EP 26 | She Had to Fight to Run Again. So How Did She Run a Marathon 10 Months Postpartum?

Some running journeys are truly fraught!

Lauren Smith is truly in the thick of it.

A full-time teacher. A mum. Running on broken sleep. And trying to carve out something for herself in between everything else.

Lauren has faced pregnancy complications, gestational diabetes, and the heartbreak of loss... all whilst navigating the physical and emotional challenges of postpartum recovery. And yet, she kept showing up.

In this episode of Runbelievable, Joshie and Natty sit down with Lauren to talk about resilience, identity, and what it means to pursue something for yourself when life is already overflowing.

From signing up for a marathon she never got to run, to publicly committing to one after becoming a mum, to battling through a brutal half marathon that almost broke her (you can't make this shit up)... Lauren’s story is about doing hard things, even when you’re exhausted.

And now, she’s using her experience to help other mums realise they’re not alone.

Follow Lauren's inspirational journey:

https://linktr.ee/runninggfree

In this episode:

• The value of sport growing up in a rural environment
• Pregnancy challenges, navigating loss and dated medical advice
• The mental strategies that get her through runs
• Balancing teaching, motherhood, and running
• Building a platform to support other mums
• Why running became something just for her

🌏 Episodes, community, and all things Runbelievable:

http://runbelievable.au

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday; hit follow so you don't miss a lap!

About Runbelievable

Runbelievable is the podcast for every runner. From your first parkrun to your 100th marathon, from walk-run intervals to dabbling in trail running, every runner has a story worth telling. Through honest conversations with runners from all walks of life, Runbelievable explores the challenges, achievements, setbacks, and experiences that connect us through running and shape who we become.

Transcript

The reality of running and working motherhood

Joshie 0:00

Our guest Lauren is a working mum. She has one day at home a week with a super active toddler in care during that time. Initially we'd scheduled to record this during that narrow window. However, Lauren was called in to work, meaning we had to reschedule. With no alternative but to record later afternoon, we knew our chat would be interrupted. Rather than attempt creative editing, we've left most interruptions in the recording. Sure, we edited out a few three minute pauses whilst Lauren resettled Harry, but we felt as though including most interruptions provides a more realistic insight into the daily life of a working mum. You'll hear Harry cry as he jams his fingers, you'll hear Lauren suddenly pause while she averts Harry consuming a bottle of wine. Yep. And you'll also hear us chortle as Lauren retrieves a pair of scissors from Harry. So I sincerely hope you enjoy this immersive conversation. Hello everybody and welcome to Run Believer, the podcast that celebrates Why We Run. I'm your host, Josh Christian, and I'm here to bring you stories about what first got people running and what keeps them lacing up day after day. From the last in the lessons to ordering the wrong truth size, this is why we run and how it shapes who we become. Firstly, Maddie, welcome back again. Thanks for filling in for Maddie.

Natty 1:33

Yeah, Nelly didn't come after that little quirk there. Yes, that was me. I did all of the wrong run size, and I can't take them back because they're on sale. So I'm gonna have to deal with bloody toes. You are.

Joshie 1:44

Well, that that helps us close the loop on our last episode where you were somewhat perplexed by how the same shoe could potentially have very different outcomes. Well, it turns out that the same shoe didn't have different outcomes. Different shoes had different outcomes. So um lesson learned. Just yes, for a bit of context, to save listeners going back to the previous episode, Natty indeed had a bleeding toe from a brand new pair of shoes that were allegedly identical to another pair that she owned, except that they were half a size smaller.

Natty 2:15

No, one size, one full size smaller. Was it a full yeah, so that they're sevens. Why do they look like little little kids' shoes?

Joshie 2:28

Oh, that is freaking hilarious. Yeah, well, look, we um we owe added us uh I think a written letter of apology for that. Yeah. Now, yes, it's great to have you back. Oh, we're gonna have so much fun. We've got the unbelievable rundown coming up, another quiz, and you're on a roll with a quiz, so let's see how we go. Now, I love a poll, and I think it was maybe a week or two ago that I prepared one asking about people's experience wearing super shoes. I think the question I asked was, do they make a difference or do they make you faster?

Natty 3:02

I think they do.

Joshie 3:03

You think they do? Well, I know you think they do, but only 42% of people agree. Yeah, we had a really good response to this one. 42% uh said 100%, yep, they make you faster. And it's not to say the 58% think they don't, but 58% weren't sure. And I'm definitely one of them. Like I'm not entirely convinced that they make you faster. I feel like, for me, I almost justify the fact that there's a carbon plate in them and make myself run faster. So I don't know, it's isn't hard to completely remove that bias from your thought process when running. I don't know. There's a lot of people that wrote in thinking that it was uh all just a hoax. Um, I don't know.

Natty 3:46

Maybe it is. Maybe it is all just in the head. I don't know.

Joshie 3:51

It's all just a hoax. Well, there goes any opportunity with potential shoe sponsors.

Natty 3:57

Unless they're not carbon plated.

Joshie 4:00

Well, that's true. I'd actually like to take this opportunity to thank our smaller growing band of US listeners. We have roughly seven, eight percent of our listeners are based in the US. So I'd like to sincerely give you guys a shout out. And if you're listening, we'd love to hear from you. In particular from the state of Virginia, we've got a few listeners there. So yeah, we'd love to hear how you're doing. At least I think it's Virginia in the US and not the suburb that's just over from us, Nat. Would that be embarrassing?

Natty 4:34

That would be a little bit embarrassing.

Joshie 4:38

Oh gosh, where was I? Have mercy on me, someone. Oh, yeah, so quiz time. Now, Nadia, I'm gonna show even though we're on the topic of shoes and super shoes, I will spare you a shoe, uh a super shoe quiz. I don't think that you're not mad quite enjoy that. No, that's true. Um I don't think that you would enjoy that one. Um, but did you know? Now you love Parkrun.

Natty 4:58

I do love Parkrun.

Joshie 5:00

Did you know that Parkrun Australia produces monthly stats via a little dashboard, a little report?

Natty 5:07

Yeah, because they send them out with each Parkrun result, don't they?

Joshie 5:12

I'm not entirely sure. Well, you should get three from three, because today's quiz is all about Parkrun February 2026.

Natty 5:22

Just let me grab my phone.

Joshie 5:24

No, absolutely not. You tried the chat last time as well. I see you looked over at your cupboard. Uh let's see how you go. Oh, this is gonna be so much fun. Question number one. In February 2026, and this is in Australia, how many new parkrun events were launched? And it's multiple choice. Oh good. A one to three, B, four to six, or C greater than six? It was actually A. There were three new parkrun events launched. Uh and don't ask me where they were. I would not have the foggiest. I'm sure there's some parkrun enthusiasts that will write in and tell us. Question number two. How many first timers were there in February? Uh-huh. A, less than 15,000. B, between 16 and 25,000. Or C greater than 25,000. Number of first timers.

Natty 6:26

B.

Joshie 6:28

You are correct. There were 16,206 first timers. Can you believe that? Over 16,000 first timers.

Natty 6:35

Because that's what I answered.

Joshie 6:39

Question number three. How many finished tokens were handed out? Option A, 150,000. B 250,000. Or C three hundred and fifty thousand. So how many finished tokens were handed out?

Natty 6:54

350,000. Woo!

Joshie 6:57

You are correct. So there were exactly 352,441 finished tokens handed out.

Natty 7:06

That's awesome. That's so good to see in here.

Joshie 7:09

And this for all the uh Parkrun Run directors out there. I wonder how many of those tokens were returned.

Natty 7:15

There might be 50,000 floating out there.

Joshie 7:18

Exactly.

Why running became a metaphor for life

Joshie 7:19

Now, if you've been playing along at home, please let us know. And if there's a particular quiz topic that you'd like us to feature, hit us up. Today's guest is truly in the thick of it. Motherhood, school teacher, and trying to carve out something for herself through running and fitness. Through postpartum struggles and loss, her story is about showing up, even when horrendously sleep-deprived. Can we please welcome Lauren Smith? Welcome, Lauren.

Lauren 7:46

Oh my god, I actually didn't anticipate this response. You're reeling off all of those things has just, I don't know whether I've got some leftover postpartum warmways, but I think just whatever you just summarized really hit home having someone else say, trying to have all four burners going at once. But thank you for having me here. Sorry that I sorry.

Joshie 8:10

Not at all. Uh that isn't the end, by the way. We're only just starting, Laura. Oh Jesus.

Natty 8:15

Okay, keep going then.

Joshie 8:17

Well, look, we um we chatted a few weeks ago and you shared some deeply personal challenges with me that you've worked through. I really struggled to reconcile how best to balance this with your running journey. So I reached out to you, I think, three or four days ago, to test your willingness to talk about your experiences. You responded with running is a metaphor for life. How you do one thing is how you do everything, and you never know what someone is going through beneath the Strava stats. Can you talk us through what you mean by that and the daily challenges that you experience as a working mum?

Lauren 8:58

I think that belief was established before I was a mum. And when I started to run, um I started to listen to a lot of podcasts. And when I was starting to run, I was also in a leadership position at school. And when you are a leader, you really need to adopt a persona of um, you know, who are you when things get tough? Who can other people look to to feel safe and secure and that everything is going to be okay. And as a young leader, I was still trying to find that personality of who am I when things get tough. And when you match that with training for a marathon, running is a metaphor because how you react when things get tough when you are in the middle of a run is probably very identical to you know, you in your professional situation on you as a family member and um hello Harry. And I think the daily challenges for me, they're not extreme, but they are persistent, and it requires me to be adaptable, flexible, and not tough on myself. Um, if that makes sense in terms of finding to be realistic that if I start a podcast, if I start a run, and you know, I used to get really upset this time last year training for a marathon and would write a workout off, go, you know, going, This is so frustrating. Why can't I finish off this run? Like, why do things have to be so hard? And it's like, well, actually, change the way that you attack things. You know, maybe this is just a pause. And or maybe you are just being more flexible, more adaptable. Um, I think everyone has their own challenges, but who they choose to be, and in those challenges, who they show up as, um, running is that metaphor, I think. And you never know what's going on beneath someone's surface. And you know, we have Strava, we have social media, we have leaders in my system, and there is a front that is there that we project to other people, and you never really know what's going on behind the scenes of somebody else. Um that's my TED talk.

Joshie 11:25

You know, I think it's quite apt that we kick off the podcast talking about the daily challenges that you experience, and 10 seconds later, young Harry comes running in when you just sat down to talk us through your um your daily life, which uh and how old's Harry now?

Natty 11:43

Harry is 20 months old.

Joshie 11:45

Awesome. Uh now Lauren, you grew up in was it rural South Australia?

Lauren 11:53

Western Victoria. But I didn't but I did spend a lot of time recently in rural South Australia. But yes, I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Yes.

Joshie 12:03

So can you tell us what life was like growing up in Country Victoria?

Lauren 12:07

Poor I miss I miss the country so much. Um my life, I grew up on a farm. So I grew up mum, dad, and and an older brother. And it wasn't t until I turned 13 where when um my parents announced that I had a surprise sister on the way. Um but I grew up um where your your next door neighbours were three, four, five kilometres away. And I remember distinctively, like when I think of a thunderstorm now, I think about sitting on the veranda and you can see all the paddocks and it's got that smell about it, you know, the you know, the the the droplets of water on on the soil, and you know, when I went when I would go for a run, I'd go for a run around the pikes. And um tried to do that a few years ago actually, um actually the start of last year, and mum didn't tell me that there were now brown snakes on the old rail that I and I literally I was with I had my my dog Cleo and Mum had Harry and I had to jump over some big thick brown snakes and anyway, maybe I'm I'm going on a tangent here, but um it took I spent most of my time on a school bus and um going into the local uh P to 12 school prior uh prep to 12 and there was roughly about 12 kids in my year level when I finished year 12, so it was very isolating. Um but in terms of a lens of physical activity, it was sports on or nothing, and you know your Saturdays were consumed driving to somewhere far, far away. I'll be backing them.

Joshie 13:54

Yeah.

Lauren 13:55

Hey sweetie, on your house. All right, we'll pick up where we so your weekends were sport and that was your social outing. And by the time that I was was going through sport, small cut that my small country town was even smaller, and we didn't have a local netball team from my actual township. So my home club was 70 kilometres away. So netball training was hopping on a bus on a Thursday night to travel 70 kilometers to the South Australian border um to do you know netball training. Um, you know, growing up, uh my my netball games would be 200 kilometres away. They could be at Kingston, they could be at Keith, they could be at Pinola. Um, so yeah, growing up in the country, I really love it. And I think that's why when I came to university in Adelaide, my first teaching, I I chose to do that out back out in the country. Um and in the city now because I met my partner while I was living on the York Peninsula, and um yeah, we decided that I would make the the jump back into this into the city life. Um but yeah, growing up in the country, sport is the massive foundation, but I think also closeness to your family. Like I had a lot to do with my grandparents because one was my next door neighbour, um and yeah, it was great upbringing.

Joshie 15:24

Fast

Pregnancy and being told what her body couldn't do

Joshie 15:25

forward a few years, you fell pregnant. Pregnancy brought quite a few unexpected challenges for you, Lauren. I think you experienced gestational diabetes, uh, rogue medical advice restrictions. Yes. What was it like uh trying to navigate all of that?

Lauren 15:46

Well, I think to tie back to your previous uh question, growing up in the country also exposes you to some pretty outdated norms where the woman is the bread the the woman is, you know, at home, they are the housemaker, and um some pretty outdated ideas of body image. And you know, once you have a baby, you'll never get your body back. And um, I don't know, it's I I did accumulate some really toxic notions in terms of you know, your body as a woman and your physical constraints. Um, you know, I I learnt I was I was told from an early age that once you have a baby, good luck trying to play hairball again because um your pelvic your pelvic floor will be gone. Um whereas and so these are the things that aren't true at all. But I had to learn, I had to learn these things. So um fast forward to falling pregnant, which was an absolute surprise. We weren't trying, though if you ask our doctor, she thought we were. Um but yeah, Harry, Harry was a a blessing in in disguise. Um, I wouldn't have it any other way. My dad having type 1 diabetes, um, he is insulin dependent. Um, I had to go through multiple gestational those glucose tolerance tests, and by 20, I think it was the mid-20s, so 26-ish, 28-ish, something like that, I did another glucose tolerance test and it said that I was over by like the smallest amount. So then I had to, I was in the mid-wifery group practice program. Um, and thank God they kept me in because that was one of the best parts of of my pregnancy is having a consistent carer um and someone that I trusted during my birth, um, of Harry. But yeah, that was my my pregnancy was just full of all of these people giving me really fear-inducing advice. And I think that is everything that I come from now is addressing the way that people made me feel when I was pregnant and trying to let other people know that just because somebody tells you that you're going to have a dead baby if you don't have if you don't give birth on the day that they tell you to give birth, don't let anybody tell you you are the boss of your own body and you have an amazing machine of a body, it knows what to do. Whereas sometimes the medical system they want you to have a baby when they have a baby, whether you were born for it. So it's some really good experiences there. Yeah.

Joshie 18:41

Sorry, Lauren, what do you mean um you'll have a dead baby? What can you explain that?

Lauren 18:46

So I had to get sent to an obstetrician and she was very awful. Um, she had a reputation for being awful, but I didn't know it until after I visited her. But because I had gestational diabetes, it was meant to I had to go see an obstetrician. Um and she was the whole time she was really condescending to me. As an educated young woman um who does her research about things and you know, wants to do the right thing. Um, she was just basically saying that she wanted me to have an induction at 38 weeks and that she was going to do all these tests on the fluid around the baby. And if I was at risk, um I needed to have the baby at 38 weeks because if I had it any later, um yeah, my my baby would die. And that was that was really, really, really, really awful. And thank goodness I had that consistent care through my midwife. She I texted her, I was so upset. I was so upset. I I her email, I was so upset, and she messaged me, she said, I thought this would happen. This person has a really bad bedside manner. Um and I think I just hear, sorry to go get on my high horsey, but I hear a lot of pregnant people, you know, they go, Oh, I think I'm getting scheduled in for an induction, and I don't want to be someone to give unsolicited advice. But your bot your body knows what it's doing and it knows when it's time, and there are there are exceptional circumstances where you do need some help and maybe you do need some intervention, but I think I thought that my birth story was traumatic. My birth story was only traumatic because they didn't turn the gas up enough when I asked. Upon hearing other people, they had some really truly horrific experiences because an intervention was started without it being needed. And I guess this where this is exactly where running free has come from is I'm at a place now where I'm addressing my fears, but I don't want to be the person giving unsolicited advice. So if I can create a platform where people can access it if they want it, they can get that knowledge or maybe that safety of oh great, I was thinking this and someone else has said that it's okay too. Um yeah, that was so yeah, that was my experience.

Joshie 21:02

Uh I I know, I appreciate what you're saying, Lauren, about you know not having it that bad, but um you haven't exactly had it easy. I mean, your your your pregnancy was challenging enough. I think your local Polite studio told you that you couldn't continue to go there after 12 weeks pregnant or something like that.

Lauren 21:19

But even before insurance, yeah.

Joshie 21:22

Uh just uh yeah, not that there's necessarily any medical basis for it. But even before Harry was um born, you had um quite a traumatic experience. So are you happy to sort of talk us through what happened when you um fell pregnant?

Navigating pregnancy loss behind the Strava stats

Lauren 21:40

I fell pregnant after Harry. Okay. So so that happened um once again, we weren't trying. Um so around August last year, I was at Pilates and I was exhausted. I was absolutely gassed. And I Thought, oh my god, like why am I so exhausted? I went to Pilates yesterday and I felt so strong. Came home, took a pregnancy test and it lit up, and I thought, oh, I'm not ready for this. I I've got these goals. Anyway, I went to see a doctor, and you have to go and you know get these things confirmed via blood test and um and that and an ultrasound. And essentially when I went to the ultrasound, there was nothing there. And there was in my blood tests, it indicated that I was pregnant, but at a very low level.

Joshie 22:43

Okay.

Lauren 22:43

Um, so I went, so basically I had to um go back a week later and get my bloods tested again. And the long and the short of it was um I was having to go back nearly every second day to get my bloods tested, where the pregnancy hormone levels were rising slightly, but the pregnancy levels itself were so low that it couldn't be viable. And so I had a situation where I'm training for the city to bay, not that that really matters in the grand scheme of things, but I'm telling the world that I've got a goal, I'm gonna run sub-60, which was a challenge for me. But also behind the scenes, uh my body is thinking it's pregnant, but no one knows where this pregnancy is. It's too the hormone levels are too small, they can't pick it up on an ultrasound. And trying to be a mum, trying to be a working professional in a leadership role, and then having to go to the women's and children's nearly every day and wait four hours just to be told to go home again was super frustrating. And um I started to get worried, they were thinking this could be in your juice. Um, and you know, don't be really worried unless you experience X, Y, Z. Anyway, so I ran the City to Bay. Um and straight after the City DeBay I started to feel incredibly, incredibly sick and in immense stomach pain, um in agony. So my partner um drove me into the hospital. And yeah, the the afternoon of City Bar, I spent six hours in the women's and children's um getting urgent care, getting after hours, um, people to come in and and uh sonograph me, and they still can't find whatever it is that they're trying to find. So they basically say to me, come back in two days' time, we're going to test your hormone levels one more time. And if it's dying away, then we're gonna let it die away. But if not, we're going to take some intervention that we don't really want to take, but um what we have to because if if if it's in your tubes, then we're in trouble. And so it essentially culminated on the Tuesday where I'm meant to be at work, but I'm not. Um I I'm I'm having an injection of low-dose chemotherapy um to kill whatever reproducing cells are in my body, um to prevent some sort of wider health health issue in my reproductive system. Um and like that's obviously a very private thing to be to to go through. And yet I'm very open and honest on on social media. But um comes back to that who are you as a leader when you're going through something, you know, having to go to school as a leader and be a person with something under the seams going on that's quite distressing and it's impacting your workload because you're always in hospital waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. And sometimes you're at hospital waiting with a toddler who won't sit still, um, and it's exhausting. Um and so, yeah, that had an injection of methotrexate, and uh, you know, then had to wait for my body to recover from that.

Joshie 26:22

Um did you did you find it hard to talk about initially? Um were you open straight away, or did it take a bit of time before you felt comfortable speaking so openly about it?

Lauren 26:37

I think um I did when I was pregnant, I asked my partner, please don't tell anybody because I don't want to be dealing with other people's opinions about what I could or could not be doing or should or should not be doing with my with with our body, my body, with with whatever is going on inside it. Um and I like to be pretty private when it comes to those matters. When I was pregnant with Harry, I was really, really scared at the very beginning of it, and we didn't really do an announcement. We didn't really want to talk to anybody about it in case something went wrong. And I guess this was the same reaction. I didn't really want to talk to somebody. Um, but you know, we all have a breaking point, and my breaking point was at work, and I I ended up confining in our daily orgs lady who manages to leave uh and basically just had to be really tough, but also balled my eyes out going, this is everything that I'm going through right now. Um, I need to go to the hospital on Tuesday, I need the day off, please, so that I can I don't know what's gonna happen on Tuesday, but I need the day off. Um, and then it ended up with me calling my principal because I was meant to have a a learning area leader meeting with her the next day, and I just called her up and I was really open. I said, I'm really, really sorry. Old Lauren would flog herself and get to that meeting and push through it. But current Lauren's got a toxic chemical now pumping through her body, and I don't know how my body's going to respond. Um, so yeah, I haven't really spoken to many people about it, but in saying that with the people that it feels comfortable with, I'll just be open and honest. And it's not about sympathy because um I'm a firm believer in the woo-woo and what is meant to be is meant to be. For me, it was just the trauma of always having to go back to hospital and them sending me away and this uncertainty and it culminating with me having to have such a toxic chemical pump through my body to stop something that they didn't know where it was. So, and I've never heard of anyone having an experience like that. And you could just imagine how it would impact your ability to be physically active. And for someone whose social media is primarily being physically active, like you don't know what's going on behind the scenes. You know, don't judge the don't judge the strawostats because you don't know what's happening in someone's body.

Joshie 29:07

Long

The marathon she was too afraid to run

Joshie 29:08

before you had quite a public Instagram profile, running was part of your life. Um, this was even before you fell pregnant with Harry. You were training for the Adelaide marathon, I believe. And then it all changed.

Lauren 29:24

Yes, yes. So before I had Harry, I I was that person during COVID who went out and bought a treadmill. I was living in the middle of the York Peninsula and the gym closed. So I bought a treadmill and I taught myself how to run. And when I got a little bit more confident, I signed up and did three half marathons across 18 months. And um my goal was to run the Adelaide Marathon in 2023. And essentially I pulled out. And I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but it all came from this idea of doubting myself and doubting my worth if I could or could not finish this marathon.

Joshie 30:08

How far into your training block were you, Lauren?

Lauren 30:12

Well, it depends if you would call it a training block, because um, I guess I was at that point in time where um my work was more important. Like if my work would overtake um, hey sweetheart, if my work was so busy, that was the priority. So um if I had to be focusing on parent meetings or whatever, that would that would take the priority. Um, but yeah, I probably was I had been training for it. I had I had been trying to build up my capacity for it um using a training plan. But I pulled out a month from the event. Sorry, Harry's just about to get into a stay fluff. Come down.

Joshie 30:52

It's okay. Toddlers have a knack for finding the most hazardous items. There's a story that you shared, Lauren, on um so I should probably make mention of this. Lauren, you have a podcast of your own. Um and you shared some really, really interesting insights into um into your daily life, which I love. But I have this um vision of Harry pulling jars of pickle juice off the shelf at this supplement store. I know I should laugh. I have rele r relevant experience. Yeah.

Lauren 31:24

You've got to laugh. Like, I wouldn't have it any other way. Like, if the kid wants to go in and pull off pickle juice, go for it. The other week, I I we actually you know when those that torrential rain came through maybe a few weekends ago, or they thought torrential rain was gonna come through. Um, my partner had got up and cleaned up all the gutters, but left the ladder leaning up against the house. And um, needless to say, it was quite a shock when I walked out to see my son halfway up the side of the house.

Joshie 31:56

That's fantastic.

Lauren 31:59

It's only fantastic because it didn't go wrong, but yeah. Life's an adventure if you want it to be.

Joshie 32:07

You did something, Lauren, that not a lot of people do. Um, you experienced a lot of challenges when you didn't have an active um presence on social media, but you decided to go very public almost as a way of committing to achieving goals. Can you talk us through that?

Lauren 32:27

Yeah.

Fighting for the right to run again postpartum

Lauren 32:28

So running free was actually established well before there was a baby involved. It's running G free because I always had this vision that I wanted to be, you know, um, someone who had an Instagram account about running but had a gluten-free diet. So running free was actually meant to be running gluten-free because um uh I had I developed an intolerance um as an adult. Um like I said to you earlier, I I pulled out of that Adelaide marathon. And that was in August 2023. And for me, you know, you always think that there's there's a time your future. I'll I'll I'll do it, I'll pull out of this one, but I'm gonna have another go. I'm gonna have another god. Well, in October, November, we found out that we were pregnant. And one of my thoughts was it's gonna be at least nine months before I can have another Crackett. A marathon. Why why did I pull out? What was it in me that was would not commit, that was so scared, so afraid that she wasn't ready enough um to meet other people's perceptions of what a marathon runner should be achieving. So um once I had Harry, I always wanted to get back into running as soon as possible. Um I should have been doing um some rehab exercises from day dot, but I didn't know. I thought I had to wait until six weeks. At my six-week check checker, I was hoping, beautiful, tell me I can run. And uh Kate Millie was health physio was like, you're not running anytime soon. Um, and you know, your your core, beautiful, you love it. Um, but your you know, your pelvic floor, that we're not letting you run with that at the moment. Um, but also my legs, like my calf strength or my voice strength is not there. So she said, if I let you run right now, you're gonna do damage and you're gonna cause an injury. Um, so I had to fight for it. I had to fight for the right to go running again. And you know, every day I had to do my rehab exercises three times a day just to make sure that I had the right um strength. And this all comes back from being kicked out of exercise places at 12, 12, 15, 16 weeks pregnant. Um, I couldn't continue to develop my lower body strength in in the places that I had had grown to love. So I had those those weaknesses and those deficits. Um when I finally could, I decided that I was going to sign up for a marathon. And um I met up with one of my friends, she was a past colleague, and we I I convinced her, I said, I think we should run one together, let's do it together. And she said, Yeah, okay, I've come around to the idea. So we looked at the calendar and we gave ourselves roughly six or seven months. Um, so it was the McLaren Bale Marathon, it was in June last uh 2025, yeah, we're in 2026.

Joshie 35:41

Yep.

Lauren 35:41

Um,

Turning running into a public commitment

Lauren 35:42

and I decided that I was gonna use my Instagram platform as a way to document me starting this journey. And it was purely from if I had posted, I have to do it. If other people see that I have I'm a firm believer, if I say I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it. And so it's that internal monologue of as soon as it leaves your mouth, you are always gonna have it in the back of your head. If you don't do it, you haven't done what you said that you were going to do. So it started off my my Instagram account was private, and only I followed myself. So my first post was me going for a run with Harry, and it was I don't remember how long it like time-wise was, but it was the best part of three kilometers, and my pace was eight minutes or something. It was my heart rate was just out of this world. It was such a humbling experience. Um, and my original, yeah, my original photos were of yeah, me and Harry at the local park. He was in the stroller and I did some laps, and that was my very first workout. I um told my partner about this Instagram page in the end, and he was the one who encouraged me to make something on it. Um, so he is probably the largest like driver of of this project of sorts, um, because he was the one, no, you should be making it private, let's let's do it, let's let's let's um let's show others that it's out there. Um and at the very beginning I I thought I would feel very seen of like, what are people gonna say when you know she's out there and she's saying to people, hey, this is what I'm I'm I'm I'm just gonna document myself running all the time. Like, what are other people going to say? Um, and and now I'm at a point where I just don't care. I do not care. And that is so nice because I've had my whole lifetime of worrying about what other people are gonna say or think um of you know that imposter syndrome, whether that's professional or personal. And honestly, having Harry, I do not care anymore. It's been the most liberating thing. Um and yeah, using social media is so hey, not in the mind, hasn't it?

Natty 38:16

Cheeky mucky. Um, yeah.

Lauren 38:19

Now I just don't care. Because I know why I do things, and it and it all comes down to being a a role model to my son um and being the best version of myself. And I think the thing that empowers me is the people who connect with me um over social media, um commenting or um messaging me, sharing me their workouts, or you know, basically saying, I'm I've started running now because of you, and I'm not out there to do that, I'm not out there to be the quote unquote influencer. But if I can encourage other people to believe in themselves and to go over, go after their own version of hard, I'll be the cheer squad for that person because I yeah, I think we should just be going after the things that mean the most to us. And I was listening to a podcast the other day. Um, there's a book that's going to be released soon, and it's uh it's about everything that you want is on the other side of hard. So if you can push through that hard, whatever that hard bit is, you will get everything that you you want. But you have to be prepared to to go after that hard. And I mean, me, I can comfortably say that I can run some decent distances. I see some other people, and their version of hard is a couple of kilometres, and no one is better or worse than each other because we're going after our own version of hard, and it requires carving away at our character, and it comes back to that running as a metaphor for life. Like if you're willing to put yourself out there as an adult and try something new and do something that is hard and show it to the world, um, I think that's fantastic.

Running a marathon 10 months postpartum

Joshie 40:09

You know, you mentioned that you went public with your Instagram when you started training for the McLaren Vale marathon. Um, I think you said that you were was it 10 or 11 months postpartum when you took on that? Yeah.

Lauren 40:23

No, I f I finished it at 10, 10 months postpartum. So I started I started training for it months postpartum. Yeah. Um and then I ran it at 10. I know. And at the time I didn't think much of it because I'm just a I mean, I'm one of those people who I hate being really, really busy, but I hate being really, really not busy, and I cannot find a happy medium. And so I always end up grinding myself to the ground going, why am I so tired? Because I can't sit still. So at the time when I ran the marathon, I was like, great, this is exactly what I wanted. Now I look back at it and go, You were mad. You want to be crazy. The things like trying to think about everything that was going through my mind about why I was doing what I was doing this time last year. Yeah, it's amazing. Um, I think we'll start on it and go, how the wine cabinet. Sorry about that.

Natty 41:26

No, you're right. So, Lauren, um, from when you first started training for your marathon in 2023 to when you finally got there in 2025, how did it feel to go get across the finish line?

Lauren 41:39

I was crying, running to the finish line. Yeah, I'm not sure. Um I and the reason I I started crying is because my partner's sister was, I don't know, 500, 600 metres from the finish line, and she had a bunch of flowers, which is in my Instagram picture, that bunch of flowers, and she was cheering me on. And to know that um there was a crew there that day rocking up just to watch me run 42.2 kilometres over four and a half hours to chase me around to give me my pickle juice to give me the gels that I needed. Um I I yeah, I I walked up to to Nick, I hobbled up to Nick, and Nick had Harry, and I just felt accomplished. Like I had I had done something for me instead of doing something for somebody else. So I was really, really proud and really, really sore.

Natty 42:46

That's amazing.

Joshie 42:47

It must have given you uh a fair bit of confidence as well, Lauren, not just with running, but with life as well. I mean, sort of reflecting on what you said in our chat so far. You had all these people telling you no, doubting you whether it was when you were pregnant or even post postpartum about what you're capable of doing, what you're not capable of doing. Was there a part of you that when you finished that marathon, you just went, you know, F you all kind of thing?

Lauren 43:15

I think it was more targeted deeper to myself because I'm I'm annoying myself and when things get tough, I will give up. And the factor of the fact of the matter is I finished and I finished strong. And I think it it didn't actually care about what anyone else what they had to say because for me the challenge was you like finish it. And I think it was about silencing my inner voice that wants to be giving up on myself. Um the only person I'm trying to measure it, measure up. against is myself and I'll I'll be yeah running as a solo sport. I'm not the goal defense measuring up against a goal attack anymore. I'm not there to beat them. I'm only now measuring up against myself.

Joshie 44:15

Good on you, Lauren. Um do you think that ex marathon experience and like Nat said, you know, you had the setback in 2023 and then obviously um 2024 was focused on um you know falling pregnant and bringing Harry into the world and uh you know last year was just a fantastic year of accomplishment. Do you think that you're able to take some positives away from that experience did that help you in the rope half marathon very recently I think you can take so many positive things out of it. I might just add a little bit of um context um you um you were battling some some voices during the rogue half marathon you set yourself quite the goal you're gonna have to firstly tell us what that goal was and what happened towards the back end of that event.

The half marathon that became a mental battle

Lauren 45:03

Do you have swearing on this show? Yeah Nat's already got that out of the way nice and early the rogue half marathon was an absolute shit fight with myself um yeah so finished the the um McLarenville marathon in four hours and thirty five or something like that um did City to Bay 12 kilometres in in an hour and then someone gave me the opportunity do you want to run the road half marathon? Yeah sweet no worries 16 12 weeks out I was like you know what I could probably do this really really well why don't I just go balls to the balls and see what we can do and so my my my goal was going to be sub two hours um in all of my previous half marathons my best time was about two hours and 10 minutes um one of my worst experiences was the Victor Harbor marathon where I put my my watch on treadmill mode oh not run mode um so the times were I uh I you want to talk about mindset try and like if your watch is telling you you're not going to finish in in before the cutoff what does your brain do? Like anyway moving on we won't talk we won't talk about Vic Della. So I set myself the challenge of of roadbang the the the two hours and um the my training I I took it quite seriously in the initial few weeks then the holiday period hit and you know my life is different and there are more important things in life than me going for a run and that means family time and when I did go for a run it would be after dinner. It's not very nice to run after a full plate of food but if that's the only window that my family can can ride alongside me while I go for a run then that's when we go for a run. So I got to rogue now rogue was always going to be a non-important race in the grand scheme of things because Noosa is the important that's the A. But in the back of my mind I like some benchmarks I thought if whatever I achieve at Rogue is going to give me some decent feedback because I'll be going straight into my Noosa block. And so I thought if I can nail some two that means that maybe some four could be on the cards for Noosa which would be a 35 minute you know improvement on McLaren bow. So I in the lead up I took it so seriously I took my taper seriously I took my carbload seriously I took my hydration seriously all of those things and um you know we woke up on the morning of the rogue half marathon and as you do your dad and your partner go out cray fishing first thing in the morning at five o'clock in the morning you know and um Harry and I and my mum I'm getting my nutrition ready and I get to the start line with five minutes to spare and you know do my little leg swings and all those sorts of things and you know when you're in a tape you don't really run much so you don't really know what your body's gonna pull out um and so when I started the race I felt so good. I felt so bouncy I felt so strong because I'd gotten to the the race late I was at the back of the pack. I'm happy to be up the back of the pack I quickly overtook a lot of people when I was doing I felt really good until I stopped feeling really really good and I went so when did that happen? So at what point four kilometers 17Ks is a long way to hobble it is a long way to fight with yourself and convince yourself that you're better than a DNF.

Joshie 48:55

So how the hell did you pull yourself out of that mindset?

Lauren 48:59

Like like I say four K's that's a long way to go it is and Roby's uh it's run by Adelaide trail runners so um part of it does have bitumen in it but a lot of it is um is beach is trail is you know your limestone surface there is undulations of of cliff hills um I when I was running along the beach I think having people overtake me and I should know better I should be experienced enough to not care but I think that was one of the things people starting to overtake me and go hang on I'm doing the pace that I needed to to be some two um so that was one of the things okay um the weather was beautiful um last time I ran robe it was a headwind it was awful um so the weather was beautiful why why should I be thinking the things that I was thinking but essentially what I had to do is I got to the end of Long Beach and I I needed a reset and a reset meant walking and getting my brain together. So um the first thing I did while I when I walk if I have to walk first of all I look ahead and try and find a landmark that is when I start running again. So it could be 10 meters ahead and in that it is about consolidating your breath work. Sometimes it's about counting counting I know sounds so silly but it's is what I have to go back to because counting doesn't have emotion. You you don't bargain with a number a number is a number and when you get to 10 you go you don't get to to reconsolidate so um what I was doing is I had these weird little hands. And so every time I was greeting I was going and in this I was I think I was just sending a brain like get your shit together all right you're gonna count to 10 you're gonna run on a bit more you're gonna get your shit together but I I things that I was thinking was I don't want to be here. Why did people come and watch me oh my god I've posted on social media that I wanted some to everyone's gonna see that you DNF'd I want to go home I want to cry I want to cuddle I want to you know whatever irrational thoughts um but that's what happens when you ren your body um and do silly things um another thing is I count my steps so one two get 10 and you run again um and that hard reset um I did some some mental maths and I I calculated how far I had run and how far I had left to go and I I said to myself all right you've actually earned yourself some time you can afford to walk now you probably should have gone 540 from the get go um but you didn't but this is the situation how are you who are you going to be now when times get tough what is the character that you are going to choose and I chose to be smart and stick to that five minutes 40 case and to keep going because if I went a second over two hours that would change how I perceived myself versus 30 seconds under. So yeah that was that was how I reset myself it was also really nice because I had my family on course um so I'm not sure if you listened to my recent episode of Road but my mum was at the end of one of the limestone tracks and um you know my partner and my dad got back from crayfishing so I was leaving so I was telling my mum hey mum here is my nutrition bottle here are all my gels that I don't want to carry can you give them to me when you see me well I get to my mum and my mum has got me a water bottle and a minty and I've just done a hard reset and I'm ready to like refocus and I'm and I think I'm swearing my my Harry's with mum and Harry's in some random person's front yard playing with their rocks he's having a great time and I'm like I'm the worst version of myself and I give mum a serv. I'm like why have you given me water this isn't what I wanted right now why have you given me a minty like what about and I was just like what have you done mum like I needed my nutrition and you've given me a water bottle and a minty and she's like well I don't know and I'm like this is not what I needed right now mum anyway Mum's intentions were good you do know that well because what had actually happened and I feel really bad but what happened is Nick hadn't had seen all that stuff and he actually rode around the course on an e-bike after me and he had all of my nutrition but I didn't know about it. Now side story was Nick followed me to the end of Long Beach but didn't follow me back along the track because it could only really be for runners so he's gone to where he thought would be a nice track and he's met the highway the Southern ports highway where people are going 110 kilometers now and he's got his e-bike and he goes this is not where I should be right now so he finds a little um fence like a little track along a fence and here he is in his e-bike trying not to pop a tie and he's got all of my nutrition I've come across Ma who's given me a water bottle and a minty and I've given her a serve and I've whipped my phone out and I'm like I need you to go home and get me my nutrition right now. I didn't know that he was in the middle of whoop woop on an e-bite and he find nutrition anyway he um he he him and I he met me at the top of um Fox's inlet and he's got my water bottle and he goes I think I've screwed up here I think I've I didn't realise you had stuff in it and I've filled it up to the top with water and I doesn't matter it doesn't matter like it doesn't matter thank you going um and he's trying to be so super supportive and he's like keep going keep going no walking and I'm just like don't do not you don't know where I've been you don't know where I've been but you can't say that because they're your crew and they're so so you've got to go thanks sweetie I'm just gonna stick to my five minutes 40 and I'm just gonna stay on target. All right well I'll I'll meet you around the other side so he met me around course multiple times and he followed me around and that's I guess the way now he enjoys you know coming to my races is he gets to have fun on on an e-bike and you know meet me at different segments.

Joshie 55:44

I forgot what your original question is um I'm good at I'm good at a long story but yes I had to do a hard read that perhaps this is perhaps the most eventful half marathon I've ever heard about when you a lot of people will use that expression something being a shit fight very loosely but I honestly minties water bottles fights with Mum Harry with rocks partner on a beautiful e box in the middle of nowhere you're gonna have to talk us through um how you went at the end because this is crazy.

Lauren 56:16

I cannot

Finding another gear to break two hours

Lauren 56:17

believe you're somehow sustaining pace throughout all this yeah neither I don't you I don't know either um so towards the end I'm you know I've been doing that constant maths of how much can I I've I've you know I've been separating my runs with some bouts of walking just to you know um be kind to myself and for some reason the distance of the track hasn't aligned to the distance on my watch and I've gotten to a point where I'm exhausted um and I'm thinking I've actually run out of time now the amount of time that I've got left um is not enough for me to so we get we get to the end of the race and yeah my time doesn't align and I I'm thinking I've I've lost it now give up start walking so I did I gave up so I started walking across the boat ramp camp camp um boat ramp car park and I'm like I've lost the time um I've walked too much I've I've gone out too hard I've lost the time and then I see Nick up ahead and I'm like I better look good better start running again and Nick is next to the one kilometer left sign and I've looked down at my watch and it's an hour and 54 and I'm like I've got this whatever you've got left like I can do this and coincidentally my playlist just picks the most perfect like uplifting momentous song it's the last one on the playlist and I just floor it. And I know it sounds like a you know a pretend made up story but I do I absolutely fan it to the end like I you find a you know an extra reserve and I'm hammering I'm hammering home and I cross up you know I I didn't realise it but my dad and Harry were in the playground next to him he was a stuck your head um yeah Harry and and my dad are playing the playground Harry is happy he's Larry um mum and my brother Mum and um Nick are somewhere but I cross the line and I you know do the old flick the the garment watch and it says like one hour 59 and 20 or 30 seconds. Oh I'm like looking up at the sky going oh thank God like it means so much. It could have been five seconds it could have been two seconds it doesn't like it doesn't matter it's the like what it took like you you see all these beautiful people and they're you know posting their Stravis stats and they're in they're looking all beautiful in their physique and it's like yeah beautiful you got two hours I post it and it's like but I want you to know everything that wasn't easy like that took my body could do it but convincing my mind that I could do it was a was what not what I anticipated happening on the day and you know Nick comes and finds me soon I just give him a hug and I'm like like thank god I did that I can't believe I did it that was so hard and the greatest feeling now that Harry's a little bit bigger is you know I've got my medal and now at the end I'm gonna like here's Harry here's mum's medal like be be a part of this with me share this moment with me and um you know I guess I live away from my family um we're four hours away my parents used to be heavily involved in high sport and for them to you know to to come and watch me run for two hours and and you know you don't win anything you don't come first and you you don't shoot however many goals you just finish and you know whatever your goal is is whether you reach that is is the win. So um I think for mum and dad and everyone to be a part of it it meant a lot to me. Um because I do a lot of work to get to the right am and it's in the quiet hours of the morning um or in the quiet hours of the night where no one really sees it happening. People only see that in stravastat and you don't necessarily see the hard work that goes into um getting there. And you know for people who don't have children you still might be driven in their career. For people who don't have children they don't realize how much you have to multitask um to get stories done.

Joshie 1:00:58

I saw an interesting graphic only a few days ago and it described running as like an iceberg because I think two thirds of an iceberg is below the surface of the water and what we see that's not the funny bit. For our listeners um Lauren just went and very kindly retrieved a pair of scissors that Harry had managed to find um but yes two thirds of an iceberg is below the surface of the water and that's all the stuff that isn't visible what we see on top uh the is a Strava kudos the metals the accolades all the beautiful photos but what it masks is what actually happens beneath the surface and your experience Lauren has set you on a pathway towards helping other mums um as I mentioned before you've got a podcast of your own what else can you tell us about how your um passion is helping you empower others if I can do anything it's for other people to see what they're capable of and feel like they can do it themselves.

Lauren 1:02:02

When I was pregnant there was a fitness person that I was following and she had just had a baby and decided that she was going to train for an Iron Man and that's all well and good but I don't have the same support systems. My parents live interstate um my my brother lives an hour away solely relying on the goodwill of my next door neighbor and Ken Nick's family. But watching her she trained for an Iron Man and you know she was breast pumping on a bike with her son rolling around on the ground. And it's about opening your eyes to how you can still train but it's just gonna look a little bit different. And if you're okay with that then you can you can still do some I I am more fit now. I have accomplished you don't need I accomplished better things now and I'm wondering whether it's because I have less time therefore I have to make it count. Um and you have to be super intentional instead of just you know running around and winging it. But also somebody else is is giving up their time to look after my son so that I can go exercise. And so I've had mums reach out to me who are pregnant who are postpartum and you know some of them sometimes it's just about what tools do I use or what strategies or what running pram do I use or what running tracks are suitable or you know those little tidbits of advice that as a mum you rely on mums before you because nothing is on an internet website like you rely on talking to people before you especially when you're pregnant like what happens when you're 32 weeks you know what tests do I need to prepare myself like it's not all written on a magical document um so that my podcast started because the first one as you know I like to talk um but it was trying to address the fact of um these are all the things that people told me so I want to address those things and I don't want to give you unsolicited advice but here is a platform. And the way that I imagine it is my one of my best friends she has a baby now I think her young child is two and a half months old and and she told me she was pregnant and I don't I didn't want to be the person giving her unsolicited advice so I would always imagine her when I was recording an episode of this is for you this is everything I want to tell you this is everything I want you to feel and believe in yourself. And when and if somebody else is in that situation and wants to access that knowledge here it is. So my very first episode was solo is recounting just training for a marathon but from a from a mum's perspective and all the different facets my next episode was um about postnatal Pilates really addressing all those myths and misconceptions about you know don't do this because you'll dome and your abs will be wrecked forever or you know your heart rate those sorts of things um and then I also talked to um Cassie Green who is a Lululemon ambassador in fact her due date is today. She's 40 weeks pregnant um and so I interviewed her about running some half marathons while she was I think she was 18 weeks pregnant um and her strength training so I think it's a way it's very cathartic for me if I can be self-indulgent to find all the information I wish I knew and then record it and present it as a package for other people to access when they're ready. And hey if you don't if many people don't listen to it but maybe one person listens to it and they take something from it then it then it's worth it.

Joshie 1:05:49

I love it. And we'll put the details of your um podcasts in your Instagram in the show notes um Lauren for all that you've been through you really are Starve. Um good luck with the Noosa marathon coming up in May. And we can't wait. We can't wait to see you go from strength to strength. Thanks so much for chatting with us today. And thank you, Harry, as well. You've been a wonderful side actor.

Lauren 1:06:14

He literally had scissors. I was like, you're like, why now?

Joshie 1:06:21

How did you find that, Natty?

Natty 1:06:22

Oh, she was incredible. Like my mind is blown just the things that she's gone through, the the setbacks and probably the that it's disappointing in this day and age that medical providers and t you know, the people that you work with are still so set in outdated ways. Um, and how she navigated that. Uh yeah, it's amazing.

Joshie 1:06:46

I don't understand. It it really is disappointing, and let's hope that Lauren speaking about her experience with us helps, even just if it's in a small way to help turn the tide on some of those dated attitudes. But uh yeah, even that robe half marathon could be a an episode in its own right.

Natty 1:07:04

Or a movie.

Joshie 1:07:05

Or sort of thinking about some ideas for the title of this episode. What do you reckon? Minty's water bottles and fights with mum.

Natty 1:07:12

Yes, 100%. Oh my god, that's that's your clickbait there.

Joshie 1:07:18

Awesome. Um, and that's it for today. If you have a Run Believable story of your own, we would truly love to hear it. And if you'd like to be a guest on the show, hit us up. Finally, this podcast relies on your continued support. So if you can please take just a couple of moments to follow rate and share it with your running mates, we'd really appreciate it. And we'll see you for the next run believable adventure.

Natty 1:07:44

And I made you laugh in the intro.

Joshie 1:07:47

I couldn't help myself. I could because I saw you forgive me, I saw you stick your finger off at me.