Smiles for Grainne after Santa Dash
‘I’M still smiling,’ says Dundalk woman Grianne Hearty, the winner of the Mizu Operation Transformation competition.
Having completed an eight week programme of fitness training and healthy eating, Grainne took part in the Mizu Santa Dash on Sunday December 1 and attended her Big Reveal Party that afternoon.
She was ‘overwhelmed’ by the response to her appeal for those taking part in the Santa Dash to donate toys for distribution to needy children.
This was something which her mother Josephine, who passed away in August, always did and Grainne and her sister Elaine are delighted that they will now be able to keep up that tradition.
‘ The response was unbelievable and people are still calling and dropping off toys,’ she says. ‘ We’re just blown away. We’ve got more toys than Mum would have got so we can help even more children.’
She reckons that around 200 people turned out for the Santa Dash and others, who didn’t take part, still made donations.
‘ That’s what
I would have done this time last year as there was no way I would have signed for the run.’
This year, however, thanks to winning the competition run by Linda Stewart from Mizu and Sinead Linnane of Alumier Skincare, she was able to put on her running shoes and take part in the 5km run.
Her son Odie, who spent over six weeks in hospital this summer after falling ill at a concert, was waiting for her at the finishing line.
‘It was very emotional,’ she admits. ‘It was a day of tears and snot!’
But it was smiles all the way when she got glammed up for the Big Reveal Party in Courtneys that afternoon, where she announced that she had lost three stone in just eight weeks -twice what she had hoped for.
‘It was wonderful - we partied the whole night but I had to wake up on Monday morning and get back at it.’
‘I am definitely going to keep this up,’ she says. ‘ This is just the start of it. I had tried various diets in the past but thanks to Rachel Graham I have learned how to cook and eat healthily.’
Grainne was also pleasantly surprised to discover that exercising can be fun, thanks to Oak Gym and Kava Maga Systems.
‘My activity level before I started was non-existent,’ she says. ‘I wouldn’t walk anywhere. My car was the only way to travel.’
‘I have literally turned my life around. I exercise daily and love every minute. My energy levels have gone through the roof and my whole attitude has changed.’
She says she would never have thought such a change was possible and thanks all those involved in the competition, especially Linda from Mizu, Rachel from Rachel Graham Nutrition and Darren and Annette from Oak Gym, and her family. After what has been an incredibly tough year for the family, she says she is looking forward to having a nice peaceful Christmas.