My running story
My personal running journey started at school when I regularly ran cross country and track. As a teenager I lost interest in running and had 10+ years off, enjoying drinking and partying instead (no regrets)!
I rediscovered my love for running in my twenties during a year living in London. I ran in Hyde Park to get a dose of the nature and green space I was missing in city life.
When I moved back to Kent I discovered parkrun, and it was here that I really started to feel part of a running community. I then joined Dartford Road Runners, began training, racing, making friends and becoming well and truly hooked on running.
I’ve always enjoyed strength training and I left my gym in Dartford to join CrossFit Tonbridge in 2016. I found that running and CrossFit complimented each other perfectly and kept me injury free.
I have been running competitively for 8 years in events from 5k up to marathon distance. Having run with Dartford Road Runners for many years, I am now a member of Tonbridge AC and train regularly there.
Representing Kent at inter-counties Essex 20 mile road race in March 2019
QUALIFICATIONS
UKA Coach in Running Fitness
UKA Endurance - Event Group (in progress)
Emergency First Aid
Safeguarding Adults & Children
Mental Health First Aid
Counselling Skills training
Motivational Interviewing
Why coaching?
Canterbury 10 mile road race - January 2020
As someone working in the Social Work/charity sector with vulnerable people, I’ve always felt passionate about seeing people develop and grow.
I wanted to share the mental and physical health benefits with young people I was supporting at work at the time, many of whom were dealing with complex mental health, substance misuse issues and involvement in the criminal justice system. I started out by motivating some of these young people to start exercising more, so I trained as a UKA Run Leader to allow me to safely take small groups of young people running around Tonbridge, eventually persuading a few of them to try parkrun.
I also began helping a few CrossFit friends with plans to help them train for obstacle course events which included more running than they had previously done. As more people became interested, I decided I wanted to start a small group locally and Scrambled Leggs began.
I gained my UKA Coach in Running Fitness in 2019 and now coach groups and one-to-one clients evenings and weekends alongside my day job. I organised running sessions for Sweaty Betty in Tunbridge Wells in 2019 and 2023, lead a monthly social 5k from Fuggles Beer Cafe in Tonbridge, and have also been involved in coaching at several affiliated clubs including, Dartford Road Runners, Paddock Wood AC and Tonbridge AC. I am currently studying the UKA ‘Event Group - Endurance’ course.
Cell Workout
Earlier this year, I collaborated with LJ Flanders, author of ‘Cell Workout’ book and brand through my work within HM Prisons to create a workout to be featured in the March edition of Inside Time (prison newspaper) along with an article I wrote
Cell Workout is a bodyweight training guide devised from a prison cell but accessible to anyone who wants to get fit in a small space using no specialist equipment.