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The Broken Ankle, the Marathon and the Turtle: Sarah's Story

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The Broken Ankle, the Marathon and the Turtle: Sarah's Story

Sarah has come back to running after a full ankle reconstruction and has continued to push her own boundaries in terms of distances, times and her own image of herself as a runner. A self-confessed and named ‘Turtle,’ she loves the trails and the trail running community. In this blog she writes in her own words about her journey of taking up running, through to completing a marathon and tackling an ultra marathon in 2019. Thank you so much to Sarah for contributing this story. This one is for all the turtles out there…

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Navigating the Long Road Back to Running: Tim's Story

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Navigating the Long Road Back to Running: Tim's Story

So many runners get injured through overtraining and have to then tread the delicate balance of coming back from injury, managing volume and intensity and also changing their mindset to their training. Tim was one of those runners who managed to navigate his way back and ended up surpassing all of his expectations both with his running but also his triathlon. Here is his story and some of the lessons that he learnt along the way. Thanks to Tim for sharing this with us…

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Getting back into running after kids. Sheree's Story.

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Getting back into running after kids. Sheree's Story.

After having two kids, Sheree was ready to get back into running long distances. With her sights set on a half marathon, Sheree enlisted Chris as her Coach to help her gradually build up her distance and speed, and keep her accountable to her training. Now she’s set herself another challenge – to run 2020km in 2020 – and she wants others to join in! Here is her runner story…

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New to running?  Here’s where to start.

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New to running?  Here’s where to start.

As coaches, we often get asked about where people should start if they are new to running. On the physical side of things, the answer is pretty straight forward and apps like 'Couch to 5km' have done a great job of bringing new runners into the fold and getting them going, mainly using the run / walk method. This method is gold and I’m delighted to see it taking hold and spreading into the consciousness of new runners.

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"Half Marathon is now my go-to distance!" Susan's Story.

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"Half Marathon is now my go-to distance!" Susan's Story.

Susan is a busy business owner, with a love of rugby, technology and helping organisations and individuals realise their potential. She can now add running to that list and her go-to distance is now the half marathon. She loves her parkrunning at Albert Park in Melbourne and supports her friends to keep running as well. Thank you to Susan for allowing us to share her running story…

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Let’s be realistic about our running. 

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Let’s be realistic about our running. 

Well that escalated quickly…

I have started several blogs only to have the corona virus situation throw us another curve ball. So I started thinking about what can I write or contribute that has some use to our runners and friends, no matter what the situation? Then I spoke with my friend and fellow coach, Michael. Always a thinker and a man of interesting perspectives, we chatted about the need to be realistic about the situation that we find ourselves in, whatever that looks like.

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The realities of getting back to running as a new mum.

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The realities of getting back to running as a new mum.

As a regular runner pre-pregnancy, being a running Mum was a huge priority for me. It wasn’t about fitness so much, it was about having time for me, my form of meditation and time to reflect or listen to audiobooks or podcasts as I ticked my legs over.

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Why CEO's find the time to run...

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Why CEO's find the time to run...

Have you seen those videos and pictures of Barack Obama playing basketball with friends and college players?  I remember looking at them and thinking A. Wow! He’s actually pretty decent and B. How the **** does he find the time to do that?!?!?  He’s the President of the United States!!  Not only that, but every morning when in Washington, Obama hits the gym between 7:30 and 8:30, alternating cardio days and weights days.* Impressive, right?

This last couple of weeks, I have noticed so many people talking about how little time they have to run.  It has brought back memories of a cringe-worthy conversation that I had with a CEO, when I lived in Belgium 6 years ago.  I was chatting to the CEO of one of the biggest hospital trusts in England about her running......

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Comparison is the devil...

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Comparison is the devil...

Comparison is the devil. Well, maybe that's a bit extreme, but I rarely find comparisons helpful in my line of work.

When I raise the issue of comparison with people you often see wry smiles and subtle nodding of heads. Everybody does it but yet most people feel worse because of it. The problem is that its addictive. We can’t help ourselves!

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Forget perfection, try evolution.

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Forget perfection, try evolution.

What does the ‘perfect’ runner look like?  I hear this question being discussed every so often in magazines, online forums or occasionally over coffee after our Saturday morning 5km parkrun.  Particularly if you are relatively new to running, you might be interested and might even be in awe of those runners who seem to have the perfect build, legs, speed,or effortless look to them as they glide around the track or along the bike path.   It all adds to the slight insecurities we might have about not being a ‘real runner.’ 

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What’s next?

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What’s next?

One of the most popular questions that we ask other runners is the question of, “what’s next?”

I’m going to be honest and declare that I have a love / hate relationship with this question.  This stems from the moment I finished my 17th and final marathon of 2017, after running races around Australia to raise money and awareness for the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.  I had put myself through a lot physically and emotionally that year, particularly for that final marathon.  I was relieved and elated to be finished the running and fundraising challenge, but within 2 minutes of finishing, I was being asked, "what’s next?"  For some reason, it felt almost criminal to take anything away from that moment and from the sense of achievement, by simply moving on.  Don’t get me wrong, I already knew what was next for me, but for some reason I reacted against the assertion that there needed to be something next and that I couldn’t simply enjoy this particular moment for what it was.