“Before I joined train strong nearly 4 and a half years ago I always believed that I couldn’t and shouldn’t run, but with regular Train Strong classes I was gaining more strength, stamina and confidence in my abilities.

This gave me the nudge I needed to start running along the seafront and with Matt’s encouragement and determination on my part I realised that I could run solidly for over 30 minutes, something I never thought I would be able to achieve.

After 2 years I spoke to Matt about running a half marathon, it totally scared me but I wanted a new challenge and he assured me that it was a good thing that I felt stretched to achieve such a goal.
I spoke to Matt and emailed him lots with my progress whilst I trained for my first half and he would give me advice and tips which helped me to complete the Eastbourne Half in 2014 and the Star Fish Half Marathon in 2015.

Whilst I was training for my second half marathon I watched the London Marathon on TV and thought it looked like an amazing event, so I applied for a charity place with Children  with Cancer.  I was extremely lucky to be able to run for them and I started training in December 2015.  Again Matt was invaluable with his encouragement and advice. Each week I would check in with him with my progress and ask various questions which he would always answer with ideas of how I could overcome some of my problems with long distance running.

Unfortunately I had a number of injuries whilst training. I overcame these challenges and I completed something I never thought possible – the 2016 London Marathon was mine!

I truly believe that without Matt’s encouragement I would never have even contemplated entering such a big event and his support during training was invaluable.

I love being part of the Train Strong family and can not imagine life without my weekly Train Strong group session.”