Ultra-busy mum ranks running with eating, sleep
Judy Humphris aims to be a true ultra-distance runner which means the sport is more than just a way to set goals, it’s also her down-time
Asthma as a child, a bad ankle injury and three children meant Judy Humphris was a late starter when it came to serious running.
But the 44-year-old mother of three is making up for lost time. Whether it be during her lunch break, after work, or after she has put her children to bed, Humphris always finds the time to clock up a few kilometres. Running is such a priority she ranks it alongside eating and sleeping.
Humphris, who works full-time in commercial research, was diagnosed with asthma as a child and rarely took part in sport or physical activity.
She discovered running in her 20s and it didn’t take long before setting the ambitious goal of running an ultra-marathon.
Tracking nicely toward her objective, Humphris entered the London Marathon in 2002, but was struck by an ankle injury just weeks before the event. Faced with the tough decision to either drop out, or attempt the 42km race with an injury, Humphris riskily opted for the latter.
As a result, she suffered a stress fracture to her ankle from the race, and was forced to take a break from running.
After having her children in the years that followed, Humphris’ life became increasingly busy and her priorities took a major shuffle.
But in 2009, Humphris decided it was now or never when it came to running.
“I had three kids in just over three years, and when my youngest was born I came out of it at 25, a bit overweight, and with no muscle strength whatsoever,” she said.
“I just thought ‘if I don’t do something about it now, then that’s going to be me for the rest of my life’ so it’s about having that strength and maintaining it and just having the energy to do things.”
Humphris said the physical and mental benefits have always far outweighed any excuse not to run.
“There’s a quote I love that I read years ago, that said ‘if you ever think about giving up running, write down how you felt before you run and write down after your run, how you feel then’,” she said.
“I always feel better, I never come back from a run thinking ‘I wish I hadn’t done that’ — I always come back feeling refreshed and awake.”
She said running had become Instead, on his return to Australia, Merrick took the vacant Newcastle Jets coaching job and, inside 12 months, had led them to the A-League grand final in Newcastle tonight — the one the Nix were supposed to play. One day. Consequently, Merrick is now being mentioned in the same breath as Sir Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness in the realms of great McManagers. If not for his coaching accomplishments, for watching his star striker score the goal of the season in a sudden death final yet looking like his dog had just been put down.
Merrick making the Jets take off after failing (for all but one season) to have the Phoenix rise will only further bemuse those Kiwi football fans not fully convinced the A in A-League really does stand for Australasia.
But it would be churlish to ignore Merrick’s achievement and dwell on the Phoenix’s continued struggles. As churlish as it might be, for example, to dwell on the fate of Waratahs star Nick Phipps who was stripped of the captaincy and fined
$4000 for urinating on a
Sydney bar during more than just a way to set and achieve goals, it had become her down-time.
“I think it’s up there with eating and sleeping, obviously work is important as well, but it’s just something you should allocate. I look at my diary at the beginning of the week and his stag night while reportedly “dressed as a cow”. Something that merely underlined the point made in this space last week. Australian rugby is now — sorry — udderly ridiculous. Instead, let’s contemplate an A-League grand final that comes after a weekend in which the otherwise beleaguered competition demonstrated it had more life than seemed apparent during a season when attendances and viewing figures dropped like cartoon anvils. The reasons for the A-League’s decline have been manifold. Lack of visibility due to a poor free-to-air TV deal, the disillusionment of fans who feel persecuted for their allegedly unruly behaviour, poor promotion and on it goes. The byzantine politics of Australian football have not helped. With Football Federation Australia and the locally based A-League clubs wrestling for control of the competition, Fifa threatened to install a “normalisation committee”; which sounds disconcertingly like the sort of thing old communist bloc countries used to do after a student riot. Meanwhile not even the impending participation of the Socceroos in the World Cup had done much to lift the gloom after the abrupt departure of coach Ange Postecoglou, who was pilloried by the local socceratti for attempting to have his team play too attractively. This heinous footballing crime left his substrength outfit floundering so badly all it could do was win the Asian Cup and qualify for the World Cup.
It was against this unpromising backdrop that the A-League unexpectedly sprung to life last weekend producing the most eventful round of finals in the competition’s 14 year history.
I always feel better, I never come back from a run thinking ‘I wish I hadn’t done that’ — I always come back feeling refreshed and awake..
it’s just factoring in those three, four, five runs a week and go from there,” she said.
“It’s a priority, because it’s good for stress, it keeps you fit, it’s cheap, you just need a pair of trainers and some sports kit. I just slot it in whenever I can so that’s one of the good things about it.”
“I think as a parent and somebody that works in an office that I’m around people, I quite like my own company, so it’s probably the only time I get to myself in the day.”
Humphris completed the Auckland Marathon three times before turning her attention to ultramarathons.
She’s completed two and wants to knock off another so she can call herself a true ultra-distance runner.
She is training to race in her third Taniwha Ultra Marathon trail run.
“I’ve done the Taniwha trail run twice, but I’ve missed it for the past
First Newcastle’s Riley McGree scored an incredible scorpion goal that gained more social media views than a Kardashian booty shot. (Apparently, it’s called a scorpion because it entails flicking the ball from behind your body with the bottom of the boot, not eating your young.)
Then Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory played out an extra time epic during which Terry Antonis scored both the heartbreaking own goal to level the scores with 10 seconds left, and the redeeming winner in extra time. Antonis’ second goal prompted two Melbourne assistant coaches to run on to the field and accost a Sydney FC player, an act that could not have been any more absurd if they had been dressed as cows.
So Newcastle hosts Melbourne Victory in the grand final. Or, in New Zealand terms, Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick attempts to gain revenge on the Melbourne Victory who sacked him in 2011 after he had guided them to two championships.
There are a few other grand final storylines that won’t cause Phoenix fans to chew their fingernails to their wrists in frustration.
The prolific Victory striker Besart Berisha was written off by some during a season in which the 10 club veteran’s manic desire could not disguise the miles on his clock. Yet the combative Albanian is a factor again and threatening to produce a grand valedictory performance.
Newcastle’s sudden rise from the bottom of the table after the false promises made by former owner Nathan Tinkler, a now failed mining magnate, is a romantic tale as the roars at their sold out home ground will attest.
The Jets’ revival might even prove inspirational for the Phoenix after yet another season near the foot of the table. Perhaps they should take a look at the coach?
● two years, and I want to do it three times.
“Then I can properly say ‘I’m an ultra-marathon runner,’ rather than saying I’ve done one or two.”
The Taniwha 60km Ultra Marathon, on November 3, travels along the southern end of Lake Arapuni, across the Waipapa Dam, and down the western side of the Waikato River.
The annual event is described as “tough” for even the most experienced ultra-runners and a major challenge for both the body and the mind.
However, Humphris described the gruelling ultra-marathon trail as tranquil and gorgeous.
“The Taniwha is just gorgeous. It’s along the river trails so it’s got just beautiful scenery.”
“It’s really tranquil and really nice running on the trails. Road running can be quite boring sometimes and it’s quite hard on your joints, which I’m more conscious about as I’ve got older.”
Humphris encourages anyone, at any age, to try running as a sport, particularly those who were just as busy as herself.
She said all it took was the simple task of setting a goal and sticking to it.
“The good thing about running is you can always fit it in, you can always do it whenever it suits you.”
“It’s quite nice to set yourself a goal — with running you can just slot it in, set yourself a goal and you just get there and do it.”