Free Life Without Limits, A by Chrissie Wellington Page A

was concerned. It corroborated the practice of channelling so much energy into running, and from then on, I turned from being a recreational athlete into one who took sport a lot more seriously. That might have meant even less downtime in a schedule that was becoming increasingly packed as my professional life grew busier and busier, but I’d always been a perpetual-motion kind of girl. And I just loved running.
    A month before I ran the Marathon, I had joined the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), as a civil servant, executive-officer grade. This was my dream job, and it was my third, barely six months after I had moved to London from Manchester.
    Initially, as I’ve mentioned, I had worked for Card Aid, selling charity Christmas cards at various shops around London. Trade had been quiet one day in their shop in Hampstead, so I looked up the details of other local charities in the Yellow Pages , with a view to finding a longer-term job. There weren’t many, but one of them called itself the Gaia Foundation. Why not drop in on them during my lunch hour?
    I was far from convinced I had come to the right place – it was a terraced house with a bright yellow door almost concealed by a bushy creeper – but I knocked anyway. A girl answered, and I was swept in and enveloped by an amazing little team of people. I spent the next two months working with them. They were helping communities and groups across the world feed into the preparations for the UN’s World Summit on Sustainable Development, which was taking place later that year (2002) in Johannesburg. There was a special feel about the place. The vibe established at the front door by that overflowing creeper was carried on throughout the house. There were plants and bits of paper everywhere. It was all very organic and chaotic. And then, in a shed out the back, four of them spent what extra time they could find setting up their own youth-empowerment charity, called Envision. It is now a national organisation, and I am proud to be an ambassador for it.
    The team were incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about grassroots development. We became close friends very quickly, and they did so much to inspire and enthuse me.
    As much as I loved the personality of the Gaia Foundation, though, their slightly disorganised, fire-fighting style didn’t suit my organised nature, so it was never going to be a job for life. I kept applying for other things and was accepted by Defra, who were initiating a recruitment drive. You didn’t know which division of the department you would be based in, and they asked you for your preferences. I could think of nothing worse than working in pig-farming or swine flu or waste management. The only thing I wanted to do at Defra was to work in the international environmental division, or Environment Protection International (EPINT), to give it its official name. And that was what I got – a dream come true. I was to work on the team that was coordinating the whole of the UK Government’s input into the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
    It was a baptism of fire; I was flying by the seat of my pants. I’d never been in an office job before; I’d never even really worn a suit. But I threw my heart and soul into it. When I didn’t know the answer to something, which was often, I made it up or found it out. I did a lot of extra work bringing myself up to speed. Before I knew it, I found myself in a position of some responsibility, because it was all hands on deck. Very soon I was attending meetings, then writing minutes of meetings, then representing the Government at meetings.
    I loved it. It was a high-profile position with responsibility and credibility – and it was in a field I was passionate about. I learned a lot about government processes, and enjoyed a close working relation ship with Margaret Beckett, who was the Secretary of State for Defra. She’s into her caravanning and, what with my dad