Runbelievable: Real Runners, Unreal Stories

Ep 11: From Hating Anything Physical to Ultra-Runner: Crystal Barnes's Insane Reinvention

• Josh Rischin • Season 1 • Episode 11

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She walked every school sports event. Struggled with asthma. Hated anything remotely physical. Yet somehow... became an ultra-runner.

Crystal Barnes has one of the most unexpected running journeys you’ll hear. From joining a run club at 21, to smashing out a half marathon, full marathon, and then an ultra just weeks later, Crystal’s rise was fast, determined, and fuelled by a love of community as much as the sport itself.

But the last few years have been tough. Hamstring tendinopathy, big life changes, balancing running with parenting, and the frustration of going from extremely active to barely able to run at all. Through it all, Crystal has remained grounded, philosophical, and motivated by a huge goal she’s set for 2027....

In this episode:

  • Growing up hating sport and navigating childhood asthma
  • How a search for “free activities” led to discovering running
  • The rapid rise: club runs → half → full → ultra in two years
  • Balancing running with parenthood and shifting identity
  • Hamstring tendinopathy and the GC10K PB she probably shouldn’t have run
  • The 42-for-42 goal driving her forward
  • The full-circle moment of meeting a former teacher (this, you gotta hear!)

Runbelievable: real runners, unreal stories.

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Crystal:

I remember we were running along the beach. Um, I started struggling within like 50 metres. He was running backwards on the sand, going, come on, come on, you can do it. And I got in a fight with him because I was just like, you asshole.

Joshie:

Hello everybody, and welcome to Run Believable, the podcast where everyday runners share their not-to-everyday stories. I'm your host, Josh Christian, and I'm here to bring you stories of grit, glory, and overcoming adversity. Each episode, we'll dive deep into what first got people running and what keeps them lacing up day after day. From the last couple of lessons to new shoes going on sale literally the day after you paid full price, we're here to share what makes running a truly human experience. I'm still not over it, Maddie. Coming up in a few moments, um, you'll meet a runner who has overcome adversity in an extraordinary way. I really can't wait to chat with her. Maddie, welcome back. Now, we're still on a new podcast. Um, yeah, my question, my friend. Um, and look, I'd actually like to shout out our early Legion of Loyal fans. Now, look, some of them we know, many of them we don't know. Uh, dare I say that some don't listen and definitely should. Um I've actually I've been thinking, I could ask you, Maddie, um, does your family tune in? Do you know?

Matty:

They do, yeah. So um my mum does, definitely, and my sister does. Um Sarah, my wife, does. Um I sent them to my dad, but he um cannot figure out Spotify or any technological um app to listen to them on. So he's yeah, he's yeah, he's another one.

Joshie:

We should burn them onto a we'll burn them onto a VHS for him or something.

Matty:

Yeah, yeah. So um he wants to listen, but he hasn't yet. So yeah, most of my family do listen to it, which is really good. What what about yours?

Joshie:

Uh, look, I think so. Um they told me they do. Look, I'll be honest, dude, I'm not entirely convinced. So I actually thought, oh man, I'm gonna regret this. Let's have a bit of fun, Maddie. Um I'm either I'm either gonna be killed or potentially withdrawn from the will for this. But um, mum and dad, shout out to you if you're tuning in. And if you are, just drop me a short text with the following password. How much should we transfer? I'll feel much more reassured that you're tuning in, and I promise to send you a response. So, that's gonna come back to buy me, I just know it. Let's get stuck into the unbelievable rundown. Maddie, the other day you sent me a photo of yourself doing the lawns. Um, no doubt just to show off those incredible pins of yours, and of course brag, brag about the fact that you were in fact doing the lawns for once, but I did happen to notice in that photo that you were tackling your gardening pursuits in a pair of Pro 4s. Is that correct? Yeah, that's correct.

Matty:

So I don't know. As you kind of nicely pointed out there, Josh, I don't mow the lawn that much. Um my wife actually loves doing it, so I'd leave it leave it to her.

Joshie:

But it had to be stick around here.

Matty:

It had to be done the other day, um, and she's been too busy with work, so I was like, right, I'm gonna do it. But I had no shoes. Um, I have no like backyard or gardening or old shoes. Um, so I do often tend to keep my um my retired running shoes, um, my racing shoes, and I had a pair of yeah, the Pro 4s, out of us Pro 4s there. So I strapped them on and got to it. Um It wasn't actually that easy, to be honest, with the um the racing shoes. Um but it got the job done.

Joshie:

Well, there we go. I mean, I wasn't sure if it would make you get the launch done in half the time or something like that.

Matty:

Well, that that was my whole intention. I thought that must might be the case.

Joshie:

Yeah. Well, there we go. Lesson learned do not wear a pair of race shoes in the garden. So, look, this actually got me thinking because in oh, Maddie, it's no secret that you absolutely love the Adidas Pro 4s. So today's quiz is called Are You a Pro? Okay. So, with Maddie having officially owned, and that includes current pairs, I think five pairs of Pro 4s plus another uh three pairs that Sarah doesn't know about. Let's see how you go with Are You a Pro? Question number one. To the nearest gram, how much does each Adidas Pro 4 weigh to the nearest gram?

Matty:

To the nearest gram.

Joshie:

And I'm not gonna give you a threshold. Actually, I'll give you a small threshold. I'll tell you what, if you can get it within five grams, then we'll say that you're correct.

Matty:

Okay. 162 grams.

Joshie:

Incorrect. 200 grams, believe it or not.

Matty:

Oh, okay. I thought they were lighter than that.

Joshie:

Question number two. To the nearest millimeter, what is the shoe's stack height at the heel? 39. Unbelievable, my friend. Bang on the money. 39 mils. And I think it's got a six mil drop, so 33 at the four foot.

Matty:

Yeah.

Joshie:

Um, I'm impressed. Jeez, he's back. He's back, late everyone. Question number three. Now, there's a website called Run Repeat, and they publish this um cut-in-half um shoe diagnostic thing. It is the most detailed technical thing you can imagine. To the nearest 5%. What percent energy return does the shoe produce?

Matty:

Oh god. I have no idea, but maybe let's say 85?

Joshie:

Oh, you bastard. 80.4. Yes.

Matty:

Oh, that's pretty good, yeah.

Joshie:

I'm impressed. It's at the very high end, by the way, of shoe return of energy return for shoes. I think the average sits around sort of 55-60%. Uh geez, I'll tell you what. For a butt pluck, that was pretty impressive, my friend. Had you all go at home, please let us know. Today's guest has one of the most unlikely running stories you'll hear, having gone from hating anything remotely physical as a kid to running ultra marathons all within the space of a few years. However, the last few years haven't quite gone to plan with injury and big life shifts, but she stayed grounded, determined, and still somehow squeezing out personal bests in the process. She's also the first celebrity we featured on Unbelievable, having featured in a GC Running Festival promo photo. Can we please welcome Crystal Barnes? Woo! Welcome, Crystal.

Crystal:

Me and my bestie. Yeah, we were still waiting for the payment, and I totally take payment as just race entry. I just want free race entry because it's expensive.

Joshie:

I'm surprised they didn't offer you that as a courtesy. That was such an awesome photo. Did you know it had been taken?

Crystal:

No, well, I knew it was taken, and I bought the bloody photo. And then it was plastered everywhere. I'm like, what?

Matty:

You tick a box, you tick a box when you enter to say that they can use anything um as promo. Yeah.

Joshie:

But that's but that's but that's cheeky. Um making you pay for a photo that they use as promotional material. But anyway.

Crystal:

I know. Oh well. It was a great photo. So I get it.

Joshie:

Now look, Crystal, um, you and I had a chat before today, uh, and you mentioned that as a kid you hated anything remotely physical. I think you said that even walking 400 meters felt like a marathon.

Crystal:

Oh yeah.

Joshie:

What what do you remember about those school years and the lack of um his tools, tools and support around recreational activity?

Crystal:

Yeah, I hate, well, yeah, I I just I hated any kind of like athletics, carnival, all those things. I was always dead, like dead last. I was so last, in fact, that my best friend and my mum ran the last part of probably only like a 400-meter run. Like I was struggling. Turns out I am asthmatic, and this is probably why it was just always so hard for me, but it just it never clicked back then that there was something in like actually potentially wrong.

Matty:

Um I still am.

Crystal:

I realized since then that it's not always about the pace and the actually like running fast, it's just the doing it for the enjoyment. But back at school, it's you know, you're in front of your friends, your people that are not friends, you know, it's embarrassing, it's yeah, it's and it's not conductive or um then having a life of being active and being healthy either, which yeah, is a it's a real bugbear for me in regards to it also drive drives you away, doesn't it?

Matty:

Drives you away from that, and you get a bit of a and I'm not saying this is you, but people would get a complex in terms of and a fear almost that no, I don't want to do that.

Crystal:

Oh, and that's exactly what happened, and just it gave me anxiety to have to be in any of this. And they kind of going to the I went to a couple of private schools on the Gold Coast, and they just always like forced you into doing all these carnivals, even when you were terrible. It's like you gotta do it for the points for your house. And they're like trying to be inclusive, but at the same time, and you were like so last. Yeah it's yeah, I remember even the swimming carnival, it was like me and this other girl who were both actually asthmatic, thinking looking back. Um, we were in the D division of the swimming, uh, and but it was good because we would share the firsts and seconds because it was just us. So we're like I have swimming ribbons, but it was because we were the only two people in this round.

Joshie:

So you don't you don't have to be the best, just the best that turns up. Yeah, that's right.

Crystal:

But yeah, no, I just yeah, I just remember even feeling ugly that thing. Now now it's like I love it when my kid runs with me at the end, or yeah, um, all that stuff, but oh god, yeah, horrible. And then even I did a cross country um in my la, I think it was in grade 12, and me and these girls, we just walked it the entire time. Like I walked pretty much every cross country ever, but this one I particularly remember because it was a group of us, all the the non-fit remote, like nerdy girls. And um, I remember a teacher yelling at us, going, It's not just a race for you girls.

Matty:

Like worst.

Crystal:

That that teacher was not even remotely fit.

Matty:

Like he swept you've damaged me for 12 years. Like, give me a break.

Crystal:

Yeah, I guess that's a thing that we are just moving in the classroom. So he was yeah. But like, yeah, he was not fit.

Joshie:

You know, it's something that I guess we don't realise at the time, and probably the teaching fraternity don't realise is the potential long-term damage that can happen if they're if students that fall behind in any in something, uh in this case recreational activity, uh left behind. Um I mean, do you feel that the school were just completely absent when it came to providing support for those that I guess just weren't naturally um uh physically gifted?

Crystal:

Yeah, completely. It was for it was always just you were in a competition, or even you know, when you did PE, you'd be graded. Like, I'm sorry, I'm not naturally gifted at high jump, like that I'm you know, it's not natural um or not naturally gifted at shot put. Oh, I got a D in shot put. Like, I just I even think that the grading back then was I don't know if it's different now, it was just like effort, which would make more sense, but at the same time, I don't know, just yeah, no, that there was tough.

Joshie:

Um I guess it doesn't really promote the growth mindset, does it? Just to be a s assist on the outcome rather than the input and the effort you you put in. Um it's uh I don't know about yourself, Crystal, but when you sort of watch people and the the the work that they put into a marathon, I mean for me that's the thing that's worth applauding is the journey to get there. It doesn't really matter what the time is 100%.

Crystal:

And yeah, and as if you'd ever told my teenage self that I would have that I will run a marathon, I would have laughed hysterically at you. What what happens to me? Like what that you were completely wrong. I yeah, I I no way, shape, or thought like way, shape or form I would ever be able to do it. And that's why I tell people all the time that if I can do it, anyone can. Yeah, you just need to it's time, yeah. Yeah, you you can definitely do it.

Joshie:

You know, um you you mentioned before that you had uh asthma as a kid, uh, which you know would presented quite the obstacle when it came to exercise, and I imagine that's something that you've had to learn to live with rather than try to fight against. Um how have you gone about working with asthma in your exercise and running pursuits?

Crystal:

Well, it's funny, I take a daily inhaler now, so that's good. Um but uh there's a funny story about like the first time I ever kind of as an adult, I was like 20, 22 or 21, um, giving running a crack. Uh, because I love food. I love food a lot. Um and I thought I needed to like maybe balance that out with some because I'm very much life is all about balance. Um, and my partner at the time, um, he was just pretty fit. Um, he surfed, he was so he was so much cooler than I was. Um and he, I remember we were running along the beach. Um, I started struggling within like 50 meters. He was running backwards on the sand, going, come on, come on, you can do it. And I got in a fight with him because I was like, you are so that was like my first running experiences as an adult and like getting in a fight because he was running backwards on the beach. And I'm like, why am I struggling? Like my it was so hard for me. And um then even we we broke up, um, not because of that, but many other reasons, but um it might have had something to do with it. Um, but even trying to sort of get the time. This was before couch to 5K and anything of um online about how to start running and building up that endurance. So I just was like, why is it always so hard for me to get up to long distance? I was like, you know, gassed after a K and um yeah, didn't know that you could run slow or you know, run intervals, anything. It was just and it was disheartening, but I just kind of kept going because I couldn't afford a gym or anything, so it just kind of persevered on. Um, and then yeah, later on, because I used to get um just my asthma really comes on during winter, and I especially get lots of chest like chest infections and stuff like that. Um and yeah, doctor finally clicked that he's like, I think you have asthma. And I was like, Well, I did have I did get diagnosed as like a kid, like as a five-year-old, pretty much, but nothing was ever done about it. Um so yeah, started the daily inhaler and it's so much better. Um, I don't get sick as much and don't have the sort of um yeah, sometimes the yeah, the pain in the the the chest. I call it like um it's like an itching.

Matty:

Yeah, like a wheezy type thing.

Crystal:

Yeah, and it's hate that feeling. Um and yeah, that's pretty much like died off. I still get it a little bit, especially in winter.

Matty:

Okay.

Crystal:

Um, but yeah, that the daily inhaler really makes a massive difference. Um and also just for I've now run well since I was 22 and I'm 40, so like 18 years. Um and if I do the asthma like test, the little spirilizer thing, I think that's cool. You can't even really tell that my my lungs are asthmatic, they're really good. I actually just blew up uh 112 balloons for my mum's birthday, in fact, um last week.

Joshie:

Yeah, yeah.

Crystal:

So the lungs are good, just they like to get inflamed actually.

Joshie:

You mentioned that you started running at 21. Um correct me if I'm wrong, you were just purely looking for an exercise that was free. Um it's not free in my country. I was gonna ask, what was it that uh drew you to to running? But it sounds like it was as simple as it was a free activity.

Crystal:

Yeah, and I ran on the beach, so I didn't have like um I didn't have shoes. I just ran back. Um then I remember buying a pair of shoes finally, and realistically like they were the wrong size. Um because I also started, so I was like, oh, I need to do more stuff, and I had some friends doing netball, so I thought, oh yeah, give that a go. Because I wasn't able to do any basketball or netball either in my teens because I've got scoliosis. So stop start sports. Um were ruled out um fairly early in my teenage years because my knees were tracking wrong and everything was just out of whack as I was going. Um, but I was like, uh, it'll be fine. I can strap my knees, I'll give it a go. Um and yeah, I bought these shoes for for both kind of things. And I didn't last long in Netpo um either. Um, this the stopping and starting. I ended up, it's the only time I've lost a toe now. Um because yeah, those shoes were too small. Yeah, I'm lucky I've yet not lost one toe now running. Um would like to continue that because yeah, I only lost it during bad netball when I when I did Netball. Um, but yeah, those so so those shoes were not great. Um because even back then there just wasn't, you know, now the the selection of running shoes is insane.

Matty:

Yeah.

Joshie:

Um, it's incredible. Because I was actually going to say, Crystal, I mean you you joined a run club in 2014, um, from what you mentioned before, what well before the um the post-COVID running boom. Um you then did a half marathon in 2015, a full marathon in 2016. Um what was what was the running community like back then, before all the the boom and the hysteria we have now?

Crystal:

It was it was still awesome. Like because this was on the Gold Coast, so I feel the Gold Coast has always been a bit more of a like an active community. Um, even when I lived in Surface Paradise, you always saw people running and walking along the Esplanade. Um it was either you were drunk in the the dunes um at 5 a.m. or you're out running at 5 a.m. Either either. Um but yeah, it was always seems to be a bit of an active thing. And there used to be an amazing magazine um called Women's Running Magazine. Um and yeah, it was the girl um well, the woman that was the editor, um, she also did a run club on the Gold Coast. Uh and um just it was women's running club, um, run girls. And I was so nervous when I rocked up for them the first time. Um, it took a lot of talking myself into it. Yeah. I was used to always running by myself and just because they did track work every Tuesday morning, and I just thought I've been running sort of long enough, maybe I'll give a running club a go. And she spruced running clubs in general in this magazine. It was like an article on it, I think. And I was like, oh, maybe I should. Um, and yeah, found these amazing ladies, and you know what, they are all um, I was like the young whippersnapper at age 30.

Matty:

Okay, yeah.

Crystal:

Um, and well, like 29. Um, these ladies, you know, were often like 10, 15 years older than me. Um, I trained for the full marathon with a lady who I think she's 63 now, but late 50s when she we did the the full together after we were training. Um so they they gave me a an amazing example of how if you keep active, like how much better you are. You could not tell that these ladies were in their 50s, late 40s, 60s. Still can't. I still catch up with them um when I'm on the Gold Coast and I have a park run or um yeah, I can do some events with them and catch up. But yeah, they are incredible and it was so supportive, and then that's how it escalated. Like joining any group, you're like, oh, maybe I could do that half marathon. Yeah, oh, someone's doing this.

Joshie:

You certainly kept raising the bar higher and higher, having sort of, I think it was what, six weeks after you ran your first marathon, you ran an ultra. Um wow, yeah.

Matty:

Yeah.

Joshie:

Um what Tom, what motivated you to just yeah, keep like I say, keep raising that bar, Crystal?

Crystal:

Uh it's just I guess seeing if I could. Um because I think that's what changes too. It's not a oh, I I want to come first, I need to come a place, I need to it for me. It's just I wonder if I can do that.

Matty:

Yeah, yeah, and and see if see if you can push your body outside that, you know, that what you I guess within your head, what you think you can do. Um but can I do more? I wonder. Maybe I should try.

Crystal:

Yeah, 100%. Um, and like the fact that I'd as soon as I'd cross that, like, I think I'm even the half, because I remember being fully nervous for that. And I never thought that I could do a half. And and doing it, I was like, maybe I can't like do something more. Um, and having the support of that running group as well, um, and and having friends to train with because you know the those long runs, um, you know, zone two. Well, back then we didn't have call it a zone two, it was just a long run.

Matty:

Yeah.

Crystal:

Um and we were literally doing it at conversational pace because we were chatting the entire way. Um but you know, it was um having yeah, having that community as well that made it that little bit easier. Um, and then yeah, once I did it, I'm like, holy crap, what I can push on and doing help. I also get really bad FOMO.

Joshie:

So Well, you sort of um switched gears somewhat in terms of life uh focus and life challenges recently, um, having introduced little Luca into the world who I think's what two years old now?

Crystal:

Yeah, almost three now.

Joshie:

Wow.

Crystal:

Almost three in five.

Joshie:

So, how how have you gone about making, I guess, those adjustments, like still finding time for you for exercise whilst also being a very sort of proactive hands-on parent?

Crystal:

Oh, it's yeah, it's it's tough. And the guilt is massive, especially like when I started wanting to run the distances again and um having to do those long runs on a Sunday, and I felt real guilty with even taking that two hours for that longer run. Um, but I'm lucky I have an amazing, supportive, wonderful partner who is the best dad. I couldn't ask for a better human to do this journey with. Uh, and he yeah, he supports. He knows also like mentally I have to run. When I'm not running, yeah, I'm I start losing it. And he knows what I went through with my pregnancy because I always envisioned myself as being one of those people and like friends that I'd seen do it, running throughout their pregnancy. Um, and that unfortunately, that journey ended, I think it was like week 14, just because I'd had um oh wow um bleeds back then from another thing. And then so I just started walking and doing very mild exercise. Um and then by week 28, I well, I got diagnosed with placenta previa. Um, so it's just where the placenta um embeds itself basically on the exit. So a lot of the time it does often move as it all grows. Fortunately, mine did not, and um it um yeah, caused lots of bleeding in the end. So I was put on bed rest for since about week week 29.

Joshie:

Wow, wow. So did you go did you end up going f full term or have a planned season, I imagine?

Crystal:

Um yeah, so um we went uh I had a planned Caesar at week 38. So I got a lot there.

Matty:

So not yeah, got too yeah.

Joshie:

Oh, that's a long time to be on bed rest though, isn't it?

Matty:

Oh yeah. For someone that was act like is active Oh you'd go crazy.

Crystal:

And even before that, it was difficult because of all the the um the fatigue and just nausea, nauseous, and I I still say there's no fatigue like I felt in really it was just I remember in bed lying there with my work phone and my personal phone and just kind of trying to work between the two because it was just too hard. And what sucked is that by the week 28, I was in the last couple of weeks that I was starting to feel myself again. I'd had energy, I was good. I didn't even visit one, I'd gone to a festival, but um, yeah, then on to my my partner bought me a um uh a lazy boy chair. Oh yeah, and that's where I stayed until week 38. I was it did move at week 35. I had a really, really bad bleed, um, and they were like putting in the bloody big IV drip and thinking they're gonna be getting it out.

Matty:

Oh, okay.

Crystal:

But it ended up the bleed stopped. Um, because I had uh six hospital visits, five hospital stays um in that time.

Joshie:

Oh how did you go um, I guess mentally adjusting to I guess going from living a very active lifestyle, physically active lifestyle, to not being able to do anything at all?

Crystal:

It was rough, and I'm glad I'm a gamer. Like I just do games for the entire time and drove my mum insane, actually. What was your favorite?

Joshie:

What was your what was your go-to?

Crystal:

Uh cyberpunk. So I was running around being this like gangster girl. Um, and my mum was like, what is this? Um and then I I ended up playing, oh, it was like one of the Lord of the Rings games, but I think my blood pressure spiked a bit with that one.

Matty:

I've never played a computer game, so I I just I cannot see the attraction or the the joy that people get out of them. I it's just not me at all.

Crystal:

Yeah, well, if you ever put on bed rest, uh you might you might need it. Because it was like then I could forget that I was lying there and it's in the in the in my get my chair, and I was still my brain was still active.

Matty:

Yeah.

Crystal:

So um, in it, you know, when I was and then I was in hospital, I was just reading a lot. Um so yeah, but it is definitely it was it was still rough.

Joshie:

Um well you certainly um bounced back since then, uh Crystal. Not that it's been uh easy, you certainly had your fair share, more than your fair share of uh injuries and illness in the last couple of years. Um I don't even know where to start. You've had so much going on, you've had a um hamstring tendinopathy, I think that you're managing. You somehow ran a park run PB with it, and I think your first sub one hour 10K as well.

Crystal:

Yes, yeah, well, like in an official event. I'd done it in training for the Brisbane and Gold Coast half. Um that was like all the 10k events that I'd done, I'd always done just over an hour, and I was like, I've gotta get it, not that I've Done a lot of 10k events, but I was just like, gonna get it. And I managed to, yeah, managed to just do it, even though my hands were in my sore the entire time.

Matty:

What event was that?

Crystal:

Um that was the GC50.

Matty:

Oh yeah, okay.

Joshie:

So when you say when you say you just snuck under, what was your time? Can you remember?

Crystal:

Oh um like we talked in seconds. Now I'm like, what did I actually do? If I was at my normal desk, I actually have a um I have a little chalkboard with um with my PBs on there.

Joshie:

Some people are doing it on their Instagram profiles. Um in fact I saw someone that they run it Yeah, they'd run a PB, I think, at the Melbourne Marathon, and they created like a reel of them editing their out their old PB and putting in their new one.

Crystal:

Oh yeah, that's cool.

Joshie:

It it had effect. Um I think it's amazing, Crystal, with navigating a hamstring tendinopathy that you'd still be able to reel out a couple of um PBs. Um now you've got your site set on something even bigger. I think you mentioned that um not next year, but 2027. You've got I think it's 42 for 42, so you're looking to get back to running marathon distance for your 42nd birthday.

Crystal:

Yeah, yeah.

Joshie:

My first my first my first question is are we invited?

Crystal:

Uh yeah. I'm thinking it's gonna be the Gold Coast because I like it because it's nice and flat. Yeah, um it's such a vibe that one, and it's uh Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, it's yeah, unlike the Brisbane, that is uh like where you have to do two laps. I'm like, oh yeah.

Matty:

Anything with a lap situation, I'm like, You see all the half marathons finish, and you're like, oh I I haven't I haven't done the full there or any full, but um you'd be you'd be looking at the half marathon as going, I wish I was you.

Crystal:

That's what I thought when I because I did the half this year. It was my first time doing the Brisbane half. Yeah, say and um yeah, and then how like they they go off and start their lap again. I was like, yeah, nah, stuff that like that would drive me insane. Yeah, no, thank you. Even um I thought about doing the 30Ks at the GC 30, but that's also a lap situation. I will never say never, but yeah, don't don't like things that require laps. Too much of a head.

Matty:

Yeah, I agree.

Crystal:

So a marathon distance would that that that is huge to be having to do a thing, a lap again. And that I didn't like how um the Brisbane one was also there was a lot of people, of course. Granted, probably by the full it would be would have dwelled down.

Matty:

It was quite hilly too, I feel like I live in Stafford Heights, so yeah, yeah.

Crystal:

Hills, hills are my general area if I want to get down to the beauty that is Credden Brook of nice and flat.

Matty:

Yeah.

Crystal:

Um, but yeah, I have to go by us a couple of hills first. Unfortunately, it's usually at the end coming back also to the hills, which is never fun.

Matty:

I'm not far, but I drive down there and then run the flat.

Crystal:

Oh, yeah, there's been definitely some days when I'm like, I'm just gonna do it. But the traffic gets so bad.

Matty:

So I'm gonna matter. It doesn't matter, I'm not running there.

Joshie:

You know, uh Maddie, I think, lives about 800 metres from my place, and we've gone for runs together. He's driven to my house. Sorry, we've digressed. Um getting back on track now, Krista, the last couple of years um haven't quite gone according to plan, but you seem really um philosophical uh about having to compromise on your running goals. What's kept you grounded, I guess, throughout that time?

Crystal:

Um I just always know that things get better. Um and I just I've gone through so much. Like even coming back, so coming off bed rest, finally like, yay, I'm in the world, I've got my kid, go back to parkrun. Um, I tore my meniscus, getting off the ground with my little love. Um my body was so weak, all my tendons are still probably cactus thanks to relaxing. Um and I just I know that I've already like persevered so much that I can it can happen. I can I can do it again, I can get back up there. Um and even now I think it's amazing. I'm running, well, I wasn't till my hand my hamstring, um, but I was running faster than I ever have. Um so the day I did my hamstring, um, it's because I I overdid it. I did like my lift session on the Friday, and then I did Olympic lifting on the on the Friday night, because I was like, oh, that looks like I don't know, I just was like, oh, that looks like fun. Like I've never done it before. I've never lifted anything until I joined Fit Stop. And I was actually quite overwhelmed the first time I ever went. Like, and it wasn't, if it wasn't for Dav, um, the gym owner at the time, I I probably wouldn't have kept going. But she reached out and because I gave I gave my class a three-star um because I'd just felt really overwhelmed. And I think the instructor at the time didn't realize that I had never really done any kind of proper lifting ever. Um, and this was all and there's also postpartum. I was just feeling overwhelmed in general getting back into the world. Um and I managed, and yeah, Dav reached out and she's like, oh no, I stand by my gym. And it's like, you know, here's two weeks free. Um please um, you know, you if you don't, um sorry, my videos actually gonna so my mic might end up dropping off soon. Um that's okay, we can hear you. Yeah, if yeah, she she reached out and she's like, I stand by my gym. Um please use two weeks free. Um, I also here's a um a free session to a physio, um and a free session with my my brother, who's an amazing PT, um, who was amazing at um editing kind of the exercises so that I would strengthen my knees. Um I'd ever heard any of this, which was funny because I think about all my ailments with my with my back and all these things growing up, um, that I'd never really heard of doing strength work for. And even yeah, even with the full marathon and then doing the ultra, uh, because I didn't do any strength work, I had my ice band um flared up. Um, so I actually I only ran eight kilometers of the the um ultra and then I hobbled the rest. I still managed to finish in 10 hours. Um but the checkpoint was so far in, it was sort of like, well, the neurofen had kicked in. I'm like, nah, I can definitely hobble the remainder. Oh, because I think it was at like 20 kilometers in. So I was like, Oh wow.

Matty:

So you stopped at eight and you had to hobble for the how far was it? Was it 50 kilometers?

Crystal:

Yeah, 50 kilometers.

Matty:

So you hobbled for 42 kilometers. Oh my gosh.

Crystal:

And you know, so it's lots of hills. I actually relished going up the hills because the IT band didn't hurt when I was walking up the hills, but it was the downhill hill bit that I'd kind of have to do this like crab shuffle down.

Matty:

Wow.

Crystal:

Um and even then like apple tree stairs, which is if you ever want, yeah, uh a workout, those stairs are, I think, higher than the Q1. Um you hit them just before 42 kilometers, and it's it's a doozy. Um, and you've been going uphill that entire time. Um, but I I actually didn't mind all these bits because it didn't hurt my IT band. I just couldn't run, I could, but I could walk it. But then the other downhill bits I'd do this like little crab shuffle.

Joshie:

Um what what kind of what kind of shape were you in after that, Crystal?

Crystal:

So there's a reason why I didn't do a lot of events come 2017. Um just because I was a bit, I was a bit knackered, um, to be honest. And I also I broke up with my boyfriend, I moved to Brisbane, um, so it was just a bit of a change. I lost my sort of like my running group um down there, um, moving to Brisbane, and I just kind of I I went into a um a sharehouse situation that was a lot of fun, and I met my best friend out of it, one of my best friends, uh Jane, and she is why I run now at Winham a lot, um for park runs and and met some amazing other mum runners out there. Cool. Um so yeah, it's funny how things all come about, but um, yeah, I think I like a few, a handful of park runs that year, and I think I did one one 10k event. Um, but yeah, I kind of dwindled a little bit. Um and just I still ran, but not I didn't do a lot of events until probably about 2021, maybe I think, yeah. I and I it's so funny, I got so overwhelmed. I also because I'd had lots of injuries um just like one thing after another. Um, I had some kind of hip flexor thing, it never got fully diagnosed. Um so I still don't I it's still a bit of a mystery what happened there, but um yeah, had kind of hip problems and all this stuff that if I'd just done some strength work properly, I I did go to good life, um, but I just loved doing like the cardio classes. So um yeah, I didn't do the right things, and now I am doing all the right things, so I think that's why I've definitely improved in my times and been able to heal up from injuries a bit better.

Joshie:

Yeah. So given your experience, um, you know, you've gone from having managed uh you know childhood asthma and you know lots of injuries of late. Is that something that has made you I guess hyper vigilant with Luca? I mean, are you sort of looking out for everything with him to make sure that he sort of grows up without you know, um with the tools and the support that you didn't have?

Crystal:

Yeah, definitely. Um I I'm like such a mum where I where like every cough he has, I'm like, oh my god, is it asthma? Like his cough, but it's also like he goes to daycare, so it's like he's just every and every time I think he's had a cough for a bit long and then he doesn't cough for ages, and then yeah, it's it's uh yeah, well kids and daycare. Um but yeah, I I definitely want to make sure that he's supportive. If he does have asthma and and I want him to be active, he's probably I'm ADHD and top of everything, um and he is most likely going to be the same. So I I I definitely want to help show him as well that he can do all these things and run. And um my partner is an avid basketballer, um, even through um his injuries, like he um he actually had a I think it was like a a couple of slip discs. Um at times he's actually not been able to walk properly. So, you know, but through the power of exercise and physio that he can function quite normal. Um but yeah, he has to keep his exercises up.

Matty:

There's been so much advancement though, over like from when we were young, um, in terms of like you mentioned scoliosis, and it's you know, you've got this, you can't do this and this, but with like medical advancements and those types of things that that are out there now, um, there's ways to treat those types of things so that they aren't um inhibiting, you know, things you want to do. I think it's changed, it's changed so much over the years.

Crystal:

100%. And well, even you know, growing up, there wasn't gyms everywhere like there is now, you know, the running clubs or everything, it just wasn't like that. Um I remember my mum did go to there was one gym in our general vicinity, and it was part of like a it was like one of those lifestyle club things at Sexo. It's fancy. I did swimming lessons there, absolute wasted money, but I remember loving the um raspberry lemonade. Uh it was delicious. That's that was all I really remember from my swimming lessons. Um and yeah, there was like a slight gym there, and I think there was one out at a rundown club. It wasn't prolific and you know, there wasn't yeah, it just wasn't a such of a thing. And I just remember being told um by a chiropractor that I was pretty much gonna be a cripple.

Matty:

Um wow.

Crystal:

Yeah, I used to get bad sciatic pain as well, um, which running and doing exercise has and core core work. Um I used to do Pilates a fair bit. Um I yeah, that has helped.

Matty:

Core work makes a massive difference when you've got back problems.

Crystal:

Oh, it's yeah, pretty chintilacoana. Um, yeah, it's uh yeah, I I can't I tell people all the time when I've got some back each, I'm like, dude, get that core going. And that's primarily what my partner does with his back, is he um does a crap ton of core work and he even he after seeing how um I was doing it fit stop and um because it's a very like talking about like being a time poor parent, it's just so in and out, 45 minutes, three classes a week, and I'm getting I've got biceps now for the first time ever.

Joshie:

Like I'm not sure how that um how I wish how I wish the video was working right now.

Crystal:

Yeah, yeah, bicep like yeah, and I just it yeah, it's I'm so grateful that now it's it's becoming more to the forefront. And I'm really hoping that that also translates with kids and schooling, yeah, after what I went through as a kid and how much I hated working out and being active. And when we know we've got such a crisis with people's health, and even though for every person that I know that is a is a runner and I see how amazing people are in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, still running or working out, it doesn't have to be running, it can just be walking anything compared to even um you know my own parents. Um like maybe I won't listen to, won't let won't show this one. No, but like I would love to see them all lifting. Um I mean my mum has had some health issues um that that aren't really her fault, but yeah, I would just I see yeah, I see people that are the same age doing marathons. Um I just you know and you know, those people also didn't start because I think in their head, because that generation, um, they think that all those people probably started running in their, you know, as as teenagers, they've been running all their life. But a lot of them, and this is what I loved about this running club on um the Gold Coast, was that a lot of them started late in their 40s, you know, when they started or 30s, um, and show and they were smoking me, they were so fast compared to me, still are like um you know, and they're just yeah, there's one lady, um, she does a crazy amount of marathons. I think she's done she's part of the 10 club. Um at the Gold Coast where they've done more than 10 marathons.

Joshie:

Yeah, be like a Spartan from Melbourne.

Crystal:

And they yeah, she's done her, I think her and her partner both have part of this. They've done 10 Gold Coast marathons. Um, and she's just constantly doing them. Um and I think, yeah, I don't I don't want to get her age wrong though, but yeah, she's I mean, yeah, just in case she listens.

Joshie:

Um, yeah, you're mentioning before uh Crystal um about the um yeah, the hopefully the the lessons that you've learned and you know that the way that the schools uh provide support to children has in improved. Now the there's one thing I wouldn't mind exploring with you. There was an interesting twist of fate when you uh crossed paths with one of your teachers in recent years. What was that moment like for you, especially given what you went through as a as a child?

Crystal:

Yeah, I think it's um it's like proof in the pudding when I bumped into my grade seven teacher picking up my um Gold Coast half number this year. Um he he's also one of my favorite teachers. He was amazing and definitely a real mentor to me as a a child. Um, but he was like, hmm, long distance running. I never picked you for that. Like some people, oh, that's me. And I'm like, no, I don't think you understand. Like as a kid, I was not athletic in any way, shape, or form. Um, so his reaction to that is completely normal if you'd not seen me for however many years. Um, and yeah, I was like, oh yeah, no, I've been doing like probably like I did my first half in 20 um 15. Like, no way. Um, and I think that was, yeah, it was pretty validating. He he was then picking up his own.

Matty:

That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

Crystal:

Yeah. No.

Joshie:

I love that. What what a beautiful moment to be able to it's almost like re-revisiting your childhood. Um, and like we all have those those things we fantasize about with being back at school and telling these teachers either where to go or showing them, and you you actually had a chance to do that, which I think is awesome.

Matty:

Yeah.

Joshie:

Yeah. Um look, before we finish up, I mean you've spoken about what's um on the horizon for 2027. What about next year, 2026? Um, is there anything running-wise that you've got your site set on?

Crystal:

Um, yeah, so I really, really want to do an under two-hour half marathon. That is my prime goal.

Matty:

Wow.

Crystal:

So I think I I could have done it at Gold Coast, um, but I few I failed my fueling massively. Um just because it was just a really busy day on the Friday. Um, picking up the race number. Um, I was on the road working before that, and it was just chaos, and I just did not eat enough. Plus, I was staying at my mum's. It was all I was all out of whack. Um, so halfway through the race was feeling amazing, and then just that bonk happened. Yeah. Um, and it felt like I was running through swamp um concrete with concrete legs. Yeah, it was um and yeah, so I I think if I feel correctly, um, I should be able to do it. So we'll see, with the the ham, and hopefully the hamstring doesn't laugh. I know that I I can't, I've got to stop overdoing it, and sometimes you just can't do everything as much as my brain's like, ooh, do all the things.

Joshie:

Um you know, one one thing I think we can be assured of, Crystal, is that um notwithstanding the physical challenges that mentally uh you're well and truly strong enough to get uh over the line. Um yeah, we've we've we've we've had a ball speaking with you, uh Crystal. Thanks so much for joining us on Run Believable. You really are a superstar, and we wish you all the very best of luck with your future running and life endeavours. Thanks you. Thank you for your time.

Matty:

Thanks, Crystal.

Joshie:

Thanks, Crystal. Well, Maddie, Crystal's story was truly incredible. What were you like at school sport?

Matty:

Yeah, not good, mate. Not good at all. Um, no ability, no talent. Um, I'm willing to participate now and then, but yeah, it was not my thing.

Joshie:

You know, I love that Crystal had that little poetic moment with a teacher later on in life. What would you say to one of your cynical teachers if you saw them now?

Matty:

No, I'd love to see them in an event and fly past them. Look at me now.

Joshie:

Give some choice words in the process, no doubt. Um so look, if you've got a Run Believable story of your own, we'd love to hear it. And if you're interested in being a guest on the show, then please hit us up. And finally, this podcast relies on your continued support. So if you can please take the time to follow Ray and share this podcast with your running mates, we'd really appreciate it. And we'll see you for the next Run Believable Adventure. Excellent! That's good. Oh, what's that, Maddie? Yeah, good, dude.