good morning bigmoose friend,
this is lewis.
lew is an ex welsh international rugby player, and we met some years ago when lew and his partner, steph elswood, an instagram influencer, and lovely human, met up with chloe and i at bigmoose coffee shop, and lew and i clicked immediately, i think because of my sports background, which meant ‘i got him’ pretty quickly.
we became friends, and have worked together on helping each other with our respective businesses ever since, with him recently calling me his “unofficial mentor” a title i am very proud of, and seeing him thrive fills me with happiness.
after retiring from professional rugby four years ago, lew struggled with his mental health, as many sportspeople do when their worlds change, and they no longer command all that pro sports offer, financial power, sponsorships, public attention, celebrity status, etc, etc, and he took up an offer from chloe, who with her wiser than her years head, spotted he was struggling, and encouraged him to speak to one of our therapists.
he took the brave step, and reached out, eventually. taking the even braver step to talk publicly about his struggles and his therapy journey, encouraging others to ask for help, and i know for a fact inspiring other men, caught up in a world of toxic masculinity, to be brave, a true gesture of a leader.
now, after his personal therapy journey, lew was one of the first people i asked for help on project one million, and after discussing how we were looking for a hundred individuals or businesses to raise £10,000, he enthusiastically exclaimed “i’m in” but then said that he would raise £25,000 and he didn’t disappoint.
he set himself the target of running five multi-day 250k ultramarathons, in one year, a gargantuan feat to match his fundraising goal, and with one ultra to go, all had gone to plan.
but then came the news that the final ultra in mexico had been cancelled.
but don’t worry dear reader, lew had a plan, and inspired by steph, who suggested “run your own event”, he quickly assembled a group of fellow ultra runners at a campsite running loops in a very wet october, something even with my ever positive attitude, i wondered if it could work.
it did.
and he created a stunningly raw, beautiful event, which i am honoured to have been a part of, and i witnessed the most organic coming together of my kind of humans, tough but fragile, determined and kind, and the event was a complete success in many ways, and a true community was born
the ‘why we run’ community, which lew has now grown into a commercial entity, employing coaches to coach runners, and build the spirit of ‘why we run’, and last year he arranged a bigger and better event ‘why we run 2.0’ which was at a new venue, running along the welsh coastal path, and 2.0 delivered a truly wonderful experience, full of of love and compassion rom everyone involved, alongside a stunning backdrop of this part of the coast in st. davids.
in a few weeks ‘why we run 3.0’ takes place, with more runners, more personal challenges, and i cannot wait.
lew has continued o fundraise, and is aiming to cross the £100,000 threshold, an absolutely mind-blowing sum, that will fund so many lives, it makes me emotional just writing this, and i have no doubt the ‘why we run’ family will achieve this lofty goal, which will be an amazing success, due to one mans drive and determination.
but as well as the brilliant work lew has done to help bigmoose, his own personal journey has been phenomenal, taking his athletic strength from the rugby pitch to multi day running events, to successfully completing an ironman triathlon, and this weekend takes on the legendary ultra trail mont blanc, which as the website says is……
‘4 letters. 3 countries crossed. 1 extraordinary adventure, which is now the 100M finals of the UTMB World Series. This is the iconic race that has taken so many passionate runners on an extraordinary journey around the Mont-Blanc.’
so, good luck lew, inspire us all even more, and show that even when life becomes tough, we can always find a way to come back stronger, and from myself and everyone involved with bigmoose, thank you for your support.
and if like lew you need help, you know we are here for you, just click the link below, and if you want to help support us, there is the support link too.
thank you for reading, and until next time,
blue skies,
jeff
