Steve Aberline smashes his breaks monthly running distance record

The 30-year-old spontaneously decided to run 500 kilometres in one month after starting October with the original goal of completing 300.

"My best month previously was 240 in the four marathon preparations I have done," he said.

"I had been doing a lot in the winter but thought it was best to have a little goal for this month and 300 was a good effort, which is still a lot more than I have ever done."

Once the Allansford-Panmure Cricket Club president started running the goal soon changed.

"It started on my first run to Panmure, which was a half-marathon, and I wanted to see if I could build up some good kilometres at the start of month and finish early," he said.

"By about day 13 or 14 I had run 200ks and I was like 'this is going well' and I could finish this as soon as I can.

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"Then I heard about a few people who had done 400 in a month and I thought I'd keep that up my sleeve and if I run out of gas I run out.

"Then I started to be track on for 500 and had a bit of a look at my numbers, planned how to try and get there and I did.

"I was very surprised as it was more than double what I have ever done. It just snowballed from the first day."

Aberline did most of the running by himself, only having one day off from October 1 to 29 and encountered a number of challenges along the way.

"The last week I really got overwhelmed with it because obviously things like work and the cricket club get in the way as well," he said.

"I was juggling those things and it was probably a bit of effort to get up early to get kilometres done before work or use my lunch breaks as there wasn't a lot of spare time.

"The other challenge was my body and there was countless things going wrong.

"One of the big lessons I learnt was obviously you can be quite sore but if you get into the first kilometre it actually loosens up and it is easier to get through it after the initial part of the run.

"But there was plenty of body issues for sure."

The ANZ small business specialist said support from friends and family had spurred him.

"When I started with 300 and the goal kept raising as I went along there was a couple of times I used Strava and Benny Wallis and a few others encouraged me to keep going," he said.

"They shared it with a few other people and kept the interest in me to keep it going.

"The funniest thing was to go on this far I probably won't do it again. But I would have hated to get to 450 and sit there the next month wondering if I could have done the extra 50."

Aberline hopes others are inspired by he and fellow Warrnambool Athletics Club member Ben Wallis, who completed 500 kilometres in October to raise money for Warrnambool and District Food Share.

"I hope other people have seen what Ben and I ended up doing and that encourages them to have a go at running," he said.

"I have always found it therapeutic. I would encourage other people to run as I am as average as any runner in town.

"I'm not a marathon runner just an average runner but anyone can do it if they have a good crack."

Aberline's last run was a 12.51 kilometres and since completing it he has had time to recover and reflect.

"It was a good experience. I found it amazing that I could get that far and achieve that because I was so sore from day two or three," he said.

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"The other good thing was my last run was also one of the quickest for the month.

"I feel like it was a good thing to complete it like that. I was very tired at that stage but my body was still strong enough to run quicker so I'll take a lot out of it.

"(My wife) Chelsea said I'm much skinnier than before so I did something right."

Now its time for Aberline to pick up some new kicks.

"I have been told to get new runners because I ran in some old runners the whole month as they were used in my last marathon a year and half ago," he says with a laugh.

"It was diabolical. They had nothing left in them. I will be buying some new runners after a few extra comments."

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