Blood, sweat, but no tears - life as a female runner

Wednesday, 5 March 2025

Reporter Maxine Jacobs keeps preparing for Christchurch's Round the Bays - despite it being the last thing she wants to do when it's that time of the month.

Round the Bays Christchurch is ’round the corner, but how do you start running if you’ve never done it? The Press reporter MAXINE JACOBS takes on the Get up to Five challenge to find out how to go from a couch queen to a jolly jogger.

Did you know breasts can move up to 12cm in every direction when running? Stop thinking about Pamela Anderson on Baywatch. It’s not hot, it’s a hassle.

It’s just one of the many things that factor into the female running experience.

For the past seven weeks, I’ve been listening to Bevan James Eyles teach the core pillars of becoming a runner to his Get Up to Five run club as we jog about Hagley Park ahead of Round the Bays Christchurch.

Press reporter Maxine Jacobs drags herself out for a run during “that time of the month”.

Bevan helps us in a lot of areas, but for the wāhine in the group, his wife Jo Eyles takes the lead on feminine matters and when that time of the month comes around you know about it.

Do you want to join Maxine? Click here to sign up for Southern Cross Round the Bays Christchurch 2025 and join the movement.

Not to play this card, but sometimes being a woman sucks. I’m reminded of that once a month when my uterus decides it’s time for the purge.

Nearly 30,000 take part in Round the Bays Auckland 2025. Christchurch’s event is happening later this month.

“There’s no medical research to say that having your period should interrupt your running schedule,” Jo says.

“However, we know as women we have various types of symptoms pre-period and during our period, whether its bloating, stomach cramps, fatigue or increased body temperature. Often the last thing we feel like doing is going out for a run.”

Reporter Maxine Jacobs finds a way to enjoy the best of both words by going to both Electric Avenue and run club.

You said it, Jo, that’s exactly what my body is going through this week.

I thought my problem was spending a weekend in a mosh pit dancing with limited sleep - and yeah that’s probably a factor - but the familiar churning within me told a different story.

Like usual, I woke in the morning to get ready for run club, but an overwhelming push to lie back down in bed struck me. What got me through it was thinking if I don’t go now, I will start a pattern of giving myself “days off”.

I know myself well enough to know a cheeky “day off” is actually just me reaching for any excuse to not do something, which would snowball into me never going to run club again.

“Go easy on yourself,” Jo says. “Don’t beat yourself up about it, just get your shoes on and get out the door.”

Sometimes you just have to remember why you committed to something in the first place and make that long-term happiness of achieving a goal outweigh the instant gratification of choosing to stay in bed.

On tough days, Bevan says, “Instead of talking yourself out of it and saying all the reasons why you can’t do it what we’ve got to do is talk you into it.“

Not every run you have will be your best, he says, but showing up for yourself and doing the run, even if you’re going at a snail’s pace, is a win.

So this week, there’s been blood, there’s been sweat, but no tears - I showed up.