Active Family
My children have a different sporting activity every day of the week, and weekends for us are race days! Running is my passion, and it is something that the girls are also developing a real love for. On Saturday mornings I can be found either running or as a volunteer at my local parkrun and on Sunday mornings I can be found as a volunteer at Junior parkrun as both girls run. We are there whatever the weather and we love the parkrun community and our running family.
Running has not always been such a huge part of my life, I started running in September 2014 and ran up to November 2015 when I had to stop due to some very serious injuries that could have lead to permanent disabilities. I was 20 weeks pregnant at the time and had completed my first marathon two weeks prior. In March 2016 my son was born and I could not wait to begin running again. I had to wait until the all clear from physio and in August 2016 have begun running and joined a running club. Whilst pregnant I competed in all race distances from 2K fun runs to marathon.
Why I run?
It is certainly true that once you get bitten by the running bug you find it hard to stop. I am by no means the quickest, in fact one of the slowest but this is simply irrelevant to me. I run because I love it. I run because:
- I like to eat cake, and if I did not run I would simply spend all day eating cake
- It gives me freedom to think
- It clears my mind and helps me to unwind
- I get to meet some fantastic people
- It is my time for me
My Dreams
When I was younger I cannot remember anyone running. I wanted to play football and cricket but school told me these were not sports played by girls. They are sports I enjoy and to be told they are not 'for girls' was something that really stayed with me. I want to show my children that there are no 'girls' sports or 'boys' sports. Sport is sport and open for all regardless of gender. I want to show them that women can get muddy, dirty, sweaty and still be women. I want them to accept sport as a normality. Most importantly I want them to develop a love for the outdoors and for the freedom this can bring.
I have of course dreams for my running, I want to travel the world, running in each country and have my family there to cheer me on or take part in fun runs. My running bucket list is:
1. London Marathon - completed in April 2018 for Meningitis Research Foundation
2. Disneyland Paris Half Marathon
3. Super Heroes half marathon
4. Star Wars Dark Side Half marathon
5. Disney Castaway Cay Challenge - Completed in 2017
6. Dopey challenge
7. Yorkshire Coast 10K - Completed October 2017
8. Brighton Marathon - Completed 2019
9. Trail run in the Lake district
10. Run a race in Central Park NYC - NYC marathon in November 2019
11. Complete an Ultra marathon - Have now completed 4 and up to 50 miles
12. Istanbul marathon - simply to cross from Europe to Asia in one run!
13. Great Ocean Road Marathon
14. Rock n Roll Half marathon -Completed 2017
15. The chocolate race - Canada
15. The chocolate race - Canada
16. Cakeathon
17. Run a race at sunset - Completed at Endure 24 in 2018
18. Run a race with my children [a non fun run]
19. Great North Run
20. Complete the major marathons series - Currently have 4 out of 6 majors
20. Complete the major marathons series - Currently have 4 out of 6 majors
Upcoming races and events
Races in 2022:
Chester marathon
The dogs
J loves to run and explore and has accompanied me on many training runs, He has completed the Yorkshire 3 peaks and is my faithful companion. Spotty dog is still in training to overcome her fear of dogs so is unable to run at the moment. I am currently looking into the canine running clubs available and hope to take the dogs with me on more runs. Unfortunately J has developed arthritis and can no longer run with me. He still wants to but after a mile he is simply in too much pain. It wouldn't be fair for me to continue running with him but I miss him dearly on my runs.
In June 2019 J sadly passed away, it was very sudden and is still a shock to us all. He has left a huge void and running will never be quite the same again.
In June 2019 J sadly passed away, it was very sudden and is still a shock to us all. He has left a huge void and running will never be quite the same again.
Past races
