‘RUNNING IS LIKE LIFE’ ATEFEH SHAHMOHAMMADI, 34, ORIGINALLY FROM IRAN

2024-05-01 -

‘Life in Iran was really difficult.

I did not have the freedom to make the changes I wanted to in my life. It was very hard coming to the UK in 2022. It was like a rebirth for me, starting a new life in a totally different culture, different language, different area.

Apart from the weather, the most difficult part was the culture.

I grew up in a very different way of life and suddenly you must be like the people living here. But I didn’t know anyone. I had to make new friends in the UK, but I arrived with only a little bit of English.

We can’t get a work permit for the first year, then we must try to get one, to apply for jobs.

This is another part of what makes life here difficult. I worked for 10 years as a midwife in Iran and I tried to continue that. But I need to pass some exams and I must improve my English, which I am studying now so I can work as a midwife again.

I wasn’t a runner before.

It’s very difficult for women to run in Iran, even though I wanted to. But here, after about four months, two friends who were in the Coopah team asked me to run with them and we started running together. I really liked it. Coopah offered me a regular plan to follow, to run a long distance in a short time. And after three months, running three times a week, I completed the Vitality London 10K. That was a very special experience. We ran on London streets and it was the first time I ran 10K in a big city. I saw people encouraging me and it was such a good feeling.

I have a lot of friends in Coopah who are refugees like me and that’s one of the highlights.

I’m very thankful to the Coopah group because of the plans and how I find new friends, too. We often do parkrun together and other runs around Birmingham, which is so nice.

I will do my best to be a good runner,

to achieve my goals, including running the London Marathon this year. I think the future is bright and beautiful for me. I lost part of my life, my family, my work and my money. So when I arrived in the UK, I was in a very bad situation and I had a lot of negative thoughts. But when I run, with some beautiful goals, it’s really effective at keeping negative thoughts far from me.