Running into health and happiness
to the ‘alpha’ kids at school. Even gaining a place to study law at Hull University didn’t improve her self-esteem. But it was at this point she began to run, determined that she’d transform herself for a new life and a new start as a student. Her efforts were not in vain. Rachel achieved the slim figure she thought would solve her problems. But, unfortunately, the dramatic weight loss only served to highlight another physical imperfection and source of distress.
“I had wonky boobs,” explained Rachel. “And losing weight made them more obvious. One was two cup sizes bigger than the other.”
The solution was breast surgery, but yet again Rachel discovered that her inner demons persisted. She’d achieved an outward facade of attractiveness, slimness and success, but happiness eluded her. At 21 she was diagnosed with clinical depression.
To cut what is a full-length, novelsized story short, Rachel ended up having to take time out of her studies but finally completed her degree and became a corporate lawyer. Running, and an enforced gym habit, kept her in her ‘size 10 power suit’ while she lived a corporate lifestyle of too much after-work drinking and erratic eating. She got married but realised that her heart wasn’t in it; decided to ditch the law in favour of becoming a personal trainer; set up her own personal training business and fell into another relationship.
Even while working to help others improve their health and fitness, Rachel admits that she wasn’t looking after herself as she should have been. Alcohol was still important and she often skipped meals in favour of Soreen malt loaf.
Running was an on-and-off part of her life but she says that it rarely brought her joy and often just felt like hard work. It was a means to an end. Her mood was bolstered by what she calls her ‘happy pills.’
It was only when Rachel faced motherhood that she finally found what it took to turn her life around. In a move that few can probably understand she decided to apply for a place for the London Marathon and run it when her daughter Tilly, now seven-years-old, was just seven months old.
She explained: “The essence of the story is that I set myself the goal because I needed a challenge that was enough to catapult me into motherhood.
“The mental health aspects of having a baby terrified me. I was at risk of post-natal depression and had been on Prozac for 12 years. I had to come off it. Entering the marathon was my way of committing myself to have the mental and physical strength to be a mother.”
And so when Tilly was only a few