Jackie 00:14
Today on the show, I’m chatting with my good friend and go to person for all my running advice. Chris Taylor. Chris has been running for almost 13 years, and ran his best times in his early 50s. Yes, you heard correct, with the best times of two hours 42 for a marathon and one hour 16 and a half marathon. And did I mentioned that was in his early 50s. Chris has been coaching runners for the last 10 years. And in 2015, he started his own running club, running domain, a friendly and inclusive club that caters to runners of all speeds and abilities. Chris is an open book, and his enthusiasm for running and helping others to run and achieve their goals is evident in the way he runs his club. And in the community he has built, we talk about running through your ladies in life, how to start running, how to get back into running, we cover technique, we cover motivation, and the little voice in your head that may tell you not to run, how to overcome all that, how to get faster, and how to build your engine. I love it all. He was fantastic. I know you’ll enjoy this episode. Check it out with Chris Taylor.
Jackie 02:13
Chris, thank you so much for chatting with me today. We have known each other since 2016. Now and you’ve pretty much been my go to running expert, you’ve helped me with my running and become more efficient. But before we get into all that running goodness, I’d love to know a bit more about you and your background because I know you got into running a little later on in life.
Chris 02:40
So I got into running later in life when I migrated to Australia, hadn’t really done any exercise since I left school pretty much. And I came to Australia and I was working in it at the time. And I found myself just working with some people who did a bit of recreational running. And they did the corporate cup. So I tagged along and was part of that team. So we did a few training sessions. And because I hadn’t done anything for so many years, I was pretty rubbish. And then I got a little bit better, did the City to Bay did a couple of half marathons early on. And I just enjoyed running so I kept running just as a recreational runner. It’s just something I enjoyed doing. It was something for me something for myself, that I could just go out and do and as a bit of a distraction from you know, life, the world and everything and and something that I just enjoy doing just gave me kind of a good feeling. So that’s why I got into running. And that’s why I stayed running.
Jackie 03:41
I really like how you said that you are rubbish at first. When you feel rubbish, how do you keep going? What do you tell yourself to go to go through that again?
Chris 03:56
Well, I don’t know. I mean, I figured that everyone else could run so I could run. It was just that I hadn’t done it for such a long time that I just needed to kind of dig in a little bit and make it happen and found that other people could do it and I couldn’t. It’s just really me being unfit. And I think, you know, when you’re in your early 30s and you’re unfit, you know, it’s, you realise that something’s a little bit wrong. And so I just kind of persisted with it. And having persisted with it, I realised that I was actually not too bad at it. It’s just kind of getting over that hump. And I think that’s what a lot of people, you know, when they start running, that’s, that’s one of the things you think, you know, you see other people running and you think oh that looks so lovely, it’s so easy and, and it was the same for me, I’d have people around me who were really quite good runners, and I started and I was hopeless, and I look, you know, physically not that different from it wasn’t like I was carrying a lot of weight or I was, you know, had one leg or anything I was I was kind of well equipped to run I just couldn’t so yeah, it’s It was just a matter of digging in. And once you dig in and get through that hump, then then you’re okay. And it’s, you know, it’s that you have to be a little bit patient. I think that’s probably one of the things that we’ll talk about a little bit further on today. In this is, is patience and not wanting too much too soon. And, and being a little bit kind to yourself.
Jackie 05:24
Yeah, huge. When did you realise you were good at it?
Chris 05:30
Not for quite some time I like so I started running a long, long time ago, probably 30 years ago. And I ran on and off mostly on my own. And I was never really brave enough to join up with a group because I never thought I was good enough. And I was never really that organised either. And I’ve never really been one for team sports, I was never really one to kind of hang out with other people or need other people I was quite solitary in that, which again, I think is fairly typical, from a lot of runners, I was hopeless at sports at school, you know, just wasn’t really wasn’t at school teams for anything. Basically, I was quite good at running, and which I just enjoy doing for myself. So it was probably only when I joined a running group and found myself amongst a group of other people who were of similar capability. And then you start running together, and you start challenging each other by getting a good cohort of other people. But it was only it’s only when you you know, when you’ve got when you’re running on your own, you got nothing to measure by. And I was doing a few events. I did, you know, half marathon fairly early on in the pace, probably after two or three months of starting running. I did. Wow. Which was actually good. It took me like 10 years to beat that time. Like it was just a bit of a fluke, I think,
Jackie 06:55
wait a minute, what do you what do you mean by it took you 10 years to beat that time?
Chris 06:58
Well, I think I think I did about a 90 minute half marathon, I never got under 90 minutes for a nother 10 years, I didn’t do that many half marathons, I did do a few through that period, probably not five or six, but it took me quite a long time to actually improve on that time. So kind of set the bar high straightaway and then couldn’t beat it. But so I realised when I was doing that I was okay. But there were a whole lot of people who are a whole lot better than me, like, you know, you see the people at the front and you think they’re gods, you know, like, how can they run those times? You know, and you’re just a hacker in kinda in the middle of the pack. And, but I enjoy doing them. I enjoyed the events, and I enjoyed the atmosphere and being around people in there. So and it does give you a bit of a measure. I mean, it’s one of the things I guess with, with COVID. At the moment, when the lack of events, it’s hard to keep the measure on yourself. But back then, when the back in the day before COVID, when there were events, it’s it’s, you know, it was one of the ways that you kind of know where you are in the scheme of things.
Jackie 08:00
Yeah, you’ve said that your best running times have come in your 50s. Yeah, and your best marathon times at 2hours 42.
Chris 08:15
Yeah, ran that somewhere around there..
Listen to the full episode on your favourite app…
Where to find Chris:
Website : www.runnningdomain.com.au
Instagram: @runningdomain
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adelaiderunningdomain
Get in touch: jackie@jackietann.com | @jackietann_rmt
