“What’s that mummy? Can I have some?”

I’ll bet I’m not the only mum who has an inquisitive child.

In my case he’s two-and-a-half and he wants to know everything – what am I doing, what am I holding, more importantly, what am I eating.

I’ve learned I have to be a positive role model. I want to be the person that I want my child to become.

That doesn’t happen by stuffing my face full of chocolate, lazing around on the couch and thinking the wet weather is a great excuse to watch movies all day.

Many years ago that would have been my first idea. But when I moved to New Zealand I found I was drawn to the active lifestyle and since then I have been a runner (I’ve been an Ironman triathlete too but those days disappeared long ago!).

My Biggest Fan is Three-Years-Old

I was a runner before I had my son, and I’ve been a runner since he was eight weeks old. He’s always known that I run.

When I get back from an early morning run and he’s having breakfast with his dad he knows what I’ve been doing: “you’ve been running!” he says with a giant grin.

When I’m about to go for a run he says “you’re running mum”. He always smiles. That’s probably because running makes me smile too. I might not always feel like that when I first get going, or even when I’m 10 minutes in and slogging up a hill with the wind in my face.

But running fills me with joy. The fact I am beaming when I come home
tells my son that it is enjoyable – he doesn’t need me to tell him that.

He doesn’t know how fast I run – it’s running as long as I keep one foot in front of the other. He doesn’t know if I’m running 5km or 10km or any other distance I might choose to tackle.

To a child, at least my child, 30 minutes, one hour or even three hours away from home don’t seem to register, at least not for him.

He doesn’t need to know anything other than the fact that running makes me happy and therefore he might like to run one day too.