Selsey-based Sarah Jouault shows that what happens to you does not define you in her inspiring memoir – the tale of overcoming adversity to run marathons and raise more than £150,000 for terminally ill children.
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00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. It's lovely
00:06this afternoon to speak to a fellow runner, Sarah Jue. Now, Sarah, you've got a fascinating
00:12book out, your memoir, Never Gave Up, Just Gave Back. Sarah, you live in Selsie and this
00:18tells a remarkable story, doesn't it, of a lifetime, of a complicated start to your early
00:25life, but the last 25 years you have raised £160,000 for terminally ill children. And
00:32all of this is in the book, isn't it? Tell me, what made you decide that you wanted to
00:36write this book and what you're wanting to do with this book?
00:42What made me want to write it was really my clients. They kept pushing me, why don't you
00:47write your life story? And I wanted to be able to inspire other people so that they
00:54would see whatever life throws at you, you don't have to turn to drugs or alcohol or
01:01even try to commit suicide. You can get through it. And that's why I called the book Never
01:08Gave Up.
01:09Yeah. And the point is, without going into gruesome detail, terrible things did happen
01:14to you. But what did you have that enabled you somehow to find ways and reasons to carry
01:20on?
01:22Children, I think. I was a nurse, I went out to Africa nursing, and kids have always been
01:31around me. I had younger brothers and sisters at home. And I think when you're working as
01:40a nurse in Africa with children and adults, you have to carry on, you have to go back
01:46to work. And each time something happens in my life, you know, my husband died suddenly,
01:55I had to carry on and the next day I had to go back to work. You know, you just, I had
02:00to carry on, you know, I couldn't give up.
02:03You just can't be defeated. But what do these, what does adversity teach you, do you think?
02:11To be strong. To get help from people where you can. And by giving, when you give unconditionally,
02:26you get more back. And I can't explain it. Like, you know, the first time I went fundraising
02:33was really hard and I had a bad headache. And then when I went the second year, I said
02:39what I'd done, and then people gave more. So I found by myself giving my time, people
02:47gave more.
02:49Absolutely. And giving your time through running and your energy and your efforts through running,
02:54what was it that running gave you back? And triathlons, besides?
02:59Yeah. Fitness. Overcoming my fear of the water, which was a huge thing to me because I was
03:09about 15 when I drowned.
03:11When you drowned? Nearly drowned?
03:14Yes. In the old days, in the pools and swimming pools, they didn't have lifeguards. And these
03:22young girls were saying, come on, Sarah, we can swim out of our depth, because the pools
03:26used to go from shallow to deep, because you used to have the diving boards at the end.
03:30Yeah.
03:30Anyway, we were swimming out over the deep end. And young lads at 14, 15 think it's very
03:36funny to jump on top of you. And they jumped on top of me. And I nearly took the other
03:42girl down too. And I went down. And this older man who was sitting at the side of the pool,
03:49just jumped in and pulled me out and pumped me out of water.
03:54And saved your life.
03:56Yeah.
03:56Yeah.
03:57Goodness, wow.
03:58So after that, I was petrified of the water. I mean, really, really scared. I couldn't
04:04put my head under the water.
04:07Goodness. And many years later, learning to swim, conquering that fear, but also the
04:12strength that running gives you, it gives you a different perspective, doesn't it?
04:16Yeah. And also it makes you see life. Like you miss things if you're in a car. And when
04:23you're out running, I never understand people running with headphones on. Because you can
04:28hear all the birds and the sea and the crunching of leaves. And also like you can cry in the
04:36rain. Nobody can see you're crying. Sometimes when I've been talking to myself running,
04:43someone's gone, what did you say?
04:45So I found that you can do things that are possible. And not everybody can run. I have
05:02noticed over the years, some people just aren't runners. But whenever I go on holiday, the
05:09first thing I do is I run around the area to see where the hotels are and the restaurants.
05:14Way to get some there, isn't it? It must be so satisfying now, so pleasing that the book is
05:20out, finished, done.
05:22Yes. Yeah. I never thought that I could do it. So that's why I gave myself a challenge
05:30because I was 70 last year. So I thought I did so well at the 70.3 Ironman, I do a couple
05:38more this year. So that helped me to finish the book because it helped me, it gave me
05:44a reason to train, to raise money. It all kind of knocks on to each other one, you know.
05:51Brilliant. Well, congratulations on the book and all the Ironmans and all the other
05:56marathons as well. Congratulations, it's been lovely to speak to you.
05:59Thank you. And you.