I have such a clear memory of this occasion. It was after an ‘all out’ interval session on indoor running tracks. This athletics centre was like my second home during many years in my youth.

I started thinking about sports injuries – I may have had a niggle myself at the time that brought it on. I was still a young teenager and not quite ready to think about my future too much yet. But whilst panting with the hands on my knees after the intense workout I just completed I suddenly had this vision in front of me. It was so out of the blue but I saw myself and how I one day would be treating sports injuries. Not everyday injuries/problems and health conditions but sports specific injures. I remember the feeling so clearly, I think because it wasn’t really about a dream profession. It was something I just knew could be my thing. And a decade later I actually did a degree in that type of field.

I guess my background has health and fitness written all over it. On a personal level with running and competing for most of my life. Then working with sports injures, sports massage and in running retail. It didn’t surprise anyone around me when I started pondering the idea of adding a qualification in personal training to my curriculum one day. This could be an excellent combination: being able to both train people and also help them recover from and/or prevent injuries in the first place. What a great idea and how perfect for me!

Well, it used to be a great idea. And then I got a prolapse, and everything changed.

But I couldn’t quite get the thought out of my head…. Maybe one day things will be better. Maybe one day I will get back to fitness again. Maybe one day it will be possible to live an active life both personally and professionally, like I really want. Maybe…hopefully…

Six months postpartum after my second baby. Prolapse symptoms were still horrendous and I was only doing little walks combined with pelvic floor training and light core exercises. Far from exciting in terms of training for me. But my hope was totally there.

So even if I was nowhere near ready at that point I enrolled on a personal trainer course. It was a spontaneous act where an offer I couldn’t ignore presented itself and I saw it as my calling. I knew I wasn’t ready for this challenge there and then – but I also knew that my physical recovery would take time and I was hopeful that over the following months lots could change.

The theory content of the course proved to be (partly) quite straightforward for me considering my previous knowledge and experience in health and fitness. Theoretically I was still a good candidate for this, and I genuinely felt it.

But would my body allow me to actually become a personal trainer!?