When Hannah first came to me, she was very honest about where she was.

She told me she completely lacked motivation, knew she needed to make a change and wanted some help getting herself back on track.

At that point, I don’t think she had any idea just how far she was going to come.

She started with one goal: to feel better, get fitter and make a change.

What happened after that is exactly why I love doing this job.

Hannah committed herself to the process. She trained consistently, worked hard and gradually became stronger, fitter and more confident.

Her original Google review still makes me smile because she wrote that she almost felt like a different person. She said she had started the programme with very little motivation and never thought she would come as far as she did so quickly.

That change wasn’t just physical.

Yes, she lost weight and improved her fitness, but the biggest thing I saw was her confidence grow.

She started looking forward to training.

Things that once felt difficult became achievable.

Then the goals started getting bigger.

Recently, Hannah completed her first half marathon.

That in itself is a huge achievement.

Running 13.1 miles takes training, determination, resilience and a fair bit of stubbornness when your legs start telling you they have had enough!

But after she finished it, I said something to her that I genuinely believed:

“If you can run a half marathon, you can run a full one.”

And now she has only gone and got into the London Marathon.

I am ridiculously proud of her.

Not just because she is going to run a marathon, but because of what that represents.

This is someone who originally came to me saying she lacked motivation.

Now she is preparing to take on 26.2 miles.

That is the part people sometimes miss when they look at somebody else’s achievements.

They see the marathon.

They don’t always see the person at the beginning who wasn’t confident, wasn’t motivated and wasn’t sure how far they could go.

Fitness can change so much more than how you look.

It can change what you believe you are capable of.

You start by doing one thing you didn’t think you could do.

Then another.

Then eventually you find yourself signing up for something that the old version of you would probably have thought was completely impossible.

Hannah has worked for every bit of the progress she has made, and she deserves to feel incredibly proud of herself.

I certainly am.

From “I need to make a change” to the London Marathon.

That is quite a journey. ❤️