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Gemma Wright | Pareto FM
158 Plays4 days ago
In this inspiring episode of the UKRunChat Podcast, Michelle chats with Gemma Wright, Senior Account Manager at Pareto FM and headline sponsor of the Shrewsbury Half & Metric Half Marathon.
Gemma shares her journey of rediscovering running after a serious hip injury, losing nearly eight stone, and finding strength through running after the loss of her dad. Over the past 18 months, Gemma has transformed her life, tackling parkruns, 10Ks, half marathons, and even her first ultramarathon.
She opens up about:
- How she went from struggling to walk 10 minutes to completing a half marathon PB at age 43.
- The mental and physical challenges of running the Race to the King ultra in 36°C heat.
- The role running played in helping her navigate grief and rebuild her confidence.
- Training (and racing) alongside her husband Darren, who’s been her biggest supporter.
- Her goals for the upcoming Shrewsbury Half Marathon, and why it means so much to her to run it as part of her hometown community.
Whether you’re just starting out, coming back from injury, or chasing big goals, Gemma’s story is a reminder that it’s never too late to change your life through running.
Enjoy
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Transcript
Introduction and Gemma’s Journey
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to the UK Run Chat Podcast, the show where we celebrate every kind of running journey. I'm Michelle and in today's episode I'm joined by Gemma Wright. Now she's a Senior Account Manager at Pareto FM who is the headline sponsor of our Shrewsbury Half Marathon and Metric Half Marathon which is taking place on Sunday the 28th of September.
00:00:19
Speaker
Over the past 18 months Gemma has been on an incredible journey rediscovering her love of running, losing nearly eight stone in weight and finding strength through running and after the loss of her dad.
00:00:32
Speaker
Alongside her husband Darren, she's taken on 10Ks, half marathons and even an ultra and she's now preparing to run a home time race, the Shrewsbury Half, with the added pride of working for the company headlining the event. Hi Gemma, thank you so much for coming on and joining us today.
00:00:46
Speaker
oh you're welcome, thank you, it's nice to be here.
Challenges and Restart
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, so you've had a very busy 18 months. Can you take us back to kind of when you, but really back in time to when you originally first started running because you're not kind of brand new to running again are you oh god no so i used to run oh gosh put sort of back i'm gonna say 15 years ago um and i used to run quite a lot um and then in the so we did the the last sort of half marathon i did was 2016 i did the shoes we half marathon and then two weeks later we did the cheshire half and
00:01:24
Speaker
um and a little bit too much and not enough recovery and I tore my hip flexor which was incredibly painful um so obviously I wasn't able to run for quite a while um after that and I just kind of did sort of intermittent little bits and then life got in the way and you know you just kind of don't really concentrate on yourself and you concentrate on your career and all the rest of it and that's pretty much what I did um And then obviously i've got a little bit lazy, a little bit chunky, I'm not going to lie.
00:01:59
Speaker
My hip went again. um So i wasn't um but I was at the point where I couldn't even walk for longer than 10 minutes. um Probably at my heaviest weight as well, which was really not helpful.
00:02:12
Speaker
um I had steroid injections in my hip every six weeks. um They were looking at giving me a new hip at the age of 42, which was just quite quite a scary thought, I'm not going to lie.
00:02:24
Speaker
um And I kind of got to, like, obviously, um my dad was really poorly, um spent some time with him, looking after him towards the end of life and things like that.
00:02:37
Speaker
And I didn't really look after myself again, you know, like say, put on a little bit of extra weight, you just pretty much eat what you can do and sit on the sofa and just wallow in your own grief, which was pretty much what I did. And then I kind of gave myself a little bit of a kick up the backside and I'm like, no, I need to sort something out.
Milestones and Progress
00:02:58
Speaker
Um, so yes, I had, I've been on a bit of a bit of a journey. Um, and I kind of changed myself around from sort of the end of April, um, 2024 and started on a bit of a weight loss journey.
00:03:14
Speaker
And get back into just doing little bits of exercise off, you know, the back of my physio of what I could and couldn't do. um and as the weight came off, I realized I was taking less painkillers. I've got more movement in my hip. I went to physio.
00:03:31
Speaker
And he was pretty much kind of, um I don't know what you're doing right now, but it's working because you've got way more movement. And, yeah, we went from there, really. And over that kind of journey, I was kind of just doing a little bit of cross training, a bit of rowing, a bit of weights and things.
00:03:51
Speaker
And I kind of got back into running, I want to say, by mistake. I mean, I had a plan that I wanted to do parkrun by Christmas last year. I wanted to run a 5K by Christmas last year.
00:04:03
Speaker
And I stayed in a hotel for work. And I went down to the work gym, um to the gym in the hotel. um'm and they hadn't got a cross trainer. They'd got a ah treadmill. And I was like, well, going to have to have me a little go on this.
00:04:19
Speaker
But I'm not just going to walk. I'm going to see if I can run. So I ran. I did a mile. And I remember I took a picture. And I sent it to Chris Barnes. It's like, I've just run my first mile in like 10 years.
00:04:31
Speaker
um And it took me nearly 20 minutes. But I did it. ah mile's a mile, right? And so I just kind of kept on from there. Yeah, just kind of kept on from there and i'm built it up and built it up.
00:04:48
Speaker
And then I did park run in, think I did it in August last year. So I've kind of been running properly again for probably just over 12 months. um And my park run was 47 minutes. And i was like, I'm happy with that because I wanted to do it by Christmas. And I did it like four months early.
00:05:06
Speaker
um So we kind of, my husband then was like, oh, I might come out for a run with you because he used to run, he's run a marathon, learned a marathon a few times and So he's like, yeah, come on. He says, I'll come out for a run with you. And I say, yeah, okay, whatever.
00:05:23
Speaker
but I said, you're, cause he's that kind of person who can just go out and run and he's fine. And he's runs really quickly. And it's just like, seriously, this is not fair. Um,
00:05:34
Speaker
And then I remember seeing something for Alton Park 10k. Now, back in the day, that was my favourite 10k that I'd ever done was running around the Alton Park racetrack. Big fan of motorbike racing.
00:05:47
Speaker
um So for me, it was kind of, yes, I'm going to redo Alton Park 10k. So I set myself that goal for November. And Again, still a month before my original plan of doing a 5k.
00:06:03
Speaker
um So set myself that goal of doing that 10k for Alton Park. um And Storm
Achievements and Ultramarathon
00:06:10
Speaker
Burt hit. I had a target that I wanted to do it in an hour. ah did it in ah an hour and two minutes in 70 mile an hour winds with the white rain lashing as you run around the track.
00:06:20
Speaker
ah But yeah, so it you know we we did that and it was great fun and then we were soaked and we were freezing and whatever. And ah So we did that, but it just kind of kept on the momentum really of I forgot how much I enjoyed running and actually how much it helped with my grief of I hadn't realised and I think I looked backwards every time I felt a bit sad or a bit rubbish.
00:06:48
Speaker
It's just like, I'm just going to go out for a run or because it just clears your mind. Put my headphones in, go out for a run. And I've run around like cities and places I've never been before. And my kind of thing is, oh, well, if I just keep turning left, I'm going to end up back where I started.
00:07:05
Speaker
um you know, going lie. May or may not have got lost a few times and had to kind of get Google Maps out to find my way back. um But that's all in the fun as well. um And then, you know, because did suffer with my mental health, you know, but certainly around when my dad passed away, it was horrendous time for me because he was literally my best friend. I saw him every day.
00:07:31
Speaker
um if I didn't see him, I spoke to him at least three or four times a day. And he just like... Even now, I still go to pick the phone up to speak to him. and i'm not I know I can't anymore.
00:07:42
Speaker
um But I'll still send him a message or whatever. His phone sat here in my office at home next to me. And I know that it's there and it's that comfort thing. um But I saw a advert. I think it was on Instagram um to run the Aintree Half Marathon for mental health research. research in February I was like yeah let's do it so I signed up for that dragged Darren along for the ride um and we did that and it was snowing it was minus four in the snow I have never been so cold in my life questioned my life choices ah certainly at the start line I stood there so like four layers of clothing thinking oh my god this is just what are we even doing and ended up running my fastest half marathon I've ever run in my life at the age of 43
00:08:36
Speaker
That's incredible. So I aimed for 2.15 and I got 2.15. Yeah, so my previous was like, I think my last Tuesday half was like two hours and 59 or so. I know it was just under the three hour mark.
00:08:51
Speaker
um So, you know, to be able to knock 45 minutes off 10 years later was just, you know, it's meant it just kind of gives me that push as well of how far I've come.
00:09:04
Speaker
um And then, of course, I got the notification then that I'd won this free entry into the Race to the Kings Ultramarathon. um We dented the competition at the running show.
00:09:15
Speaker
And I remember seeing the email coming going, oh, you know, congratulations, you've won, you were like the closest, because we had to guess how long, what the average time is to complete a 100 kilometre ultramarathon.
00:09:29
Speaker
And I was like a minute out, which, was you know, wild guess, but hey-ho, you know, it worked. So I sat there thinking, it was 15 hours and 47 minutes is the average time to complete 100 kilometres.
00:09:45
Speaker
pretty impressive um so you know I've never never in a million years did I think I would be able to run a hundred you know ah an ultra marathon um I had the option of doing the 50 or the 100 and was like right if I'm gonna do it I'm you know I'm just I'm i'm just gonna do the 50 I'm not going straight in for the killer you know on my very first one because truth be told I didn't know if I would be able to complete it I didn't know if my hip would hold out because it it still niggles. It's not completely gone away, but, it you know, it still niggles. It lets me know when I've done too much.
00:10:24
Speaker
um And, yeah, so we obviously we started training that. So we've kind of been running half marathons as a training plan, if you like, for the for the ultra.
00:10:36
Speaker
Yeah, so tell us about your experience of Race to the King then. How was it? Were you initially, we were you always going to do it or was there a point where you thought, oh no, I can't possibly manage this? ah So there there was a point and I was just like, oh my God, I've never, never even thought of even doing this, even like back, you know, back in the day.
00:10:55
Speaker
was never something I thought I could do. And i was just like, you know what, actually, I'm going to try it. If I don't do it, I don't do it. It's not the end of the world. I've at least tried and I've not given up. um So we did lots of training and we were running like half marathons for fun as part of the training route. um So I live out in the village and there is such lovely running routes around here. It's amazing.
00:11:17
Speaker
um So, yeah, so we took ourselves off. Well, we had a bit of a chaotic week um at work the week before and I kind of give myself ah rest week. like but I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to chill out ready for Saturday.
00:11:32
Speaker
It was in the middle of the heatwave. And then I got a call, can I go to Amsterdam to sort out one of our contracts? So off I flew to Amsterdam on the Tuesday morning, came back on the Thursday night, drove down to Portsmouth on the Friday night, about 130,000 steps in because you don't rest in Amsterdam.
00:11:49
Speaker
um So Saturday morning we got And the weather forecast for the Saturday was 36 degrees. We got down to the start um for half six and it was already 29 degrees. um And we definitely questioned our life choices.
00:12:07
Speaker
Yeah. Like this is like running on holiday. Yeah. But again, we just kind of went through that kind of, you know what? We're here, let's go. we need to play, we need to play, and it is what it is.
00:12:23
Speaker
So we we cracked on. The first 10K was all right, because it wasn't quite, well, yeah it was 29 degrees, but it wasn't obviously really bacon, because the sun wasn't quite out. um And then as we kind of did sort of the middle bit, so between sort of 10 and 25 kilometers,
00:12:41
Speaker
My foot started to really hurt and I was like, oh man, alive. um So we got to the second checkpoint and Darren said to me, he's like, this is where you can pull out. He said, if you need to pull out.
00:12:54
Speaker
And I'm like, how far are we in? And it's like 29 kilometers. was like, I'm over halfway. I'm not pulling out. So I said to the girl, I thought listen said, I've got a blister on my foot. I said, I'm not looking at it because if I look at it, I'm probably going to pull out.
00:13:06
Speaker
So I took my shoe off and she dressed it all for me. um And I cracked on. I'm not going to lie. It really hurt. It was really painful. um But we just cracked on. We did fair bit of walking in between because it was just so hot. it was And it was because it was so open, it was in the baking sunshine.
00:13:29
Speaker
um You know, we got the sun cream on, we got hats on, we were soaking ourselves in the you know extra bits of water and things like that. um And then we got to the 38 kilometre checkpoint and my other foot had blistered.
00:13:43
Speaker
um And this is not about... rubbish running shoes or rubbish running socks they you know I'd got um my Brooks's Glycerin Max's on love those trainers they are the best trainers I've ever had me in my life um and you know really good running socks it was just from the pure heat um was what the blisters were from um but we cracked on and then at 40 kilometers my knees went um And I i ah did nearly pull out at 40 kilometres.
00:14:12
Speaker
And I'm like, no, I can't. I'm literally, I'm an hour away from the finish. That was all I kept thinking was I'm an hour away from the finish. I'm an hour away. I'm going to crack on with it. um Going downhill was horrific.
00:14:25
Speaker
absolutely horrific I've never experienced pain like it in all my life and my poor knees there was a guy behind us and he's like I've got some two grips in my bag would you like them he was literally my guardian angel that day because it absolutely helped to get over um and we managed to run the last we ran the last two kilometers I just ran through the pain um and we got we got over the finish line in just over nine hours which I was ah wasn't disappointed with because hey I did it um but we'd kind of trained I think to do it in sort of six and a half seven but because of the heat and obviously the
00:15:09
Speaker
that the My blisters on my feet were just not pretty. They were literally round both of my heels all the way round. It was horrendous. I've never seen blisters like it in all my life.
00:15:22
Speaker
um And the heat, obviously, you know, the 35 degrees. but did it in nine hours. was It was nine hours faster than the people sat on the sofa, wasn't it?
Community and Future Goals
00:15:30
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. i Tough day, yeah.
00:15:34
Speaker
and It was a really tough day, but we absolutely... Loved it. And that is really weird because there were times, like I said, that I wanted to give up, ah but it was definitely mind over matter.
00:15:47
Speaker
Um, and we cracked on, we did it. We ran over the finish line together and that was exactly how I wanted it to be. I'm sure Darren probably could have finished it in about four hours, but he stayed with me the entire time. Um, um,
00:16:03
Speaker
um And then we took ourselves off to Benadorm for four days to recover. home And then came back and we went off to the gym and we were talking to Si and he was like, oh, you're doing the 10K at the weekend? I was like, oh, I don't know, because we obviously we're still recovering from the ultra and...
00:16:22
Speaker
We went off into town on a Saturday afternoon and said to her, and I was like, if we don't do it, we're just going to get runner's envy. So we um did the shoes for 10K two weeks after the ultra.
00:16:33
Speaker
It rained a little bit in the morning. We like a bit of extreme weather. We like a bit of extreme weather.
00:16:41
Speaker
We do like a bit of extreme weather. um so yeah, so I did the 10 K with a dodgy knee, um, with our friend as well, who'd never run 10 K in her life. The furthest she'd ever run was seven. Um, so I, I did that with her. um and we did it in like an hour and six minutes, which, you know, for somebody that had never run a 10 K to do it in that time was really, really good.
00:17:04
Speaker
um And to be honest, my knee gave in and I was just really happy to get over the finish line. um You know, those little sneaky hills that come in in and around Shrewsbury is so like for us that are local to Shrewsbury, we know where those hills are so we can prepare ourselves.
00:17:21
Speaker
um For those guys that are not local to Shrewsbury, go and do some training to do some running. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. bad yeah Yeah, those hill trains in.
00:17:32
Speaker
um But yeah, so, you know, we've had a couple of a good couple of weeks where we've just done some like little recovery runs and, and things like that and not really beating ourselves up that we've not been doing the mileage that we were doing.
00:17:44
Speaker
um But training has definitely picked up this last week or so. So we run on a Tuesday night with Shrewsbury Renegades, so part of their run club on a Tuesday night.
00:17:55
Speaker
So we were right with them on Tuesday this week and we did a little 10k around the time over the hills and up um over doctors fields and then back down Port Hill.
00:18:06
Speaker
Port Hill is a really good hill for those people that are not local to Shrewsbury. um And so is the Wild Cup. um But yeah, so we are, um you know, sort of definitely ready for for our half marathon.
00:18:20
Speaker
um and Is it four weeks, five weeks? four weeks at the time of and It's five weeks at the time of recording because it's the 28th of September, isn't it? yeah Yes, and so we will be just back from Dubai, so we'll be having a little training run in Dubai, I'm sure, a bit of extreme heat racing. Racing that heat from the ultra, yeah. yeah Yeah, that's it, extreme heat running in Dubai, so probably running with a bit of jet lag too, yeah um which will be even more fun, hey?
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah. ah yeah no We're really looking forward to it. and obviously like you know It's the first one that we've done in it'll be nine years i think since we did the last one. Quite a build-up for you the last one, I would imagine. em yeah yeah that's it so i like I volunteered last year. um with chris and co obviously because i joined pareto in the may time um and um it was kind of like i probably could have a little run at this now because obviously i was in the training for the 10k and i thought oh i could um
00:19:26
Speaker
probably do like I should have done the there's the metric half or something but yeah we did the volunteering so I didn't want to push myself too far but definitely you know ah made a pact with Chris to say you know that we're definitely going to run it this year um and this is where we are Yeah, that was it must be really nice working for a company that sponsors your local half marathon as well. like That's really cool. did Do they find out what's the bottom of you for training and things?
00:19:53
Speaker
That's it. So obviously, you know, they've got, you know, the support team and stuff. And there's quite a few of us in Pareto who are quite avid runners. um But certainly, you know, the Shoesby one for me, it's kind of because it's my home time race, but also that with the kids' training,
00:20:09
Speaker
um half marathon that they do as well my nephews and nieces take part in that and it's also you know it's always really nice to see them coming kind of go going through their little running journey as well there there's only a couple of them left in that sort of junior school um age group now but yeah it is really nice to see that and the support that they give out to the kids and their little t-shirts and stuff my brother always sends me the picture of them in their Pareto t-shirts um But yeah, ah you know, working for for a company who really do support the local communities that we all work in as well, which is really, you know, that's really positive.
00:20:50
Speaker
um And, you know, being being able to be involved in that again is just, yeah, it's really lovely. Yeah. So what are your expectations for the half?
00:21:01
Speaker
Have you got a goal that you set for yourself? Yeah. So I'm going to go. I'm going to put it out there. I'm going. So my Strava at the minute thinks I can run a half marathon in two hours and 10 minutes.
00:21:14
Speaker
Yeah. So that is what I'm going for. Exciting. I will best of luck with that because that with that would, of course, be a PB for you. Yeah. thats That will be a PB. Yeah. Yeah. So anything under 215 will be a PB. So I'm good. But I'm going to go for a 210.
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah, and and Darren's running it with you as well, is he, this year? you will you He won't run with me, but he'll be running it. He'll be under two hours, I can guarantee that. Yeah, he will not run it with me.
00:21:40
Speaker
yeah oh yeah He'll be about, he'll be on the course somewhere. Yeah, and he'll be cheering you over that finish line as well, i won't he? Oh, yeah, definitely. definite He's been my biggest supporter. And I think, you know, even from, you know, ah we've been married 20 years this year. And I think, you know, him seeing how far I've come in the last 18 months of obviously, like i said,
00:22:02
Speaker
At the beginning, not being able to walk for even 10 minutes without being in absolute excruciating pain um you know to where I am now. um you know With the running and we're doing the high rocks in December, so we've got a high rock training in between.
00:22:18
Speaker
um sort of three or four classes a week with different strength bits and all the rest of it I think you know like said he's been my massive massive supporter and I think deep down he doesn't say it very often but deep down I think he's like super proud of me sure he is yeah and it's really important to have someone like that cheering you on as well isn't it really helps with motivation yeah yeah definitely And like, I bet my little brother just thinks I'm a little bit mental.
00:22:45
Speaker
but He's like, seriously, I send him like screenshots of my run and stuff because he's like, where you run today? What shape have you run in today? And some of the shapes of our runs have been a little bit dodge.
00:22:56
Speaker
um Certainly when we're out running in Fuerte Ventura, the shape of those runs are very... young odd. It wasn't purposely either, it was the first time we did it i was like, oh my god, look at the shape of this room.
00:23:12
Speaker
That's one of the points as well, haven't you? Yeah. Yeah, that that's it. So yeah, so we've got a little bit of fun in between, but yeah, my my my brothers think I'm a little bit crazy.
00:23:24
Speaker
ae You know, we' we're all in our 40s. I mean, Darren's 53, you know, and he's still running faster than I am and probably quicker than he's ever done. We said between us in the last 18 months, just over 18 months, we've lost 10 stone.
Motivation and Conclusion
00:23:40
Speaker
Wow.
00:23:41
Speaker
and aron you know Darren's lost a couple of stone himself as well, which has been really positive. And we didn't actually realise until we took, but I think was the photo of the race for the Kings. And was like, oh my God, we both look so different.
00:23:54
Speaker
Wow. um So, yeah, so it's been definitely a big part of of my recovery, if you like. And um certainly a big part of my weight loss journey for the last 18 months has been getting out putting my shoes on and off for a run.
00:24:08
Speaker
So what's if someone's sitting out there now listening is is in the same position you were 18 months ago. You know, what would you say to them? How how do they get started? what's What's that first step?
00:24:22
Speaker
I think it's having the belief that you can do it and it's your mind over matter. If your mind tells you to stop, then you're going to stop. If you just play through that, whether that's putting on, you know, running with music, running without music, I can kind of run with or without now, but but at the very start I was with my music the whole time.
00:24:46
Speaker
um But I would definitely say if I can do it, then somebody else definitely can. Um, and also, you know, it's free.
00:24:59
Speaker
It's something sometimes at the hardest, the hardest start to your run is the very first step. You know, if you sit there and think, oh, can I be both bothered today? and your but And your mind tells you, look, you can't be bothered, then you can't be bothered.
00:25:12
Speaker
So it's about just putting on your trainers and getting out there and going to do it. Um, And like for me, I've got really little feet. This is really funny. So I've got really little feet.
00:25:25
Speaker
um And I've always run in kids trainers yeah um because they're cheaper. going to lie. They are way cheaper. um And Darren bought me. So obviously when I'd started running again last year, Darren bought me a pair of Brooks's Ghost 16s, the park run edition.
00:25:43
Speaker
yeah And I had a small heart attack when he told me how much he paid for these trainers. but of course now I'm a little bit addicted and I've probably got I think I've got seven pairs of trainers um that I am in the process of um kind of running through and doing different bits so I'll alternate them um and yeah but my brookses are definitely my favorite trainers get your trainers on get your foot out the door and off your pop that's the easiest way to do it
00:26:17
Speaker
Yeah, and that's it. That's all it takes. Just one step, isn't it? Yeah, that's brilliant advice.
00:26:23
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. And it's finished lines, not finished times. I think that is my favourite saying ever, because it doesn't matter if you do in 47 minutes or 26 minutes.
00:26:36
Speaker
um That's my PB. um I did that two weeks ago, very proud of myself. um You know, it's literally it's the same distance. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to do.
00:26:47
Speaker
Yeah. Well, thank you very much, Gemma, for sharing your story. It's very inspiring and it just shows what's possible when you set your mind to it, doesn't it? and And I'm really pleased that you're in a space where you're happy now. Well, thanks for having me. It's been great chatting to you.
00:27:04
Speaker
Yeah, so all all the very best with Shrewsbury Half Marathon. And of course, a big thank you to Pareto for headlining ah the headline sponsor. and So that's happening, Shrewsbury Half Marathon and the Metric Half Marathon on Sunday, the 28th of September. And if you haven't signed up yet, now's the time. It promises to be a fantastic day. So all the best with your goals, Gemma. We'll be cheering you and Darren on in Shrewsbury.
00:27:26
Speaker
Fab. Thanks, Sal. ah Thank you, everyone, for listening. So lace up and sign up. And remember, finish lines, finish times. Until the next episode.