Claudia Raven’s running 2018 kilometres in 2018
By the time she turned 21, Claudia Raven had run 21 half-marathons, and now she’s on her way to running 2018 kilometres in 2018.
Raven, who reached her milestone birthday on April 2, first picked up her running shoes in Year 13 when her class at Sacred Heart Girls’ College had to run the 21.1km distance.
‘‘It kind of freaked me out with how far it was,’’ she said.
She completed that first halfmarathon in 1 hour 52 minutes, and that time remained her personal best (PB) until March this year.
‘‘It took me 21 half-marathons to get to my PB again.’’
She got back into running halfway through her first year at Auckland University of Technology, planning to run every day for a month. Then it became six months, and then a year - her ‘run 365’ goal.
‘‘You can be outside, you’re not stuck in a gym, you’re not on anyone else’s terms except your own. It’s mentally draining but it doesn’t take a lot of planning or anything. You can just go out and do it.
‘‘I’m not interested in the gym as such. You can literally just run outside your house.’’
After a three-month break, she wanted to get back into running and in September 2017 set a goal for an important birthday.
‘‘I’ve done eight half marathons; why not try and do ‘21 before 21’?
‘‘I literally had five months to run 13 half-marathons which is quite a scary thought.’’
Her summer job, working for Cookie Time, involved 100-hour weeks so she ended up running 13 half-marathons between January and March.
There were not enough official events so she ran several on her own, finishing her 21st 15 days before her 21st birthday.
And now, she’s in the process of running 2018 kilometres in 2018.
‘‘That probably is my hardest goal at the moment. You have to run 5.5km a day on average. You miss a day in 2018; you’re running
11km in a day.
‘‘It’s hard every morning waking up with ‘you’ve got to run
15 or 20k today and I’ve also got to finish this 2000-word assignment’.
‘‘I pretty much set these goals so I keep going with it. Having a goal that’s almost impossible, it kind of makes you do it.’’
She would love to run a big overseas full-length marathon, but said 42 before 42 is not on the agenda yet.
She is in her final year of a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation at AUT, and currently doing a placement under the commercial manager at Eden Park.
‘‘It would require a lot of different training and a lot of mental strength. Time is my biggest concern.’’
She said running is harder mentally than it is physically.
‘‘You kind of just know your body and if you get to one km and you’re really struggling you turn around and go home. Sometimes it’s mental and sometimes it’s physical and you can usually tell the difference.
‘‘I tell people I’m not a runner but it’s just like someone who likes to go to the gym.
‘‘You feel so much better after a run; you never regret it.’’