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Jo and Tony…..How lockdown made them stronger!

Jo and Tony are two of our virtual challenge runners, we’ve never met them in person as they are part of our virtual community of runners and we feel like we know them so well through running posts they always share and watching their journey.





Here’s a little bit about them and how they have gone from strength to strength with their running journey in this crazy Covid world we are now living in. Jo is a mum to 3 children and a key worker, she met Tony, who is also a key worker in the summer of 2019. Things were going great until lockdown struck in March 2020, Tony is an avid gym bunny but with the closure of gyms, he had to find another way to keep fit for his mental and physical health.

A colleague at his work had signed up to an online virtual running challenge and Tony suggested to Jo that they should both sign up together. Jo’s initial thought was ‘no way!’ as she had never run before but they are a competitive couple and like a dare, so she went for it. Tony almost regretted asking her to sign up as Jo loves a challenge and he knew there would be no going back once they started.


In July 2020 they went for their first ever run together, they both thought they were going to die; it was hard, and they felt self-conscious. Finding a quiet place to run however helped them overcome their initial apprehension and they began to run almost every day going further and further each week. When they reached 5km they cried with happiness, the support from each had been amazing and they continued to encourage each other on every run.


In August they both signed up to the Run To Be (https://www.runtobe.co.uk/monthly-virtual-running-challenges ) virtual challenge to complete 50k throughout the month, which they both achieved with flying colours. Since then, Jo and Tony have signed up to a challenge every month and also took part in and supported our charity run for Shelter in December.


Jo said, “without these challenges, we wouldn’t be running as often as we do, as being part of Run To Be and doing a challenge each month has really cemented our passion for running”.


After a hard day at work, they like to lace up and run in the woods for peace and quiet, it’s their time to be together being Jo and Tony, not mum, postie or gov.

Through these challenging times when things are often tough, Jo and Tony have found that running helps them remain positive and like so many runners the impact on mental health is a huge incentive never to give up.

Thanks, Jo and Tony for being such an important part of our Run To Be family and we look forward to cheering you on again this year!

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