Rhubarb October 2022

INTERVIEW

I guess I’ve always gone against the grain, even if it would have been easier to have done athletics, especially as I was a keen runner.

met my husband, but he was very understanding and supportive of me being a student again.

How did you get involved in the Heroes of Telemark challenge?

What did you do when you first left Teddies?

I studied for a Fine Art Foundation and then Degree and graduated in 2009, straight into a recession and just like many of my contemporaries, I found job hunting quite stressful. Luckily, I fell into a PA job locally in the television industry and stayed there for two years. I then decided that I would like to join the Army.This afforded a very uncomfortable yet rewarding insight into my personality and values and enabled me to decide the direction my life was to go in, not staying in the Army but going back to university at 25. Eek!

I am a member of the Community Forces Wives Challenge, a group that unites military wives through adventure and challenge. I had been involved in a couple of their virtual challenges but had been unable to do any of the face-to-face challenges due to my husband being deployed and then Covid.When this challenge came up for grabs, I leapt at it, despite never having skied before. Training was wandering around Salisbury Plain pulling a tyre along behind me.Very often I was carrying a child on my shoulders and helping another up the hill whilst trying not to lose the three dogs! I mostly tried to fit training in around my day-to-day life as I knew it would be a mammoth task to train for the endurance side of things. I also wanted my girls to understand what I was doing so it was important for me to include them.They loved the tyre and still ask now if I am bringing it on our dog walk! What was the training like?

Was it easy changing direction in your career and going back to university in your mid-20s?

It was both the best and most difficult decision to make. I knew it was the right choice career-wise; I was not an office-type of person and was very excited to get into the healthcare industry but it was not easy watching my friends being promoted and living very dynamic lifestyles; it was difficult having no money to be able to join in! I had also just

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