BY FAZEENA SALEEM
Sitting in a popular restaurant in Doha, Tee decides to have only a glass of orange and apple mix juice to make sure that her regular diet chart wouldn’t get disturbed.
This inspiring woman, looks like is in her late twenties, has completed more than 30 marathons in different parts of the world and in April will take part in the North Pole marathon.
One could spot her her along the Salwa road early in the morning doing her running practices at least for one and a half hours everyday.
Her story was very different a few years ago. She was a food lover and the weighing scale touched 121kg. This led to a lot of trouble in her day to day life in addition to the chronic pain she suffered.
Tuedon Morgan (Tee) is a 41-year-old mother of four boys and lives with her family in Doha. She has been living in Qatar for the past 10 years, working as an educator at one of the ministries. She is a British citizen with Nigerian parents.
In 2007, following the birth of her youngest son, her weight started to increase from 63kg to 121kg. Her access weight pushed her to wear UK size 26 and constant pain in her legs forced her to get injections.
Life was not easy for Tee and she was not sure what would help to reduce her weight. And then came a day when her mother couldn’t recognise her at a train station.
“She couldn’t recognize me and walked out of the station. That was so sad and I felt depressed,” Tee said. This was the trigger Tee needed to change her inactive lifestyle and turn her life around.
“I wanted to do it (lose weight) for my family, the best gift I can give them is a healthy me,” she said.
She first joined a gym in 2008 and even a 20-minute run on a treadmill was a difficult task for her. But, ahe managed to reduce 2kg in the first month.
“It was not easy, my whole body was itching,” Tee recalled her first days at the gym.
Then she joined the Doha Bay Running Club where she discovered the world of long distance running. Here, she received the ‘Most Determined Newcomer’ award during her first year of running, and three years later became the club’s ‘Greatest Achiever.’
Shortly after she started running, she decided that she would run a marathon, which was not encouraged by her colleagues, but being determined, Tee’s dream came true in January 2012 at Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon. She finished the race in a time of 4:40:53.
Tee has completed a marathon on each continent (including Antarctica) — the first Nigerian to do so and has also completed the Triple Seven Quest.
Tee will participate in the Old Mutual Two Oceans Ultra Marathon and North Pole Marathon in April.
“I haven’t done any sports activities during my school days or childhood, but now I enjoy running,” said Tee.
She is a member of the National Black Marathoners Association and was awarded the Seven Continents Marathon Finishers Award in 2014.
The marathon covered seven continents in seven days Melbourne, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Tunisia, New York, Chili and Antarctica.
“Each day of the marathon we had to face different weather, jetlag and so many other challenges, yet I successfully completed the challenge,” said Tee.
“I have now done 32 full marathons. I recently completed the triple seven quest and hopefully it should be a world record. I am patiently waiting for Guinness to reply. My next race is the two oceans and then the North Pole. I run on behalf of the National Black Marathoner Association,” she added.
Tee has a personal trainer at the gym, but not a dietitian. She makes sure to bake her bread, take low calorie food and to eat before she gets very hungry.
A typical day of Tee would start at 3.30am, following a light diet ideally a banana, she goes for a 12km run. Returning home by 5.30am to play the role of a mother — wakes her children, cooks breakfast and sends them to school.
“I eat something like brown bread and egg white for breakfast. Then a banana, salad or a sandwich around 10am, my heaviest meal is lunch mostly baked salmon and brown rice,” said Tee.
“I wouldn’t eat after 7.30pm and go to sleep before 9.30pm, because I start my day early,” she said.
Tee works between 7.30am and 1.45pm and devotes several hours with her personal trainer at the gym.
Running is not just limited to Tee in the family, her two sons have also joined her in daily running and some mini marathons.
Speaking about her journey of change in lifestyle and running she said, “It’s not a sprint but a marathon. One must enjoy the journey. When I started all I wanted was to lose weight but now I want to complete at least 100 marathons and train and inspire people.”
The Peninsula
