“I don’t come from a sporty family – we sailed, fished, tramped but that was it. I did a bit of running as fitness for tramping at high school, but it was never something that I enjoyed. Then my daughter ran the 10km at Queenstown Marathon in 2016 – it looked fab! I’d never seen pictures of a running event before – the supporters, the runners in action, the finish line!
My daughter suggested that I run it with her the following year and I just laughed – I was 52 at the time, have osteoarthritis in both knees and an ankle, and was overweight. But she kept on at me so we agreed that if my Doctor and a physio said it was okay I’d give it a go. They both did, so I was committed. I also signed up with a personal trainer – I loved working out at the gym but also reasoned that it made sense to have someone with some exercise knowledge overseeing my training and helping me develop my body strength.
I did my first bit of running on the treadmill in May 2017 and, long story short, completed the Queenstown Marathon 10km that year around 7 minutes slower than my 24 year old daughter. And I was hooked – and addicted to finisher medals!
The next year I upped my goals, completing the 12km at Auckland Marathon and hoping to build up to half marathon distance the following year, 2019. Unfortunately I suffered a couple of injuries which curtailed my running for almost the whole of 2019. During that recovery period so many people told me that I should stop running, saying I was too old, it wasn’t good for my health, I was always injuring myself, and that I didn’t have a “runners body”. But I’m stubborn and don’t care for opinions of people who don’t know what they’re talking about. In actual fact running was having huge positive benefits on my health. My cholesterol levels and blood pressure had reduced, my arthritis was causing me less issues, and I was coping so much better with stress and self-confidence and self-esteem.
So I’m still running. Running kept me sane during last year’s Covid lockdown as well as getting me out of the house, as I was working from home full-time.
Last year, aged 56, I ran my first half marathon! And now I’m just a few weeks away from running my second one.
My running mantra is you don’t know what you are capable of unless you try, and you’re never too old to try something new, take on a challenge or set a new goal. I don’t love every run I do, but I never regret any of them. When the going is tough I remind myself of the benefits to my health, and think about spending the future with my children and grandchild. You’ve got to have a why for those tough times.”
Anne @annestan_runs
(Dunedin)
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Portraits of Runners + their stories
@RunnersNZ
