Why Are They Running?... Renee Gold Coast 10km!

Renee is a wife and a mum of two young boys who has found her love of fitness and running in recent years. When we heard Renee was planning on entering the 10km Gold Coast race we threw around the idea of her doing it for Felicity and she joyously jumped at the chance!
I have asked Renee to 'document' her training, preparation and thoughts along the way and more importantly WHY she is running on July 6th for Felicity and this is what she had to share:

April:
New kicks! Hopefully my new shoes and orthotic inserts will get me running better and faster. Nothing better than a new pair of runners.
As part of my training and my effort to meet my goal of beating my 10km time from last year I attend weekly running training. It is interval based and has grown from a Mum’s and Bubs training group that I’ve been going to since my first son was born five years ago. A group of Mum’s got into running and haven’t looked back, as our babies got bigger we wanted more of a challenge so our trainer created a running group. Our trainer also does triathlons and she has supported and encouraged a lot of Mum’s to get into triathlons as well and she now does weekly tri training for the Mums who want even more of a challenge. So running training went well this week. I set some cracking times. We run 1km four times and try and get a faster time each time. My fastest was 4.35min which is close to my fastest ever. But at this stage I couldn’t hold that pace for 10km I’m still a 5.30min to 6min pace at the moment for a longer run.
May:
Mother’s Day Race – as part of the lead up to the 10km this year I’m ran in the Mother’s Day Classic again. I opted for the 8km race, last year I did the 4km one. Unfortunately I didn’t get the time I was after, it wasn’t my day for running despite setting such great times at training the week before it just wasn’t my day. My time was still pretty good though well under an hour just a slower than expected pace.
I’m starting to get a few extra runs in. Went for a run along the Burleigh Heads foreshore with a friend and we racked up an easy 9km first thing in the morning it was a great confidence booster.
June:
Not long now until the big 10km I’m still aiming for a time faster than last year. I don’t think I’ll get 49min but that was pretty unrealistic as I remembered my time from last year wrong. It wasn’t 51min it was 57min so 54min would be pretty awesome and still really hard to get.
Well training has kicked up another notch this week. Along side my triathlons and running training I've also been doing a fitness challenge for over a year. The challenge (Ashy Bines Bikini Body Challenge) is a great way to meet like minded people who help to inspire and challenge me everyday. I love it. Anyway, one of my friends from the challenge helped me step up this weekend. With her encouragement and support I completed my longest ever run - a massive 14kms and it was just a casual training run. I'm so excited to have achieved this and I'm now starting to think of setting my sites higher next year, maybe aiming for the 21km distance. My leg is trying to tell me I'm 35 years old (had some ongoing issues with my feet/leg this year) but with a bit of physio I'm aiming to be in top form. Only 11 more sleeps!

As I train for this race and continue on my fitness journey I think about Felicity a lot and I think about all the work she puts into her day to day life to achieve what we would view as simple tasks. Last time I spoke with her Dad she was working on making a plan, but not a plan as we might think of it just a simple thing like walking around a wall with a hole it in and making a plan to do that to get to the side she wants to be on.
One of the other things I think about is her Mum’s comments in the video about Felicity’s program, it has made the difference between a child that was retreating into her own world and seemed very unhappy to a child who is much happier and enjoying her world much more. This sums up to me the reasons why her program is so important and raising awareness and funding for this for Felicity is an absolute honour. Running is an apt analogy to Felicity’s progress. To run you need to strive constantly, you need to keep training to keep up your fitness and it becomes part of your everyday life.
You are inspiring Renee! Thanks so much for all your work and we can't wait to support your race and hear how you go!!
To show your support for Renee and what she is doing for Felicity be sure to pop over to our DONATE page HERE for ways to sponsor her awesome effort!!