I have never been naturally good at sports and as a kid had negative comments made towards me about my aesthetics. At school I was terrible at every sport I tried such as netball, basketball, swimming and athletics which I was forced to try and came in last at a race I had to do. Over the years I have dabbled in diets, meal replacements, skipped meals, hated myself for overeating etc. I felt pretty rubbish about myself throughout my adolescence and then going into my early twenties.
I’m not what you would call a natural-looking runner. Unlike some women I see with perfect hair with a perfectly fitted headband and no sweat at all. I, however am the stumbling person trying to breathe quietly with sweat covering the sides of my face and top of my hair. I’ve tried a couple headbands, but instead of looking pretty, I would describe it as ‘spray painted bald head’ look. Instead I use my headbands to keep my glasses in place or thick, black hair from falling down during my runs. Ladies, can you relate? I need some running hairstyle tips for thick hair as my thick ponytail ends up a massive sweaty mess always.
A brief introduction about how I started. In September, 2015 I ran in the Richmond Half Marathon in 2 hours 30 minutes approximately for Macmillan Cancer Charity. I remember thinking that I wanted to give it a go after cheering runners at the London Marathon April 2015. If they could run 26.2miles then I could definitely accomplish 13.1miles. I completed my training and 13.1miles and never wanted to run again.
My knees were knackered after my first run 2 weeks later and I ended up in a day-long migraine that I never wanted to experience again so I gave it up.
Fast forward a couple years I started my Postgraduate Dietetics programme at Cardiff Met University in 2016 where I finally did something I’ve always wanted to try and started kickboxing with Cardiff Martial Arts Club on a weekly basis. In my opinion the best form of exercise that I have found. Unfortunately I haven’t found a class quite like it before but occasionally I will do a Combat class on Fiit to relive those memories.
I absolutely loved it! Even though it was out of my comfort zone I was able to enjoy exercise in an entirely new way. I loved it so much than the day after completing Cardiff Half Marathon 2017 I still went to kickboxing class as I wanted to impress my instructor who also ran. Since moving around for my clinical placements and now back in London starting my career in Dietetics I’ve continued running, and focusing on home workouts using an app including cardio, strength and rebalance based exercises. Full marathons, half marathons, parkruns, fun races completed, hitting new PB’s and even finished an ultra-marathon which I don’t think I’ll attempt again, overall I’ll never look back.
I want to spread the message that keeping a healthy, balanced lifestyle isn’t about food restrictions or having the perfect body we see on social media. It’s about what can we do individually to keep us mentally, physically and emotionally well and healthy in what we find fits our lifestyle and we enjoy.
Eat For You Dietitian 