The Power of Possibility has inspired...
Mornings, training runs, 1st time marathons & half marathons, IRONMAN triathlons, parkruns, hikes, summer reads, the farmers run and much, much more!
The images & stories below capture a few of those moments 🙏
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It’s official. I’m a Marathoner!!
"42.2 km is a long way.
Special thanks to my coach & mentor Alexandra Andre. It’s been a great journey.
It all started during Covid-19’s lockdown. I’ve never been much of a runner but the gyms were closed and I needed a new way to exercise. I started off small with 3km, 5km then worked up to 10km runs. I decided to train for a half marathon. Six months later I entered my first 1/2 marathon. I had no idea what I was doing but I managed to finish the race and it felt amazing.
Now I was enjoying running I started reading books and magazines to learn more about the sport. That’s when I came across ‘The Power of Possibility’. Wow! Such an amazing book. It changed my outlook on life and inspired me to dream of bigger things. Maybe I could run a full marathon?
Soon after completing this life changing book I contacted Alex. Her coaching guidance was exactly what I needed and she helped make my dream of completing a marathon possible"
– David Short, Melbourne Marathon 2022
David continues to run marathons & is a true testament to 'the power of possibility'
"I got to a place where I believed in myself"
Weighing 112kg in a sedentary role & lifestyle, working 10-12 hour days... Sharon was inspired when her son ran his 1st Marathon & said she’d run it with him next year. ‘Oh, mum - you don’t have to do that’ he laughed with a look of ‘you couldn’t do that’ on his face.
She responded with a defiant ‘Game on, Sunshine!!!’
And that became her inspiration in training for Melbourne Half Marathon. She wrote it on her arm on race day & her daughter even got tops made with it printed on the back!
Sharon worked through countless setbacks, disbelief and doubt - within herself and from others.
She couldn’t run to the end of her street not so long ago, had to work really hard at believing she was a ‘runner’ given she was strategically doing walk / run intervals, and put her back out severely 10 days before the event!!
But even that wasn’t going to stop her. She’d worked so hard, on the outside and the inside, to come as far as she had, and she wasn’t done yet.
She did everything she could to get back on her feet, and she made it to the start line. Better still - she made it to the FINISH LINE!
She wore her medal for an entire week!! That’s what achieving this goal meant to her.
In a post-race debrief, Sharon was asked what she was most proud of. She replied:
“The positive change in me & the fact that I got to a place where I believed in myself”
– Sharon Cosstick, Melbourne Half Marathon 2024
"Now I know I can do big things"
Mel is a single mum of 2 (her sons are 10 & 2), trauma nurse working night shift, volunteers for kids sport every chance she gets. She lives with another single mum and treats her 6 yo daughter (Mel’s god daughter) like her own. They give each other one hour a day to do whatever they want while the other looks after the kids.
Mel had been feeling like she needed something ‘big’ to work towards so signed up to Busselton IRONMAN 70.3! (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21km run)
To say her training was a ‘juggle’ would be a significant understatement. She could run, but had never swum more than 1km, didn’t own a road bike or know what cleats were (they clip bike shoes into the pedals), and figured a coffee and half a sandwich during night shift would be more than enough nutrition to get through the morning training session. And somehow survives on next to no sleep! Awake for 36 hours some days… and always, always puts her kids 1st.
To set this goal for herself, was HUGE. To do all the training it required, was mammoth.
But to roll her ankle at the kids Tee Ball 2 weeks before race day, was not part of the plan!
It went against every fibre of her DNA to ‘rest’ and do nothing. For the nurse to be ‘nursed’. To let go of the pressure she’d placed on herself to achieve this goal and actually believe she’d done enough. And to her absolute credit - she did. And got more sleep in those 2 weeks than she had in 15 years!
Her ankle was still swollen and tender for race day. She got a flat tyre on the bike, blew a spare trying to change it and prayed her half inflated last spare would get her home!
And SHE DID IT!! And her entire family was there to witness it.
After the race her eldest son said: ‘Mum, I am so proud of you, I want to try this one day!’
When Mel was asked what she’d carry forward from this, she said:
"Honouring my body and being kind to myself, I’ll be doing more of this for sure.
And I know now that in time, and with enough dedication and training - anything is possible.
‘The power of possibility’ came to mind throughout the race, self-belief is a huge thing, and now I know I can do big things”
– Melissa Loermans, Busselton IRONMAN 70.3 2024
