SUPPORT AND SISTERHOOD
IAMRunnerUK: a group for perimenopausal women
‘IT CAN BE OVERWHELMING for women. You think, “Why aren’t I coping? What’s wrong with me?” But there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just that this is what’s happening now.’
Gail Titchener is talking about menopause, or, more specifically, the perimenopause – the months or often years before a woman has her last period. It can be a confusing term, that ‘-pause’ seeming to imply something temporary, when, in fact, the result will be ‘post-menopause’, the term given to the stage of life after a woman has not had a period for a year. It’s also a confusing time, with a broad, varying range of symptoms that can include not only the welldocumented hot flushes, but also poor sleep, extreme mood changes, bladder issues, memory loss and joint pain.
Near the start of the pandemic, Titchener, 46, was made redundant from her job in PR and social media, in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. A runner since her teens, she completed a course to become a Run Leader with England Athletics and is now in the process of building IAMRunnerUK – an Altrincham running group for women at this point in their lives – and also Instagram and Facebook pages full of advice and encouragement.
‘When I reached this stage, it did come as a shock, because I hadn’t been hanging around with older women who were talking about it,’ she says. She thinks menopause still isn’t discussed as openly as it should be. It was only in 2019 that teaching about menopause was added to the Relationships and
Sex Education curriculum in UK secondary schools. ‘There is a stigma. There are jokes made about you. I’m hoping that when my kids are older, it won’t be such a whispered word.’
To that end, Titchener hosts five running groups each week, from beginners to those who want to do 10K. Inclusivity is the watchword. ‘I don’t want anybody to feel they can’t come because they’re too slow,’ she says. ‘Not only does running aid cardiovascular health and help prevent menopausal weight gain, but it also has big benefits for our state of mind.’
It’s not an educational course and she stresses she’s not a doctor, though by September she will be a nutritional and lifestyle coach specialising in periand post-menopausal health. Rather, this is a place to share experiences in an environment where everyone is going through something similar.
Titchener hopes to recreate groups like hers around the country, and to keep expanding #amileformenopause, where women raise awareness by walking or running a mile on World Menopause Day – October 18.
‘There are a lot of feelings – frustration, anger, even a sense of loss. To have someone to run with and share that burden is helping all of us.’