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Fin Fox
179 Plays4 months ago
In this episode Michelle chats with Fin Fox.
Fin is a long time member of the #ukrunchat community even taking part in the 2013 virtual challenge.
Fin is a Personal Trainer and has recently completed her studies to become a Physiotherapist.
Listen to hear Michelle and Fin chat about all things running, particularly how to get started if you are brand new to it, and all the benefits it can bring.
You can follow Fin on Instagram
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Transcript
Introduction to the UK Run Chat Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to this edition of the UK Run Chat podcast.
Interview with Finn Fox: Overcoming Chronic Fatigue and Pain
00:00:03
Speaker
So in this episode, we have a special guest, Finn Fox, who has a very inspiring journey from battling chronic fatigue and pain and to become ah hopefully a beacon of hope for many. So she's going to tell us all about her journey and what she's up to now. Hi, Finn. Thank you very much for joining us today. How are you? Hi, Michelle. I'm good. Thanks. Thank you very much for having me. So just give us a brief introduction to those in our community that that don't know you because you you have been part of our community for a long time, haven't you? But I know you've not been very active recently. and so yeah about yourself Yeah, that's true. So just a little brief, I mean, UK Run Chat was part of my running story to to begin with. I found you guys on Twitter and I've always kind of been in the background. I was with you guys for quite a while. I ended up being an ambassador. I was the leader of the Team Red and then we did some online classes over COVID. I have been a little bit quiet and I did take myself off social media because I've just finished my Physio degree.
00:01:04
Speaker
So yeah, I'm back and umm I'm back interacting with everyone and and sharing my runs. So it's great to be able to come on and chat to you all. Yeah, it's lovely to see you again. I always love seeing a familiar face pop up, especially in our inbox offering to come on and chat to us. So thank you for volunteering. So we we were going to talk a little bit today about you being diagnosed with fibromyalgia, weren't we? So do you want to just talk to us about that and when that happened? and you know Yeah, sure. okay Well, it's it's a huge part of what I'm doing now. So it's important to kind of share the scary bits a little bit. So I was in a car accident back in 2008. And shortly after the accident, it was minor injuries that I suffered at the time. But shortly after the accident, within a couple of weeks, I started to have symptoms that couldn't be explained by what had happened. And then within a couple of months, those symptoms have completely taken over.
Running as Therapy: Regaining Normalcy
00:02:00
Speaker
I was exhausted. I couldn't think properly. I was falling asleep at my desk and I had chronic pain in my legs. So I was waking up in the middle of the night and in my hands as well and headaches and it it just continued to get worse. So that was quite a while ago. Unfortunately, it did take over and I was made redundant and I got quite poorly for a while. I was bed bound and house bound for nearly, it was 15 months, nearly in total. But I learnt ways and means to be able to control it. and I was on a lot of medication for a while, which made life quite difficult. But I started to find ways to get my energy back, to get back to some kind of normality. um And by that point, because I'd been quite well, I wasn't moving and I wasn't doing very much, said'd I'd gained a lot of weight. So one of the ways that I
00:02:49
Speaker
looked at trying to lose that weight and get a little bit healthier was originally through running. And ah that's where the journey started. And that was by about 2011 that things started to change. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know a lot about fibromyalgia and I think it's, from what I've read about it, it's quite a difficult illness to diagnose as well initially, isn't it? Yeah. Well, I have to go through a barrage of tests because it's it's by process of elimination. So it's an inflammatory disorder. that it can originate from something traumatic. I like what I'd experienced. Some people, it can just start from something like chronic exhaustion. um It can start from an illness that someone's had that they haven't been able to recover from. And it's been a symptom that they've had from that. But a lot of it, it does tend to be that it's not just one part of the body, it will be systemic. So people can't quite comprehend why they're feeling pain.
00:03:41
Speaker
either more than they have been before, more intensely, or from situations that they wouldn't normally feel that kind of pain. And and that was my experience because what I was feeling wasn't part of what had happened in the accident. Yeah, yeah, that must have been really difficult to deal with. how How did starting running feel at first? Because that must have been. It's tough anyway, isn't it, when you start out. So that must have been really hard. Yeah it was. I've watched a lot on
Managing Fibromyalgia: Diet and Lifestyle Changes
00:04:10
Speaker
different ways to be able to get my energy back and and one thing that I understood or I started to understand at that point was about ah like an energy overdraft. So the more energy that you put out the more that you have into a reserve.
00:04:24
Speaker
and it was it was painful i was still on a lot of medication at that time and it was exhausting so i i didn't get that energy kick back as i would call it straight away it was usually you know a couple of days down the line so it was difficult but this is this is why i love the work that i do because i started off but such a small minimum level of what I could cope with and then built up from there. So where I am today, I mean, it's a lot of years, you know, we're made to down the line. But where I am now, it's polar opposite from where I started. When I say started running, it's very much an inverted commas. um But yeah, it's just what worked for me. Yeah. So do you still kind of have pain? And do you still suffer with fibromyalgia? Or was that kind of
00:05:09
Speaker
eased itself over the years as you've been running and treating itself. Yeah, interesting. So these last 10 years, I would say it has the the pain itself has slowly weaned off. So originally I was on a lot of medication and then we started to wean back off that obviously when I i wasn't in pain as much and I was just taking it when I needed to. But these last 10 years, I mean, the manageable state that I have today is completely opposite to what I had before. It's definitely
Energy Overdraft Concept and Running
00:05:40
Speaker
because of the diet and lifestyle changes that I've made. But the one thing that does affect me, because originally my dying the diagnosis that I got was ME and then fibromyalgia.
00:05:52
Speaker
and i still I still have to live a certain way to be able to manage my energy but then you know I think about the kind of age that I'm at, I'm not exactly the youngest person and so it is part of aging as well but because of the condition that I've been given yeah it is something that I'm aware of as far as anything pain-wise you know today I do sometimes notice that it can be more extreme. So if I'm um um feeling unwell, if you get aches and pains, it can be like a horrendous hangover at times. Or if I've, you know, done something or had an accident, the pain can be a lot more intense than I would expect.
00:06:28
Speaker
But by no means do I suffer with it daily. And I know by explaining this, you know, for a lot of people that live with fibromyalgia, that can be part of the hope. And it's always important, go back to your GP, speak about anything that you're concerned with, have you know different conversations about what works for you but I would say in my experience just trial and error of of finding a way through it has been a long time but yeah it's it's not something that I suffer with today which is fantastic. Well I'm really glad you've got through that that's reassuring for many I'm sure.
00:07:00
Speaker
and So talk to us about running because I'm interested in what you just said back there about an energy overdraft. I like this idea so tell us more about that and how
Unique Training Methods: Running During TV Breaks
00:07:10
Speaker
it felt. Yeah so I think it was it was papers that I was looking at. I was doing research back then to kind of understand how I could regenerate, that's not the word I'm looking for, but how I could start and create energy because with chronic fatigue and with chronic pain it's like a constant drain. Your battery's constantly on 20% and it's not fully charging. And what i what I came to understand was, you know, a lot of us in the running community or fitness, we understand the concept of DOMS. So it's the delayed onset muscle soreness. Well, obviously in the repair of that muscle and in growing the muscle, we can then store in basic terms, more energy.
00:07:45
Speaker
So if I'm putting out energy, I'm going to start and build that in the muscles and within a few days I start to have that reserve tank. So it's kind of like you going and filling up the car, but actually by the end of the week, instead of the tank being empty, you've still got 25% of it left, which is brilliant. And it's it's difficult when you first start because you you don't feel the benefit. Like every runner will know the second that you start a new programme, the first couple of weeks are the toughest, you know, because you're getting into that new rhythm of things. But that's how it built up. So for me, for in my example, I was I was watching a lot of TV programmes at the time. And back then there was always a three minute break in between them. And I watched quite a few soaps on the telly back then.
00:08:27
Speaker
So what I did was and I'd be sat watching the program then in that three minute break I would get up and I would walk on the spot and then I would sit back down for the next bit of the show and then I would get up in 15 minutes again and and repeat that and then eventually it got to a point over time where instead of walking on the spot it was a little bit of a jog and then it was a little bit of a run. and then I would switch it round so it's kind of like the theory of the run walk run but it was inside the house so I felt safe you know I wasn't putting myself through anything you know too tough at the time I was at home so I was okay but building up from there and then during the show I would walk
00:09:05
Speaker
and then on the brakes I would take a seat and that's how I gradually built up
Community Support: UK Run Chat and Virtual Races
00:09:10
Speaker
until I got brave enough to run outside and this this always makes the people that I work with love. When I first started running I lasted 10 seconds outside before I was completely out of breath. but it was fantastic because in that moment I said to myself look you've been doing this for long enough try and go a little bit further if you need to walk it walk it but just keep going and that's that's what I love about running it's not about a certain speed or pace or anything like that it's about just giving yourself a break doing as much as you can and enjoying it more than anything yeah you really can adapt it to your circumstances can't you that's brilliant that you just started inside I love that because that's one of the barriers for many isn't it it's
00:09:52
Speaker
I'm thinking I don't want to go outside, I don't want to feel like people are judging me, even even though they're probably not. and So that is fantastic that you found a way around that. um So tell us about ah kind of when you get involved with UK Rinschat then, when did that happen? Do you know, it was pretty much as it started up, but it was through Twitter. i'm I'm not currently active on Twitter. It's been a while since I've been on there. And I think my account, most of the community have have seen the tweets that I put on there. But I i was originally looking under the hashtag fitfam. And then I came across UK Run Chat. And what I loved about it was because if I'm being honest with everything that I went through, i I didn't understand it then. But I understand now that I had this massive social anxiety. I didn't want to go out.
00:10:36
Speaker
If I went running, you know or if I started to leave the house, I was ah was very much on my own. But what I loved about the fact that it was open on Twitter is I could chat to absolutely everyone in the community about whatever it was that I was going through. and it didn't I mean, I loved the Wednesday and Sunday nights, but it didn't even have to be those particular times. It was at any time I would just put that hashtag on the end of it and and have a little chat with someone. And quite often for me, it was about the the motivation. you know If you look on my Twitter now, I think one of the the biggest responses I had was from a genuine tweet where it said, I've been looking at my running shoes for an hour and I still haven't left the house. And I loved that because I felt connected. And even though I was a little bit scared about being around other people,
00:11:24
Speaker
there were so many people who were either going through what I'd been through so there was the camaraderie or they knew the other side of it and they gave me advice and there were so many tips that I got from being on there and it was really simple things that you wouldn't think about normally like what kind of layering that you would wear and um especially as a woman information about really good bras or you know with your running shoes the one of the best pieces of advice I ever got from twitter was about relacing my shoe so it was a bit wider at the front completely changed my running, completely changed because I suffered with a lot of shin splints and plantar when I first started and obviously I was a bit, ah you know, I had a lot more waste on me then. But it was the information that they gave because they've been there and they've done that. and And then, yeah, I actually did my first official race, it was a virtual one that we did. And I was so proud because I still have my purple t-shirts.
Exploring Different Running Styles: From Road to Trail
00:12:21
Speaker
And there was a little medal that came around with it as well. I don't care, it's downstairs actually with the rest of them. But it that was in, yeah, that was in 2014. So that's 10 years ago. wow i'm not old
00:12:33
Speaker
How far was it? I can't remember that. I think it might have been a 10k actually. You see there are 5k or a 10k but you did it virtually and I think I was still on, I don't know if I'm allowed to mention the upload systems that I used to put the runs on. Yeah, that's fine. Yes, so originally I think I was on Runkeeper and that's where I'd uploaded, the I think I'd uploaded the data from there. um So you you went on your run, ah you recorded it and obviously had your little map on and then you sent it out and then in the post I got my purple t-shirt that said UK Run Chat. I got my little medal which was fantastic, that was my first one. And then there was a little picture of the founders of UK Run Chat because it was it was quite new back then.
00:13:22
Speaker
So yeah, that was super exciting. And um yeah, it's I think it's it brings people together and it helps them find a way, especially for like me, where they're not quite comfortable, you know, going into running clubs or or going to a park run at that point, which I wasn't. Yeah, I think a lot of people just find comfort in being able to go online at any time and just, you know, ask questions or just share the run. Yeah, it's it no, I think it's lovely. I've got a lot of nostalgia for when UK Run Chat started and that whole community vibe. I mean, it's still there now, but we're so much bigger now. and And we still see kind of familiar faces popping up, which is lovely. like and So but tell us about how running progressed for you then. So you've done your first race. What else? What are the kind of running what you're doing at the time? Are you going to part run?
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah so I'd, I think it actually was through UK run chat that someone had mentioned about parkrun because I was feeling nervous about you know approaching a club and joining them and I was still carrying a lot of weight at the time. So I ah went to the local parkrun and I had no expectations whatsoever. I was still quite nervous and I actually went wearing it was waterproof jacket and a waterproof trousers to kind of hide myself and hide my frame and i'm so proud of those pictures from parkrun when i look back now because i cannot run in anything other than a vest top and shorts today but i was so nervous about my body and so self-conscious about everything and i look at those pictures and i just i love the fact that that version of me kept going but it was yeah it was a lot i think my first parkrun might have been
00:15:01
Speaker
oh gosh it was definitely over 45 minutes it was it was really really tough for me to get through our local lovely park there's three uh three laps of it and at the end of each lap we've got a hill which is a little bit mean but um i got to know a few people there and there was a chap who would read out some of the timings and i chatted to him about that hill because i was struggling with it And he said to me, have you got any opportunity to come down to the park and then practice that hill? And I was like, yeah, that's not a problem. He said, OK, all I would like you to do is walk up the hill and then run back down. Do it a few times until you you've had enough of it and then head back home. I thought, OK, it's a bit strange because I'm telling him that I'm struggling running up the hill. um Anyway, so I did it and I came back the following Saturday and the hill wasn't that bad.
00:15:49
Speaker
and I said that to him and he said okay keep doing it keep doing it so I did and then he said to to find a hill near me and he said when you're ready then you can run up it and walk down and when you're ready run up it and run down and that was that was my first experience of getting into like formal run training. I am pretty much obsessed with hill reps because of that. A nice introduction like what fantastic advice is that there was no pressure on you was there? no Yeah, that's so lovely. so So you kept going to park when did you and did that become part of your re routine? Yeah, I was a roadrunner back then and I joined a local club and I did the Saturday, oh gosh, many, many times I think
00:16:36
Speaker
have i got I think i'm and I've definitely got my red parkrun
Career Shift: From Business to Health and Fitness
00:16:40
Speaker
t-shirt. I think I'm close to my black, um but i've I've changed some of the running that I do on the weekend. But yeah, I did a lot of them and then did part of the volunteer work. I think that massively helped me kind of come out of my shell a little bit. And then we did a ah meetup with the red team from UK run chat. So we ended up going through to, I think it was North Allerton. I've met some in Middlesbrough. I'm giving away exactly where I live. But yeah, we did similar... You can't bring your accent to be fair, Finn. um
00:17:09
Speaker
yes um But yeah, so we we we met up and there there's a few pictures that I still have actually because I wore my purple t-shirt to one of the meetups because it you know it was one of the only ones that I had back then. But it was good, it was fun, I got into a club and I started to enjoy more road racing and I got into different speed work. it's It's developed over time. I would definitely say I'm more of a trail and and fell runner today, but it's whatever you love about the sport, you know, there's no expectations on there. It's just, it evolves into what it needs to be, I guess, yeah with running. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Yeah, so what kind of trails do you like running at the moment then?
00:17:48
Speaker
Well, I used to do racing, but with work and especially with doing a degree for the last three years, I've ah found fell running and trail running whenever I want. um I'm down to shorter distances. I used to do long distance. So at the minute, well, to me, under 10 miles is like more of a shorter distance. But locally, you know, I'm very lucky because I live near the River T. So we've got some beautiful locations around here. and places like Rosebury Toppin, I don't know if you've ever been there before, but it it's definitely a challenge to the ankles, I can tell you that. I haven't done that. We were up and not far from you a couple of years ago and I really wanted to visit Rosebury Toppin because I've heard lots of about it, but we didn't manage to get there. But yeah, one day I'm going to go and have a go at it and have a look. It looks wonderful. Let me know when you're up. I will too.
00:18:38
Speaker
So yes, you've now pursued kind of a different career, haven't you? In in the fitness industry. so So tell us about that. Yeah, so I worked with a PT and obviously I was doing my running and I ended up losing the weight and getting back down to a healthier weight, which was fantastic for my metabolism. And I decided to leave my career in business and to go into health and fitness. So I started off with my personal training and sports therapy. and there was various different qualifications and additional on there and and then went on to do my leadership in running fitness because I ah really wanted to help other people get into fitness the way that I have and what I loved about my own personal experiences
00:19:22
Speaker
you know people were saying to me about the couch to 5k which is fantastic there are so many different options and there's so many different free apps and things that you can use to get into running but for me i needed like a pre couch to 5k and and that's kind of what i've done for for quite a few years um and obviously with covid i couldn't do my normal job and things were a bit tricky and it It really made me miss what I do and I wanted to develop that and and then I've gone on to do my physio degree which just ah makes my heart happy. Fantastic, so tell us some more about that then. How's that whole experience been of ah learning something completely new like that?
00:20:01
Speaker
and Coming into health and fitness, it honestly feels like this is all I've done because it's it's been nearly 10 years, but I have to admit the physio degree, oh as a mature student, that was tough. So worthwhile. It's been fantastic. I think I've had to unlearn some of my info from health and fitness and and restudy and re-understand because it's a completely different animal. but it it adds to what I've done and it gives me so many more opportunities to be able to help the people that I work with and especially now because I'm i'm looking to specialise in chronic pain and chronic fatigue. So even recently I was doing some CPD.
00:20:38
Speaker
with a health organisation, I won't give away the names, but it was in pain management and it it's incredible to now be part of that conversation and to bring the personal experience and to talk about what worked and what didn't work. We've got so much more evidence in these last 10 years of how to help people and with the backlog of everyone suffering from long covid as well, we're desperately trying to help those patients to recovering themselves. And there's so many different options to be able to, like I did, trial and error, find what works. That's, that's my motto. um And now obviously I can do that. Well, I will assume I'm, I'm waiting my final results, which come through next week. And then we graduate. Oh my goodness, it's three weeks to graduation. Wow. Wow. so they're all done And then you'll just be kind of just working and helping people, I guess.
00:21:27
Speaker
Yes, yeah, I can't work. ah it's I have to wait obviously until I'm registered but at the moment I'm i'm still doing what I've done before so I've got the pre-couch to 5k which is I call 20 to 1. As
Debunking Fitness Myths and Importance of Movement
00:21:40
Speaker
long as you can walk for 20 minutes then we'll get you to 1 mile and um I'm starting to introduce some of the fibro and the chronic fatigue information to to build courses. So as soon as I'm registered, everything will be out. But at the moment, it's the local run groups that I'm still doing, which is fantastic. Yeah. So you mentioned there that you had to unlearn some things and I'm always interested in kind of myths, the fitness industry and things that we we truly honestly believe. and so So what have you kind of learned that's new, that's changed your perception on things?
00:22:17
Speaker
for me I thought that I had to get rid of all of my unhealthy habits and then start fitness and actually the evidence states that people that are you know people that have got more movement in their life let's say because it used to be about physical abilities exercises what I would call it before but it's about movement so say if we're talking about something really simple like step counts somebody that might still have unhealthy lifestyle habits or whatever it is but they've got more movement in their life actually they are more physically better off and I think that was a a huge shift perspective for me because a lot of people say if I've you know somebody's wanting to start with running then they think oh you know I need to stop smoking or vaping or I need to rejig my diet or I need to do all of these things and actually I'm in a position now where I can have a conversation and say
00:23:11
Speaker
If you want to continue doing that, and it's not that I'm advocating it, either which way, if you want to start off doing a little bit, if you want to start getting more movement into your life, it's still going to be beneficial. And in my experience, it kind of leads to unraveling those unhealthy habits that but don't necessarily help with health and fitness. um But there's a lot more information about adding to what we already know the you know, the core foundation of some of the courses that I'm looking to put together once I'm registered. It's not just about what you would expect in health and fitness. The you know three main things that massively helped me in my recovery has been sleep. for one which I think is massively underrated and especially with people that don't really understand why they're getting poor sleep, you know the next one can be dehydration and a lot of us don't know if we're hydrated enough and how that affects the body and the energy systems and the other one like I've just said there is it's about movement so it's not about slamming it at the gym, it's not about running as fast as you can at a park run or anything like that, it is genuinely just moving the body
00:24:16
Speaker
and for a lot of us that are desk bound or you know working from home or whatever it is we don't necessarily get that step count in so if if that's our starting point just like it was for me that's your starting point that's what matters. Yeah that is such a common sense advice Finn because yeah I think a lot of us are over complicated sometimes don't we? I think we need to I think we make it a lot of excuses and think that there are more barriers in place than there perhaps are. So, yeah, you've just broken it down there and made it seem really simple. and So, I mean, I guess you've got a lot of experience there, haven't you, of having gone through it yourself. So that ah definitely helps.
00:24:54
Speaker
is Is that going to impact your work moving forward, do you think? 100%. I've had some
Improving Sleep and Recovery for Better Health
00:25:00
Speaker
fantastic experiences doing this, you know, the physio course. And I know there's lots of different options of of where I could go down, but I want to be able to support people that understand how I felt because that's what I had. I had coaches around me that made it so simple. But the empowerment was in me, so it didn't rely on a certain group or a certain person or a certain program. It was very much about me listening to my body and paying attention to it. And and like we mentioned earlier with the energy overdraft, I'm not going to feel it straight away.
00:25:34
Speaker
I don't know many runners that finish a race and think, oh, yeah, ah I've got so much energy. But a couple of days later, you know for me, in my example, because it mattered to me as a parent more than anything else, I could function. I could do more. I felt like i I was getting more done in the house, and that made me feel better. And if it means taking a little bit more time out of my day just to kind of deep down and and focus on sleep or focus on hydration and hydration or movement, If that's the long-term effects, brilliant, book but start from the minimum and and build it up. There's no expectations. Yeah. So you mentioned sleep there and obviously it's easy to keep hydrated, isn't it? We we know, we all know we need to drink more. I certainly do and a fuel our bodies correctly. How can we be improving our recovery in your opinion, you know, and getting that better quality sleep?
00:26:24
Speaker
Oh, good question. I am totally geeky when it comes to this. And this comes from the girl that was an insomniac. So I have to say I have a wearable and it gives me a body battery. And that gives me a good indicator. And actually, it's pretty accurate on
Advice for the Chronically Fatigued: Getting Active
00:26:40
Speaker
how I feel on a morning. And one thing that's been common for me and, you know, how everybody else works, it's entirely up to them. I had this terrible habit of eating before I went to bed. I couldn't work out why I didn't have enough energy. And I've read up, I've come to understand that there's two options when you go to bed. There's rest and digest.
00:27:02
Speaker
or the rest and repair. And if my body's going to rest and digest any food that I've eaten within a couple of hours of going to bed, I'm not getting that full sleep. I'm not getting the deep sleep. I'm not getting the repairs. I'm not getting the, and you know, my body's not getting rid of all the waste that it needs to. And that's why I always felt, not just because of the ME or the fibro, but that's why I always felt like I was running off about 40% battery previously. um And it fascinated me. And if anyone's listening to this, please, please go and try it. A couple of hours before you go to bed, just just cut down. you know and And if you want water, that's absolutely fine. But if you trial it, if you are like me and you're a bedtime snacker, trial it and have a look and see what the change is with your body battery. Have a look at your rem your heart rate overnight as well. It's really interesting. But it massively helps me because then I can balance out my week. you know When you're out with friends and you're eating late and you know it is what it is,
00:27:58
Speaker
that's fine but if I've got something important on the next day I can kind of work backwards and work that out and that's just one thing you know that's just one aspect of getting a good night's sleep that definitely works for me and calories wise but yeah that's fascinating I never knew that I've certainly learned something today today so I'm going to try that as well Yeah that's fantastic. So someone's out there listening thinking I've got um chronic fatigue or you know chronic pain and I want to kind of get active. What would you tell them? What's your advice?
00:28:29
Speaker
Well, from my personal experience, I would say keep a diary of where you're at, have an idea of what you'd like to move towards and absolutely have self-compassion.
Making Fitness Accessible and Inclusive
00:28:41
Speaker
From a professional perspective, always speak to your GP or any care advisors. It'll be like an MDT if you've been given a diagnosis. But have a look at different options and see what's manageable. Taking on a brand new gym like membership, that can be scary. Running straight into a ah run club or some kind of fitness activity group, that can be overwhelming as well. But like I've just said there, working out at home, there is a world of videos and options and everything on YouTube. There's some fantastic people out there that do low level impact um activities like yoga or Pilates.
00:29:18
Speaker
and and keep a note of how you're feeling because you might not feel it straight away but actually if you do something on the Monday and by the Friday for whatever reason you feel like you feel a bit more energised or a bit better great but keeping a track of it because I know with with my symptoms that the brain fog was horrendous and I couldn't really compare it but as soon as I started writing it down and keeping a note on it that was massively helpful. Yeah, and that helps you make links, I guess, doesn't it? Yeah, because then you can see this is what I've done. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic advice. I think this has been a really nice episode, actually, about just making fitness more accessible. And it is accessible, isn't it? Sometimes you think it is. How can we as a community help get that message out there, do you think? Any advice?
00:30:04
Speaker
Just keep doing these podcasts. We have some incredible people in this community. like I cannot believe that even though I've been off social media, my friends are still on the same run streaks. They are still advocates for mental health and for equality and making sure that everyone's aware that you can get into running whatever situation you have. you know Try and break it down. And that's the point of UK Run Chat. I love looking at that hashtag on Instagram and seeing the views that people put up. I have to admit, this is my main motivator in the morning, to get my shoes on and to get me out the door. There'll be one person, and i you know I could mention a few people, but they put sunset pictures on or sunrise pictures on and it gets me out the door. But it's been it's feeling part of, regardless of where you're at,
00:30:49
Speaker
and you know my experience in in running for so many years I've fallen out of love with running many a time but it's about What's it doing for you? How is it making you feel? What do you gain from it? you know Nobody else can see that in you. But those pictures that go up and the chat that you guys have online and everything that's on the website, it makes you feel included. i've you know I'm part of the UK Run Chat Running Club. And it doesn't matter if I run a race or not. That's still on my UK AA website. So
Connecting with Finn: Social Media and Community Engagement
00:31:20
Speaker
it makes me feel part of.
00:31:22
Speaker
yeah Yeah, oh that's fantastic. Thank you so much, Finn, for joining us today and talking a lot of sense. Yeah. Working, our listeners connect with you and find out a bit more about what you're doing. So I am currently on Instagram, which is Wolfpack UK. There will be more details going out there. It's been a little bit quiet while I've been doing my degree, but I would love to connect with people. I would love to find out about their running journey. And obviously, you know, if any of my fibro guys or girls are out there, please shout me out because I love seeing you achieve. I absolutely, it makes me happy. Wonderful. Well, we hope that everybody out there listening has enjoyed this episode and perhaps something in it has inspired you.
00:32:04
Speaker
So do let us know. Until next time, stay active and stay well. Thank you, Finn. Thank you.