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Clothes-shopping despair pushed a special-needs teacher into a gruelling training regime and international competition.
I was never very good at PE at school and I wasn't particularly sporty or active. Throughout my career, as a secondary music teacher and then teaching children with learning difficulties, I had always been rather overweight. One day I decided I needed new clothes, so I went into a shop in Northampton and tried on the size 16s that had always fitted me. But they didn't fit this time. This time it would have to be a size 18. I decided I needed to lose weight.
I started running, which was OK. My husband used to be in the Army, but when we went running together, he thought he was providing encouragement, but to me he was deliberately making it look effortless.
When I reached my goal - completing the Milton Keynes half marathon - I wanted a new challenge.
At the time I was...