Name Dropping

Posted by fattymustrun on April 9, 2013 · 6 Comments 

I have been getting some really positive feedback about my blog recently, and now that I actually have some time to focus on it I have decided to put in a bit more effort to try and increase my readership and I suppose to explore opportunities for developing my writing in general – seeing as I am somewhat unemployed right now!!

A few years back whilst on one of my crazy bootcamps I met a lady called Lilach Bullock, we connected on Facebook shortly after and I soon realised she was a social media wizz, I subscribed to her blog and her twitter feed, and her words of wisdom about how to get more traffic to my site have often interested me, but I’ve not put them into practice, until now.

I also met a very famous chicklit writer at the same bootcamp who has recently just had a book funnily enough called “the Bootcamp” published – I read it cover to cover just to see if she had based a character on me but sadly she hadn’t 😦

But I digress…

So with this new source of guidance, as a first step to increasing the online profile of my blog i figured I would mention a few famous people. Now of course I’m not just gonna start name dropping celebrities such as beiber and gaga in a vain attempt to gain new subscribers, but I thought perhaps I could run though some people who I’ve actually bumped into along the way!!

Right at the start of my journey for example at my very first race in fact I met Christine Ohurugo, this was just before she headed out to Bejjing and won her gold medal, she asked me about a volunteer programme I was coordinating at the time.

A few months later I took part in a Nike event at wembley stadium, and as I huffed and puffed around the route Paula Radcliffe passed me at speed, I shouted out “Go Paula” and she turned and smiled at me.

Through my work on London 2012 I got to meet lots of athletes, in fact on my first day in my first 2012 job I managed to get stuck in a lift with Sir Steve Redgrave, he wasn’t amused.

Whilst taking part in the Newham 10k run 3 seperate times, an amazing race organised by Tessa Sanderson (another work contact), I was awarded my finishers medals from Sharon Davies, Chris Thomlinson and the one and only Levi Roots…mr reggae reggae sauce himself.

I managed to get a good luck tweet from presenter and fitness columnist Jenni Falcner on the morning of the National Lottery Olympic park 5 miler last spring.

Surprisingly I didn’t see any celebrities whilst running the london marathon, not even TOWIEs Arg, who kept deleting my tweets to him (I think he thought I was taking the Micky)

Anyway, the closer we came to the games the more likely it was that I bumped into sporting celebrities…it helped that I got a Gamesmaker role in the anti doping team (but of course I can’t disclose who I saw in there)

But lets just say whilst in the athletes village I managed to make Ryan Lochtes day by not knowing who he was, came over all dumbstruck when Usain Bolt, Asafah Powell and Shelly Anne Fraiser Price bowled in the room and I finally managed to blow the cover of the legend that is Mo Farah the day after his first gold medal winning race when he was trying to discreetly make his way back to his accommodation block.

The funniest moment of the summer had to be at the subsequent athletes parade, I had been allocated some tickets for the VIP stands in the mall. However, the tickets we had didn’t have a great view, so I managed to sneak myself and 3 colleagues into an enclosure further up.

We had arrived early so had the pick of the seats so you can imagine our surprise as the empty seats around us filled up with Prince Andrew, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Seb Coe, Princess Anne and all kind of other VVIPs and then the seats right in front of us with the likes of past Olympic champions like…Duncan Goodhue and Robin Cousins!!!!

Don’t get me wrong i am not normally so celebrity hungry, but last year took name dropping to a whole new level for me…I even had Tanni Grey Thompson comment on my blog – now how’s that for endorsement.

So all I need now is for a few of these individuals to get behind my blog and encourage their millions of followers to follow the tale of an overweight wanna be athlete struggling to get back in shape after having a baby.

Come on celebrities why not give a shout out to fattymustrun, or drop the fatgirlsguidetorunning into conversation in your next TV interview

I’ll keep you posted with my progress!!

Filed under Blogging, Boot Camp, London 2012, Races, Running, Writing · Tagged with Asafa Powell, Boris Johnson, Chris Thomlinson, Christine Ohurugo, David Cameron, James argent, Jennie Faulkner, Justin beiber, lady gaga, Levi roots, Lilach Bullock, London 2012, Paula Radcliffe, Prince Andrew, Ryan Lochte, Sebastian Coe, Sharon Davies, shellyann fraiser-price, sir Steve Redgrave, Tanni Grey Thompson, Tessa Sanderson, Usain Powell