Q. How long have you been a member of Queen’s Park Harriers?
Almost 2 years ago. I was keen to try out a running club after missing the social element of parkrun during lockdown, and I joined as soon as track sessions restarted.
Q. What's the best thing about running?
No.1 for me is the headspace I get during a run and the mental clarity I feel afterwards. A few days of not running and I definitely start to feel a bit of anxiety creeping in.
I also love that running gives me the opportunity to explore places, especially joining up bits of London that I would otherwise miss whilst on the tube, or getting to see a few more sights whilst on holiday.
Q. What's your favourite running event?
Possibly Manchester Marathon, I'll be running it for the 10th time in April. This year I'm really looking forward to seeing even more Hoopsters on the course 🔴⚪🔴⚪.
Summer League is a very close 2nd, it's a fantastic atmosphere, and a chance to run in a few London parks that I'd not been to before, and definitely nothing whatsoever to do with the cake.
Q. What would you say is your greatest running achievement?
Fastpacking coast to coast along Hadrian's Wall during the summer of 2019, it was about 130km which we took nice and steady over four days. On the first morning we found ourselves wading through knee deep water on the outskirts of Carlisle (glorious!) so we were running in wet trainers for the rest of the trip, not ideal. But the sun came out, and the countryside was stunning. It felt great running from point to point under our own steam, and it made me realise how much improvement I could gain running longer distances at a slow and steady pace, and two months later I PB'd at York Marathon.
Q. What else do you do?
Occasionally a bit of cycling. I learnt to swim for my first (and so far, only) Triathlon, it wasn't pretty, and I was advised to leave the lake after I'd only completed one of the two laps due to a possibility that I wouldn't make it around the 2nd lap, I did manage the cycle and the run though, and they still gave me a medal 🙄.
For my day job I work with telecoms companies improving the performance of their mobile and fixed networks, and running definitely helps clear the mind from a day of meetings and PowerPoints. I'm also a qualified life/transformational coach and I'm a member of my company's coaching community supporting leaders transition into their new roles.
Q. Tell us something surprising about yourself that other members may not know.
I do very much enjoy a music festival, and I'm a bit of a regular at Glastonbury, only missing one so far this century, although I'm increasingly seeing them as more an ultra-marathon training event. And yes, I do take my trainers.
