Helga Honeder is best known for her last name. But not only her day job in the natural bakery, which she runs together with her husband Reinhard, has given her stamina. It was a small step. And then another. Until there were many small steps. “It’s never too late to start running,” she says. Honeder has already run, when the shoe size was many times smaller, but the now 58-year-old did not complete her first marathon until she was 40. Four months of training and a form check by the sports doctor later, she crossed the finish line back then. “The greatest success was actually the feeling of happiness,” she says in retrospect.
Running made school
And everyone can feel that happiness. “It’s important to set small goals at the beginning. Don’t compare yourself to others, but go your own way. Or just run,” she says. A running group can be very helpful, says Gerti Gasselsberger. No peer pressure, but group dynamics would emerge. “And you quickly find someone who walks your pace,” she says. Gasselsberger now laces up his running shoes three times a week. She doesn’t deny that it can be difficult at the beginning. “But I can also walk quickly and then run again. I don’t need to be ashamed of that. And at some point it all goes by itself,” she says.
For Anna Panholzer, running taught – or running taught. In secondary school she was made to like small, quick steps. “Then I started running with my big brother in my free time, too. Short at first, then longer and longer,” she says – until she became the best Austrian at the Linz Marathon in 2016 and her time in 2021 with three hours and five Minutes again significantly improved.
Honeder, Gasselsberger and Panholzer are not only connected by the urge to go outside. They are figureheads of the “Woman Runs” initiative. Together with the women’s department of the state of Upper Austria, the Oberbank has set itself the goal of motivating as many women as possible to start on October 23rd. The three runners agree that women are often too modest and let men take precedence. No woman has to run after a man. “It’s important that you stick with it and put together a structure. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a training plan,” says Honeder.
And what advice would you give to someone who wants to start running but doesn’t feel like taking the first step? “I would just take him or her with me and adapt to the pace,” she says.
A smile is enough
Although Honeder runs 2,000 kilometers a year, she doesn’t see herself as a competitive athlete. “I don’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore, I just run for myself. If I finish an event with a smile, then my personal goal has also been reached,” she says.
The three runners will have their next chance to do this on October 23: Then their path will lead them through Linz. Running, of course.
Source: Nachrichten
