What started as a form of punishment for her body has now become a healthy obsession for Falkirk’s Aurel Lewis as she prepares to take on the Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run.

The 37-year-old, from Maddiston, previously suffered with an eating disorder and admitted that running was initially a negative influence in her life.

But after overcoming her personal demons, her attitude to running has since done a complete 180 and she now uses it as a stress relief and a way to encourage others to be more active.

And having conquered ultra-marathons and multiple 10k races in the past, Aurel is looking forward to spreading her message once again when she pounds the streets of Glasgow city centre.

“I’ve been running for about five years, I started doing it for a charity a while back and did a couple of 10k runs and then someone told me about ultra-marathons,” she said.

“I was told, ‘You’ll never be able to achieve one of them’, and my determined side came out and I actually finished one within nine months of being told about them.

“I kind of use running as a coping strategy, to switch off from the stresses and worries of day-to-day life, I also used to suffer with an eating disorder.

“I previously used to run as a punishment for my body but now I use it as a way of trying to encourage people that it’s good for you and it’s healthy. I absolutely love it.

“It was around six or seven years ago when I thought this needs to be channelled in the right way rather than a punishment and that’s where the big turnaround for me came.”

Aurel will be taking part in the Great Scottish Run as part of the Community Challenge, launched by race sponsors Bank of Scotland to help get Scotland active – with the programme in its second year.

The campaign aims to recruit one runner from each of the 32 local authorities in Scotland to take on a ‘10 week to 10k’ running challenge, with Aurel representing her hometown Falkirk.

As part the ‘10 week to 10k’ challenge, she received a personalised training programme by an expert coach in the weeks leading up to the run, taking place on September 30.

And Aurel admits it has been a refreshing change to train for a shorter distance and while she is cautious about going out too hard, she has one eye on beating her current 10k best of 46 minutes 57 seconds.

“Training has been going really well and I’ve been enjoying it,” she said. “It’s nice to change the way I train as for ultra-marathons it’s a slower pace, while this training schedule has been changing it up.

“I wanted to go out and beat my PB, but I was asked whether I wanted to do it for charity and I think when you’re running for charity you don’t want to go out too quick and pull a muscle.

“When you’ve got people sponsoring you I don’t want to not finish, so my aim is just to go out and do my best and make sure I finish.

“It’s a lovely feeling to represent my region - and I never thought I would get picked, but it’s a really good feeling to represent my local community.

“Lot of people know about it and have said it’s nice that I’m doing it for the community so it’s really good and I’m looking forward to having the support on the day.

“I’ve never done the course, but I’ve been told it starts on a hill, so I won’t go off too quick and then when I get past the 3 or 4k mark I’ll look to up the pace and finish with a good time.”

Bank of Scotland is celebrating its 10th year as proud partner of the Great Scottish Run and for the second-year running will support runners from communities across Scotland on their 10 weeks to 10k challenge in the Bank of Scotland Community Challenge. For more information, visit greatscottishrun.com/community-challenge