Against All Odds

 

Against All Odds - Carol Head

By rights I really shouldn’t be a Dirty Dozen ambassador; I should be at home on my sofa recovering from my brain surgery. But that’s not the way I’ve chosen to live my life! So despite the pain I have to deal with on a daily basis, I go out any try with all my heart to improve my fitness and have fun.

A lot of people don’t understand why I chose to push myself to achieve these things, but for me it’s to prove I still can. I’m not ready to let my condition win yet! I don’t know how long I will be able to take part in obstacle course races, or even how long I’ll be able to walk by myself.

So whilst I can, I will – that has become a bit of a motto I tell myself.

I know I’m extremely lucky to be able to do the things I’m doing and I’m grateful every morning when I wake up and the pain is bearable. Sometimes I’m way too hard on myself, I forget it’s only been a few months since I wasn’t able to walk. I want to do it all now. After Dirty Dozen race in April I was on a huge high, but a week later I was struck down with viral meningitis. I was devastated, especially as it was over my sons birthday weekend. Although I should have been focusing on the incredible fact I’d ran the Dirty Dash, all I could remember was how my body had once again let me down.

But then I had an epiphany – maybe my body was letting me down, but was I also letting my body down? I’ve never smoked or drunk to excess, but I’ve never really had the knowledge on how to fuel my body right. So I read a book on clean eating and took the important message from it that fad diets won’t work!

It’s not about losing weight, it’s about eating healthy.

Nowadays I pay much less attention to how much I weigh and more about how good I feel. I was also finding it hard to get the motivation to get out and get training. So I joined The Bootcamp Group which, at first, I was a little nervous about but my friends came with me. Everyone looked so fit and professional it was a little daunting. But joining that first night was the best thing I’ve done. I now have the motivation again and look forward to every session. Everyone in the group is incredibly supportive even if I’m one of the slowest. But, most importantly, no one treats me different even when my body isn’t doing what it should, and that’s why I think OCR and Bootcamp works for me.

Against All Odds - Carol Head with Boot Camp group
Everyone excepts each other no matter what they’re differences are. I still have to fight with my body, at the moment I am having problems with my leg having extreme spasms after extreme exercise. But I’m out there trying to fight this disability for as long as I can, so if you see me hobbling about after a race, feel free to give me a hand to the nearest bench :-)

 

Carol Head is our Dirty Dozen ambassadors who had a brain surgery back in 2014, however this didn’t stop her from completing her first Dirty Dozen race back in April. She has both a learning difficulty and a physical disability yet she can do anything she puts her mind too and, most importantly, she can do it with a smile! Read her life story here 

 
Putting another demon to bed – Part 1 →
Privacy policy I Terms of use I Waiver

© 2015 TFA Events Ltd

Company number:

Dirty Dozen Races (trading name of TFA Events Ltd)

ENTER NOW