WHEN I FINISHED waterskiing [Mark was a 10-time Australian champion], I really started getting into running for fitness and for the challenge. I’ve done about four City2Surfs, a couple of half-marathons, and it’s on my bucket list to do a marathon.
I GET UP for work at 3.30am and don’t stop until I come to a screeching halt mid-morning. If I go for a run straight after the show, it sets me up for the rest of the day.
I LIKE TO get results from my exercise time, and with running you really get bang for your buck.
RUNNING IS also an exercise in mind-clearing. If I have a million things going on in my head, it’s amazing how many problems I solve – or at least put into perspective – when I’m running.
WHEN I ARRIVE in a city, I love to go straight out for a run. Melbourne’s a favourite because it’s easy to run from the city to the Botanic Gardens. I have running spots in Adelaide and Brisbane, too. It’s such a great way to take in a city, get your bearings and get a feel for the place.
I’VE FOUND so many good little spots when I’ve been out for a run that I’ve gone back to later – courtyards, streets, coffee shops and restaurants.
I’M GETTING READY for the Tour de Cure, a 1540-kilometre bike ride from Adelaide to Canberra to raise funds for cancer projects, so I’m cycling a lot at the moment. But I still run twice a week because it’s a break for the body to do something else. Normally, I run three times a week for six to 10-kilometres at a time.
MY COLLEAGUE Nelson Aspen, who does our Sunrise Hollywood reports, is a really keen marathon runner and he’s always wanted me to do the New York Marathon with him. That’s my running dream. I’d like to do an Ironman too, and obviously the run is a big part of that, so I have to knock over a marathon on the way to an Ironman.
I LOVE GETTING a few mates together for a run. A fantastic saying I heard is that women talk face to face and men talk shoulder to shoulder – we need to be doing something. When you’re out on a run, you really find out what your mates are thinking, where they are in life and if there are things they need to talk about – it all comes out.
