Rebecca Muwanga - Active member of Black Trail Runners (BTR) and recently was part of the all female BTR team at Adidas TERREX Infinite trails race in Austria.

Rebecca's story starts in the North East of England, where she grew up on a smallholding in an area with little ethnic diversity. Influenced by her mom's passion for animals, she pursued a dream of becoming a vet and moved to Liverpool for University. 

As a young mom, she discovered tennis and joined a fitness group before her journey led her to running.

Residing at the foot of the Pennines in West Yorkshire with her husband and two children. Rebecca turned to running in 2021 as a way to escape life's demands of a busy family life and the stress of running a veterinary practice during Covid. In 2022, she set her first trail race goal, a 16k trail race in the Lakes. 

Rebecca's story also includes her involvement with Black Trail Runners, where she found community and purpose. She shares her experiences, from Endure 24 to the 3 Dales Marathon in North Yorkshire. 

Rebecca shares more about why she wants to  participate in challenging races, how she build inner strength, and expands her comfort zone. She candidly discusses her experiences, of training for and running in the mountainous  Adidas TERREX Infinite trails race in Austria. Plus how she completed her longest run to date, 77k on the Peak Divide running from Sheffield to Manchester through the Peak District.

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Show notes

• Who is Rebecca
• Her early years in the North East of England
• Growing up on a small holding 
• Living in the least ethnically diverse place in the whole of the UK
• Being influenced by her dad who was super sporty
• Her mum’s passion for animals and how it influenced Rebecca into wanting to become a vet
• Having one cat 
• Studying to become a vet at Liverpool University 
• Being use to working hard and dealing with pressure and stress
• Gaining work experience at every opportunity
• Not being able to do sport while at university 
• Moving to a more diverse city 
• Growing up in white spaces
• Not being a runner
• Having her first child in 2014 and feeling a bit lost 
• Getting into tennis and starting to play on a regular basis
• Having her 2nd child in 2018 and joining a mums fitness group
• The impact of covid while working as a vet  
• Getting into running in 2021
• Living in West Yorkshire at the foot of the Pennines 
• Running to have time to herself and to get away from everything 
• Deciding to set a running goal in 2022 and entering her first trail race (16k trail race in the lakes)
• Her journey with Black Trails Runners, where it all started
• Watching Martin 'MJ' Johnson in the film - ‘Run to the Source’ made with Patagonia 
• Feeling uncomfortable, weird and isolated 
• The sense of satisfaction after completing her first race
• Finding her community and what she wanted to do
• Getting more involved in BTR and what that looked like
• Connecting with an online community via social media 
• Endure 24 with BTR  
• Signing up for the 3 Dales Marathon, North Yorkshire 
• Not eating or drinking enough and how it impacted her race
• Building inner strength and dealing with the hard moments while out on the race
• Entering the growth zone and expanding your comfort zone
• Signing up for 2 more races
• Running The Haworth Hobble in winter 
• Running the Peak Divide (a 2 day ultra - running from Manchester to Sheffield) 
• Singing up to do Infinite Trails 
• Fitting in training around her life and what it looks like 
• Liking routine and liking to be busy
• Why it’s about the journey 
• Deciding to apply to run in her first mountain race and becoming part of the first all female, all black running team
• Needing to be prepared
• Working with a running coach - Sam from Kings of the Wild Frontier
• Having the opportunity to train in Chamonix and Snowdonia and spending time as a team
• Running the “Short Leg” as part of the relay - 21k, 1900m of climbing! 
• Running the 10k technical descent and the concentration needed to get to the finish 
• Recovery after the race and struggling to walk afterwards
• Having a 77k ultra marathon (Peak Divide) the week after! 
• Dealing with pain and nausea and not being in a good place 
• Not knowing how she would be able to run the final 40k 
• Trying to turn it around mentally 
• Needing to stop thinking about the end and focusing on the next step
• Taking things step by step and slowly starting to feel better
• Finishing the race after a difficult and challenging internal battle!
• Filming a short film for Kendal Mountain Festival
• Being on the cover of German Trail Magazine 
• Sharing her journey on Instagram 
• Final words of advice to encourage and motivate you
• This about the journey and don’t always think about the end goal
• “You can achieve, you just have to take the first steps"

 

Social Media

Instagram: @rebecca_runs_wild 

Black Trail Runners - A community and campaigning charity seeking to increase inclusion, participation and representation of Black people in trail running 

Website: www.blacktrailrunners.run 

Instagram: @blacktrailrunners 

Facebook: @blacktrailrunners