COURAGE PERSONIFIED: A smart Tee Morgan makes a statement; right, with her four boys at home.By Umer NangianaA journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This stands literally true for Tuedon (Tee) Morgan. It took her years to take that first step and find happiness. In lesser time since then, she has covered hundreds of miles running and conquering all seven continents on earth — twice at that!In less than four years, Tee, a mother of four, has completed Marathons on every continent, including Antarctica, and is set to become the first coloured person in the world to complete the North Pole leg, too.For her, this long journey began with a walk. Weighing 121 kilograms in 2008, Tee could only think of walking but that required a lot of motivation. Within three years of hitting the gym in January 2008, she was running a half Marathon in Dubai.She managed to reduce her weight by half in the interim through sheer determination, focus and a balanced nutrition and exercise regime.“After I had my fourth son in 2007, I gained a lot of weight. As months went by, I started to feel very tired. I would go to bed early, wake up late and still be tired. My body would pain. I got progressively breathless going up and down stairs. My ankles and knees were hurt. My health was deteriorating,” Tee tells Community.Despite warnings from people around her, she was in self-denial about her obesity. When health problems compounded, she took her boss’s advice to join a gym.One morning in January 2008 she woke up and made a New Year resolution to turn the page. Tee, a Briton whose parents are Nigerians, started on the treadmill before jogging. “When I finished 5km on the treadmill, I said to myself maybe I should take this outdoors. So a friend suggested I should join Doha Bay Running Club. I found them on Facebook and went to them one Friday, and the rest is history,” says Tee, with contentment writ large on her face. Till date, she has completed more than 30 Marathons all over the world.At the running club, she was the slowest runner. But only two months into joining the club, she went for a half Marathon in Dubai in December 2011.After completing it, she met someone who inspired her to go all the way. It was none other than Pakistani-Canadian Ziyad Rahim, a resident of Qatar, who holds multiple Marathon records on all continents, including the North Pole.“During my training I was very fine, nothing happened to me. But in Dubai, I started to cramp so bad that I fell on the floor; I could hardly move. It was really painful,” recalls Tee. She saw Rahim, who first went past her but then turned back to inquire if she was okay.After Tee told him she was in pain, he pulled out a spray to help her get up on her feet. “It was really strange. I did not know him. He said to me, “Look you have 10km left, whatever you do, do not give up. So I got up, started jogging, the pain subsided and I finished the race,” she recalls.Once back in Doha, she touched base with Rahim who, she says, is her mentor and a good friend now.After her first race, Tee felt on top of the world. “I felt like I could achieve anything. When I crossed the finish line I was in tears,” she says. She went on to complete a full Marathon in January 2012 and that same year she completed the London Marathon in April.She does not know if the way she trains is right but is addicted to running now. “I am very grateful to God because I have a bad leg, I have a disability and I seem to have quite a good recovery,” she says.Tee does not follow any specific preparation plans. She takes a long run on an average day, wears a compression kit both before and after the race and takes care of her nutrition and rehydration processes.She advises people who want to reduce weight to get a good combination of exercise and nutrition, preferably in the ratio of 20/80, and make it a part of their lifestyle. The famous Boston Marathon 2013, hit by bombings, remains the highlight of her racing life. “I remember I was quite close to the finish line when the bomb went off. If I had run any faster that day, I am sure things would have been very different today,” she recalls.“When we were close to the finish line, there was this explosion and then people in front of us started running backwards. We heard the explosion but we did not know what was going on. It was a real cold day, and there was a lot of confusion (in the aftermath of the blast). I would never forget that race. Honestly, I felt it was going to knock me off and I would have some kind of phobia but you know somehow I just got over it,” says a relieved looking Tee.After Boston, she ran Antarctica twice. Now, she has Two Oceans race coming up which is considered the most beautiful race in the world. Also, she is looking forward to completing the North Pole Marathon. According to the National Black Marathon Association that she runs for, she will be the first black runner in the world who has run the seven continents and the North Pole.She would be the first female resident of Qatar to do so. Ziyad Rahim has already done it.“It is going to be a challenging run but I am looking forward to it. I think you just have to learn to believe in yourself. You have to be consistent, focused and determined and I do all of that,” says Tee.“Yesterday, I ran 22km and this morning I had my recovery 6km and then I have a rest day and I do have massage once a week. Respect the distance. In Marathons, you have to respect the distance,” she emphasises.She has also done the Triple Seven race organised by Marathon Adventures which runs a Marathon in seven continents in seven days. Starting off in Australia, the runners go through Abu Dhabi, Paris, Tunisia, New York, South America and Antarctica in seven days. Due to hostile weather conditions in Antartica, their plane could not land and Tee and the group had to complete the Marathon in eleven days instead of seven.But she says it was a great achievement in itself, combating all the different weather conditions, travel fatigues and the challenging routine.Despite achieving all these goals and winning a number of medals, Tee still believes she was the happiest when she lost weight. “It was the best time in my life. When you change your lifestyle, your health changes, too, and so does your mind. The greatest gift that you can give to your family is health,” she adds.Now, she says she is motivating her four boys and they, too, want to run Marathons when they come of age. In running Marathons, she also raises funds for her association that awards scholarships to young students enabling them to run for a healthy living. She came to Doha in 2005 and plans to “stay around for a bit” as she says she feels very secure here.