Whether she’s in the sunshine or the wind, running keeps her in the moment and provides a great distraction from the stress of everyday life.
Norah holds one of the records for parkrun regionally.
Just before the pandemic started she clocked up 250 runs at her home parkrun in Shepparton.
It was the parkrun starting in 2014 that prompted her running journey.
She found it was a great social outing and discovered that the running community was a special group of people.
They understand the work that goes into running and are a supportive and encouraging bunch.
Back then Norah could only run 5 km.
She had participated in fun runs once or twice a year, but that was the extent of her running history.
Fast-forward six years and Norah’s running achievements are continuing to grow.
She usually runs five times a week, a mixture of slow and easy running and a long run of around 18 km on the weekends.
Her advice to new runners is “absolutely, you can do it”.
Through hard work Norah has seen her times continue to improve.
Her first parkrun was around 30 mins and now her personal best is 23:04.
She encourages other runners not to be hard on themselves and says if you are out of breath it doesn’t mean you’re not fit, it just means you need to give the body time to adjust.
For the past four years, Norah and husband Chris have been active members of the Shepparton Runners Club.
Chris is the club’s coach, while Norah assists the committee and is a volunteer coach.
She completed the level two recreational run leaders course with Athletics Australia, and has learnt valuable lessons from her own experience, like going out too fast and “blowing up”.
Norah has run nine half-marathons, and particularly loves the ‘out and back’ Gold Coast course, where she is running with thousands of others.
Chris has run the marathon which means they see each other around the 8 km mark.
This spurs her on.
Another bonus is that they get some sun and catch up with friends afterwards, which helps with recovery.
Norah has plans to run a marathon and hopes to tick this off before she turns 40.
Also, on the bucket list is a half or full marathon overseas, possibly in Boston or Berlin.
Norah encourages runners to be part of a club if they can.
She learnt the hard way and being a bit stubborn, thought she could do it herself.
Now she is one of many volunteers who finds it satisfying helping others to achieve their running goals and to discover the enjoyment of running.
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