KATIE
HAINBACH
Age 29
From Essex (originally Dublin)
Big Marathon Challenge To run her first marathon to raise
£2,000 for the Stroke Association and awareness of how
running can help mental health
Day job Musician and teacher
Katie began running in spring 2016 as part
of a drive to improve her physical and
mental wellbeing, having suffered from
depression and anxiety. Now, she’s lost two
stone and discovered a love of running. Her
marathon motivation is strengthened by
running for a good cause: she aims to raise
£2,000 for the Stroke Association because
her aunt suffered a stroke aged just 57.
How’s your training going?
It’s going pretty well, I like the plan and
Richard’s been really flexible when there
have been weeks where I’ve been doing
different things on different days.
You’ve invested in a Garmin to help you –
tell us about that...
I ordered it in the January sale and it’s
been amazing. It’s really motivating to see
the stats and, when you’re running, to stop
you being lazy, because you can see when
you’re slowing down. Because Richard is on
my Garmin Connect [group] I can’t cheat
- I can’t say I’ve done something when I
haven’t done it because he can literally see
everything that I’m doing.
How did the Christmas period affect you?
Usually Christmas is such an excuse to veg
out and eat and do nothing, and I definitely
did veg out and eat loads, it’s hard not to, but
it was kind of nice to have the excuse to get
out [to run]. At that time of year, you can get
a bit overwhelmed with not having stuff on,
so it was nice to have the training plan.
I was a little sick between Christmas and
New Year, I had quite a bad cold, and I’m
quite stubborn so I still went out and tried to
do my training. I went for an interval run but
my body was like, “You’re not running fast
today!” so it ended up being a bit of a plod.
But these things happen!
How have people reacted to you being on
the team?
They all think its pretty cool so I gave my
grandparents and my parents a copy of the
magazine and they think that’s really cool.
It’s really helped with my charity, the Stroke
Association; they are so happy because not
only am I running for them but people will
see the charity name and it raises awareness.
They put it in their weekly email and it’s
been really nice to know that they’re so
happy. People have got in touch with me
who knew me a year ago [before I got fit]
and they’re like, “Oh my God!” People are
texting me and telling me it’s really inspiring,
so that’s really nice.How has Richard’s training plan been
working around your unusual schedule?
So far it’s been pretty good because he
does it on a fortnightly basis. It’s been reallyhelpful because I don’t have a nine-to-five
job, so I can tell him that on this day I’m
doing a concert or travelling a long way [and
he can work around it]. I’m going on tour at
the end of this month and I normally do a
long run on the weekend but the weekends
are going to be super busy, and I’m going
to be in different cities. So that’s going to
be interesting, seeing how I can find time
and find places to run in places I don’t
necessarily know that well.Do you have to be careful with your singing
voice and the timing of your runs?
The funny thing is, a lot of singers say they
don’t run because they say anything that
makes you hyperventilate or anything isTwitter: @katiehainbachwomensrunninguk.co.uk