So 9 years on when people ask me where I\u2019m from it\u2019s \u201cSouth Wales by way of South London\u201d and yes I do always support Wales in the rugby \u2013 much to my father\u2019s dismay.<\/h2>\n
I\u2019m an English and Creative Writing graduate who loves documentaries and indulges in a rather guilty pleasure of romantic comedies featuring Hugh Grant, adores baking, watching Gilmore Girls and drinking cocktails. So far I\u2019m not really sounding like a runner am I? Well here\u2019s the dirty secret, until January 2016 I wasn\u2019t. It was only meant to be a New Years resolution. I was meant to have forgotten about it by February, March at a push! But here I am, 11 months on and I\u2019m training for a marathon having done my first half in October. So how did this all happen?<\/p>\n
Well, one day in January I was flicking through Facebook, one of my daily addictions, and was checking out a page I\u2019d kind of been admiring for a few months \u2013 \u2018The Fat Girls Guide to Running\u2019 www.toofattorun.co.uk. Now I\u2019m not one to lie about it, I\u2019m fat. I used to not be okay with that but little did I know that was all about to change because on a whim I signed up for their \u20185 weeks to 5k\u2019 programme. \u201c5 weeks isn\u2019t that long!\u201d I thought to myself, I figured I could kind of commit to 5 weeks. Plus it fitted in well as the final weekend was the weekend of the Saint David\u2019s Day runs in Bute Park so if anything I\u2019d get a medal out of it! So I signed up for that too. Long story short those 5 weeks changed my life. My body did things I never thought it could. At the end, I ran those five kilometres in a sub 40 minute time. The first time I\u2019d ever ran 5k without stopping and the first time in a long time that I was proud of myself. That race will forever be the most important race I ever do because it started it all.
\nPlus, I got a medal, let\u2019s not forget the medal!<\/p>\n
I soon joined the \u2018Fat Girls Guide to Running\u2019s online running club \u2013 \u2018The Clubhouse\u2019 where I\u2019ve met some amazing women, always encouraging and supportive no matter if the conversation\u2019s about a running plan or I can\u2019t decide what to wear out that night. These women gave me the confidence to sign up for races and virtually kicked me up the bum to go for runs when Jeremy Kyle seemed so much more inviting. In April I returned to London to join some ladies from The Clubhouse on cheering on those from The Clubhouse who were running The London Marathon. I\u2019ve always loved the London Marathon, ever since I was little, we\u2019d often go and cheer on the runners and even though I wasn\u2019t a runner in the back of my head I always wanted to \u2018run London\u2019.<\/p>\n
In May I did my first 10k, in August my first trail run and October my first half. In June I also did my Leadership in Running Fitness qualification because there\u2019s not too many (not that there aren\u2019t any) fat girls out there encouraging others to run. On the coach home from my first half (Royal Parks in London) there was a message on the Clubhouse Facebook page about five spots for the London Marathon for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund, I said yes and got one. The poor woman on the coach next to me trying to read her John Grisham novel must\u2019ve thought I was crazy as I attempted to call my sister (whose 30th birthday happens to be the same day as the marathon) to check she wasn\u2019t having her party on the 23rd. She isn\u2019t. So I guess I\u2019m running a marathon.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot more I could write here, running with a long term illness (epilepsy in my case), running and mental health, being called fat and running, where to get really cool running clothes if you\u2019re a plus sized runner, the list goes on and on but for now I\u2019ll end with this. No matter your shape, your size, how fast or slow you are you can do it. If you come last in a race, you\u2019ve still finished the race, if someone tells you that you can\u2019t, use that as motivation to tell yourself you can because in January I was the laziest person you could\u2019ve ever met, some days I still am, but now I proudly call myself a runner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hi all! My name\u2019s Joey and I\u2019m 27 years old. Originally from south east London I moved to Newport, South Wales 9 years ago for a one year long art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n