Heartbeat: Never give up! Dinah gets ready to run an ultra-marathon

August 1, 2019

Dinah Mclannahan, Acting Director of  Finance, has enjoyed sport for most of her life, having caught the physical activity bug whilst still at school and continuing to stay active ever since. Now she is taking on her biggest sporting challenge to date, after agreeing to undertake an ultra-marathon.

Dinah is no stranger to keeping fit, and has been a longstanding member of the Sandwell Leisure Trust (SLT) typically going to the gym five times a week, where she attends a variety of high intensity exercise classes with a mix of Les Mills, body combat, body pump, with sprint being her favourite.

So when Your Trust Charity challenged people to take part in an ultra-marathon to raise money for the charity, Dinah thought it was the perfect opportunity to a push herself further than ever before as well as help a good cause.

“It’s a massive challenge, people do 10kms and 5kms but I wanted to do something really special,” she said.

The Ultra London, an urban ultra-marathon event, is a multi-distance event which will be held on an innovative course that aims to showcase some of London’s finest viewpoints.

“Realistically, I’ll be going for 7 or 8 hours so I just want to finish it. I think it’s going to be ace being able to see all of the landmarks on the route, and London has a great buzz,” she said.

Dinah has already completed a few half marathons, but is well aware of the magnitude of taking on an ultra-marathon (55km): “I’m trying to get my head around the distance, and I know that I’ve got work to do but I think it will be an amazing experience.”

The determination that is required to train for and complete this event is something that Dinah feels can also be carried over into everyday life.

“In this job resilience is important, as it is in many roles in the NHS. It’s never easy and you have to keep pushing through. You have to keep going and there is a definite parallel there. Never give up.”