So, I was that mum who had two kids very close together (yes, I know, idiot). I went back to work. I was a university lecturer. I trained as secondary school teacher 25 years previous(gulp) ...so, I know a thing or two about motivating people who really don’t want to be doing something. I think at this stage I had lost sight a little in who I was. In 18 months I had gone from girl on the town to mum of two boys with a body that wasn’t what it was(kids/breastfeeding/gravity). It was time to sort this mum out.
Fast forward ten years and I felt I had to change. I started going to the gym, then doing a little bit of running…or plodding as I like to technically call it. I ran with some local mum friends who were seemingly in the same boat- we did what we called a venti-run. Basically, a run where we ‘vented’ about kids/husbands then had a coffee at the end with our feet literally up outside Costa. Then one of the mums decided we should enter a race…at that stage we could run about 8-10k confidently. Then I downloaded training plans, asked seasoned runners for training tips. I drew up a schedule and stuck to it. We ran our first half marathon in 2015 and raised nearly 2k! Nothing like sponsorship to put the wind up you.
Take another leap forward to 2017…both my children had started secondary school. I was asked to be in an article for Woman Magazine entitled Fit at Forty. This had a massive snowball effect…
I had an epiphany moment after my 46th birthday- I did not want to be a fifty year old teacher…on refection I could’ve got a tattoo(too cliched), motorbike(my husband drives them, I hate them) or toy boy(don’t want to trade hubby in just yet)…so I decided to resign from work, re-trained as a Personal Trainer and set up my own business. If this all sounds very dramatic and crash, bang, wallop- trust me it was! I wanted to do what I enjoyed.
I have now set up my own website and couldn’t be happier. I’ve got clients who I do a merry mix of running and personal training. I jump outta bed with oomph and go! I ran Royal Parks Half Marathon in a PB of sub 2 hours which was my goal. As I trotted by the Albert Memorial I did feel tired however I knew this was going to be the start of something bigger and new! C’mon 2018- bring it on!