Perth TV star Carrie Bickmore reveals why she is happy

The Project’s Carrie Bickmore says running gave her new energy in life. Photography: Sam Ruttyn
Source: body and soul

TV STAR Carrie Bickmore reveals why she is feeling happier and healthier.

Bickmore, 31, has a new outlook on life, and it’s thanks to running.

“I’m in a better mental state at the moment,” Bickmore says on the phone from Melbourne, where she lives and works as one of the hosts of Channel Ten’s The Project.

“Before [I started running], it didn’t take me much to get into a tizz, and to stop seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Now, I’m able to compartmentalise the stresses that arise.”

SUPPORT NETWORK

Bickmore, who says she is now sleeping better and feeling happier all round, began running at the start of this year. She lost her husband Greg Lange to brain cancer in December 2010, after a 10-year battle with the disease. She doesn’t talk about her husband in interviews, but she is open about being a single mum to their son Oliver, four.

“At the moment there are some long days away from Ollie, but we’re doing the best we can,” Bickmore says. She is supported by her mum, who moved to Melbourne from Perth a year ago to help out, as well as a nanny and some close friends.

STARTING SLOWLY

Her desire to spend as much time as possible with her son was one of the main reasons she began running.

“I hated the idea of going off to the gym and leaving Ollie for an hour,” Bickmore says.

“I found I could go running for 20 minutes, and achieve a lot fitness-wise in not as much time.”

Bickmore began with a “Couch to 5k”‘ training program from the internet, running on her lunch break from work.

“I hated it at first!” she says. “It hurt, and I also found it boring.”

Things changed once her fitness started improving, and she committed to a 10-kilometre fun run in July with a fellow rookie runner.

“The fun run was awesome. We both made the 10 kilometres. I found the first half horrible, but after that I could have run for 20 kilometres. We were on such a high afterwards. I realised it was such a long time since I had planned something like that with a friend.”

The pair will do more fun runs this year, and have enlisted more friends to join them.

HEALTHY AND HAPPY

Bickmore now runs four times a week.

“I’m no running fanatic, but I am excited about it,” she says. “Running has become a really nice space for me to be just me. It’s like meditating.”

She adds that running helps her show her son how to be healthy and happy. “I feel that the greatest thing I can do is to create a world where he can be active.”

Ollie shares his mum’s enthusiasm, but for different reasons. “He was very disappointed I didn’t win the fun run in July. I tried to explain that I wasn’t competing like that, and he answered, ‘Don’t worry, you might win next time, Mum’.”

“I’m just trying to find good things in each day”

When asked about what she wants to achieve in the next few years, Carrie Bickmore’s response is that her focus is on enjoying the here and now.

“I don’t really have career ambitions right now,” she says. “My dream job is the one I have now – I can’t believe I’m already doing it. So I’m pouring everything I have into it.

“I’m not thinking too far ahead. In a few years’ time I’ll add more strings to the bow. I’ve worked hard for a long time. I spent my 20s doing what most people weren’t doing. My 30s is going to be spent travelling a lot more and not being so serious.

“You don’t know what life will throw at you, so I’ve learnt to take what you can get. I’m just trying to find good things in each day.”

Article source: http://www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/perth-confidential/running-helps-me-to-cope/story-e6frg30l-1226453563632