Over 36,000 runners participated in the Melbourne Marathon Festival on the weekend, and I was one of them! It was a hard slog but I now have 6 half marathons to my name.

As I ran, the feet starting to feel sore, legs beginning to tire and the lungs starting to burn, I admit I did think to myself more than once “WTF am I doing this for?!” But there is something special about running and achieving a goal is also always worth the hard work in the end.

People often say to me ‘But I CAN’T run’…Well actually, running is one of the things that most of us CAN do. It isn’t limited by pricey equipment it’s totally free. It certainly isn’t limited by age as I have been, and will be again I’m sure, beaten by runners twice my age (thanks Mum…..). And it isn’t even limited by disability as some of the wheelchair marathon participants on the weekend proved.

But it is hard! So its not that we CAN’T run its just that most of us don’t WANT to. I know there are already stacks of tips out there to get you motivated to pull on the sneakers, but here are my top three.

1. Be Accountable

It is so easy to bail on a training run when there are no consequences. Solution…get yourself a running buddy. It’s much harder to hit that snooze button when you know you’ll be standing someone up.

If you are short on running friends, meet some new ones at Park Run. It’s free, running weekly events in heaps of locations all over the world and is a great way to start the weekend.

Or, if 8:00am on a Saturday morning is too early for you to exercise and socialise all at once, why not set up a virtual training group. It’s helped me being on the other side of the country to keep tabs on the training of others in Victoria. Trust me, you do not want to be the only one on that chat group not sharing running status or making progress.

2. Set a Goal

You need to have something or someone to inspire you to run. Jenna ‘Running For Bums’ Brook ran from Tasmania to Cape York, 4500km in 4 months, up to 60kms a day. That puts anything I have or will ever do into perspective!

My motivation is my Mum. She’s fit, and quick and before you say ‘Awww how sweet’…No, she’s my motivation because my ongoing aim is to BEAT her! Nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.

But whether you want to improve fitness, trim down for summer, run a marathon (or half), it’s important to have an end point in mind to push you to keep going when things get tough.  

It’s All In Your Head

This is probably my biggest tip to others, but hardest advice to take myself. Never expect all runs to feel the same. Sometimes you are tired, sometimes you are sore, sometimes you are hungry and sometimes you have done all the right things and your legs still feel like concrete! But running is such a mental game and if you don’t allow those tough times to break you, then the times when it all goes to plan just feel even better.

Thank you to all the supporters at the MCG on Sunday and those who watched us virtually via the live link. It makes such a difference to have someone cheering you on! Massive congrats to all the runners especially Steve, Jenny, Eichi, Amy and Mum.

Olive was VERY proud of me when I returned to Perth.