Run for your life

Running is woven through my life story. I started at the Camperdown Little Athletics Club when I was 10 years old (yes, that's me in the photo below), and I haven't stopped running since. In April 2023 I ran the Boston Marathon. In preparing for that event, I read plenty of articles about running marathons and I came across a number of inspiring female runners who talked about how the physical challenges of running translate positively to other areas of life. Below are a few snippets...

Sally McRae is a professional ultra runner from California (an ultra is any event further than a marathon). In an iFit training run I did with Sally (not literally; I was on the treadmill) she talked about the importance of doing the hard work and how that pays off in your everyday life. Sally said that "Putting yourself in a position where you have to endure, and it can be any sort of sport or any activity but making yourself focus on something for a long period of time, pushing your body in ways that you don't normally do in everyday life, is beneficial for your everyday life. It teaches you how to persevere, how to be patient, how to be flexible and accept whatever is given to you and work through it."

Liz Ferguson has completed over 50 marathons; she is a coach and a mum. In a recent article in Business Insider she said, "running has helped her build mental toughness and persistence that translates to other challenges in life, too. When you know you're capable of pushing through something that's difficult physically, when you encounter a tough situation, you can pull from that."

In 2020 at the age of 46, in a HuffPost article, Jo Pavey, five-time Olympian representing Great Britian, shared, "When I got to a certain age in my career and had kids, I thought maybe I wouldn't have time to exercise and continue being an athlete, but keeping going has been brilliant for my mental health, it makes me feel better about myself and more in control of other aspects of my life."

My daughter-in-law Danielle is an inspiration! She has two young children (a two-year-old and eight-month-old). Here is her story in her own words about how taking up running made such a positive change in her life. We talked over a coffee, and at times it was very emotional, I am so proud of her:

"I saw you and Lewis (her husband, my son) doing something for yourselves [running], and I was just missing that part of my life, doing something for me. I probably went into it thinking I can't do it, but I also thought that doing a walk was better than doing nothing, so I started on the treadmill (with iFit: Introduction to Running series with Tommy Rivs in Portugal). With one child in day care and a new baby, my non-negotiable was that every time he slept in the morning I went out and did what I could do.

From just showing up consistently on the treadmill things started happening without me realising it. I was enjoying it, number one, and then I ran 30 seconds at a time and that felt good because I'd just had a baby and then I was running for a minute at a time and before long it was eight minutes. Every time I did that, I would feel so proud of myself and so excited to get up the next morning and get on the treadmill to challenge myself. Lewis celebrated my achievements too. I had great support, someone who was invested in me and was happy to see me succeed.

Eight minutes turned into 12 minutes, turned into 30 minutes. In the beginning, I had said to Lewis, "I'm never going to be able to run for 30 minutes, but I'll just walk it if I can't do it, no big deal." But my mentality changed to one of, "I can do this, I'm going to do this, how fast can I do it?" And then I did my 30-minute run and we celebrated big and then the next series was a hiking series in Switzerland, and that help build up my strength. Then I got to the five km series in Costa Rica and, predictably, I said, "I'm never going to be able run 5km in 30 minutes." And Lewis, said, "Just trust the process."

I was motivated and it became my favourite part of the day because I was proving myself wrong, I was like, "You can do this, you're so capable of it." Then before I knew it, I had completed the 5 km series, and I was up to testing myself over 5 km. I did it in 28 minutes and 21 seconds, a personal best by over 4 minutes. Woohoo!

BR (before running) I felt like I was a bit lost. I knew I was a mum, but I felt like I was nothing else. I didn't recognise the body I was in, and my mental health wasn't great. Now I feel like a role model for my kids because I am so much happier, I am so much more assertive and where I would have never believed I could do something, now my mentality is maybe I can. I was always the first person to write myself off, now my thinking is, "I can do it." It's just given me so much more confidence and not to mention the side-effect of all of this is I've lost almost 10 kilos, so the person who I am on the inside I'm starting to recognise her when I look in the mirror. I used to go to shops and ring Lewis and be in tears saying, "I can't buy clothes". I knew I wanted to lose weight, but I knew if that was my focus it would never last, so the fact I enjoy running, and weight loss has been a side effect, has been so motivating. I just want to keep going. It's so nice to put clothes on in the morning and feel like I want to go outside and see people. I was so ashamed of myself before. Running has done that for me. My whole mental clarity and the way I think about myself translates to my relationship with my daughter, because I'm speaking so much more positively about myself because even if I'm not where I want to be I know can do it, so I'm just enjoying the process now, it doesn't feel pressured.

My mum said to me on the phone the other day that running has been the best thing I've ever done for me because she has seen such a change in my whole personality for the better. She told me how proud she was of me; it makes me feel very seen.

The key point being made by these wonderful women is that by taking a fit for life approach, we are building a sound physical foundation that enables us to be better partners, parents, friends and leaders through:

• Increasing our stamina

• Enhancing our mental clarity

• Better managing our thoughts and emotions

• Building our confidence

• Improving our resilience

In the words of the legendary Olivia Newton John, "Let's get physical."

And in the words of just about everybody else, "But where do I start?"

1. Reduce the barriers:

• Be sure to choose an activity that you like doing, it doesn't have to be running, it could be walking, swimming, rowing, triathlons or a combination of.

• Make sure the activity can be undertaken in an environment that feels comfortable to you. If you like exercising alone then group classes will be a turn off.

• Easy access to your chosen activity is important. Having to drive miles to a destination before you get into it quickly wears you down.

2. Be realistic:

• Find a beginner training plan for your chosen activity, there are plenty of examples online.

• Start at a slow pace and for a short duration. Going out hard and fast initially is a quick pathway to giving up from the get-go. I can hear that well-worn phrase now, "See, I told you I couldn't do it."

• Rest and recovery between training sessions/ days is vital. This is when the work you have done manifests in physical changes and strengthening of your body's structures and tissues. More of a good thing is not necessarily a good thing!

• Be patient and trust the process, change and improvement will start to happen relatively quickly but rushing it will likely result in injury and setbacks.

• Setting manageable goals is a great way to navigate the process of becoming fitter, it reduces the urge to do too much too soon but still provides a sense of progress and achievement.

3. Make it a habit:

• Ideally your chosen activity becomes part of your identity, infiltrates your DNA and this means you are more likely to keep going.

• Consistency in training is the key to success, making it part of your daily routine means you are more likely to do it. Deciding what part of the day you will dedicate to train is one of the most important decisions you will make in sustaining your fitness journey. In deciding on your "window" bear the above sections in mind: reduce the barriers and be realistic. If you have never been a morning person, choosing 5am as your timeslot will be setting yourself up to fail.

• If you fall off the wagon, so to speak, make a swift and intentional commitment to get straight back on. You'll get back in the swing in no time but the longer you leave it the harder it is to recapture your new identity.

• Look for some events you can sign up for and focus your training towards. Events provide incentive and a challenge, they are fun, and they enable you to test yourself out.

My next challenge: London Marathon 2024

So here I am, quite a few decades on from my running debut, still loving it and so grateful that I can continue to get out there most days and do that thing I do. In December 2023 I will commence training for the 2024 London Marathon.