Lisa Gormley, 29, Sydney, Actress, Home & Away
I’ve been running since I was a kid. I was always really fast at sports carnivals and I did a lot of cross-country running. But during puberty and my teenage years, I didn’t do much of anything physical. I started running again when I was living in the UK in my 20s and I’ve continued since.
I did a Half Ironman in 2012 – the Ironman 70.3 Yeppoon in Queensland. Stef Hanson from Women in Triathlon trained me and I finished in 6:45. That’s when I really fell in love with running.
I like listening to audio books when I run. Some studies have shown that people who exercise have a better capacity to learn and that brain function is increased by exercise, so I like to think I’m more open to learning when I’m running. At the moment, I’m listening to one called Brain Rules that explains 12 key principles about the brain.
I listened to Born to Run when I was training for the Half Ironman and it really inspired me. It’s just beautiful – running is such a mind-body connection and this book brings it all together as a primal ability that we have.
I came out of the Half Ironman with a plantar fasciitis injury and I had to relearn how to run. I‘d been heel-planting and putting all my weight into that in hopes of saving my bad knees, but then I hurt my foot. So I learnt forefoot running and it’s been amazing! I wear really old shoes that are worn in and quite thin at the front. Since then, I haven’t had any injuries.
I’ll run anytime – I’m not fussy. If I have a very early start and I’ll be working late, my best chance is very early in the morning. Or if I have a break in the middle of the day when we’re filming, I’ll go out for a run. But the make-up girls always get angry because I’m all sweaty and they have to redo my hair!
Running anywhere in nature is really inspiring. I love running on the beach, but mostly on hard sand. Or when I go home to Tassie, the landscape and mountains are just beautiful – it’s a great place to do a bit of cross-country to keep your body guessing and force it to adapt.
I love to raise money for charity when I participate in sporting events. The Half Ironman was for a good friend who had lost the ability to walk because of a football injury – we raised funds for him to get experimental nerve surgery and sponsored a wheelchair basketball team he coaches.
