Sometimes it can’t just be ‘me, me, me’, so I felt it would be fun to shake everything up a little and have the occasional 5 minute chat with someone interesting.
To start things off, I caught up with Lorraine to chat about her morning routine, how she’s balancing her charity ‘The Lewis Foundation’, work, fitness and life!
Tell me about your morning routine?
My usual wake up time is 4.30am, I try to fit a workout in before work which is usually a run or some form of weight training at home. I rather get it done when I’m fresh, as sometimes after work I’m too tired. I workout for 30 minutes and then grab breakfast and get ready to leave for work. I have to then drive to Leicester with an aim of being at my desk by 7 am, timings are strict for me in the morning.
You balance a full-time job as a solicitor alongside running your charity, what is the most challenging part of your charity role? What do you enjoy the most?
The most challenging part is that I wish I had more time, I have so many ideas in my head and things I want to do. So I am creative with the time I have in the evenings and weekends to achieve charity goals. It doesn’t mean I can’t meet my charity goals, just sometimes means it takes a little longer to do things.
There are so many things I enjoy about the charity. The main ones are handing out the gift bags on Friday evenings and cheering people up, knowing that someone had been waiting on a Friday for a visit. Also when people tell me what difference it made to their morale whilst they are in hospital.
What do you feel is one the biggest myths behind running a charity?
That it is not possible to start without funding. We started 1 year ago with £200 from our first run and we are still going! You have to be creative in finding ways to secure funding and products to keep your charity going. That’s what we have been doing and it seems to be working!
At what point do you stop ‘working’ for the day? How do you then relax?
I don’t count my charity work as working, that is my relaxation time in the evening as it gives me something positive and happy to focus on. I usually stop my charity work around 9 pm, then I will read or watch a programme with Lee (my husband) – Often, it’s something food or travel related.
Finally, my readers might not know this but you’re a sportswear addict (I think Lorraine owns Nikes in every.single.colour) if you could only wear one sportswear brand for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I love TLC Sport, they are one of the only brands that are long enough in length for me in leggings (Lorraine is 5’10). The material can endure anything and has taken some serious abuse on obstacle runs, yet they still remain in one piece. They are beautifully cut and I love the bright colours in the current collection, I often wear TLC when I’m not working out.
Do you fancy spending 5 minutes having a chat with me? I’d love to hear from you…
Katie
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