Where it all began – my story

After having my first two children in my mid 20s, I found myself going through an acrimonious 2 year divorce battle. At the time I was struggling to lose my baby weight, cope with the emotional load of the divorce whilst trying to be a good mum to my two daughters. In an attempt to start losing the weight and get a little bit of time to myself for my mental health, I decided to start running having never really done much before (my thing was martial arts in my teens). I started going out for just half an hour out of the house a week, in the fresh air and I really started to enjoy the freedom and feeling of moving my body.

After a few weeks I decided to sign up for my first 5k race, a Race for Life and absolutely loved the experience! From there I had completely caught the bug and I just went further and further in distance – 10k, half marathon to a full marathon within 2 years of starting my running journey. I couldn’t get enough! By the time my 40s rolled around, and with a dozen marathons to my name, I was hungry for a bigger challenge. I had friends that had completed Ironman Bolton that I would regularly run with, and my run coach at the time had also completed many Ironman races. He told me I could absolutely do it – and I was sold. I thought if they could do it, maybe I could too.

I signed up for Ironman 2018 just after my 3rd child was born in May 2017 (having run throughout the pregnancy – even completing a half marathon), then I found out that I was pregnant with child number 4, so my only option was to defer my Ironman entry to 2019 … which was 10 months after the birth! Again throughout this pregnancy I ran (often with my son in the buggy) and kept my fitness ticking over. Once Jessica was born and I had the all clear from the midwives I was out training with just 9 months until the big day of the race. I was still breastfeeding Jessica at the time, so my long bike rides could be in loops of no longer than 2 hrs so I could return to the house and feed her, then go out again for another loop. The sleepless nights were exhausting but I still got to the start line with all the miles under my belt knowing I was ready. Unfortunately that year the chain broke on my bike, and although it was eventually fixed after 40 mins, when I arrived at T2 I was 15 mins over the cut off and they wouldn’t let me run. My race was over. There was unfinished business, so I went on to complete Ironman UK in 2021 and again in 2022.

Throughout this journey I realised that my passion was in coaching – I had been a run coach since 2013 for my local running club, and I wanted to take that, and strength training further, so I took the opportunity to retrain whilst on maternity leave and swap the classroom for the gym. I believe that anyone can ‘get fit’ and achieve their goals with perseverance, persistence and the right guidance. The biggest benefit to come from physical exercise is a reduction in anxiety, depression and negative mood by improving self esteem and cognitive function – who doesn’t want that? My mission is to help as many people as I can through movement and nutrition, be the best that they can be 💕