Kelly Holmes: I fell out of love with running until one Saturday morning

Running in South Africa, the sun was shining with a big blue sky above.

It was a 5km parkrun at Zandvlei in South Africa and I was alongside people of all ages, from diverse backgrounds.

I thought to myself: ‘This is perfect.’

It’s part of my mini project to run parkruns in places that begin with every letter of the alphabet and I could now cross off ‘Z’.

In June this year, I crossed off Y for York, which was lovely to revisit after previously being stationed there in the Army. I have completed most of the alphabet but as there is no X I will count my one in Exeter instead!

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But even though I’m a double Olympic gold medalist, I almost fell out of love with running. It was parkrun that helped make me fall back in love with it again.

I started running when I was at secondary school in Tonbridge in Kent, England.

I wasn’t very academic, but I had this natural talent so my brilliant PE teacher Miss Page took me under her wing and became my mentor. In fact, she is still my friend to this day.

All I wanted to do at school was sport – anything else I hated. I have wanted to be an Olympic champion ever since I was 14 after watching the Games on TV.

Miss Page encouraged my mum to take me to the local athletics club, where I got hooked. I’d ride my bike to school from my village, then to the track, then back home three times a week. I was pretty dedicated to my fitness. 

I won my first English Schools Championships when I was 13 and my last at 17. I was selected as a junior international athlete. At 17, I also won gold at the mini Youth Olympic Games in Holland for the 800m, which was amazing. 

But I gave up pursuing my athletics to join the British Army a month before I was 18. I did start to run for the Army and then after a few years, they encouraged me to do the main UK championships, which I ended up winning.

It reignited my passion and my dream to be an Olympian.

When I was 24, I won my first international medal, winning gold at the Commonwealth Games. Then two weeks later, I won the European Silver medal.

But to try to juggle this while still being a soldier, I ended up using my Army leave to compete for Great Britain.

After winning two World Championship medals I had high hopes of winning my first Olympic medal when I was 26, unfortunately I ended up getting a stress fracture and came fourth. This is when I knew that I had to leave the military to become a full-time athlete.

It’s hard to describe the feeling I had when I won the two gold medals in Athens in 2004, aged 34. It was such a shock to win the 800 metre race, because I never, ever thought I would win gold. Then I won the 1,500 metres too.

It felt like I was in a dream and I knew that it’s a feeling that not many people get to experience.

I retired a year later in 2005 – not because of sport, but because someone I’d got to know died suddenly and I thought, why am I putting myself through this? I’d been to hell and back with injuries and training and I’d already achieved my dream of winning two Olympic golds.

I was a lot older than those winning now in their 20s. It was the right time. But when you leave sport, you get a sense of identity crisis, loss of purpose… what am I going to do? 

I stopped running for about six months and ate every takeaway you can imagine. I’m not going to lie, I loved it!

But then I realised that wasn’t me. I came from two very disciplined environments with the military and training, so losing that was a big shock and it affected my mental health.

I had already had a breakdown in 2003, and then after retiring I felt so low and depressed. I wasn’t sure who I was any more and what my purpose was. I did some great things over the next few years though, like set up my charity the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust in 2008, which is still going to this day. 

I first heard about my local parkrun in Tonbridge when I was training for the London marathon in 2016.

The social side of bringing everyone together all over the world at 9am on a Saturday (in England) to run their own 5km – regardless of what your fitness or background is – and then go for a coffee and a laugh afterwards, I thought it was brilliant. 

It might be someone’s only interaction with other people that day. Or they might be getting into exercise for the first time. Or they might just love what exercise makes their body and mind feel like after they have completed theirs and it’s about coming along to be part of the community.

Fitness means something different to every single person.

For me, I noticed as I was getting older and started going through the perimenopause I was getting more aches and pains. So doing these runs was easier than the intense training – along with taking Ancient and Brave collagen, which is supporting my muscles, tendons, ligaments – really helped my physical and mental health.

I don’t train to go fast anymore, I just do it to keep fit. There are times when I turn up and announce I’m there and have a chit chat and take pictures along the way.

Of course, when I turn up some people (mainly men) think it is their big chance to race me! So a lot of the time, I just pull my woolly hat on and run, just to get a good time for me and let them get on with it. 

Even I find some of the races tough. I was doing panto in Plymouth so I went to the Parkrun in Mount Edgecombe and it was hell! I like flat races, so going up and down the hills hurt a lot.

The best thing about parkrun is how inclusive it is. That’s why I would love to see even more people from diverse communities feel encouraged to come along and join in.

All you need are good trainers to support you and some loose clothing to breathe properly. Get a barcode from the website by signing up, then you can be your own competitor. Whether you are walking for your health, or are a young whipper snapper racing for your training, there’s room for everyone.

As for my personal goal of doing a parkrun in places that begin with every letter of the alphabet, I just have couple to go including – E.

So Eastbourne, I’m coming for you. 

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

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