One person who inspires me is my mom, who found her passion for running at the age of 45, in 2012. She took part in a 3-month-long Step Counting Challenge and won a free pass to a running competition with a distance of 10km. She decided to participate, even though she hadn’t run for ages. Surprisingly, it was easier than she thought. She started to compete in different short-distance races. It is amazing to me that she had good results without doing any training. Distances grew longer each year and in October 2015 she ran her first marathon. Now, 6 years later, she has run 151 marathons, which is the 3rd result among female Estonian marathon collectors.
Marathons weren’t enough for her, so she started going to ultra runs as well. Ultra run is a running event on a course that is longer than a marathon distance. There are two main types of ultramarathon events: those that cover a specified distance or route, and those that last for a predetermined period of time (with the winner covering the most distance in that time). She has even taken part in 24-hours races. It seems crazy to me, I can’t even stay awake for that long.
Her best result in the 24-hour-race is 189,24km, which gives her 3rd place in the Estonian women all-time ranking table. She achieved it last year when she was 53 years old. Her personal marathon record is also from last year, which is 3:47:25. The longest distance she has run is 211km, it took her about 31.5 hours. She is the oldest female ultrarunner in Estonia.
She has also competed in a 34km barefoot race, straight line races and obstacle races. She goes hiking and orienteering as well. This year she has a goal to make one million steps every month, so far she has achieved it. I don’t know how she manages to do so much, because she has a full-time job in a library and a part-time job as a newspaper carrier. It seems that she has more than 24 hours in a day.
My mom has inspired me to be more active. Running is not my thing, but I have started to walk more thanks to her example. I once even participated in a hiking event with her. We have gone orienteering together as well. Unfortunately I haven’t been consistently active, I start when I feel better and during depressive episodes I stop, but I am only 30 years old now. If she started with her running hobby at 45 then there is hope for me as well.