Nominated by Jordan Wildrianne, her colleague at The Derby Runner, Carolyn is the latest winner in our Brooks Run Happy competition series

NEVER GIVE UP ON SOMETHING YOU LOVE!

Carolyn is a lover of running, especially long distance and fell races, but she was out of action for almost two years due to ongoing health and personal issues.

She finally got back to running at the end of last summer, but couldn t even manage a mile in under 15 minutes, a standard that would never have been an issue in the past. But when you have such a passion about your sport, you just have to persevere, so she started on her long journey back to some sort of fitness.

Carolyn is now back to running five times a week and recently completed the Passing Clouds Fell Race nine miles of extremely tough fell running over The Roaches and although she was 20 minutes down on her best time she was just happy to be running without any issues.

She went on to run a half marathon, her first one for a good number of years.

She is an inspiration to us all at the shop and an example of why you just have to keep on going when your passion runs so deep. Good luck Carolyn. Never give up.

WHAT MAKES YOU RUN HAPPY?

Brooks believes in the transformative power of the run. The run can turn a day or a life completely around and can flat-out change the world.

That’s why each month they’re rewarding one AW reader for sharing what makes them Run Happy. We want to hear all about your Run Happy experience, whether it’s a first race, a new PB or a moment that changed your race around. It can be anything.

Each month we will pick our favourite story. Not only will it appear in Athletics Weekly, but the owner of that story will receive Brooks kit including footwear, a jacket and a tee.

Click here for further details and to submit your story.

On Twitter? Why not get social?! We’d love for you to share your stories and pictures on Twitter too – just tweet @AthleticsWeekly and @Brooksrunninguk using the hashtag #RUNHAPPYRACES.

The post My Run Happy story: Carolyn Hopkinson appeared first on Athletics Weekly.