‘RUNNING WAS LIKE THERAPY’

RAWAND GURUN, 27, ORIGINALLY FROM KURDISTAN

‘I was having difficulty back home.

A lack of freedom and fear for my life – so I found myself in the UK. It was a long journey through different countries. It was tough.

When I arrived, I was new to British culture.

My English wasn’t that good and it was 2020, the start of the Covid lockdown. I was in Leicester initially, then found myself living in a hostel in Birmingham for 11 months. It wasn’t a very nice place, and we weren’t allowed out much, but that time helped me to build some life skills. I worked for a homeless charity, which helped me learn English.

I didn’t run before.

Back home, I played football, but here I was doing a one- or two-mile run, just for myself, because it was tough for me to meet people and communicate. So I found it good for my mental health. It was like therapy.

I first met the Coopah team in May 2021, at the Solihull parkrun.

I didn’t know about parkrun before. They set up the app for my training and soon I was running most days. You don’t need much money or kit to run.

For my mental side, I was speaking to myself, pushing myself, freeing myself.

I would run to the canals in Birmingham and the vibe was, “Free yourself, free your mind” and that makes me happy. It was a good time.

Coopah was different because running was done as a group.

It was more motivating to me. Coopah gave me shoes and T-shirts and I became part of their team. I was always proud of our team – when my friends ran good times, running together and enjoying that, then maybe having breakfast together afterwards. I’ve made a lot of friends through Coopah.

I live in Coventry now and we did the half marathon here – my first one.

I also ran the Vitality London 10K, which was really emotional for me. It was a beautiful crowd, a beautiful atmosphere and one of the ladies at the finish line gave me a hug and said, “Welcome to our country.” It was a very different atmosphere for me. Coopah has been so helpful. Andrew (from Coopah) ran beside me for the whole of the Vitality 10K, chatting and describing different parts of London to me.

The 15K Lake District race was really different and really fun.

The weather was rainy, but I really enjoyed it. It was so different because you have to do the uphills and downhills, and you’re running in a different atmosphere, out in the countryside. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Coopah gives me a training plan and there’s also a community around me.

Most of them are refugees. We all came from different backgrounds like Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria. It’s like family. Without their support, things would have been very difficult.

Thinking of the London Marathon makes me emotional.

The culture that people run isn’t normal for us, so in those situations we become very emotional. It’s one of my dreams to run it, which would be absolutely amazing.

I’m always grateful for Coopah because they’ve been so supportive.

I can run without encouragement, but without the support of shoes, clothes and event entries, it would have been difficult for me. There is no family here, but we do have friends, shouting and cheering for us.

Coopah is the best thing that’s happened to me here.

It’s difficult running alone in the dark, early mornings on your own. Then something changes and you can be part of the group of people who support you, which is very motivating. I just feel proud and grateful.’