MOVING MOUNTAINS

For me, 2016 was a life-changing year for a few reasons. Number one, I gave up drinking alcohol and embarked upon a life of sobriety, and – a close second – I took my first steps into the activity of trail running. Both were decisions that changed my life for the better, in ways I could never have imagined.

I took up running in 2009, following the birth of my fourth child. It’s important for me to say that I don’t come from a sport-oriented family, I didn’t run as a child and throughout my teenage years and twenties, I avoided any activity that involved being outdoors. Why? Because, as a mixed-race person, racialised as black, and living in a rural market town, my experience of rural racism meant the outdoors wasn’t a safe space for me, due to the