Why do I run? by Sarah Holliday

My alarm goes off every morning, I jump out of bed, a new day a new challenge but first I get to run!!!! For me it is not a chore getting up every morning I actually look forward to it. Regardless of the weather I just feel grateful to be able to do what I love, being able to run! For me nothing is better than running, it is my escapism, my drug that fuels me day to day, my heroin. Running is my passion, it has become my life.

Most people find running a chore, something they would rather avoid, and tend to use it as a means of loosing weight! As a result running has a stigma attached to it, making people think it is pain and hard work. Yes it can be hard, but that is half the fun, you can see how far and hard you can push yourself, how fast you can become. I believe running can also be a medicine, a healer for many conditions.
I always remember talking to a friend one day and she had just taken up running, she asked me Do you eat to run, or run to eat? I couldnt answer that question as I had never really thought about it before. For me running has opened up so many doors, I have met so many amazing and inspirational people, each with a different story and that is another reason I believe running is so special.

One of the best moments for me was being given the privilege to run a 5km with Mo Farah. Mo Farah is world 5000m gold medallist and 10,000m silver medalist, as well as being an Olympic hopeful. Mo is a huge role model for any aspiring athlete as he is a normal guy who is pursuing his talent and dream of winning an Olympic gold medal on home soil. Although training is his job now, he, like so many other aspiring athletes used to have to work part time at pizza hut to enable him to train and finance his athletics.
Mo has sacrificed so much to get to where he is now. He has up-rooted his wife and young daughter from their home in London to Oregon in the USA to train with a coach he believes may be the missing piece in the jigsaw in his Olympic quest. I can really emphasis with this huge sacrifice he has chosen to make, as I made a similar sacrifice of moving to London when my parents emigrated to New Zealand. This was so hard for me and miss them everyday, I have been apart from them for almost 1 year now and had to spend Christmas with friends. It has been very difficult but I have so much to be grateful for. Whenever I feel sad I remind myself why I made this decision, and actually how fortunate I am. I know if I had gone to New Zealand my training would have suffered, I have lots of great contacts here in London and I may have struggled to find the first class advise and treatment which is available to me here in London.

On Sunday 19th February Nike put on a 5 km run with Mo himself. About 200 people met at Gillespie park near the Emirates stadium and every runner was given black nike t-shirts encrypted with one mo mile we all ran a 5km route which wound through roads and parks of the arsenal area of North London finishing with a lap of the Emirates stadium. We were then treated to breakfast in the Emirates lounge with question and answers. Mo was very honest when answering the questions and always gave a true and detailed response. It was very insightful, and inspirational, firing my motivation and desire to continue my training to be the best I can be.