Wayne Howsen, Principal of The Aquila School shares a personal story of growth.
I have never considered myself to be especially fit or healthy - and spent many years enjoying food and life - aware that my choices were not always the best for my body.
But something happened to change all that.
For several years, I lived close enough to school to travel to work on an electric scooter which I loved. I was fast and - I thought - safe - with a helmet and hi vis jacket and an awareness of what was happening around me.
In October 2022 - apparently, a man stepped in front of me on my way to work on my scooter, and I fell off. I remember nothing of this. Thankfully, a member of school staff found me by the road, called an ambulance and came with me to the hospital, where it was found I had eight broken ribs, a broken clavicle, a small brain bleed and fluid on the lungs.
My recovery was slow - like most people who work in schools, I decided to come back to school far too soon, slowly learning to take a few steps while my body recovered. As time went on, this led to a morning walk- which became a walking walk/jog - and over time a morning run.
Over the space of eighteen months, I went from being someone who rarely exercises to someone who gets up while it is still dark to run five times a week before school. I will never be fast - but I have developed stamina - and have now finished a number of 5km and 10 km races, four half marathons and two marathons - in Dubai and Copenhagen.
The recent Copenhanhagen marathon is still buzzing in my mind. It was like a five-and-a-half-hour street party where the whole city was out taking part, cheering, playing music and performing. I loved it so much that I am signed up to do three more in the next year - Frankfurt, Rome and Stockholm.
I can't say I enjoy running - but I enjoy knowing how it makes me feel afterwards. My morning runs set me up well for the day. It gives me time to think through the day ahead. I am sleeping like a baby and am usually in bed by 8pm on a school night.
While this was never the plan - I have also lost 23KG. My electric scooter still sits in my office in school - where it has been since the day of my accident. I won't ride it again - but I keep it as a reminder of how something good can come out of a bad experience.
Wayne Howsen
Principal of The Aquila School
.jpeg)