Making new international friends

I remember the first time I got a comment on my blog from someone outside of the UK.

It was a spooky feeling, because I hadn’t been blogging long and most of my posts only got a handful of views anyway, and most of them were from friends and family.

However, a lady from the states commented on a post I had written about coming last and she said it made her feel better as she often came last too.

Such a simple comment, but it made me realise how powerful blogging could be.

After a while as a blogger though you do get a bit blasé about your international reach, I mean over the last few years The Fat Girls Guide to Running has had so much press and PR in other countries, it has truly become a global movement….leading to all kinds of exciting opportunities for me.

  • OneBigFatRun our virtual 5K has participants from Canada, Indonesia, Finland, South Africa….and many other places too.
  • Our online running club The Clubhouse this weekend signed up its first Asian member, a lovely lady from India…joining our almost 200 members from Europe, America and Australia.
  • We feature our international followers as part of our Runner of the Month initative
  • And I have featured in International print, radio and TV media including the Today Show in the states, Marie Claire New Zealand and a whole heap of German magazines which I always need help translating.

I guess though there are some stories, some messages that are truly global, that make sense wherever you are in the world. Stories about self love, freedom, community and authenticity.

Which is why I felt so honoured on Friday when this little beauty popped up on my Instagram account.

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This little girl is from Vancouver in Canada and her class at school were asked to bring in pictures of people who look healthy, as her mum explains…

My daughter’s class is doing healthy choices. They were taken on a field trip to the grocery store and were told not to drink chocolate milk and did an exercise where they rated how good or bad food was. They also were asked to bring in photos of “people who look healthy.” I must be doing something okay because she told me she wanted to do a project that wasn’t about looking thin = being healthy and how you can’t tell how healthy someone is by how they look. We read a bunch of articles on #plussize #athletes and she picked the ones she found inspiring and powerful.

I was so chuffed to be included on her collage alongside other awesome plussize role models of mine @rozthediva @mynameisjessamyn (who I met last year) @erik_cav5493 @roblympian and Jennifer Stratoti

Educating our children, especially our female children about our bodies is so important. This is not about encouraging obesity, but celebrating diverse bodies and focussing on what makes us feel healthier and happier in our lives, which will be different for every body!!!

I have had a tough year. Some highs for sure, but lots of lows too…lots of frustrations with not being able to grow the business or get it to a point where I can pay myself a proper salary. But things like this make me realise that the Too Fat to Run Movement is so much bigger than me, it’s about supporting an important shift is consciousness, a shift that is happening on a global scale.

I am on a drive to increase the membership of our online running club The Clubhouse, in principle it is the worlds only online running club for plus size women, but in reality what it is is the most supportive online space you will ever find, where people just happen to run, or walk.

Each month we have a different theme which gets us thinking about health and happiness in its broadest sense with guest experts, and there are weekly training sessions you can take part in if you want. We organise virtual and real training buddies, and race meet ups where members are close enough to each other.

We have women who are training for marathons and half marathons, women who are just starting out, and everything in between.

The real value though is in our closed Facebook community where women 100% support each other no matter what they are going through. There is so much love and care in the posts I see there each day it blows my mind. And remember many of these women are 100s of miles away from each other, yet they still feel connected as if they were family.

The Clubhouse costs just £59 for the year, less than the price of a coffee each week

Sign up here and help us grow our online community today

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