July’s runner of the month is our very own Flying Finn, Nina, who is a British Champion, and competed at a World Championships, but not for running…
How long have you been running: Focused on it more about 3 years ago
Favourite Race: Disneyland Paris Half Marathon and Stuttgart Half Marathon
Favourite Distance: 10k and half marathon
Greatest Achievement: Lots of things in 2018: Synchronised Skating British Champions, Brighton Marathon and representing GB at WSSC 2018.
I’ve always been quite active, but never really liked running until few years ago.
My main sport has been figure skating/synchronised skating since I was about 4-years-old. Alongside all the skating I had to do some running to improve my general fitness, but I can’t say that I enjoyed it! Although I do remember running with my junior team and discussing what we wanted to eat when we got home, so that hasn’t changed!
After I quit my competitive career in Finland at the end of the season 08-09, I felt bit empty. What do I do now when I’m not training 20h+ a week? I moved to the UK for university and kept running and exercising, but not with the healthiest mindset. I wasn’t enjoying it.
After moving to Cardiff I started skating again, representing Great Britain this time. We ran 5Ks with the team and I kept running by myself. At some point I saw a fellow Finnish runner, Heli, post on Facebook about her running training. I mostly ran by myself but asked her who she ran with, as it would be nice to know more people in Cardiff. She introduced me to CDF Runners.
Running with the club has completely changed my view on running, I now look forward to runs and I run because I like it (I still sometimes hate it too, but it’s ok). I ran my first race quite soon after joining (Cardiff Half Marathon 2016) and have loved racing since. I recently ran my first full marathon in Brighton, which was the next weekend after skating at the 2018 World Synchronized Skating Championships. Training for both at the same time was tough but CDF Runners (and the skating family) have been a massive support.
I aim to do as many runs as I can with the club, which has allowed me to run routes I never would’ve even thought about. They also teach me useful life lessons, such as running a mile race (1609m for any Finns reading this) is not pleasant.