When you run, you're actually laying yourself bare
You're, you're, you know, you're pushing yourself to the limits of what you can do on that particular day
to be able to do that with people that you trust
is hugely significant and hugely beneficial.
And I absolutely would put some of my successes as a runner down to the
fact that I have this group that once a week I can go to and just be myself and run how I want
to do it where I want to do it when I want to do it and
have that, that support network.
Yeah, I was drinking too much in excess.
I would go out, I would get a drink too much to the point of like, I would black out,
wouldn't remember the night and that was kind of like repetitive every weekend, like, I
was feeling quite low and then I just, one day after having a particularly bad
hangover, I just decided like, enough was enough.
My first ever front runner session remember sitting in the car, um I
saw some of the front runners turn up in the purple vests, and I actually sat there for a minute thinking like, just
turn around and go home.
Like no one knew that I was meant to be going.
So I felt like a little bit anxious about getting out the car to start with, but it was such a welcoming
group and any anxiety had kind of disappeared straight away.
I mean, before I joined frontrunners before I sort of came out and got into
fitness in general, I was very overweight, I was got up
to a 44" waist.
Um and actually after I came out, just kind of
naturally the weight just kind of fell off.
It took quite a long time to sort of get the words I'm gay out
of my mouth took a really long time to kind of, you know, feel comfortable to to say those
words and I kind of had to build it all back up again and put myself back together.
The main reason for coming to Brighton was to be nearer to those people and those influences.
So front runners just ticked all those boxes for me.
Um so yeah, first thing I did, I think literally I've been in Brighton for like two days, and the
first thing I did was go and do a run with the front runners and yeah, I really haven't haven't looked
back since then.
Yeah, so sometimes I can start the run
feeling like anxious about something, feeling worried about something, and sometimes even feeling like
angry about something, and then once you've thought it through, like during the run, because you feel
that sort of calm, meditative state by the end of the run.
Actually, those things don't really matter
when I run, it's almost like everything just disappears and
my mind is just focused on almost nothing, you know,
it's lovely.
Hadn't really run as a group and I just felt like I wouldn't potentially fit in or I wouldn't
enjoy being part of that or that I did that maybe might have been judged.
However, as soon as I joined front runners, everyone was so welcoming and everyone was so friendly and I just
felt like there was no judgment.
That feeling of support and friendship that just instantly came through from from the first session.
It's amazing.
It's it's a it is a rainbow.
There are all these different colors on there, all these different shades and hues and, and I'm
still kind of going, okay, well maybe I'm a little bit of this one and a little bit of that one and, and
I'm learning from those people coming up that are using all these different terms and I'm
constantly learning new terms, new references and, and kind of figuring out where
I fit amongst that
when I found front runners, it was almost like they were my tribe and they were waiting for me.
Yeah, I feel I feel just free and
happy and content and yeah, just full of
full of self belief, you know, it's been amazing.