💜Week - 2025!💜
This weekend, I visited Birmingham to attend the first Keely Klassic!
I drove a couple of hours down the night before and stayed over. I did about 20k steps each day, getting up at 6am the morning of the Klassic so I could get 10k steps done before breakfast. #dedicationtomycaloriedeficit
Unfortunately, Keely Hodgkinson has picked up a tendon tear in her hamstring in the past week which is such a shame as she is in brilliant form so sadly, Keely was unable to go for her much-anticipated world record attempt in the 800m. But it was great to see how enthusiastically she threw herself into giving her fans such a great showcase of Athletics talent and fun regardless of her personal circumstances.
These cupcakes, brownies and rocky roads were naughty! I loved them 💓
Thank you to Keely for her warmth and kindness (just like when she was very kind at 2024's London Diamond League Q & A giving me guidance on going on my own journey with running post-spinal injuries💜) and for signing a programme for my family and for my best friend's son who is a huge fan!💜
I got a programme signed too for a volunteer at the event who was too shy to ask for herself. Jo, you were absolutely lovely. Thanks for chatting with me. x
That's it, that's the look.❤👄💄
Men's 60m Para and Georgia Hunter-Bell and Sarah Healy crushing the 1500m!👑👑
Men's Long Jump and Georgia in motion!💗
Lina Nielsen and Neil Gourley - new national indoor record breakers!💛💛
The atmosphere was electric and it was great to hear the crowd roaring getting behind the record attempts.
Amy Hunt!
Isabelle Boffey clinched the win at the Keely Klassic in 800m and here is the Women's 60m in motion!
Keely spent the event making her fan's days!
Molly Caudery and the post-1500m pain!
I was so impressed speaking to one of Keely's team who said this event was pulled together in three months... three months! An event like that I would think from doing event planning in the past, would be in the works for a year so the fact it ran so smoothly was impressive!
I am hoping the event just keeps growing and growing over the years which would be a great legacy to add to the inspiration Keely has instilled from young athletics and young sports fans!
I definitely recommend as a solo traveller, former athlete and Athletics fan and I recommend for families, children and teens and people of all ages! There was something for everyone.
A gent sat next to me was middle-aged and a fan who was planning on attending the Indoor Champs next week. It was such a friendly atmosphere and after having a lot of stress with my spinal injuries and worrying about the future lately, it gave me some much-needed relief and fun so thank you to Keely, her team and everyone involved!
A self-care positive:
Talking to my parents and best friend about how deeply stressed I have been about my fluctuating pain levels and struggling through my shifts at work at times. It felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders by opening up.
Another positive was having some days off and spending time in the Birmingham hotel, watching some tv this week and having liquid lipo done by a local therapist to help some of the stubborn fat/ cellulite pockets on my legs. *Trigger warning I am about to mention self harm so if you think this will upset you please scroll past this part.* //
I do have some insecurities about my legs due to the swelling I get (I have poor circulation) and the self-harm scars on my legs. I did used to feel more insecure about the stretch marks I have from my putting on and losing weight in such a short space of time but I did it as steadily as possible so it isn't too bad I don't think and I genuinely feel like the liquid lipo has helped tighten my skin slightly. A few days after the liquid lipo I did notice the appearance of my skin has slightly improved. //
Reflections:
I have been listening to some podcasts this week too which has helped me feel a bit more confidence about my abilities and insecurities as in we all have insecurities and we all have things we are dealing with or coping with mentally, physically and emotionally.
It is all too easy to see something about someone else or a snapshot of their life from briefly seeing them or a post on their social media or hearing about them from others but it doesn't show what is going on in that person's head, what they are battling against or what they struggle with. It is so easy for us to think that everything is amazing in someone else's life. But we all have our own unique journeys and our own thoughts and feelings.
It is all about focusing on your journey and knowing that self-love and self-confidence is an ever-evolving, often long and winding journey that you and only you can walk, noone else. If you earnt slightly more money, if you changed something about the way you look etc engaging in any magical thinking like this, it would be easy to think that that would be the solution to your problems. But life doesn't work that way. Whatever was bothering you before will still internally be there, you have to do the work on yourself and confront your feelings and problems and work through them. It's uncomfortable but it is worth it.
One of the podcasts I listened to was Olivia Attwood (Love Island, The Price of Perfection, Filthy Rich) speaking with Fearne Cotton and it was brilliant. Olivia spoke about how as a teenager with undiagnosed ADHD (I was diagnosed with ADHD at 16) she was very anxious (I was diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Clinical Depression aged 6...) since she was young. It was so helpful to me to hear her perspectives on how she realised when she had a list basically of things she feared as a child and the list just kept getting bigger and she didn't realise she was making her world smaller and smaller. This lead her to avoiding lots of things that make her scared and I think a lot of us with Anxiety can end up doing this.
She spoke about how helpful it is to try and each week do something small every week to challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone and I so agree with this. It is important to push your boundaries a little in order to ensure you are living your best life!
What sort of things are on my list? Wear the new clothes I have bought that are more figure fitting that I love that I wouldn't have had confidence to wear until recently and feel good in them. I would also like to try pole dancing lessons and I would love to do a fitness photoshoot in future when I am in my best shape to take photos for myself to keep to feel proud of!
Favourite snack of the week:
These GORGEOUS treats from the Keely Klassic - my favourite being the mouth melting rocky road!!💝💝
The brownie was next level and I loved the Valentine's themed cupcakes too!
Workout of the Week:
Last Monday, I did a Hyrox workout class and then I did a strength training workout. As promised, sharing my weight training workout. I don't always get to do all of the below but I did this time!
I introduced the leg press back into my strength training last week. I did it single-leg to ensure I am balancing out equal strength between the legs. I do a lot of my leg work unilaterally for this reason to avoid imbalances.
Favourite session:
My favourite session this week would be (you may be surprised if you read regularly as 9 times out of 10 I always say speed intervals day) my long run Sunday!💗💗
I did 9k easy-paced and then went speedy for my 1km. Thinking about transformations (read my next paragraph), comfortably pushing a very fast pace for 1km when I had just done 9km easily when I used to compete in 800m, is such a transformation in my stamina and endurance. Love it!
It is important for us all to remember and look back sometimes on how far we actually come because we don't do it enough, I know I don't. There are so many differences in these two photos and not just physical. Sure, there is about 100lbs difference between both photos, the one on the left was just after my spinal surgery really. I remember how utterly in agony I was, I was deep in post-operative pain and nerve pain as well.
The post-operative pain was almost unbearable. I was on morphine for a month after my surgery on top of my usual meds. I remember, going back to what I talked about in the reflections section above, how small my world was at the time. I remember all I could manage was small walks around my block for the first few weeks. But do you know what? I still do the same principles I did back then, I'm just a lot further along fitness wise than I was.
I had to rest a lot this time two years ago. As you can see in the pic, I was in my pjs and using my neck pillow a lot. Nowadays, I still make the effort to do my steps each day. I had to just build myself up over time.
My main point about transformation being that it was important that this post came up on my social media today. I have actually been feeling really down about my fluctuating pain levels, struggling to cope with it, the long road of treatment and recovery (I have just had an MRI, I am waiting for a nerve block injection and being admitted to the Walton Centre clinic) and the emotional ups and downs of this like feeling like a failure when my pain is interfering with my life and work and the confidence knocks that go along with it.
It was important for me to remember, as my best friend reminded me this week, how different my life was a few months ago, a year ago, two years ago and how far I have come and how hard I have worked to get here. Let this be your reminder from me to you, please take time to take stock of your progress especially when you feel your confidence in yourself slipping.
Remind yourself how strong you are, how capable, how you have an 100% record of making it through your toughest times and how you can always come through them but don't forget to rely on the support around you to help you do that.💞
Quotes of the Week:
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