Women’s History Month Community Profile: Tina Beard

 

With the Women’s Ride and Run Series (WRRS) this March, Zwifters around the world have been celebrating Women’s History Month. The final WRRS run event is on March 26th.

Today, we celebrate women in the Zwift Run community with the story of Tina Beard.

Avoiding Sport

Tina grew up with her older sister, Sue, in the village of Oxshott, Surrey in the UK. Her father was an electrician and her mother was a school Dinner Lady.

Unfortunately, Tina lost her mother to cancer when she was 9 years old and she says that it wasn’t easy for her father to give them a normal life after such a devastating loss.

At school, Tina was not the sporty one! In fact, she recalls diving into the bushes to smoke cigarettes rather than take part in cross country races.

Becoming a Runner

In her mid-twenties, Tina started running 2-3 miles regularly with her first husband. She says she wasn’t very good but enjoyed it. She took part in her first 5k in Crystal Palace in 1993 but did not run further than 5 kilometers until some 17 years later.

By 2010, Tina had decided the time had come to push the distance a little further. She trained “properly”, she says, and raised money for the Cancer UK charity. She was over the moon to complete the race in under 2 hours.

Running Up That Hill

Now married to Alan, in 2012 the couple retired early and moved to rural Somerset, where Tina’s running took on new levels. She discovered hills and hill training! With more time and more space running became a lot more accessible.

She joined the Yeovil and Crewkerne running clubs and was a regular at Montacute Parkrun for a 5km run every Saturday morning.

She ran her first half marathon in 2015 and has completed many more since but is still looking for that elusive sub 2-hour finish! In 2018 Tina completed her first marathon and her first ultra-distance races, and in the process, discovered the joys of trail running.

The Pandemic Hits

Not to be deterred, when the pandemic hit Tina dusted off her old treadmill and “started trying to love treadmill running. Then I discovered Zwift,” she says. She was instantly hooked.

Frustratingly, just as she joined in May 2020 and was getting everything set up, she fell while running outside and broke her shoulder. To keep herself entertained Tina took on the virtual Land’s End to John O’Groats Challenge, which she walked both outside and on Zwift, completing it in 3 months.

She was also watching regular Zwift live streams and gradually getting to know the Zwift Run community despite not being able to run.

Make Humanity Great

With her treadmill upgraded to a new smart treadmill and her shoulder on the mend, Tina took part in the Eddie Izzard 32 Marathons in 31 Days project in January 2021. She says, “It brought so many people together, and I feel I’ve made lasting friendships from that.”

However, despite being back up and running and with a working shoulder, Tina had lost the use of her left hand. Being left-handed, this was somewhat of an inconvenience, but doctors could not work out why.

Tina had suffered from a stiff neck for some 10 years and it was thought perhaps the shoulder break had exacerbated an old neck injury. She was sent for an MRI scan.

Life-Changing Diagnosis

“I knew something was up, as the 20-minute scan turned into an hour,” says Tina. She had a 3cm intradural tumor in her spinal canal, crushing her spinal cord. If they did not operate Tina would be dead within a year. If they did operate, she may well die on the table as it is a rare place for the tumor to occur and an extremely dangerous operation to remove it.

The Road to Recovery

In February 2022, Tina underwent a 6-hour operation to have the tumor removed. She spent 5 days in the hospital and was very unwell for 3 of those. But almost immediately after the operation, Tina could once again use her left hand!

Four weeks later, Tina is back walking on Zwift and outdoors. The scar is healing well and she is even starting to think about running again in a few weeks’ time. “Zwift has been so very important to me,” Tina explains.

Having lost her confidence outdoors with the shoulder injury, Tina now able to walk on Zwift after her operation and keep in touch with friends made on the platform. She is looking forward to getting back to running and getting back to her life.