I started running when I was at secondary school in Tonbridge in Kent (Picture: Daniel Loveday/Comic Relief via Getty Images)
Running in South Africa, the sun was shining with a big blue sky above.
It was a 5km parkrun at Zandvlei in South Africa and I was alongside people of all ages, from diverse backgrounds.
I thought to myself: ‘This is perfect.’
It’s part of my mini project to run parkruns in places that begin with every letter of the alphabet and I could now cross off ‘Z’.
In June this year, I crossed off Y for York, which was lovely to revisit after previously being stationed there in the Army. I have completed most of the alphabet but as there is no X I will count my one in Exeter instead!
But even though I’m a double Olympic gold medalist, I almost fell out of love with running. It was parkrun that helped make me fall back in love with it again.
I started running when I was at secondary school in Tonbridge in Kent, England.
I wasn’t very academic, but I had this natural talent so my brilliant PE teacher Miss Page took me under her wing and became my mentor. In fact, she is still my friend to this day.
Even though I’m a double Olympic gold medalist, I almost fell out of love with running (Picture: Paul Mcfegan/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
All I wanted to do at school was sport – anything else I hated. I have wanted to be an Olympic champion ever since I was 14 after watching the Games on TV.
Miss Page encouraged my mum to take me to the local athletics club, where I got hooked. I’d ride my bike to school from my village, then to the track, then back home three times a week. I was pretty dedicated to my fitness.
I won my first English Schools Championships when I was 13 and my last at 17. I was selected as a junior international athlete. At 17, I also won gold at the mini Youth Olympic Games in Holland for the 800m, which was amazing.
When you leave sport, you get a sense of identity crisis (Picture: parkrun)
But I gave up pursuing my athletics to join the British Army a month before I was 18. I did start to run for the Army and then after a few years, they encouraged me to do the main UK championships, which I ended up winning.
It reignited my passion and my dream to be an Olympian.
When I was 24, I won my first international medal, winning gold at the Commonwealth Games. Then two weeks later, I won the European Silver medal.
But to try to juggle this while still being a soldier, I ended up using my Army leave to compete for Great Britain.
After winning two World Championship medals I had high hopes of winning my first Olympic medal when I was 26, unfortunately I ended up getting a stress fracture and came fourth. This is when I knew that I had to leave the military to become a full-time athlete.
I was a lot older than those winning now in their 20s (Picture: Paul Mcfegan/Sportsphoto/Allstar …read more
Source:: Metro
