Bryony Gordon on running a marathon in her underwear and lunch with Meghan Markle: 'She's completely normal and lovely'
AUTHOR BRYONY GORDON ON HOW RUNNING HELPED HER MENTAL HEALTH AND HAVING LUNCH WITH MEGHAN, THE DUCHESS OF SUSSEX
Author Bryony joined us to talk about her new book,Eat, Drink, Run: How I Got Fit Without Going Too Mad, which explains how she ended up running the London Marathon after a conversation with Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge!
'I was invited along to the launch of Head Together, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry's mental health charity two years ago. I was introduced to the Duchess of Cambridge,' Bryony said. 'I said, "Are you going to do the marathon, Catherine?"'
But while Kate answered: 'Oh no, security and all that' Bryony then said: 'If I can do the marathon, you can.' And ended up promising to run the London marathon for the charity!
'I was 16 1/2 stone and I didn't know what I was doing but it completely changed my life,' Bryony revealed. 'I couldn't run for a bus - I could barely run a bath!'
'For me exercise was always about the loses - losing weight, losing inches around your waist. It never occurred to me that it was about gains,' she explained. 'I did lose a bit of weight - I went from 16 1/2 stone to a svelte 14 1/2 stone. But it was about the gains and the clarity I got.'
'Each week, I was doing something I couldn't do the week before. I'd spent my whole life thinking about all the things I can't do - a handstand, attracting the right man and when I did, not being able to breastfeed... Enough, I'm fed up of thinking about all the things I can't do. I want to start thinking about the things I can do with my body.'
Bryony, who has also written The Wrong Knickers and Mad Girl, has become a friend of the young royals with Prince Harry featuring on her podcast, Mad World, and even had a private meeting with Meghan Markle before the royal wedding!
'I had lunch with Meghan. She was lovely,' Bryony revealed. 'She offered some of her monkfish. She's completely normal. We just went out to a restaurant. She talked about mental health stuff and what she wanted to do going forward. We talked about yoga an running.'
Now a keen runner, Bryony ran the London marathon again this year - in just her knickers and a sports bra!
'They was chafing. That's what they don't tell you. And if you're running in your underwear, as I did, you get terrible chafing. I have terrible scars here [under my boobs] from training and half marathons - they are my battle wounds,' she said.
'I found myself using my daughter's nappy cream. And I thought, "How has it come to this?" I'm a woman in my late thirties, slathering it on...'
We have mental health helplines and information about our Lighten The Load here.
Watch the video for the full chat with Bryony.