My Running Journey

Where I Was Starting From

I have always run. From when I was a kid, I ran everywhere. I participated in Little Athletics and school cross country. In the last ten years, I brought it back into my life since I met my husband and we would go running together. When we lived in Bali in 2016-2018, we were running 5-6kms, 5-6 days per week. When we left Bali to go back to Australia, I was still running but for some reason, not as much. Instead I was doing other things such as Yoga, bike riding and gym workouts. Then 2020 happened and like a lot of other people, my habits changed. I seemed to lose sight of what interested me. It felt like running was off the table.

Humble Beginnings

Last year, we spent many months in the US and towards the end of 2023, we spend two months in San Diego. It was there that I started running again. Some afternoons, on the boardwalk at Mission Beach, I would go for a trot. I managed to finish a 3km run and then on another day, a 4km run. I say managed because it didn’t feel amazing but that is what starting over again feels like. It is not going to feel the same as when I was running all the time. While we were in California, we skipped across to Hawaii because, why not? That was December and they were having their annual Santa Hat run. We entered the 5km race and while I came 2nd in my age and gender group, it was really hard. Or maybe I am just hard on myself?

Starting Over Isn’t So Bad

It was when we went back to Australia for Christmas, I started to reassess a lot of things in my health and lifestyle. In recent blog posts I have written about my experience with giving up alcohol and what that has done for my life, my self esteem and my self worth. I know I am much better for it. This started me pondering about what else I could be doing for my health. What was going to help me be the best version of myself?

Setting a Goal

It was imperative for me to set a goal. Something that was going to help keep me on track and help me improve the way I felt about myself. I decided on the ambitious goal of running 1000kms in 2024. It seemed like a crazy idea. This meant that I needed to run at least 20kms a week to reach my goal by or before the December 31st. My contingency plan was to begin with at least 25kms a week at the beginning of the year to get ahead. Life can get in the way and that is okay but I wanted to be ready. I knew that there was going to be at least two weeks of disruption in July/August as our family and friends arrived in Bali for our amazing wedding. And as predicted, other things happened such as a cold here and Bali belly there.

How Far Do I Have To Run Again?

After setting the goal, a little bit of doubt that set in. 1000kms is a long way. I started to wonder if I should have let the words come out of my mouth. What was I thinking? My initial thoughts included my feelings of November and December where 3, 4 and 5km runs were really hard. I failed to realise that as I ran more, the runs would become easier and the distance per run would increase as I got fitter. It is funny now but at the time, it was a little daunting.

One Step at a Time

In Bali, we joined a running group called Flowerboy and joined their runs on Wednesday and Saturday, either 5 or 10km. At first, 10kms in Bali heat seemed too much to think about. As time went on, 5, 10, 15 and 20km runs became the norm. It is all about consistency and taking steps forward towards your goal.

Last weekend, I went to Singapore to run the 10km run in the running festival. Out of 12,000 people, I came 409th and 9th for my age and gender. After this running festival, I feel inspired to run a full marathon with a distance of 42.195kms. My training schedule for this starts in January. Wish me luck.