Laura Storey qualified as a Leader in Running Fitness in February 2016 after making significant changes to her lifestyle which saw her adopting a more active and healthier way of life.

LAURA STOREY - MY STORY

Through most of my 30s I had let work and my social life take priority over my health and fitness and to say I led a very unhealthy lifestyle is an understatement. I was then very fortunate to meet a PT who not only helped with my exercise goals, but who also very much believed that mindset was the key to a fit and healthy lifestyle. 

After making many changes to my lifestyle and seeing the benefits, I started helping with a local running group, being a back runner to help and support the participants. It was talking to many of the women in the group that I realised I wasn't alone in what I had gone through and that there were many women out there who faced the same challenges that I had had; fear of not being able to achieve their goals, fear of not being good enough or fast enough, what others would think, how they would fit their health and fitness goals around family and work.

So with the encouragement of Roy who ran the jogging group, I decided to set up a women only running group, concentrating on having small groups of women so that I could give the personal attention to them to help them overcome these fears and achieve the fitness goals they'd set themselves, and JERSEY GIRLS was born.

Since June 2016, I have led numerous Couch to 5k programs, coached some of our marathon relay team members from 5k up to 10k, led weekly Sunday Socials plotting routes that are both challenging but enjoyable for runners of varying abilities, and led interval training sessions.

On a personal level, I ran the Jersey Half Marathon in November 2016 and the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October 2017 and again in 2018, feats that I never thought possible when I started out my journey back in 2015.  I have also run the Run Vigor Half marathon through the beautiful Big Cottonwood canyon in Utah and in 2020, when all in person races were cancelled, I completed a virtual marathon. Throughout my transition, I have constantly set goals, broken down what I needed to do to achieve them, created a plan and stuck to it.  Each small accomplishment should be celebrated as it's these small achievements that make up the bigger goals and this is the philosophy that I impart to the women in JERSEY GIRLS.