Living her best life
As one of the country’s bestknown sports journalists Jacqui Hurley’s daily exposure to some of the fittest people around has made her all too aware of just how important an active lifestyle is for health. She talks to Andrea Byrne
These days, Jacqui Hurley’s career is all about sport. She is the co-presenter of Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 and regularly presents the sports news on RTÉ TV. But before Jacqui turned her attention to a career in media, she competed at a high level at both basketball and camogie. She lives in Dublin with her husband Shane and their two young children, Luke, (5) and Lily (2). Here she talks to us about setting a good example for her children, and why golf has become part of her weekly routine.
You recently took part in Ireland’s Fittest Family, did you enjoy the experience?
‘Enjoy’ is a very strong word [laughing]. It was more like enduring it than anything else. When they asked me to do it, I thought, ‘This might be a bit of craic. Then we went down and saw the course; I thought, ‘Sweet Jesus!’ It was horrendous. I was so wrecked after that bog!
To be honest, I wasn’t that fit in the summer. I am much fitter now. I had a very mental summer and I wasn’t training as much as I usually would. Signing up for that was a bad idea, although the irony of doing a show like that when you’re not fit is that it gave me the kick in the arse that I needed to go and get fit. Since then, I have lost about a stone, so overall, I would say the experience was positive because of that.
Your family acquitted yourselves well, finishing in a very respectable second place behind the Olympians Rob and Marian Heffernan and their children…
When you’re up against Olympians you kind of
have to take it with a pinch of salt. We’d be good friends with the Heffernans, so when we rocked up and saw them there, we were like, ‘Ah jaysus, we haven’t a hope!’ My husband was a bit worried; he is ridiculously competitive. He was worried he’d embarrass himself. If you saw the effing and blinding that was going on off camera we could have come off a lot worse. We were watching it at home with our kids, and when the Go-pro footage came up – nobody looks good from that angle – my son Luke said, ‘Mum what is wrong with your face?’
Did you make any New Year resolutions this year?
At the start of every year, my husband Shane makes us write down three goals. I try and identify what are the three most important things from what I want in my career, life and health and wellness. It has worked well for us. So, a personal goal, a work goal and a fitness goal: this year, I am going to the Olympics, that is the work one. Fitness goal – I am keeping with what I am doing. I’m in a good routine. Personal one – we are looking to renovate our house, so I’ll be getting into the headspace so that we make the right decisions about that. Shane always says, if you’re going to commit something to paper, it needs to be something that you’re going to follow through on.
A quick snoop of your Instagram would suggest that you’ve recently taken up golf?
I absolutely love it. I was kind of getting invited to golf outings, but I never accepted the invitations because I was afraid of making a show of myself. I made a promise to myself that in 2019 I would take it up. So I took it up. Loved it. I play golf every Wednesday. As a couple there are very few things you can do together that doesn’t involve overindulging: dinner, drinking, but we play golf together. I like the handicap system. I’m playing off 20 now.
And you go to the gym regularly…
Yes, I joined Origin gym up in Sandymount ’cause I wanted some weights exercise. I really like it and it suits my lifestyle.
Are you also playing basketball again?
Yes, I went back to it last year. I really missed it. It’s special when you get back into a team environment with girls you played with for years. It’s so much more enjoyable now. I am just doing it for me. I am not trying to play international teams any more.
Variety is great. If I was only in the gym doing the same thing, I’d go out of my mind. I am probably the happiest I have been in a couple of years in terms of health and well-being.
Tell us about your eating habits?
We eat a lot better since we had kids. I was very conscious there are so many jars of food for kids out there and you don’t really know what is in them. So we went off and retrained ourselves to cook everything from scratch. It might take an extra half an hour but I know everything that is going into dinner. Shane is a really good cook so we share it a lot at home. We try to be good, most of time. There are times when you fall off the wagon, but I think it’s about balance and trying to be good when you can. You need to be able to treat yourself too. If I go out for dinner and drinks with my mates, I’m not watching what I am eating and drinking. I use my Fitness Pal app and I try to log what I am eating. I don’t do it all the time but I like to have an idea. If you know something is working for you, it gives you the motivation to keep going.
As a family do you take many vitamins or supplements?
Yes. Again, all very new. I would have done a lot when I was very involved in sport, but when I stopped, those habits kind of fell away for me. The past year I have gone back onto vitamin D tablets, fish oil and supplements. I take about four or five different things a day. Protein shakes, extra fruit and veg, Udo’s oil.
Are you good at managing stress?
Day to day, we’re good at managing stress. If there are high pressure points in work, Shane and I are really good at giving each other a bit of space to work through it. I have always felt that exercise helps with that. I hate running but I understand its value, so if I am feeling stressed, I try and do something positive, even if it’s just getting out for ten minutes. You will feel better after it.
You’ve spoken in the past about having ‘Mammy guilt’ – does that present itself as stress for you?
It is something that is always at the back of your mind. You’re always asking yourself is this the right thing? The way we have always balanced it out in our heads is: Am I doing a job that I love? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes. Maybe I am not there for everything, but I am there a lot. I work every Sunday but now that I have balanced my schedule, I am around a lot more. On Saturdays, Luke does GAA, and I am involved in the coaching. I get to spend a lot of time with him at that. I drop him to school every single day, which is lovely. I don’t have to do that, as we have a child minder who comes to the house, but I make sure I do it, because I want to. Once the weather gets better, we run to school or he scoots. I love that time with him.
Is it important to show your children the physical and mental benefits of exercise?
Hugely important. When children are born into a household, they follow their parents’ habits, whatever they are. I think the fact that both of us are really into sport means they see Mammy and Daddy both going out to matches. I want them to be part of that. If they want it – that is their choice – but I do hope they will be involved in sport, because I see the benefits. Even if it’s not team sport or competitive sport, just that they can walk to school. Luke loves scooting or cycling to school and Lily is mad for the outdoors and running around.
Given the importance of self-care, what do you do for yourself?
I use the golf. I’ve always said that that is my day. It’s me being kind to myself. It’s about trying to do what it is that makes you happy. For me, it’s also about sitting down with friends catching up, playing golf, exercising; that to me is looking after myself. Going to a match with Shane, that is also me being kind to myself.