I have learned a lot over the last few years in my running journey. One of the most important things I have learned is that people change, paths change and thats ok. When I began my running journey after a long break, my goal was to run my first half marathon, and that quickly turned into my first marathon, and then many more races of this nature after that. The thrill of the road, the camaraderie of big races, the excitement of the finish line.

Through RMA my eyes have been opened up to the reality that running can be whatever you want it to be. Dabble in this, dabble in that, but you always seem to sway to something that ‘really’ defines you as a runner.

To me its the long distance, mainly on trails where my hearts desires can be accomplished. I love nothing more than to run along a trail discovering its’ beauty and majesty and surprises that can be found in nature. I don’t love to do this at full pelt a hundred miles an hour fighting for a cracking pace and time, I love to do this with friends. There is a time and a place for racing, but for me, I prefer the training over the race. This is one thing I have come to learn about myself as a runner.

To me, a race is the culmination of all of the amazing times I have had in training and all of the lessons that I have learned along the way, but I much prefer the training than the race itself.

Every week I line up at parkrun and give it my absolute all and I absolutely hate it. It leaves me exhausted and tired, and although it has its’ place in my training running a high intensity run, pushing myself to my limits, I know that I much prefer the meandering of an undulating or even elevation ridden trail anywhere. And I prefer to push my limits over distance. I prefer 50km over 21, and so on, and rarely do I enjoy 5km!

We are all wired differently, and we all train differently and we all love differently…and so…we all run differently and are drawn to our running journey for different reasons and by different things.

What gets you out there? What makes you want to lace up? Do you prefer the metronome-like rhythm of the road, or the obstacle-like excitement of a trail? Do you prefer to run with silence of just you and your breathing, or do you prefer to join with friends? Do you like the fast 5, or the drawn out adventure of 100k? Whatever it is, I hope you learn something about yourself, and discover who you are through running.