This month we shine our spot light on Steve White, who lives and breathes running.
He admits that he wasn’t always as enthusiastic about running but after the loss of a loved one, he found it to be a great outlet. Since then his running has gone from strength to strength.
Without further delay, here is Steve’s story.
“My name is Steve White and I'm running mad! I'm quite active in the Perth running community through participation and volunteering at running events in Perth and in WA. On any given Saturday morning you'll find my running friends, family and I volunteering or participating in any parkrun within the state of WA.
I'm a Run Director at my local parkrun. My recent claim to fame is that I've visited and participated in every parkrun in the state (along with my wife and usually our 4 year old daughter who rides in the pram, up until recently where she completed her first parkrun running more K's that her tender years.)
On many a Sunday morning, rain, hail or shine, you guessed it, you'll find me running along the beautiful West Coast paths near home in Perth's Northern Suburbs. Either that or I'll be participating at a WAMC or Masters run.
I even spent my last birthday at the Perth Running Festival, setting a new PB for the half marathon. I’m aiming to complete my 4th Marathon at the Perth Running Festival on my Birthday Eve this year, it would be great to start the celebrations a little bit early.
Running and keeping fit and healthy really has been a life saver for me - pardon the cliché. I went through a little bit of a tough period a few years back with the loss of my father who passed away from living a good life but an unhealthy life a few months before the birth of my daughter.
Subsequently I gained weight, lived an unhealthy lifestyle and coincidentally experienced a lot of stress in my home and working life. I was also unfortunate at the time to be inactive due to an ankle injury and had lost the outlet of playing sports (basketball and soccer) which I loved and grew up playing competitively, having to give them up permanently.
I had run a little bit in the past, even completing Marathon de Paris in 2011 off the back of little training, so I've always had some natural ability there. Once the ankle got stronger I was able to at least run and move in a straight line, but not well laterally, so I continued to run.
It became the perfect outlet for me, especially when my father-in-law bought me a new pair of trainers as a surprise present one day. I haven't stopped running since and am always enthusiastic to share my experience.
Part of my comeback was the pursuit of a sub 20 minute 5K, which I eventually achieved at my local parkrun after about 14 months knocking 7 minutes off my first parkrun time. This wasn't without setbacks, which included a short hospital stay for multiple hernia surgery, which slowed me down but didn't stop me.
Since then I've lowered my time to 19 minutes and have set competitive PBs in the 10K, Half and Marathon.”
We commend Steve for being so active within his local community and giving something back. If you're in Western Australia, keep an eye out for him at your local Park Run!
Our mission is to help celebrate wins and inspire many more, by hanging medals properly.
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Plus, you never know who you might inspire!
We're super excited about this as we know that behind every collection of medals is an awesome story!
