I started running in 2013 as just a bit of cardio to support my gym work, and truth be told I had a love-hate relationship with it. However, an acute running injury in 2016 then put my running journey on pause, so I continued to focus on weight training and finding a new love of hiking amongst the mountains.
Fast-forward to 2020 and the dreaded pandemic - with no gym to go to and not being able to travel to the mountains I returned to running. This time around I quickly fell in love with running outdoors and, as time went on, I found peace running my local trails on my own, escaping from a busy world and lifestyle. I relished the mental health benefits, as well as the physical, as it helped give me 'time out' from day-to-day life to re-elevate life and what I wanted from it. Cue huge life changes.
Combining my love of hiking and running, I signed up for my first challenge in 2022 - a 100KM ultramarathon... well actually two of them within 6-weeks of one another! It was a crazy challenge but I loved it and is still one of my proudest achievements to this day. Since then, I have slowly transitioned to road running and decreased the distances. I have ran 4 marathons and dozens of half marathons, 10KM and 5KM races. Racing exposed me to the unique and amazing running community and also introduced me to parkrun. I felt a sense of belonging like no other and wanted to give back as much I took by supporting other runners to achieve their own goals. I am now a regular volunteer at parkrun and Runthrough races.
I moved to London in April 2024 and was keen to find a new running community. I quickly joined Thamesmead Running Club and loved their approach to running - training hard but laughing lots along the way! I've made some great running friends and was keen to extend my enjoyment of giving back to the running community by becoming a Run Leader for the club too. See you at a run soon!