group for them as part of their commitment to sport. I have since furthered my own development by qualifying as a UKA/FRA Fell & Mountain Running Coach (fCiRF) in order to help support the group. I enjoy leading the group and showing people that running can be fun especially when it's undertaken in a beautiful environment.