Karen is a bright, loud and funny secondary school teacher. She currently teaches English and Performing Arts and when she retires next year she plans to have a go at stand-up comedy. 

"I love performing to an audience," she says. 

Karen has also experienced  some very extreme lows in her life  struggling with depression and anxiety. One episode,  after the birth of her son due to post-natal depression led to her being sectioned.  

Karen was a county athlete and started running as a teenager. She  has continued to run throughout her adult life – consistently for the last 40 years. For her, it is a way of helping process the anxiety, the anger and frustration that are part of her mental struggles. It quite literally helps her to burn away the excess adrenalin that contributes to her anxiety. 

" I know when I’m doing it that I will feel absolutely great when I’ve finished and that reward is enough to make me do it," she says. 

Karen laughs that she can be quite an angry runner and it certainly isn't a calming experience for her. She loves to run alone and is competitive about her time. "God help anyone who gets in my way!" she says. 

If she doesn't run, Karen can get quite low. "The idea of not running is too frightening. I’m frightened that my mind will start to go and I’ll go in to some kind of dark place. When I’m very, very, very ill, I can’t run, because I’m just too frightened and I become quite agoraphobic. But that’s not happened very much."

 Karen’s life is one of extreme emotions and she says she wouldn’t want it any different – for if she lost the low moments of despair, she would also lose the high moments of joy too. 

PLEASE NOTE - this episode contains references to suicide. 

 Read Karen's full story here

Instagram and Facebook: @whyrunpodcast

For further information about Why Run? visit: www.whyrun.uk

Thank you for listening today.
For more details on Why Run? visit: www.whyrun.uk
Follow @whyrunpodcast on Instagram and Facebook
And if you've enjoyed the show, do please leave a review and tell your friends.