Hello,
Welcome to Out And Back. I am excited to finally launch this weekly newsletter to share tips, rumination, information, stories and many more things from life in sport and the outdoors.
I have had the quote “YOU JUST HAVE TO START” digitally pinned to my computer screen for months while I figured out how it was all going to work and weighed up whether it was pie in the sky or a viable endeavour.
This quote kept reminding me that if you wait for something to be perfect before going for it, you’ll be waiting a long time, and my favourite philosophy: you never know until you try. So here we are.
Who am I?
I am a journalist and senior editor, and I’ve covered sport from the inside out for the last 10 years. I’ve worked for national and international media organisations from newspapers and magazines to online and TV.
I’ve spent 20-odd years of my life being outdoors in the North-West of England - 15 of those doing competitive sport. This newsletter is a culmination of all of that, and lots of people I met along the way.
After a sporty youth doing all the niche sports and on the school teams, I moved to triathlon around 2010 and competed in sprint, standard and middle distance in the UK and Europe until around 2018.
Now I focus on running, swimming and weightlifting, and generally being outdoors as much as possible in my home of Cumbria, UK. I’m also a coach, but more on that later.
What to expect:
Naturally, I have big and exciting plans that will see the light of day over time. There will be a combination of running and training tips but in the form of lessons from experience and storytelling, as well as researched articles, guest columns and interviews coming later.
On the about page, it says “sustainable active lifestyle”, what does it mean? Ultimately, it’s about approaching sport, fitness and adventure challenges with a long-term mindset and knowing there is no rush or time limit. It’s about it being a lifestyle, maintaining health, fitness, and fun while doing it. There are no shortcuts to success and achieving goals. It takes patience, adjustment, balance, and hard work (among other things), which are some of the themes that underpin the content to come.
Housekeeping reminder:
A paid subscription supports the work, information, and resources that go into it as well as the people behind it. It means future editions can continue to provide useful content, and you can benefit from the offers that will come shortly.
You can support the growth by sharing with your friends and colleagues, on social media and getting in touch.
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Happy reading.
Niamh