This week I have a guest blogger! Her name is Michelle Pierre-Carr, an amazing woman who is a former Great Britain athlete and now a business owner and new mother. She explains her journey from competing at the elite level, to today, showing that even those who have been at a high level of performance need to make exercise a part of their life…..
Michelle is 2nd from left in photo!
“When people ask me about my athletics career, I often have to do a double take. Was I really an athlete? As it’s seven years since I retired now and my life has changed so much.
But yes I can hold my hand up and say that I was a former international Great Britain athlete and spent 13 years representing my country with the highest accolade being a Commonwealth silver medal at the 1997 Kuala Lumpur Games and a 4 x 400 metre finalist at the 1997 Athens World Championships. Never quite made the Olympics as my Achilles tendon proved to be my weak spot and my demise towards the end, but given that I started out life as a child constantly in hospital due to asthma I can’t knock my achievements really.
My life then obviously was completely different, physically I was training six days a week with 3 track sessions and 3 gym sessions which included weights, and mentally I was travelling from South London where I lived to West London every day to train with my coach Ron Roddan. If anyone from London can appreciate how difficult that can be given the traffic on an average day I would have to say back then I had the determination of an ox to be prepared to do that every day without batting an eye lid to achieve my goal.
Now as a destination wedding planner and owner of Pierre Carr, Exclusive Tropical Weddings and more recently a mother there never seems enough hours in the day to get business things done let alone think about exercise even though the heart and mind is willing. Don’t get me wrong I believe exercise is the foundation for feeling good, looking good and taking years off. But I am like everyone else now seeing how I can fit it into my hectic schedule. So yes even a former athlete has those days when they just can’t get it together.
However what I will say is even though I don’t have time to go to a specific class or to the gym I walk a hell of a lot with the pram in tow. I do believe that it’s not about making drastic measures that you can’t commit to, but it’s about making exercise part of your life. So if you need to get off the bus a stop before then do it. It might not be a lot of exercise but you are doing something at least and you will be surprised that by doing something every day can make a huge difference in the long run.”
Michelle Pierre-Carr
Former 400m GB athlete
