GEMMA Graham, 27, is an account manager at multi-award winning public relations and social media agency OPR in Newcastle.

Gemma works on a range of consumer-integrated PR campaigns, from house builder Miller Homes to Northumberland’s largest shopping centre Manor Walks.

Gemma got married last October and lives in Blyth with her new husband Bradley.

Were you ill much as a child?

No, not really. I was brought up with the notion that it wasn’t good to take time off school and my parents were quite strict about that.

I practically had to be on my death bed for them to let me be off. I always just seemed to get on with it and luckily was never seriously ill anyway.

What sports and activities did you take part in at school?

None! I absolutely hated PE and didn’t join any after school sports clubs.

I just didn’t have a sporty bone in my body and would always try to wangle out of PE by saying I’d forgotten my kit.

Have you ever had a health scare?

No, luckily not. So far, I have been blessed with good health.

How often do you exercise and what do you do?

Thankfully, I have now got over my fear of exercise. I like to run, and as I live next to the beach I often go for runs along the coastline.

Last year I was also on a mission to drop two stone in weight for my wedding day, so I joined SAS Bootcamp at Greens gym in Gosforth and managed to shed it within just a few months.

Since then, I put some weight back on over the Christmas period so I have started to go back and really enjoy it.

What’s the most challenging activity/event you’ve ever done?

Before I got the running bug, my friend and I signed up to do the Race for Life in Newcastle.

As it is only 5km we thought it would be a breeze and didn’t really do much training.

But because I had never really trained to run before, I found it a great struggle and was out of breath and whinged about a stitch the whole way round.

I also did a skydive for Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund a couple of years ago and jumped 10,000 ft out of a plane, which was absolutely terrifying and certainly one of the most challenging events I’ve ever done.