Let us introduce Emelia Gorecka, she is a 22 year old runner. This athlete lives in South West London and studies at Holloway Uni. Emelia is a British middle distance and long distance runner who started running at a young age and now has several big achievements to her name. She’s here to give us all motivation. How many Nike Routes have you completed? Here’s some inside tips on running from an expert…
How often are you in London and what do you like about the city?
I train in London (Teddington) and go to uni at Holloway Uni. I like the diversity of the city and streets. What I find amazing is that there are loads of parks and you can feel like you’re somewhere else wherever you go. And it really is a city of runners, I see people running everywhere here which is so cool.
How did you get into running and getting involved with Nike?
I started at primary school as I was told I had too much energy and needed to take up sport! I was not good at other sports at school so stuck to running. I grew to love running especially in the woods on your own and being by yourself with your music on. I was 15 when Nike approached me and a lot of runners in my training group were with Nike so I started a relationship with them then.
What have been your highlights of you running career?
I ran at my first British senior champs in June 2014 and won the race, which was fantastic. I then went on to run at the Commonwealth Games that summer. Following on from that summer I won my first senior race at the Edinburgh Cross Country in January 2015 in front of a home crowd, which was brilliant.
We struggle with what we can eat before a run, any advice on things that we can get from a local supermarket?
I changed my diet in November. Before a run now I always have porridge oats (not the sachets, the pure oats which you just add milk to), I have them with almond butter, nuts & seeds, and also chocolate protein powder, which you can get anywhere.
We often skip warming up and go straight into running, how should we warm up before a run and make sure we don’t keep skipping this part?
I sometimes listen to music before I go for a run to get me ready for the warm up. Warming up is essential to get ready for a good training session, thinking about achieving my goals in training motivates me for my warm up, as well as listening to music.
Some of the LOTI team are doing the Ready, Set, Go journey as they are just getting into running, what advice would you give them?
I’d recommend you to listen to your body, get as much body awareness of any body aches and pain. It’s entirely normal to feel tired and tight after a run. Just remember that the more you do it, the more you’ll understand your body and then enjoy your runs.
We have been discovering new places to run in and around the capital, where are some of you favourite places to run in London?
I ran a race around Hyde Park and I enjoyed it as it was nice and open. Parliament Hill is also an incredible place. When you start going outside the city, Richmond Park or Virginia Waters are great places to run in. Teddington/Bushy Park is also good for a session because it’s flat, and it’s also great in the morning because of the mist at sunrise and the deer, which are all around you.