This much I know: Roisin McEttigan, runner

Running makes me feel good. It makes me a nicer person.

I run for at least 30 minutes every day, longer at the weekends. It is not unhealthy or compulsive. I simply know all the benefits of running — physical, mental and emotional. I always come back in through the door full of ideas.

As a child, I found it hard to articulate why I loved running so much. I just felt I needed to burn off loads of energy, but now I realise that I love the sense of freedom that it gives me.

I grew up in Wicklow, a very active child. By the time I was a teenager, I was committed to running. I got a scholarship to Providence College, in the United States, which has a long tradition of Irish racers. I graduated in 2003 and I specialised in the 300 metres steeplechase and competed in my first Olympic Games in 2008, in Beijing.

I was ready to be a professional by age eleven! All I could think was ‘Let me train, let me train.’ Sonia O’Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan were big influences. But I was very naive. Things changed when I hit my teens and the hormones kicked in and my confidence dropped, but running helped me navigate through those teenage years.

None of my close friends were into running, but they were always very supportive of me being a runner. The pressure to ‘go out’ on weekend nights was pretty high, but I committed to my sport.

When I first moved to the States, I would constantly tell myself and my American boyfriend, and my family back home, that I’d be moving back to Ireland any day now. I still find myself saying that, although the boyfriend has since become my husband — he is a graphic designer — and we have a house and two babies: a three-year-old and a ten-month-old. I’m retired from professional running now.

I did a degree in psychology and a masters in counselling, and co-founded a business with US champion, Lauren Fleshman, called Believe I Am. Using our experience as professional athletes, and sports psychology techniques used by pro athletes, we have created a best-selling training journal, www.believeiam.com.

The point was to share all the information we had learned as athletes. The journal takes a multi-disciplinary approach, which includes mental attitude and goal-setting. Although it was initially designed for runners, the journal can be used for other things, as well. We self-published a mini version of it, and when we sold out of those copies we pitched the idea to a publisher and they took it up.

I’m a big fan of listening to music, or audio books, when I’m running. We made an extensive playlist as part of the training journal.

Running is such a practical sport. You can do it anywhere; just put your runners in your bag and away you go. It’s a great way of seeing a new city, and of being sociable, if you join a local running club.

My biggest challenge has been overcoming the self-doubt and criticisms that stem from the ego, all of those voices telling myself ‘you are not good enough’. Everyone has them, but when you can see them for what they are, you can set yourself free of them and enable yourself to do what you want to do, no longer so afraid of what other people think.

I do believe in a life after death. There is definitely a lot more out there that we simply don’t understand. I am totally amazed by the natural world. I’m in awe of its natural beauty. I’m lucky to live near a running trail, but I still believe that Wicklow is a running mecca, with the beaches and the beautiful trails at Devil’s Glen, Avondale and Glendalough.

I get really enthusiastic about things. I’m working flat-out all the time at home, with the children and the business. I have to try to reign myself in. My worst fault is time-management. I’m not good at quantifying how long certain tasks are going to take; sometimes I can’t seem to judge time at all.

It’s great to have goals and to think about the future, and it’s good to reflect and learn from the past, but living in the moment has been the key to my greatest memories, best work and real relationships. Learning to stay in the moment isn’t always easy to do, but it is where the magic happens — where happiness, joy, relationships and creativity blossom.

Roisin McEttigan has just launched ‘GloHealth Irish Schools’ Athletics’

SOF