Gold Coast runner Corrina Black is a joy to speak with. Her bubbly voice expresses sheer delight as she talks about her passion for running and how she got into the sport of ultra running specifically. If there’s ever a person with a contagious run bug, she’s it.
The now 44-year-old started running soon after leaving school. As an aerobics teacher, Black would hop on one of the gym’s treadmills and entertain herself with some mileage, and although she enjoyed the machine, nothing quite beat the feeling of going for longer kilometres outside in the fresh air.
“Back in those days when I was in my early 20s there was no nutrition to follow, or watches, or any of that technology, so I’d also just get out the door and run around my small town for about three or four hours,” she says.
“Later on, I’d get in my car and drive the same route I’d just taken running to see how far I’d gone on the speedometer.
“I did that every Sunday, and then periodically throughout the week, and after doing that for about five years, I had three kids all in a row – three within three years, and I raised them solely on my own.”
Black took hiatus from the road, only able to hit the treadmill back at the gym when she put the kids into creche. Finding a balance between work, raising children, taking care of the household, having a social life and finding time to run proved all very hard, but as the youngsters reached school ate, Black fought her way back to the outdoors.
“After having my fourth child with my newfound partner, it was hard finding that time, of course, but whenever I ran, I always aimed to go for a long one,” she says.
“When my youngest was two, so in about 2012, someone suggested I do a half marathon.”
Black took that advice and registered for the Gold Coast Half Marathon.
Needless to say, she’d caught the bug.
“I just wanted to keep going further and further and further,” Black recalls.
“In 2013 I did the Gold Coast Half, Brisbane Half, and Sunshine Coast Half back-to-back, but again, I found myself wanting more.
“It was a natural progression for me to move on to my first marathon – the 2014 Gold Coast Marathon.”
The saying, ‘I just wanted to keep going’ has proven to be a bit of a mantra for the Queenslander, who thought it yet again as she crossed that marathon finish line.
“It wasn’t a matter of feeling amazingly fresh at the end of the distance; I mean, I didn’t but I still ran the race,” she says.
“It was more like I’d smashed it, and I wanted more.
“So at the end of 2015 in the middle of summer I did the Gold Coast 50km, and finished in a time of 4:25:33. Despite the heat, it’s a beautiful run, because you’re hugging the foreshore from Broadbeach all the way to Coolangatta, and I placed third!
“Being prone to injuries in the lead up, I was just happy to make it to the start line, so getting a podium finish was completely unexpected.
“I remember stopping at the last aid station and taking my time because hey, I have no concept of time when I’m running, and I simply wanted to have 50km on my legs.”
When Black crossed the finish line of the race, she was told by a friend she’d gotten a podium finish, but she didn’t believe the good news and went straight home.
The following year, she chased the Gold Coast 100km, but the fact it was a National Championship race didn’t phase her at all, and it was certainly not on her mind to use it as a qualifying event. All Black wanted was to have her legs carry her to 100kms.
And they did. She finished sixth female with an astonishing time of 9:54:44, but it wasn’t without some mistakes.
“I made every rookie error you could think of; I remember at the 37km mark, I took in too much tailwind and was vomiting, but I wanted to keep going!” she recalls.
“I train for the love of the training, so I did the race again in 2017, and then my qualifying race for the 100k World Team was the 2017 Ned Kelly Chase 100k (October) whereby I got second female behind fellow team member Tash Fraser with a time of 9:01:29.
“I was elated! My legs were fine after pacing duties at the Gold Coast Marathon of that year in June, and I had some hiccups in the Ned Kelly – I stacked it and fractured some fingers, and I almost get lost if it wasn’t for another runner.”
For Black, her training in the lead up to Croatia this September will be about looking at her past and fine tuning her physical abilities as well as nutrition.
“I can’t really add on a lot in the short space of time we’ve got because there’s nothing new to add,” she explains.
“At the moment, my mileage varies, but a typical week for me is about 120kms to 140kms.
“You have no idea how excited I am to meet everyone on the team!
“They are all so talented, and we will all bring out own unique strengths to the team; these are the people I follow and these are the people I’m interested in getting to know.
“Being so like-minded, I’m very excited to meet both the men and the women.”
Her message to others is compelling and to the point.
“I started off just running around the block, and I’m a middle-aged mum with four kids that works full time, so if you’re determined and you have perseverance, anything is achievable if you want it,” she says.
Pictured (feature): Corrina Black, right, at the 2017 Ned Kelly Chase 100k. Photograph – Supplied.
