Connecting the Dots

Connecting the Dots...with Wonder woman (Kelly Mckinlay-Walls)

• Adam Leishman • Season 1 • Episode 45

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In this inspiring episode, I sit down with Kelly—a woman whose number plate says it all: “I LOVE RUNNING.” But it wasn’t always this way. From a past of smoking and stress to finishing 100K races and coaching others on Bribie Island, Kelly shares how she transformed her life through movement.

 From Jetty to Jetty to Dead Cow Gully

Her love of functional strength & Pilates

Mustangs, motorbikes, and mindset

Life lessons and beyond

This is one for the runners, the dreamers, and those chasing their own starting line.

#ConnectingTheDots #PodcastLife #RunningPodcast #UltraRunning #FitnessTransformation #BribieIslandStories #WomenWhoRun #PilatesCoach #BuzzsproutPodcasts

Speaker 5:

I'm back. It's week 45, except it's more like week 48. I'm running behind, but that's all right. I'm catching up. I've recorded three videos this week. I'm spending the week and editing. so this is episode 45 of me catching up with people I know or don't know and asking them more about why they do the things they do. this is one of those. Ones where I'd like to say it's another runner, but not your typical runner, and you are

Speaker 6:

about

Speaker 5:

to find out what I mean about that. Uh, so let's go meet Wonder Woman.

Speaker:

This is Kelly. Hi. Now, you're one of the people that I've set out to do this project for, which was about getting to know people I know, and getting to know people I don't know, and find out about them. And I really don't know you at all, except that several years ago, your husband moved his business in across my car park. And I remember one of the guys that worked for me came out and said, there's a car with a number plate on it that's right up your alley, and your number plate is, I love running. Yep. And so fast forward, how, how long, how many years ago would that have been,

Speaker 2:

So he's had that workshop that you're talking about. We've been there for probably about two years now. Right, there we go. So it's taken

Speaker:

me two years to reach out to you and go, I want to meet you. So let's start there. You do a bit of running.

Speaker 2:

I do do a bit of running, yes.

Speaker:

What's have you always ran?

Speaker 2:

No, haven't always ran. Used to be quite the opposing opposite and a lot of people find that. Quite hard to believe. So yeah, I used to be a smoker. I used to be overweight. I used to drink a lot. So yeah, not anymore

Speaker:

and Tell us about what got you into running in the beginning.

Speaker 2:

So I just wanted to quit smoking Basically, and at the time I obviously wasn't very fit. I could not even run from one street light to another And so I was like, you know what? Someone said to me, Oh, have you quit smoking? You're going to get fat. I was like, I'm going to show you. So every time I felt like a cigarette, I would run. Right. And I got onto this little mission. I just want to be able to run around the block. And this was before Garmin or Strava days. And so I just wanted to make it around the block without stopping, and when I finally did that, it took a long time because I was not fit, but when I finally did that, I was like, oh, I've got to sign up, and Jetty to Jetty was one of the first ever runs I did, and that was only five kilometers, mind you, back then.

Speaker:

My Although this is the first time we've met in person, my first memory of you is actually a Jetty to Jetty where I'm running along and I'm like, was it, was that Wonder Woman that just went by? Yes, that's

Speaker 2:

me!

Speaker:

So what's with the, and that's not the only time you've run that in costume is it? I

Speaker 2:

do it pretty much ever since they started the dressing costume.

Speaker:

Right. Competition.

Speaker 2:

Fancy dress competition. There you go.

Speaker:

Yeah. And you must have done Jetty to Jetty a few times because you got the golden bib last year. Yes.

Speaker 2:

I've done it over, well the 21, I've done it over 10 times. Right. I've done the 10 kilometre and I've done the 5 a couple of times. Yeah,

Speaker 4:

awesome.

Speaker 2:

So, Jetty a little secret. Spot in me.'cause that's where I started my run journey. So yeah. Awesome. I'd literally walked down the,'cause I used to live over at Brighton. I'd literally walk down the end of the street and there I'd be running So that was handy back in the days, but now it's a bit far, but I still do it. Love it.

Speaker:

Yeah. Awesome. So it's

Speaker 2:

a good little run.

Speaker:

Jetty to jettys a an initial breakout for a lot of people in their running journeys. It's the first time I ever wore a bib was at the jetty to jet boots. Oh, there

Speaker 2:

you go. It's a nice run because it's all the way along the waterfront. Absolutely. It's really pretty, well the 21 is anyway.

Speaker:

So let's go backwards, what did you do before we get on to what you do now, because I think it ties in with your running, but what did you used to do?

Speaker 2:

Ah, so I used to do a lot of started off as data entry back in when I lived in Victoria. So, yeah, I used to be a computer nerd. You wouldn't think it now, and now that like all the. Technology's changed. I wouldn't know anything about computers, but I used to do data entry. And then I moved up into customer service in the same company and then they put me into CEO. So I worked for a company called RICO for a long time. It was like one of my first jobs. So I made my way up from the bottom. to the top, but yeah, I just found it very stressful. They gave me a well move. So they promoted me and I moved from Victoria up to Brisbane, CEO up here and worked up here for a little while before I was smoking and drinking way too much. So I thought, nah, my life's got to change and I've got to do something less stressful and maybe something that I enjoy. And yeah, so I started the running and quit smoking process and I was seeing a personal trainer at the time. Yep. That's not a bad job, you know, so I made my way to maybe start studying and doing that.

Speaker:

Right. And so what do you do now?

Speaker 2:

So now I do mostly fitness instructing because I like the group environment and it's not as competitive as personal training.

Speaker 4:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

But I do do personal training as well. My love is actually Pilates, so I do Pilates mat work, Pilates reformer, and I also do a couple of running programs for some of my runners too, so I've got my run coaching as well. Awesome. And you do

Speaker:

that locally here on the island?

Speaker 2:

Mostly on the island, yeah. Yeah,

Speaker:

awesome. What's your favourite distance?

Speaker 2:

Well, I've just done 100k about three weeks ago and I wouldn't have said this the first, my first 100k, but I really, really liked it. So I'm not a 100k nerd now, I'm like, when's my next one?

Speaker:

And that's the furthest you've done?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that one was, I've done 100 before, but that one was actually 103, so

Speaker:

yeah. And did I see somewhere on your social media at some point, you'd done. Or you were setting out to do a certain number of 50Ks? Yes,

Speaker 2:

so not last year, the year before. It was just one of my friends at the gym. I did the New Zealand one, Tarawira 50.

Speaker 4:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

And then the next month I did Yandina 5 0. So I'd done two month to month and she just looked at me and she goes, Why don't you just do 50K every month for 12 months? And I said, Oh. I didn't do one in January and she goes, well, you don't need to start in January, do you? And so I set out and I got my little list out and wrote down all the 50Ks, but some of them were like Brisbane Trail Marathon, which is coming up again this year. That was only 42. So I'd tackle another 8Ks on, which was always hard because you'd finish the run and stopped and then I'd do another 8K. And so, yeah, I did that and did, you know, March, April, all the way through. And then I did two back to back. So I did Rainbow Beach and I did the Guzlub at Rainbow Beach. Obviously I had to add extra K. So, and then by the end of the month, I'd actually done 12, well, by the end of the year, sorry, I'd actually done 12. Yeah, wow.

Speaker:

But

Speaker 2:

it was only 11 months because I didn't start in January.

Speaker:

That's a lot of kilometres. I

Speaker 2:

actually, actually, I'd recommend it to people that are looking into it because like if you're into longer running. You kind of get into a rhythm, so you do your 50k, and then you would do a little recovery, and then you do a couple of long runs, and then you're running 50k again, recover, and it was just kind of like a little cycle, I really liked it.

Speaker:

And so with the long, long runs like that, do you find at the end of the year you've done a lot of kilometres? Do you know what you do? Yes. Yeah. So

Speaker 2:

Last year I did 4, 200, and the year before that I did 3, 800, and so every year I'm trying to increase my kilometers. I was speaking to that, someone about that this morning, because I'm on Runs of the World. So that's a little app where you log all your K's and you run virtually around wherever you want. So I've done Australia, that took me six years, and now I'm running New Zealand, and I was hoping to run New Zealand in 12 months, but. It's going to be 13.

Speaker:

Yeah, wow. Because

Speaker 2:

100Ks took me a little long to recover from.

Speaker:

So you live here on the island.

Speaker 2:

Yep.

Speaker:

I've run a bit on the island. You must have seen most of it by now with the kilometres you're doing.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker:

It doesn't take much to go around the island or the, the urban part of the island.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so when I did my, one of my 50Ks, that wasn't, there was a couple that I had to do on me own that weren't part of an event and I did. My own, it's actually, I've actually recorded it on my Strava, so I've got it saved, and it started off at White Patch, and I ran through the State Forest, so all the soft sand. Onto the other side near Warrum, near the forts. And then it was all the way along the beach. And then it came back up First Avenue. So I'd actually set out the day before, put a pair of shoes. So I had my trail shoes. And then got to the toilets at the surf club, changed shoes. And then it was all pretty much pavement all the way back. But running on your own is so boring.

Speaker:

What's your favourite movement in the gym?

Speaker 2:

I'm very much into functional training, so, you know, a lot of, and obviously Pilates as well, but a lot of injury prevention, not so much heavy, heavy, heavy weight. Like I know that they've got their benefits, but I'm very much into, you know, the pulling, the pushing, moving your body in different planes just to help prevent injuries and. Yeah, keep active without over killing your body.

Speaker:

Yep. If I, I, I turn 50 next month which I'm You're doing

Speaker 2:

50 for 50?

Speaker:

Oh, no. Yeah, you are. Not at

Speaker 2:

all.

Speaker:

If there was an exercise or a bunch of exercises that somebody that's approaching, you know, 50 should be making sure they start doing if they're not already doing, what, what would you recommend?

Speaker 2:

Definitely if you're, or even basically anyone, definitely starting with your, your squatting. Yeah. Yep. Push ups. Push ups on the wall, you don't have to do them down on your toes. But even with the squatting, bodyweight squatting, lunges if you can, you know, step back lunges, forward lunges. Safely, try to protect your knees and definitely the plank, you know,

Speaker:

yeah. Awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Would you, would it be fair to say that you would, I identify with this, so I wonder if you do too. I'm at peak fitness. This is the fittest I've ever been in my life. Would that be the same for you too?

Speaker 2:

Definitely, yeah.

Speaker:

You're you're a walking billboard for fitness, what do you think motivates you to be on that path of getting fitter as you get older?

Speaker 2:

I actually really think living on bribey especially with the gyms that I work at I see and And your mind will wobble if you're not from Bribie, but you come to these gyms and you see people in their 60s and 70s fitter than some of these people in their 20s, you know, and you know what? Like I teach a lot of multi classes, so boot camps and Sparta and HIIT. Some of these these older people are doing hits and they can smash a 20 year old at the ballpark It's just and I look at these people and you know, you're saying I'm a billboard But I look at them and go I want to be like that when I'm older, you know I still want to be feared I still want to be jumping around and I don't know about you but one of the things I hate hearing and I I heard it the other day from a negative Nancy and Your knees are going to be so shot. You're going to need new knees and new hips before you're 60 because you're running. And it's such a, it's so wrong. It's an old myth.

Speaker 3:

I always tell people my knees are fine because I didn't use them for the first 40 years of my life. Yeah, exactly. I got into

Speaker 2:

running late so I'll be fine. But I do, and I think trail running is good for that. You know, it's not as hard on your joints as pavement, but it's all in your technique and stuff as well. In strength training and stuff, so. And

Speaker:

I always, I always like the saying, use it or lose it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly. Very much

Speaker:

the case as you get older. Exactly. And it's certainly that metric once you get to that point in life where you no longer can get up off the floor by yourself is a real turning point in fitness. Now across the car park from my work is your husband's business, Travis. Tell me what he does.

Speaker 2:

So he's a hydraulic hose fitter.

Speaker:

Okay. And tell me about your car. What do you drive?

Speaker 2:

I drive a Mustang and I love it.

Speaker:

And not just any Mustang, not only do you have the number plates that I wish I had. You got a convertible.

Speaker 2:

Yes. You gotta get a Mustang, you gotta get the convertible.

Speaker:

And I'm pretty sure one day I saw you at work across a car park on a motorbike.

Speaker 2:

Yes. You

Speaker:

got a motorbike?

Speaker 2:

I do. Oh. Do

Speaker:

you get out on it?

Speaker 2:

Not as much as I'd like to. Alright. But I do, yes. What have you got? I got a little Harley 48, so. Yeah,

Speaker:

awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

What's your favourite run event? Well,

Speaker 2:

there's probably two now. I've got a lot. There's a lot in there. But Great Wall of China is probably my favourite overseas. And that was before the COVID. Yep. That was just like, wow. I remember getting off the bus and looking at the Great Wall going, I'm going to run that. And my heart dropped and I was just like, I don't think I'm going to do this. But it was just And yeah, not long ago, I just did the Tasmania Gorn Nuts 101.

Speaker:

Right, as in just a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, three weeks

Speaker 2:

ago, yeah. So that was just absolutely stunning. Yeah, awesome. Trail wise, one of the most beautiful, like technical, really hard, really technical, but absolutely stunning. So, yeah. Awesome. Now I'm kind of at that point where, is anything going to beat that? I feel a little bit, aww.

Speaker:

Do you have any big event coming up in the future that you're looking forward to?

Speaker 2:

Well I'm going to give Dead Cow Gully another go.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

That's the loop thing? That's the loop thing and it's actually a lot harder than what you think it is. The whole, especially me, I kind of thought I do stop start all day, I'll be fine at this. It's actually really hard. So

Speaker 3:

you do 6.

Speaker 2:

7 on the hour, every hour. You can smash it, you can walk it, but you got to make the timing and then you can just go as long as you want. So obviously the world record, I think it's five days, which is a long time. I don't plan on doing that, but in my head I'm like, well, last year I did, I did 10 laps. I made the timing, went out on the 11th lap. I knew I wasn't going to make the timing, but I just wanted to do the Ks. For my map around, I think it was Australia at the time, might have been New Zealand, I don't know, but I wanted to do the K's. I knew I wasn't going to make it, I was a little bit. Nausea. So, yeah, this year I'd like to make the 100. That's my goal, but I don't want to put pressure on myself. If I do it, I do it. If I don't, I don't.

Speaker:

Yeah, awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Thank you very much for chatting with me today. Were you into cars before running or did you find this new path in life sent you on this?

Speaker 2:

I don't know. It's yeah, I just love. Like sporty cars and everyone's like, Oh, that suits you. And I like, I like different. So even with my car and my motorbike, I like, and people say it's obnoxious. It goes with my obnoxious personality. Well, so be it. If I'm obnoxious, I'm not obnoxious, but I like different. Like I'll never have a white car. I'll never have a standard car. I've got to have something that stands out. And the same with my motorbike. It's a little bit loud. If you've heard it, it's a bit, yeah. Just life's short. You know, enjoy it and enjoy things if you can, so.

Speaker:

I think because this, this month is the first time in my life I get to say next month I turn 50 and I did that thing where I Oh, just ordered a motorbike.

Speaker 2:

Yay!

Speaker:

Excellent, thank you. Perfect. Thank you.

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Adam Leishman

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