This Sunday will see plenty of first timers take on The O’Keefe Challenge, one being Bendigo’s Bronte Harrop. We’ve had a chat with Bronte about how she got into running and why it’s a perfect avenue to fitness for busy mums.
“I’ve run intermittently, but this is the first time I’ve ever kept at it consistently,” Bronte says. “My partner signed up and started training for a half Ironman last year, which motivated me to start moving as well. I’d been big on hiking/bushwalking prior to having a baby in March 2023, but I’d been unable to do this after having him as he didn’t like the pram! So in August 2024 I decided I needed to do something and just started running.”
Finding time for fitness can be tricky at the best of times but as a mother of young children, it can often feel impossible.
“I’m loving running because it’s very time efficient with a two year old. I can go out for half an hour and it’s an effective workout. I can do it on my lunchbreak, and it’s such a sense of achievement reaching goals and seeing improvements over time.“It can be tricky to fit it in sometimes, or we’ve had a bad night’s sleep and I just don’t feel like it, but I just have to remember that done is better than none, and a slow 3k run on an off day is better than doing nothing at all.”
Bronte started with short runs of 3-4km a few times a week and slowly built on it. “I think my first run was an average of over 7 minutes a kilometre. But I’ve now been running for over 6 months, and can do consistent 10-15km runs and have been able to reach my goal of doing a sub 25minute 5k!”
“I’ve got a good rhythm now. It used to be difficult to get myself up and out for a run, particularly if I was having a day where I didn’t feel like it. Whereas now it’s almost a habit that when I have some spare time in my day I just get out and go for it.”
Bronte encourages other mums that have been thinking about it to give it a go. “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, not every run has to be better or faster than the last, and there’s nothing wrong with walking some of it! Prams can run, and even though my little boy hated the pram for walking, he loved it for running, which allowed me to get out for a run even when my partner wasn’t home to watch him. Bendigo has such a great running community, we’ve been doing some Parkruns and it’s so great for running in a large group and getting some more motivation!”
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