My Story

Running is a way of life for me. I would not be exaggerating if I was to say that running saved my life. I always loved exercise, but have discovered the true value of running as an adult. Running is a lot more than just putting one foot in front of the other as fast as you can or going as far as you can. Initially, when we perhaps are not as fit as we would like to be, we are faced with a challenge, something that we want to overcome in life and fear to face head on. However, as you keep pushing the boundaries of what your body finds comfortable to do you learn how strong you truly are and make you appreciate yourself as an independent entity. Accepting yourself is an essential factor on the path of respecting yourself, including what you are able or not able to do, but are not scared to try. I do my best to convey this message to my students and children, in particular young women, of how important it is to stand on their own two feet and be strong. Endurance running allows the time to think, meditate, be part of nature, reflect, plan, problem solve and generally practise how to be a better human being. I would tell a lie if I said I found marathon running easy. I am scared of it and it hurts. I tend to dedicate my long runs to people and causes, because in those final miles, when my body and mind play tricks on me, I have to run with my heart. The heart strangely seems to be stronger than the mind and certainly you can push your body a lot further if your heart wants it to go the extra distance. 

I always choose local charities to support. I jumped at the opportunity to do something for the Daisy Programme as it is a small, local charity, which does a lot of worthwhile work, but not a lot of exposure is given to it, which it deserves. Strong family and friendship links are essential for providing support in cases of domestic abuse, which unfortunately still happens. I believe the way forward to combating the issues of domestic abuse would be firstly through educating young people, rather than shying away from it as it is such a sensitive issue. Some aspects of it could be simply through infiltrating the teaching of empathy in our education curriculum as well as nurturing young generations of young men and women to believe in themselves. In those instances when it is too late, we need to help those who experienced and endured trauma, to re-build themselves in order to be able to have healthy relationships in the future. This is where charities, despite it being so small, like the Daisy Programme, can make a massive impact on people in Norfolk.