On her dry-and-dusty sheep farm in Jindabyne, Jodie Dobbie, runs with her dogs alongside her, it's just something she has to do.
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Too dangerous to run around the farm with headphones, she runs silently to clear her head.
When Ms Dobbie started running she made it to three kilometres, then five kilometres and said when she got to 10 kilometers she knew she had to go further.
She's now completed four half marathons and on Saturday will complete her fourth Canberra Fun Run.
"When I finish a running event I feel a mixture of relief, exhaustion and elation," she said.
She said she took up marathons after realising she wasn't fast enough for sprints but she had good endurance.
Ms Dobbie has picked-up running many times in her life, but said it was her husband's battle with cancer that made her fully appreciate the benefits for her physical and mental health.
"When I'm running, I don't have to think about anything," she said.
After her husband's death in 2014 she ran a half-marathon in Queenstown, New Zealand, she said it helped her deal with the grief.
Two years later, Jodie's life hit a happier note when her new partner Doug moved in with her.
On her birthday in March of 2016 their new life together was disrupted when Ms Dobbie was diagnosed with breast cancer,.
Ms Dobbie said the chemotherapy was all-consuming, she had to give up work and she definitely couldn't run.
"The doctor told me to right-off the next twelve months and I thought yeah right whatever, but he was right, I couldn't do anything," she said.
Ms Dobbie is now a survivor, she's back on the job as an accountant in Cooma, where she does high intensity training, pilates and takes regular walks with her friends.
She says it was the support and encouragement of close friends that helped her revive her passion for running.
When she was well enough to run again, she said it was hard and initially she struggled.
"It was in my head that I couldn't run as fast as I used to," Ms Dobbie said.
But after a couple of unsuccessful efforts to make it back into Canberra's fun run Ms Dobbie is doing it on Saturday.
"I had a few goes at it, I started, but life got in the way," she said.
She said she wants to encourage other people to take up running and to keep going even when it is hard because it has been so good for her.
"When you are fit and running well, it's an adrenaline rush, you just love the feeling."
- The Canberra Times fun run is on Sunday November 10. Entries are still open for the three events: 10km (7.50am start at Rond Terrace), 2km (8.10am at Rond Terrace), and 5km (9.30am at King George Terrace).
