My name is Katrina. I’m almost 48 years old and I’m a runner – well I try hard to be one. I was always into sports, but I was never in it with my whole heart. Then my little baby girl was born; beautiful and with Down syndrome.

I have had this pain in me since then. It’s a kind of guilt – there was nothing I could have done, and nothing I could do to take it away. But I can run. So when I run, and I run for her, it’s printed all over my shirt and in my heart. That is what I can do for her. I raise awareness for her and other children with Down syndrome. When I come home with my medal, she knows that “Mommy ran for Luca” and that the medal is hers too.

“Running sets me free in my heart – it takes the pain away, at least for a while.”

I think running is so much more than just running. It’s therapy; it’s healing; it makes you feel good about yourself. I put “run a half marathon” on my bucket list for 2014. I had absolutely no clue how to do that and, to be honest, I had forgotten about it. My first ever race was a 10km in April 2014. Since then I have completed three half marathons, one full marathon, a 16km and a couple of 10km races.

I hope I can motivate other people with my story, because I am just like them – just a full time working mommy with two little girls.

Katrina Muller