I asked Laura Henshaw how to get into running as a complete beginner

“So many people think they don’t have a runner’s body, but if you’re able to run, you can be a runner.”

If you told my child self that I would spend my early twenties running ‘for fun’, let alone willingly, I would’ve probably laughed in your face. I enjoyed movement, but it was always in the form of dance classes, yoga poses and the same 10 minute ab workout video. Team sports weren’t really my thing. Running was an even more foreign concept.

Simply put, I wasn’t ‘a runner’. I spent school cross country days walking at the back of the pack and came last in the 100 metre sprint. I dreaded beep tests and 12 minute miles. Whenever I ran, it was riddled with comparison to my peers and every time I tried, I was humiliated.

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It wasn’t until I started working at Fashion Journal in a team of avid runners that I decided to push through the mindset I’d always hid behind. I took a more sustainable approach than I had tried before – progress was slow, and my runs were too, but eventually a switch flipped. I felt confident in my ability and considered myself a runner. I now run four times a week, go to Barry’s Bootcamp classes out of my own free will (!!) and am even toying with the idea of a half marathon.

When New Balance invited me to spend two days wifth them in Melbourne, I was thrilled to see a run on the itinerary to celebrate its long-term partnership with fitness and wellness app, Kic. Led by founders Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw, they took us around an iconic Melbourne track and spoke about their personal fitness journeys, community-building run clubs and Kicrun, their training program designed for all levels, including complete beginners.

Although I now love running, it took a long time to get here. I spoke to Laura about her journey to participate in the New York City marathon and how runners should break through the mentality that plagued me for so long.

Hi Laura, I’d love to hear a little bit about your running journey. How did you first get into running and what do you like about it?

I’ve been running for a very long time. I was one of the kids that loved cross country at school, which I know it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. My sister was one of those kids that would just run and be so genetically fit and fast in cross country, and I always had to try really, really hard, but I loved it. What running taught me is it’s a really safe place to challenge yourself and prove to yourself that you can do things that you didn’t think you could.

My relationship changed with exercise when I was around 18 and during that period was when my relationship with running was ruined. It became something I used as a punishment. Back in the day, there was a lot of stuff online saying ’if you eat this, you have to run for this long to work it off’, and so I used running to deprive and deplete my body. All of the joy came out of it because I was exhausted, I was injured all the time because I wasn’t fuelling myself properly and I was overexercising.

It was a big part of why we started Kic, but to be able to rebuild my relationship with wellness, myself and also running, it’s been incredible. I’m fuelling myself the entire time before, during and straight after my run so I’m not depleted. Running makes me feel strong and being in charge of your body and not using exercise to punish yourself is the most powerful thing in the world – especially when you’ve been through disordered eating or a bad relationship with exercise in the past. Now, running is for my mind. It’s my form of meditation and it’s where I get to prove to myself what I can do.

@laura.henshaw Some days you wake up feeling like your run is going to be really tough and then it is in fact really tough 😅 but I did it and I ended up doing an extra km because I ran into Livvy and we were chatting 😂❤️ 9 weeks out from the New York Marathon 🙏 #newyorkmarathon #running #marathontraining #kicrun ♬ BIRDS OF A FEATHER sped up – Lilly 🎀

I used to tell myself I ‘wasn’t a runner’ and it took years to shift that mindset. What are your tips for breaking through that mentality?

First of all, know that it’s okay and you need to walk and run when you first start. You cannot start your running journey and just run for three kilometres, you’re very likely to get injured. It’s also not going to be enjoyable. We need to build up gradually, and a run is still a run if you’ve walked 75 per cent of it. It’s so important that we reframe that for ourselves.

If you go into it thinking ‘I’m not a runner’, you’ll never get to your goal. Because when … you’ve got new runners that start super motivated, that wears off. The program starts to get more challenging and builds up, but if you haven’t worked through the limiting belief not believing you’re a runner, you’ll never get to your goal because when it gets tough, it’ll come and stop you.

Third, our bodies. I think there’s only one body type that we see that is a ‘runner’. So many people think they don’t have a runner’s body, but if you’re able to run, you can be a runner. It’s so important to reframe that. It’s also that people think they’re not as good at running as they are other forms of exercise, or they’re perfectionists and like to start something and already be good at it. That’s not going to happen with running. It’s working through [the thoughts] of I’m not good enough.

We brought [Kic’s] zero to three kilometre program in only at the start of this year, and a lot of the audio in that program is working through limiting beliefs and visualisation. That’s the tough game in getting to three [kilometres]. That’s the really, really tough bit.  It’s reframing that belief into ‘I am a runner. I do have a runner’s body. My past experience with running does not define my future experience.’

If you can work through that mindset, then you can do anything. It’s like anything in life – our limiting beliefs in our careers or relationships – if they exist, they’re going to be a ceiling for us until we’re able to reframe them.

What tips do you have for beginners to find the right running shoe?

Everyone’s different. Some people need to get fitted, some people don’t. It depends on your body, like the way you run or where you walk or exercise. If you can go and get fitted, go and get fitted. New Balance has such a wide incredible range, like the 1080V13, which so many people in our community have got since we’ve started the partnership and have absolutely loved.

Any final advice for beginner runners?

• Set a goal.
• Do strength training alongside [running].
• Warm up and cool down.
• Follow a plan and build up slowly.
• Believe in yourself. That’s the most important one.

Explore New Balance’s range of running shoes here.