How do you like to keep active? What activities do you enjoy the most?

I keep active by Running, Walking or Swimming. At this moment, I’m enjoying Running which was a surprise to me. I never understood why some people could go out and run for 30 / 60 or 90 minutes and enjoy it, but in 2023 I decided to start running and signed up to Couch to 5k and it surprised me how much I enjoyed being outside, running and seeing the progress I was making each week! Now in 2025 I’m running most days, 5k / 10k and the time flies by.

Why do you feel it is important to lead a physically active lifestyle?

All of us live busy lives and spend a lot of our time doing things for others and commitments that we can easily forget to look after and take the time out of our day for ourselves. I think it’s important to take time each day, even if its 30 minutes to spend being active and you’ll be surprised at the positive impact this will have with your Mental Health, Physical Health and general Wellbeing.

How does the Active Hub platform support your physical movement?

Active Hub motivates me to push further when I’m out on a walk or a run, knowing I’m part of a challenge (solo or Team). We all have days where motivation is low and the weather can decide whether we exercise or not, but with the Active Hub platform and events, I find these are great at pushing me to go out and exercise regardless of the weather.

What event on the Active Hub have you enjoyed the most?

I really enjoy the Move for 30 challenges, pushing me to be active for 30 minutes a day for a period of time. However I recently completed the Big Team Run, virtually running along Scotland’s Iconic North Coast, as a team of 6 we completed the 500 miles with 2 days to go! It was a huge challenge and really pushed me to run further and more often and I was so proud when we completed the challenge.

How has participating in team events helped increase your engagement with other colleagues?

Massively, I’m super competitive and the Team Events encourage me to do more, whether its to run on a rest day or push an extra few kilometers. I also feel the Team Events motivate me to get out and move as I don’t want to feel like I’m letting my team mates down!

Has having the Active Hub in place via your employer enabled you to lead a more active lifestyle?

Before I used the Active Hub, I rarely exercised, I played football twice a week but that was it. I was introduced to the Active Hub when asked to join a Team in a Move for 30 challenge in 2022 and really enjoyed it. Since then I’ve signed up to many Events on the Active Hub, started running to achieve personal goals.

What is your 2025 active goal?

My Goal for 2025 is to run 1000km throughout the year. So far I’m 12km behind plan, but I have a few running events this year which will get me back on track!

Getting out the door to exercise is harder than the run itself – I always find getting home from work and getting back out the door to run was more of a challenge than the run itself. Once you’re outside and running, you feel a million dollars. Now I struggle with coming back home when running!