Taryne McPherson
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Who am I?...
In the past my response to this question will be “I’m me” with the expectation of people understanding who I am, but in actual fact I suppose it was my way of avoiding the question and being reluctant in telling people about me. This was my attitude when I was younger and less wise. I am no longer that person-So I am a; Black woman in her early 40’s a runner who has run for too many years that I can’t actually remember, I am a mother of 3 children and 1 grandson. I had my first child, my son at the age of 21 years, yes a young mum! I was born and live in London, UK. I am a self-employed personal trainer, run coach, Pilates instructor and sport therapist.
On Running...
My running, I run and I train. I’m a member of my local running club Eton Manor based in Leyton East London. I’m known as a club runner, this is where I compete in grassroots racing amongst other revival affiliated running clubs within the UK. I’ve won prizes as in medals and trophies for my performance based on my age category; apparently I’m a good runner as a 41-year-old female runner. My running distances range from 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon distance of 26.2 miles I am yet to say which is my favourite distance is, back in the day I use to run for PR I am now at the point where I run out of enjoyment and appreciation of the fact that I can run and remain injury free. My training runs are based on the following disciplines-speed, threshold, endurance and Kenyan hills on different terrains such as track, off road, trail and hills.
On my first run...
Sorry ladies, I’m ashamed to admit that I can’t remember my first run I’ve been running for so long! My 8 year old daughter runs everywhere, walking is a challenge for her. She, like me likes to keep moving in the form of running and most likely I’ve been running since I was a young child like her…however I can remember when I sustained an injury, a stress fracture, during my injury phase I also picked up a lung infection as an asthmatic this was a serious illness for me. With the injury and lung infection I was out of the running game for close to a year, I remember slowly returning back to running which was a great effort and felt absolutely horrible! I had no energy and felt so weak, running for half a mile was a big ask, I practically remember feeling depressed at this stage when people who where slower than me started to beat me in races, within time, patience and following a training plan I became fitter and stronger again.
Street culture...
I was raised in London and have witnessed many different changes to street culture; it will be best to say that street culture is different depending on the borough you live in, in my opinion.
London street culture is about art, fashion and music. The younger generation their street culture is based on the current craze of grime (Grime is a genre of music that emerged in London in the early 2000s. It developed out of earlier UK electronic music styles, including UK garage and jungle, and draws influence from dancehall, ragga and later hip hop) and drill music, “Drill music is a style of trap music originating in the South Side of Chicago. The genre is a prominent feature of Chicago hip hop, and is defined by its dark, grim, violent, nihilistic lyrical content and ominous trap-influenced beats”. Whereupon my generation the mid forties still hold onto the old skool music and attitudes.
On running culture...
The current running culture is that everyone runs, running has become so popular over the years and I think the turning point was when the Olympics and Paralympics 2012 was held in London. Before 2012 the general attitude was that skinny looking undernourished men who are really fast teamed with a handful of fast fit looking women only ran, thankful this attitude has changed and it seems like many people from all walks of life has taken up running, this is certainly evident during the London Marathon when you see people of different abilities running on this eventful day for their own reasons.
On gadgets...
Useful objects for specific training, I own a Garmin Forerunner 620, my 3rd garmin from the forerunner family. I currently wear my garmin without my heart rate monitor, however when training for a race-I will wear it for the VO2 aspect of my training schedule. There was a time when I never worn a watch and ran on feel, I know many runners who run without a GPS watch…
On injury...
I’ve been injured once in my life as a runner and this was due to overtraining and general weakness. Since then I’ve made changes in my training plan such as including strength training coupled with core development and fortnightly massage, I’m also a Pilates instructor and incorporate a Pilates routine within my schedule at least 3 times a week. To me an injury is an indication of some form of weakness somewhere in our neuro-muscular system, which is often discovered when we increase our training load. Understanding that cross training and rest should be apart of a runners training plan will go far in helping with injury prevention.
On achievements...
In running-sticking to my training plan whilst training for The London Marathon which enabled me to finish at a quicker time than in previous marathons.
In life- Building my successful personal training and fitness business with high client retention and managing to run a family home and complete my studies as a sports therapist.
On Future goals...
To complete my BSc degree in History and Politics and to complete a half marathon in 1.30hrs. I’ve 4 minutes to knock off to achieve this goal!
On your social media...
To increase my Instagram followers by 10% within the next 6 months and to make a point on linking it to my website which needs updating, I’m currently looking for a reasonable priced website designer.
On pink...
I used to until recently dislike the color Pink which is probably to do with the sexist marketing around the color-Pink is for girls, pink represents the softness and somewhat weakness in girls who long for a strong man to support them, pink is soft!
My views around Pink has now changed for 2 reason; the first being I meet a strong lady who doesn’t take no shit, she is a personal trainer like me and can left heavy weight. she, like me has a element of tomboy in her and she likes pink, her color combo is pink and brown, everything she owns is pink and brown-she’s cool and I like her a lot!
The other reason is that we’ve just recently moved into a new house and like everyone else who as at the stage of decorating I’m looking at color charts-I’ve discovered that there are many shades of pink, my eyes has been closed to pink for the reasons I mentioned above, I’ve resisted the color! With a little research I also discovered that the color pink represents: compassion, nurturing and love. Pink is a combination of red and white-red is for action and white is for insight, it is a good mixture of color for success coupled with purity, openness and completeness. I am all of these things. I’ve also learnt that the deeper the pink the more passion and energy it exhibits-this is a good thing as I like the deeper shades of pink.
Pink also inspires the possibility of a positive outcome; my favourite shades of pink are Fuchsia, which represents confidence, assurance, and maturity, more responsible and controlled. And hot pink, which stands for, inspires passion, playful and sensual love, excludes warmth and happiness with a love of life. This is me! I love pink.
On pain...
Pain is only temporary, it doesn’t last for long! Once you come to the end of a race or a hard training session that pain disappears.
On women’s running...
Why shouldn’t we run? We are capable; we have the ability so why shouldn’t we run? Apart from that running allows us time to discover our strengths-lacing up your trainers and getting out of the front door is a big ask for a lot of women especially if we are mothers of young children, putting ourselves first requires a lot of willpower and strength, running builds self confidence and positive body images, running gives us thinking space and time to reflect-these things we don’t offer have the chance to do.
On the past...
I can’t remember myself as a non-runner, I’ve no advice apart from remember to travel to as many different countries to run and explore.
When I die...
I like my tombstone to say “she loved life, she loved to explore and meet people, she loved running, she died running” I’d like to think that I’d be running until my body gives up saying “ok Taryne, I’ve had enough lets rest”.
#RunRevolution
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