It was funny to be addressed as Miss Wheezy in real life. 

When I chose the name for the blog, I never really thought about people actually calling me it. And while I’m now “not-so-wheezy” thanks to running and regular exercise, after the thrill of being addressed by my blog name in person I’m not sure I could change it!

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On Sunday I attended Write This Run at Hampton Court golf club, a running and blogging conference organised by Laura Fountain and Liz Goodchild.

It was generally a little bit of a surreal experience – as if some of your favourite storybook characters had suddenly come to life and were in the same room as you! All these people whose faces I knew, whose running journeys I was familiar with, whose lives I caught glimpses of on a daily basis, there, in the flesh, in “3D” as one person put it. Bizarre…

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But also incredibly exciting! It was amazing to be able to extend these virtual friendships into the real world, to finally chat without a keyboard in front of me, to actually share our love of running in a run together, to laugh out loud, not “lol”. I loved it 🙂

Me and Claire, from Flake and Cake 🙂

I was particularly excited to meet Claire, who’d made the drive up from Bristol just for the day, and whose blog Flake and Cake I love! 🙂

The event itself was brilliant- well organised, and with so much information to take away I think it will take me months to put it all into practice.

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From the inspirational and informative speakers, of which there were many, to the BBQ in the sunshine, complete with Chobani “cheesecake” yoghurt, it was fantastic.

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We even got to test out some On running shoes during our end of the day run around Hampton Court Park, with none other than Olympic athlete Scott Overall– and I say “with” very loosely, I was most definitely several hundred metres behind him!

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It wasn’t about speeding though, not for me anyway- I had a lovely chat with the Race Bunny whose “27 Races” adventure I’ve been following avidly, and reflected on the day.

Many people have already written recaps, and addressed the main take-home points but I think for me, from a blogging point of view, it was about embracing uniqueness, and not being afraid to take risks. There are 173 million (and counting!) blogs on the Internet, so part of the challenge is producing content that will make you stand out. This can mean pushing outside your comfort zone, and letting your blog reflect who you really are.

The anonymity of blogging is something which has been discussed quite a lot, and how it’s sometimes easy to put on a perfect face to the world. Yet the overwhelming message from speakers at Write This Run was to be honest, write from the heart, and don’t pretend to be something you’re not!

From the running side of things, my goal of running a 10k pales into insignificance compared with the achievements of people such as Marvellous Mimi and 52 Marathon Man! But despite that, I feel inspired by their amazing feats, and think that I can still follow in their footsteps of pushing the boundaries, however small.

Thanks to Liz and Laura for such a fantastic day. I will definitely be signing up for next year- here’s hoping Miss Wheezy is still going strong!

Beki x