Inspiring Success Stories come to you from the authentic voices of inspirational people I have coached during their health journey. These are the people that have looked fear, judgment, self-doubt and everyday struggles in the eye and have taken them on with wholehearted determination and now live a full and happy life.

Completing the New York Marathon

“I am officially a marathon runner and I am still smiling……………………..thank you Heidi”

One of my lifetime goals has been to run at least one marathon.  In 2006 I trained for the Sydney marathon for six months and just three weeks out I injured my knee at the end of my 32km run where I ended up on crutches and not able to walk for 2 weeks – of course that meant I had to watch the Sydney marathon from the sidelines.  Two years later I ran the Auckland Half marathon and this was the last time I actually did any running.  I still had the desire to run a marathon and when living in London I entered the ballot system in 2014 and 2015 and both times unsuccessful in getting in, so when I saw the ballot system for the New York marathon in Mar 2016, I thought why not try.

I first met Heidi at a networking event in April and heard her speak about Nutrition very briefly and was intrigued to know more and we agreed to meet the following week.  The day we met was the actual day that I found out that I had been accepted into the New York Marathon.  Instantly I knew I would need Heidi’s help if I was going to achieve this lifetime goal.

My knowledge and understanding of the importance of nutrition for training needed a lot of work and it was not easy.  I’m not someone who thinks about weight or diet, so putting in place discipline around nutrition was hard and I am grateful that Heidi kept me accountable on achieving these objectives weekly!  A by-product of good nutrition and training for a marathon did mean that over time I did lose weight, which was a great outcome that I hadn’t actually set as a goal.  By the end of the six months I had lost 12 kilos.

Training over summer for the marathon was hard and there were times when I didn’t want to train, but this is where the relationship of working with Heidi was invaluable.  It didn’t matter that during Summer Heidi wasn’t here in Dubai, as we were still able to have our scheduled catch-up’s that kept me on track.  Admittedly it took me three months to truly appreciate the level of commitment required in training for a marathon and with Heidi’s support I was up for it!

With Heidi’s experience in running ultra-marathon’s and our regular meetings the one key thing that I kept reminding myself of when running the marathon was to have fun!  Heidi would always say that on the day look to enjoy the run and have fun and I can say that I did!  Of course the great advice on how to run a marathon, so you can finish and not “hit the wall” goes without saying!

I can honestly say that I did enjoy the marathon and I will do more, but I want to get faster!  Therefore I am going to work on improving my speed by running a few half marathon’s first and then will go back to running another Marathon in a couple of years.  To date I am registered in the RAK Half Marathon on the 10^th Feb and running the Dubai Marathon 10 km race on the 20^th Jan.

I will continue to use the nutritional advice that I have learnt from having Heidi as my coach and highly recommend her coaching services to anyone who is serious about achieving their health or fitness goals!

I am officially a marathon runner and I am still smiling……………………..thank you Heidi you are awesome!

Joanne, Dubai, 2017