So today we ran a Poppy Run to raise money for the Royal British Legion as part of my main London Marathon 2017 Fundraiser at www.donatepoppy.uk

Despite my wobbly 260 lbs (yes I’ve put on about 10 lbs recently) I jogged the 1st mile without stopping in a respectable (for me) 12 minutes and completed the rest by jogging the downhills and walking the rest. It took 44 minutes.

Beyond the brilliant atmosphere and the great cause there was something else that made this a happy day for this ‘big girl’ and that was it was a day where I didn’t once feel self-conscious. Not once!

It wasn’t so long ago where I found it impossible to jog outside in front of people. But then I started jogging a minute or two on most of my numerous evening hikes this past summer and as most of these were done in parks with not many people about, slowly I found myself getting used to running past people and when they looked I smiled. Soon after I tried a few morning 5k park runs. It was quite hard to do this as there can be many hundreds of people taking part and some of them are fantastic athletes. BUT so many people at the Park Runs are so encouraging and coming last just about every single time hasn’t been discouraging at all!

I think what I am trying to say is that part of my long meandering weight-loss and fitness journey is that to become more successful you have to absolutely say F*** it! You have to be able to not give a damn if you jog slow, if you sweat and turn bright pink, if you have boobs that bounce dangerously everywhere even if you’ve double bra’d or if you always come last.

Every day you get out there and do something you will care less and feel better about yourself and proud of what you are achieving. Please never give up, just keep going. Please take this advice from someone who has spent at least 20 years struggling against this thing called obesity….

Love and hugs and here’s to not giving a damn and never giving up!

C xxxxx