In January of 2016, I started to run, mostly because a ticket to run the Santiago’s half Marathon had my name on it. I don’t know what I was thinking when I accepted a friend’s invitation to participate on the half marathon, all my life I had hated to run, I didn’t found any motivation to do it. Anyway, I already had my ticket and it wasn’t an option to fail. I decided to train, at first I run at most 2 kilometers, because I get easily tired. After a while, I started to enjoy my running time, not only because I could achieve the amount of kilometers that I had proponed for each day, but because I also started to take pleasure while I was running, wich it was new for me.

I trained on my own, it never ocurred to me to participate in a running club, it wasn’t in my options to pay for run, even less to wake at 5 am to do so, but still… here I’am writing at MBRC´s Blog.

The half marathon’s day arrived, a day that I will never forget, not only because it was my first one, it also was a beatiful way to say good bye to my city, Santiago, at the next day I had my flight to come to Australia.

After I completed those 21K, I had to look for a new goal, so I decided to run a full Marathon, and what was better than to do it in my new country, Australia. The Sydney’s Marathon had already a date, September’s 18, wich it was also the date of Chilean Independence day, so it was the perfect day!   

My next step was to find a running’s club, this time I thought it was necessary the soport of a coach and the company of a group during my training, so that’s when I found in the Internet the “Manly Beach Running Club”. With my little english’s vocabulary, I decided to send a message to the coach and ask for this club. I went a Monday to try, and without knowing to much what does it mean to be part of that kind of club, I inmediatly signed. I thought that it was a good way to created a routine in Manly, the city that it was going to be my home at least for a year.Slowly I started to organize my life here, I rented a bedroom in a flat with 6 other girls, and only 1 toilet, yes that’s right 1 toilet!! haha. It’s sounds terrible but its not. Being part of MBRC has its advantages, for instance, none of my flatmates awakes at 5 am, so I have the toilet for my own disposition.

Without question, today I can say, after only 5 months here, that one of the best decisions  I made since I arrived to Manly was to be part of MBRC. Now, I love to start my days running in to the Beach and see the dawn, I even like just a little the Friday´s Hills that I hated at the beginning.

Also, I definitely I would like to talk and envolved more with the Group and Joe, but speaking english while I’m running is even more difficult for me, specially to understand the phrase, translate to spanish and then think my english’s answer, it would take me a few meters. People usually says that women can do a lot of things at the same time, in this matter, I think that I’m the exception.

In life not everything is about running, we also have to work, and that’s why my visa’s name is Work & Holiday, though for the moment I think I should call it Run & Holiday, I’ve been more focus on the marathon that in my job.  Anyhow, untill today, I‘ve been doing packing and picking in a Warehouse, Cleaning Aldi’s supermarket, helping a man in a wheelchair, spreading flyers, etc. The common factor of all this Jobs is that they are all physical Jobs, unlike my work in Chile, in a law’office, just sitting in front of a computer and full of papers. So, its a plus for my currents Jobs that they help me to train for the marathon, for example, bent to get up boxes are squats, pass the mop on the floor are arm’s exercises, walking spreading flyers work for strengthen legs, etc.

Nevertheless, you need to rest as well, and there’s where things get tricky, specially saturday’s night, when everyone goes to party, I have to go early to bed, because on sunday’s mornings I have to go for the long runs.

I know I have had to sacrifice some things due my training, such us spend time with my friends, to refuse a few Jobs that iniciate very early in the mornings or finished too late at nights, however, I have happily done it, because running fills me with joy to move on, specially at moments when I feel lonely and missing my family and friends. That’s why everytime I meet someone that’s far from home, my advice to him or her is “Go and run, and enjoy the place you’re running”.

I think it now, after months of trainings,  only a 10 days left for the Sydney’s Marathon, and no matter the result, I think that September 18 is going to be the most important and unforgettable day for me during my stay in Australia, but not only the day, in general, running has made my visa Work & Holiday to be very different and special, one experience I will never forget.