I’m Carol Morgan and I’m in my 50s. I am a nurse and a long distance runner, I am Irish and live in the North Lakes with my two rescue terriers and my long suffering husband.
I’ve worked as a nurse for over 30 years, initially in Ireland and since the late 1990’s in the UK. I have worked in many different areas, most recently in Accident & Emergency, and General Practice, both as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner. I have prescribed medications for years as part of my various roles. I hope to soon be able to use my prescribing powers to help in the health coaching setting, so I am working hard to fulfil the requirements of the Care Quality Commission first.
I was a late comer to fitness, although I did run and play hockey in school with a daily cycle commute. I smoked and drank heavily in my teens and twenties and did little or no exercise apart from walking to the bar, or home drunk from the pub. Close to my 30th birthday, I decided I needed to improve my lifestyle, this, I thought means giving up smoking and getting fitter. While it involved both of those things, it also involved long term lifestyle change: really, I was my own first client! I joined a gym and entered a Race For Life (these are 5 kilometre charity events: so similar to a parkrun both in ethos and distance). On my first session in the gym, I couldn’t continue running after 2 minutes on the treadmill! This was going to be an uphill struggle, as was the stopping smoking! Running and fitness slowly became key parts of my life, as smoking, eating badly and drinking became less important. I stopped drinking just before my 40th birthday, as a present to my future self. My lifestyle has gradually changed over the last 20 years and it continues to evolve, this does not mean I never eat cake and don’t enjoy a takeaway, far from it: however, these are occasional treats rather than a key focus of my everyday diet.
