LOCAL HEROES RUN LONDON MARATHON
AFTER months of training, runners took to the streets of London yesterday for the annual marathon.
Welsh runners had spent months getting ready for the event.
They included Welsh politicians, chefs and charity fundraisers.
One of those taking part was 42-year-old police officer Georgina Pugh.
She admits she is lucky enough to have a nice home, car and a salary that means she can afford the occasional luxury. She loves her job and her family.
But, despite having everything most people would want, 13 months ago she had a breakdown.
She walked out of the police station where she worked and hasn’t yet been able to return.
Georgie is speaking out about her mental health in a bid to get others talking, especially those in the 999 services.
She admits that, as a Detective Sergeant working in public protection, she has dealt with plenty of people suffering from mental health issues, but she never saw herself in the same bracket.
There were three triggers for her breakdown. It all started in 2015. At the beginning of the year, she found out her IVF treatment had failed.
She said: “Me and my partner never dealt with it and never spoke about it. We just went on with our own lives. I ploughed myself into my job. I wanted to progress to the next rank so I just threw myself into work.”
Second, the relationship broke down in December after 10 years.
At work, she didn’t let on that anything had happened.
“No-one knew what I was going through behind closed doors, even though I was suffering.
“I didn’t open up to management and only spoke to two friends,” says Georgie.
Over Christmas she made excuses not to see family and didn’t want to go out of the house.
The third trigger was that she stood for a promotion.
Now she admits that was a mistake but at the time she turned up to the exam on crutches, having just had knee surgery. She was both emotionally and physically worn out.
She didn’t get the job but returned to work.
“I felt so low you could have scraped me up,” she admits.
She clearly remembers the Thursday she went to the doctors with a fictitious physical injury. At that appointment she broke down with a GP she had never met before.
She ignored the advice not to go back to work the following day.
But it all came to a head: “At midday I said ‘I can’t do this any more’ and I told my line manager I had to leave.”
Georgie fully expected to return to work but still hasn’t been able to.
There have been some very low moments. She says that the lowest point was when she had to call her own police force as she stood on Penarth beach ready to end her life.
Georgie says her family and colleagues have been brilliant throughout her struggles.
“So many people have been shocked and surprised by my issues because they never thought it was going to happen to me.”
She is only too aware of the stress
emergency services staff are under and despite praising her “police family” she hopes that by speaking people will open up to each other.
She thinks the estimate that one in four suffer from mental health issues is far too conservative.
Her official diagnosis is that she has a high-functioning personality. In her case that means not being able to live up to her own expectations.
“I can’t adjust to not achieving something,” she says.
She reluctantly took medication and has had counselling and therapies like mindfulness, but exercise has been her saviour.
She ran the London Marathon for charity Heads Together and finished it in four hours and 55 minutes
A keen athlete, she has completed triathalons but thought 11 knee operations would have ended her running career.
At one point she was told by her counsellor that she was so hooked on using exercise it was a form of selfharm.
But she has battled back. And taking part in a BBC documentary called Mind over Marathon, she has learned to control her exercise impulses and follow a disciplined but achievable programme.
For her, running is a way to take back control.
“When I’m running I am out there on my own, in my own space. You’re looking at the scenery and the puppies on the beach and it’s a distraction. For that hour it’s time out of reality. It’s been a saviour to me, it’s kept me going”.
Her story will be featured on Mind Over Marathon on BBC on Thursday.
2 Wish Upon a Star founder Rhian Burke was one of those also featured on the programme.
She, too, said that exercise had helped her through her darkest days since she lost her husband and son five years ago.
Rhian, from Miskin, finished in five hours and 34 minutes.