Hi Lovelies
Hope you are all doing well.
Today’s blog post is going to be slightly different. I have been thinking a lot about what motivates me, what inspires me, what keeps me going on my journey.
There is no simple answer to this question.
Let me take a few steps back and go back to my original reason for starting on this journey. It was back in June 2015, I was overweight, unfit and disappointed in myself. It had been almost a year since my Gramps had passed away and I decided that I needed to make some changes. Although my Gramps was no longer with us, I wanted to make him proud and also make him laugh at the decision I had made; I was going to run a half marathon for charity. I can hear his laugh now, but after he had stopped laughing he would’ve wanted to hear all about it and would’ve been my biggest supporter. I miss him so much, but I know he would be so proud and smiling his big smile.
And so that’s where it all began. I wanted to make my Gramps proud. I wanted to make myself proud. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to get fitter and healthier.
As my journey has gone along I have gained inspiration from lots of people’s stories that have been shared on Twitter, from people I barely know, to those who I now class as really good, close friends. There are way to many to name everyone, but here are just a handful of those who have inspired me recently:
I will forever be inspired by @bigcarlrunning (check him out!) because he always pushes himself and is doing incredible things
@boudicaruns has become one of my close friends, she never gives up, is taking on an amazing challenge next year and always looks at how she can get better
@audreybubbles because she really doesn’t know how amazing she is – she completed her 10th marathon today and she is always smiling when she runs,
@stellian because she always gives her all, she motivates and encourages everyone and she gets stronger and stronger,
@fightingfatness who I have recently followed, he is at the start of his journey and is totally smashing it. really excited to see how he continues in his journey.
@emma_morgan_ who totally smashed the Silverstone half marathon today. She is running her first marathon very soon and also jumping out of a plane. She has raised an amazing amount for her chosen charity too – The RAF Benevolent Fund
@milebuyclub – again another person I have recently followed who is running 1000 miles this year raising money for Asthma UK. He ran a PB at Silverstone today and has another half next weekend!
@mtbodkin, @sherieamore1 and @jedi58 because each of them is training hard and pushing themselves every run or training session. I know they are all going to be fabulous at the Manchester Marathon
@elbonio23 because he never ever gives up. He changed his way of training and now uses heart rate training and is going from strength to strength. A wonderful PB today at Llanelli half
There are so many other people who inspire me, these are just a selection. Give them a follow if you don’t already, support them, read their blogs.
I have also gained inspiration from looking back at photos from right back to when I started uni in 2006. One photo in particular really gets me; my graduation photo. It is on the wall in the living room at home and I see it numerous times each day. It fills me with immense pride at gaining my degree, but also makes me feel sad because of how big I was and I keep wondering how I let myself get that big. I wasn’t happy, not truly happy. Every day I look at it and know that I am on the right path. There may be bumps in my journey, but I will reach my goals.
I am motivated by getting stronger, pushing myself, doing things I never thought I could or would do, trying new things, challenging myself and wanting to be the best version of myself that I can be. I haven’t always been happy. I sometimes used to put on a smile, make everyone think that I was ok, when all I wanted to do was cry about how I looked. I was never in the right place before, but 2015 is when things started to fall into place. It was my time. It was my time to do things for me, to make me happy.
And so we get to now. I feel amazing and I don’t want this feeling to stop. I want to get stronger. I want to be able to use a 10kg kettlebell. I want to be able to jump onto the red box. I want to be able to do proper press ups on my toes (not my knees). I want to get more PBs in running. I want to learn how to cycle and maybe complete a duathlon.
Going to classes really helped me – Nicki who is the instructor is incredible. You exercise and push yourselves whilst having fun and don’t realise quite how hard you are working. She believes in everyone, she challenges us to push ourselves, she motivates us and gives people a sense of enjoyment and achievement at the end of each class. Without attending the classes I do with Nicki, I wouldn’t be anywhere close to as strong mentally or physically, I wouldn’t have lost as much weight as I have and I may have lost my way when I was unable to run. But thankfully Nicki modified exercises for me when my hip was really bad, whilst still enabling me to push myself and work hard. For that I will forever be thankful to her.
There are so many things I want to achieve (but that’s for another blog post), and this along with everyone’s kind words, motivating comments, inspiring stories and so much more keeps me going.
So thank you all from the bottom of my heart for commenting, sharing your stories and being inspirational.
Keep sharing your stories and keep being the fabulous people that you are.
K x
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