“What your mind believes your body achieves”.
Di Allman’s running journey started when she was 41, eleven years ago. Her initial goal was to get fitter for netball, and she’s ticked that off and so much more. She began with small goals. She chose the 5km loop around Scenic Drive Echuca as her running ground where she’d look ahead and say to herself “I’ll run to that tree”. She would then walk and catch her breath and go again. It didn’t take long before Di was running 5kms non-stop.
Di has proved that running is good for her. It helps her to keep positive and sets her up for the day. She’s happy to run solo and enjoys running with husband Tim. She also loves sprint training as it’s great for improving fitness. Di’s preference is to run in the morning and her base distance is 5kms – she rarely would run a distance less than this.
Di also likes to enter charity runs and has completed many 5, 8, 10, 14 and 15km events and 2 half marathons (21.1kms). One event close to her heart is the Mother’s Day Classic, raising money for breast cancer. This Mother’s Day she did this as a virtual event and ran 6kms with Tim.
Running isn’t Di’s only passion. She also loves horses and has two rescue horses Monty and Millie. She purchased both from Horse Shepherd Equine Sanctuary near Ballarat, where they had been rehabilitated and retrained after being rescued. She rides Monty and enjoys taking both for walks. There’s nothing quite like taking the horses for a walk to Three Black Sheep in Moama and having a coffee!
Di is the School Administration Manager at Moama Public School. She also contributes to the community as a committee member for Riding for the Disabled. This group supports people with disability to learn about horses and enjoy riding.
Unfortunately a broken ankle in 2018 resulted in Di having a 8 month running break. During this time she missed running and struggled to stay positive. When she laced up her shoes again it didn’t take her long and she was back running 5kms. She’s recently had a break from running due to an illness but is now back at it. It had been a few months but after only three runs she was running 5km. She’s been told it’s muscle memory and her body remembers. She also believes her mind knows her body can do it.
Di and Tim have planned holidays around parkrun locations. Over the last few years she’s enjoyed parkrun in nine locations. She’s looking forward to the return of parkrun and planning weekends away.
Di would never have believed it ten years ago if someone had said she’d be running half marathons in her 50’s. It’s an achievement she is rightly very proud of. She recommends you find a running buddy and give it a go.
Congratulations Di on being such a positive role model and for your encouragement and support of runners in our community.
