Clann Health Female Empowerment Month Inspiring Stories: Linda Rice

This week we catch up with long term Clann Health member Linda Rice. Linda’s story is a great read and one that a lot will be able to relate to, a busy working mom with a full time job and still finds the time for herself to exercise and to be with friends. Linda has also taken on some immense endurance challenges herself and has bounced back from injuries and illnesses to be the best version of herself! Have a read of Linda’s story below …..

Good Afternoon Linda and thanks a million for taking the time to share your story. Tell us a little about yourself, what Health/Fitness means to you and how it positively impacts your life ........... 

Health and Fitness keeps me sane! Working in the construction field in NYC means that my phone starts ringing at 6am and often I am still taking calls and responding to emails until late in the evening. This results in me going to bed thinking about work and not having a great night’s sleep. But on the nights that I exercise I am able to totally escape from the work in my head, and having spent some energy I fall into a deep slumber.

“On the nights that I exercise I am able to totally escape from the work in my head, and having spent some energy I fall into a deep slumber”

Tell us about your most memorable Activity/Race/Event? And why was it so memorable? 

I ran the 2018 NYC Marathon, and it is one of my biggest achievements in life. About 10 years ago I found out that I have Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome this is a heart condition where an extra electrical pathway between your hearts upper and lower chambers causes a rapid heartbeat and shortness of breath. Up until the diagnosis I had not realized that was why I was so easily out of breath; I thought I was just terribly unfit. So after the ablation to relieve the condition, I was suddenly able to exercise a lot longer, much more comfortably. I took up running and loved the buzz that came with the NYRR organized events. As the runs got longer I decided to enter for the marathon and to this day I still can’t believe I actually completed it. It was a 26.2 mile street party and the New Yorkers supporting us made it the most fun you can imagine Linda, you are a driving force behind both our groups who train in Queens New York City, and a real energetic personality in getting others involved too. 

What advice have you for someone who is starting out or who wants to get started but just hasn’t taken action on their running/fitness journey? 

Getting to the first session is the hardest step. But once you get there you will LOVE it. All of the ladies in Team Queens are full of encouragement to each other. Some of the girls had been asking me for months to join and I kept finding excuses not to go. Then I seen a Facebook post of them all upstate doing a hike and the smiles on their faces was infectious. I had total FOMO and decided there and then that I was going to be part of the next hike. I joined with the group that Thursday in Juniper Park and was pleasantly surprised at the support from all of the others. Also Seamus is great at gradually building upon your ability and therefore your confidence. He gets the best out of you. Every single session I have come home feeling so much better than when I went.

“Getting to the first session is the hardest step. But once you get there you will LOVE it. Every single session I have come home feeling so much better than when I went.”

What do you enjoy most about our Clann Health Training Sessions? 

I enjoy the comradery, everyone is in it together feeding off each others energy. I also love that its not too long, so I never have the option to say “I don’t have the time”; everyone can find less than an hour twice a week.

What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know? 

What people don’t know about me is that some time in the future I am going to be incredibly famous…..I started writing a novel about 15 years ago, I have the entire story planned out, I just haven’t got around to finishing it. But when I do it will be fantastic! It will be snapped up instantly by the best publishers, and all the big movie moguls will be fighting over it to option it as the next blockbusters, and all the top actors will be clawing each other to be part of the production. Watch this space……

Linda your family are a very active bunch and involved in lots of different sports and endurance challenges. Tell us how staying active and staying connected has helped you all especially over the past 12 months ....... 

Staying active over the last 12 months was super important. At the start of the lockdown when there was no where to go and it was tempting to bake cakes every day, we did a lot of walking, often over the new Kosciuszko Bridge and through parts of Brooklyn that we had never walked through before. We might not have been able to have large Thanksgiving gatherings so I loved still being able to dress up and do a Turkey Trot - not sure what the other people on the bridge made of me but I laughed the entire run. It was great to be part of the group with Clann Health, either in Juniper where we could obey social distancing, or on line where we used tins of beans and mops/brushes to work out with. Such good fun and you know what they say laughter is the best medicine.

“Such good fun and you know what they say laughter is the best medicine.”