How a simple run helped a Geelong mum find joy again

JENNADENE Ryan didn’t set out to become a runner.

The Geelong tattoo artist and mum of three laced up for her first run about six months ago at a point she describes as rock bottom.

“I was just at this point in my life where I said [to myself], ‘Something needs to change because I cannot keep living this way’,” the 31-year-old said.

She downloaded a running app and went out for her first run. It was just five minutes long, but she kept at it.

“I hit the ground literally running,” Ryan said. “I fell in love with it. Within a week, I was already so much happier.

“I left that [first] run, no matter how short it was, excited for the next one, knowing that if I just took baby steps, little by little, I would get to the place where I needed to be.”

 

Two weeks later, she signed up for her first race, a 5km. At the three-month mark, she tackled her first half marathon.

The experience, she said, has changed her mentality: she has learned to celebrate life.

“This running journey has taught me anything is possible – those big dreams are worth chasing – and there is so much joy and magic to be found in movement,” Ryan said.

“I feel accomplished. I feel that if there’s something that I want, I can really go out there and chase it and get it.

“I’m able to show up better as a parent. I’m able to better show up as a wife. Our kids are all very, very active and I can keep up with them.”

Now she has her sights set on a full marathon on her home turf, as the calendar edges closer to the inaugural Geelong Running Festival.

Created by former Olympian Lee Troop, the Geelong Running Festival will be held on September 20, and offer participants a first-of-its-kind run or walk through the streets of Geelong.

Ryan has this month been announced as one of the event’s ambassadors, an opportunity she feels is a “full circle” moment.

“I want people to understand that if you want it, you can have it,” she said.

“It is always going to be easy? No. It’s meant to be hard, but that’s the beauty of it. And there is a community of people that will cheer you on to even just get to the start line, and then a whole lot more people that will cheer you on to the finish line.”

To train for her own marathon, Ryan heads out for three runs each week: a speed session, a recovery run and a long-distance run.

“They were right,” she laughs. “A little vitamin D and some water and some movement really does do things for your mental health.

 

“As someone who doesn’t know how to rest – being a busy mum and a business owner – as much as being active has helped me, it’s actually taught me how to recover and rest my body as well.”

In the lead-up to September, she’s hoping to inspire as many people as possible to hit the trails, get involved in the Geelong Running Festival and have fun.

“Running is a form of play … it should be done with joy,” Ryan said. “It’s not about loss. It’s not about punishment. It’s not about being less of something. It’s always about being more of something.”

And of the marathon itself? Ryan says it’s just the victory lap.

“The marathon is the training. It’s the hundreds to thousands of kilometres of running to train for that moment,” she said.

//SPONSORED CONTENT