With Mother's Day round the corner, we have spoken to some well-known mums, athlete’s, Ambassadors and Pretty Athletic lovers, on why they started running, how and what positives they brought whilst being a mother.
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JENNI FALCONER celebrity running mum, SMOOTH radio host and founder of running podcast RUNPOD, told us why being a mum and continuing to run was so important to her:
When I became a mum, running continued to be an important part of my life just perhaps for slightly different reasons.
Now it is less about chasing a PB and more about enjoying a little ‘me time’, in the fresh air, reaping the benefits of that combination of exercise, the endorphin rush and the chance to feel physically and mentally refreshed.
What’s more, running is a more time-efficient way to get exercise done whilst juggling a full-time career alongside parenting as you can go anywhere and anytime! I run my commute!
Finally, I believe it is important to set an example to my daughter and let her see first-hand how exercise should never be considered a chore, instead it should just be a way of life.
Jenni shares how running became less about chasing a personal best, to using it as ‘Me Time’. She also explains it is a great way to get the fitness in whilst running to work. Although, what’s more important is how Jenni wants to set an example to her daughter and encourage running as a way of life.
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LIZ MCCOLGAN World champion athlete winning SILVER at the 1988 Olympic games, as well as winning the 1992 World Half Marathon championships, 1991 NYC marathon, 1992 Tokyo marathon and the 1996 London marathon. Liz is mother to superstar athlete Eilish Mccolgan.
When I became a mother, I was much happier within myself as I thought I could never have children. My daughter filled a void that was missing in my life and made me much more relaxed in my training and running. I also became more motivated to do well, as I wanted her to be proud of my achievements.
Liz talks about how hard it is to become a mother and how that brought stress upon her life and affected her training. Once she became a mum It changed her life in the best possible way and helped her relax in her training and running. What’s more important is it brought motivation into her life to become a role model for her daughter, which certainly worked! Eilish is definitely following Liz’s footsteps in becoming a world champion athlete.
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HAYLEY WOOLNOUGH - AKA @RUNNINGMUMMIOOF4 Our own Pretty Athletic Ambassador and ASICS Frontrunner.
It’s a juggle with my tribe for sure but one I’m more than happy to have. What I did was create an extra hour in my day by setting my alarm clock on my run days to 4:50am. I get such a lot out of my running and it has such an amazing positive impact on my life that I believe by setting aside that hour in the day for me I am a better mum, wife & all-round person to be around for it and well worth an hour less in bed for.
Hayley shows us how running helps her to become a better wife, mother and all-around amazing human being, just by getting up that little bit earlier to get her run in. As well as fitness, Hayley motivates her followers by displaying motivation to help us all get out for those important runs.
Hayley describes motherhood as being ‘Blessed’. She also shares how she is spending mother’s day:
We will be starting the day with a little family hike. I live in the Cotswolds and it’s so beautiful here for hiking adventures and something we all enjoy doing together. Followed by one of my hubbies yummy roasts and Bella is planning on making a Banoffee Pie, yum and there will be lots of relaxing and sofa snuggling for sure.
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Over on social media we asked our amazing Pretty Athletic ambassadors this question:
- WHAT WAS THE BEST BIT OF ADVICE YOUR MOTHER EVER GAVE YOU?
GEORGINA ROBERTS @GEORGINATAMSINROBERTS had some very important from her mother “Remember who you are and keep your head held high.”
CLAIRE TEWKESBURY @CLAIRESMARATHONMUSINGS Had some very simple and strong advice from her mum “Don’t worry about what anyone thinks! You can’t please everyone!”
JO HUMPHREY @JO.RUNS.N.STUFF Always used to wonder what the right thing to do was, luckily her mother helped her out wit this advice “Always do the right thing. Do right by other people and they will do right by you.”
SALLY GREEN @SALLY_ONTHERUN Had a mother who had great wisdom and provided her with this simple but effective advice “If you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all.”
ANIA GABB @ANIA_G_PT had some perfect advice from her mother knowing she was a running fanatic “Never waste time stressing about money. Focus on your health and enjoy life.” Surely this meant it was ok to spend money on multiple pairs of running trainers?!
There’s no doubt all of our Pretty Athletic ambassador mums will be running on Mother’s day at some point, whether it being by themselves as ‘me time’ or with the family!
By Ania Gabb.
