Claudia Raven has set her sights on clocking 2,018 km before the end of 2018. Photo / Supplied
Claudia Raven has set her sights on clocking 2,018 km before the end of 2018. Photo / Supplied
No obstacle has yet been large enough to stand in the way of Claudia Raven and her goals. And now the ambitious 21-year-old runner has set her sights on clocking 2,018 km by the end of 2018.
The third-year Bachelor of Sport and Recreation student, first picked up her running shoes in Year 13 when her class at Sacred Heart Girls' College had to run a half marathon.
Admitting to have thought she could never complete another 21.1 km run again, Raven fell back to her usual routines during her first year at Auckland University of Technology.
But keen to stay involved in physical activity, the young runner knew that she needed to change her habits in order to stay consistent.
So Raven set herself a simple goal to run every day for one month - knowing that she wouldn't be able to allow herself to give up on something she had set her mind to.
"I'm very determined within myself and with everything I do," Raven told the Herald, "If I set my mind to something then I have to achieve it someway, somehow."
But as the month drew to a close Raven became hooked on the adrenaline of achieving her ambitions, so she promptly extended her sights to run each day for a whole year.
Completing eight more half marathons during the year of her 'run 365' challenge, Raven decided she would set herself the target of completing 21 half marathons before her 21st birthday – which was only seven months away at the time.
But with a summer job that demanded 100 hours of work a week and not enough official events on the running calendar to complete the needed 13 half marathons before her birthday on April 2, Raven soon comprehended the enormity of the task she had set herself out to achieve.
"Even after doing eight, I was struggling to do a half marathon, it's not an easy achievement doing even one," she said.
"When I got my job over summer there was really no chance of running any half marathons during those months, and that's when it hit me that if I really wanted to achieve my goal, I had to start doing a half marathon every second weekend."
"I had to do about four on my own and that was probably the hardest thing because there's no one around you to support you."
Claudia Raven during Waterfront half marathon. Photo / Supplied
Not willing to let any obstacle rob her of her goal, Raven ran 13 half marathons between January and March of this year, finishing her 21st 15 days before her milestone birthday.
"Running in the rain and getting up at 4 am made it really hard at the time, but it was well worth it looking back … It was probably my biggest achievement in life."
"It was cool how everyone got on board asking me how many I had to go and that's probably why I continued to achieve that goal because if it wasn't for other people supporting me, it would have been very hard to do."
After enjoying the celebrations of turning 21 and, of course, ticking off another goal, Raven settled back into university life and into her final year placement working in the commercial management team at Eden Park.
But even a packed first-semester schedule wasn't enough to intimidate Raven from lifting the bar yet again, and now she's already run 735 km of her 2,018 km target.
Averaging 40 km a week, Raven admitted that '2018 in 2018' was shaping up to become one of her toughest challenges yet. But the determined runner believed it would be all worth it and said it was maintaining a "personal focus" that had been key to her success.
"I definitely do not enjoy the early mornings, but I think it's really cool for personal achievements," she said.
"It's the tiny little achievements like finishing your run a minute faster than you did two weeks ago that makes it a personal focus more than anything."
"I'm a person who works off goals and if I didn't have that goal this year I probably wouldn't still be running. Although I do really enjoy running, I need to set goals to keep going with something consistently."
"If I hadn't said I'd run every day for a year, there would have been so many times I would use the excuse of 'I'm too busy so I'll go next time' and so having to do 40km a week kind of makes me do it."
With the firm belief that a solid support group was essential, Raven set-up an Instagram account dedicated to capturing her running endeavours and to be a platform of inspiration for others.
Raven said that she hoped to continue to live the example that it didn't matter how fast or far you ran, but what mattered most was that you were out there doing it.
"I'm no professional runner whatsoever, all I hope to prove is that it just takes you to put your shoes on and get out the door to see little achievements within yourself," she said.
"There should be no worries about distance or time … It obviously takes a while to pick up your speed … it took me 20 goes to get my PB, but I finally I got there because I had worked hard and I was out there doing it."
"I found that having support from others was also really important … when you get people who you don't normally talk to message you to say 'this really inspired me to go out for a run today' you realise it's the little things that keep you going."
"For me, it's all about being that motivation for other people."
