Running to beat the menopause: The story of one woman's JOGLE with a twist
Lorna Cullen's 49-day journey from John O'Groats to Lands' End took in Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden
When you find yourself cutting articles about ultra marathons out of magazines and sticking them on a pinboard, it’s probably time to accept a big adventure is just around the corner.
That’s exactly what happened to Lorna Cullen, who in October completed an epic run from John O’Groats to Lands’ End (JOGLE) in just over 49 days.
Remarkably, Lorna’s journey didn’t see her complete the usual JOGLE route, but involved her ‘diverting’ to take in a mountain in each of Scotland, England and Wales.
The added mileage saw her visit Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon along the way.
In all, the journey, which started on September 3, encompassed almost 1,900km (1,200 miles) including 20,000m (65,600ft) worth of ascent.
The 54-year-old undertook it despite not having started running until she was in her 40s to combat mental health problems.
“I found out if I ran four or five days a week that I could manage without medication,” she said.
She started doing five and 10km races, but soon found that wasn’t enough: “I wanted to do something more exciting.
“I found myself cutting things out of magazines that were ultras all over the world, and putting them all over a pinboard.
“I wanted to do something bigger, and I realised I wanted to do something by myself rather than for an organised event.”
It was at that point she hit upon the idea of running from John O’Groats to Lands’ End.
But when she discovered an official JOGLE event had been started, she wanted to find a way for her adventure to be different.
“Originally I was going to climb the mountains as well, but I made a bad trainer choice in the first week and ended up with really bad feet, they were very sore underneath,” she told Running Tales.
“I had to make the decision not to climb the mountains, but I still wanted to circumnavigate them.”
The route was unsurprisingly hilly and challenging along the way, but Lorna said the climbs were “my favourite bit”.
She told the story of one day in Wales where a lady in a shop had said the route she’d planned would take her “up the mountain”.
Confused, she had checked her map again, which showed a solid looking road going over “a small bump”.
The lady was adamant, but Lorna was undaunted - her route went that way, so she would too.
“Ans sure enough I found myself climbing for 18km.
“But it was stunning and so rewarding.”
Confronting the menopause
Lorna ran her JOGLE for two charities close to her heart, MIND and The Menopause Charity.
“I was always very clear about the two charities I wanted to choose,” she told Running Tales.
“I had suffered from some mental health issues in my 40s, which looking back may also have been peri-menopause.”
She said The Menopause Charity does brilliant work providing much needed formal training for doctors about the condition.
“If you speak to a lot of women in their 40s and 50s about their experiences, they say doctors are dismissive or give the wrong medication, or say, ‘why don’t you just try to eat well’.
“We are talking about the menopause more and more, but it is not enough yet.
“I still hear people say they successfully went through menopause without any medication as if that should be rewarded when actually they may have benefitted more than they know. from treatment”
Lorna said she hopes in the future women won’t have to wait so long or go through so many hoops to get HRT.
“Now I am on HRT I don’t have as many side effects as I used to,” she said. “I am able to manage going through peri-menopause.
“But before I did, I had hot flushes all day long. They made me feel sick, and occasionally would happen when I was running or in a gym class.
“I just had to stop and stand still as I would lose the ability to think for 20 seconds at a time.”
She said many women runners also suffer from over-heating, and that the menopause can “make you really tired which effects your motivation to run, although ironically once you are out running it will make you feel better.”
While HRT has been vital in helping Lorna with her running, the experience of running across the country did test even its powers.
“I took the HRT with me because I was carrying all my own kit, but I had to minimise the gear I took.
“So I dispensed my Estrogel into a tiny pot and took it out with a spoon every night.
“But I think it went off as in the last two weeks I was starting to have hot flushes and even sweating in my tent.”
You can still sponsor Lorna for her JOGLE to raise money for MIND - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lorna-d-cullen - and The Menopause Charity - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lorna-cullen
Along the way Lorna stopped at official campsites, hostels and B&Bs - as well as doing some wild camping.
“Camping was lovely when I got to do it,” she said. “I like being on my own and at one with nature.
“It was never too cold. The only downside was eating camp food or cold food, which meant my energy levels were lower the next day.
“I would have liked to have done more, but I found it difficult to find enough campsites on the route.”
Lorna, who prior to her JOGLE had completed a Half Ironman and run an ultra, said despite her love of running one thing she has never done is a conventional marathon.
“It’s a completely different ball game,” she said. “Marathon runners are typically road runners who are watching their pace.
“If you run an ultra, unless you are at the front, you are probably modifying your pace, chatting to people and you are going to walk up the hills.”
Whatever the distance though, running has become an integral part of Lorna’s life.
“It’s like meditation,” she said. “You might think about lots of different things and solve problems, or you might think about nothing and you are just listening to the birds or talking to the sheep as you go by if you are like me.
“If you are tired you can just walk for a bit and I don’t get hung-up about speed.
“It’s there to be enjoyed. There is no pressure on it.”
Elsewhere on Running Tales: After all is said and run:
"Just live life to the full and love every minute of it" - The epic story of how running helped Tony Collier battle terminal cancer
Warm-up and listen to your body: Expert advice to avoid running injuries