Firstly I’d just like to say thank you to all my friends at Running Mums Australia who watched the race.  Reading the messages of support and congratulations I’ve received was very special and I can’t thank the team enough.

The Marathon is gruelling.  There’s no doubt about it as the men’s race demonstrated, deploying the right strategy and preparing well is the key to success.  After a decade of marathon running with 14 in total, 3 Olympics, 2 Commonwealth medals and a handful of World Championships over shorter distances I am content that I’ve achieved more than I ever expected in my career, but why stop now.

In the last 12 months my support team and I have celebrated the success of my placings at world majors, London and Chicago and my times getting quicker while the media and those interested in our sport have been focused on me being “the veteran”, asking questions like when will I be having more children, or can I still do it – so it was nice to put that all to bed on the roads of Gold Coast.  This 39 year old hasn’t finished yet!

It has been a wild ride preparing for the Commonwealth Games but thankfully I’ve been able to take a controlled and relaxed approach to it.  Over the last 6 months the key phrase in our place has been “I’ll sort that out after the Games” and guess what it’s now after the Games!  Now I have a huge to do list!

I’ve been combining running and work for over a decade now and my biggest stress the last six months has been about keeping my Corporate career on track while preparing for the race of my life.  I have a beautiful family who have supported me on a daily basis to prepare and get the best out of myself.  My goal now is to work out how I can invest more time in my training when I begin the campaign for Tokyo Olympics 2020.

The marathons in which I’ve joined my competitors on the start line where I’ve prepared well I’ve had no nerves.   I’ve felt in control and executed my plans without fear.  Those where I’ve either not put in the work or I’ve had major obstacles like troubled projects, sickness or injury are those where I’ve been most nervous.  Planning is key to success in both sport and life and planning for the next campaign starts now.

I’m hoping that with some changes to our daily structure and with some external support I can train more like a world class marathoner in regard to mileage, altitude and other performance enhancing training opportunities.

With the race being the hottest I’ve ever experienced it’s time now to let the body recover before we commence a return to competition, but even after a week off I’m missing my running so hopefully it won’t take too long before the body is ready to go at it again!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Commonwealth Games and I hope that my life juggle is something which resonates with your personal objectives at home and at work.  I’m happy to answer any questions you may have in my next post if you’d like to pass them onto Nicole.

Excited that I can put my new Medal Display to good use this year!

Happy Running!

Lisa

xoxo