'I didn't know how many mums were doing this until I started. Now it's all I talk about.'

If you want to support independent women's media, become a Mamamia subscriber. Get an all-access pass to everything we make, including exclusive podcasts, articles, videos and our exercise app, MOVE.

I started for my own reasons, but once I did, I felt like I'd discovered a whole new world that had been quietly running alongside my own the entire time.

A place with early mornings, blocked-out weekends, and an unexpected number of people there I already knew.

The extra apps were downloaded. Side group chats appeared. I found myself having conversations about goals and half-marathons with an intensity usually reserved for newborn sleep schedules.

I'd found myself in the world of running, and it turned out, so had a lot of other mums just like me. Mums who would never have described themselves as sporty, whose biggest athletic achievement was wing defence in a local mixed netball comp circa 2009.

These mums were not just running, but racing.

Watch: Dr. Maryam talks postpartum recovery. Post continues below.

I joined my local BFT in February 2025, not for a better body (I'm over 30, and I've accepted this rig is largely set in stone), but for my mental health.

Like so many women, becoming a mum had quietly eroded my sense of self. I wasn't trying to find my pre-baby identity again, but I was looking for someone who belonged to me, not just my kids.

What I didn't expect was how quickly that one hour of training each day would change things. I wasn't tired all the time anymore. I had energy. Drive. A reason to leave the house that wasn't attached to anyone else's needs. I felt so good, I decided to sign up to HYROX, despite having never run more than three kilometres in my life.

HYROX involves at least eight kilometres of running broken up by individual exercise workouts. (Yes, I paid money to do that.) So not only did I need to increase my overall fitness and strength immeasurably to compete, I also had to become a 'runner.'

Once I was in this world, it became obvious why so many other mums were there too. Modern motherhood is defined by invisible labour: planning, remembering, anticipating. Even hobbies come with admin. Want to meet friends? You'll need to organise a babysitter, watch the clock, field texts about when you'll be home, then return to a house that still needs managing. Add 'mum guilt' on top of that, simply for doing something for yourself, and it's no wonder so many of us end up doing nothing at all.

Nicole Sherwin competing in Hyrox and training. Image: Supplied.

Speaking with other mums who are part of this millennial fitness world, we agreed that training defies these conventions. It gives us something rare in early motherhood: a goal that has a clear start and finish, involves no children, and requires no emotional labour.

There's no hosting, no organising, no coordinating. You turn up, you move your body, you leave. Even better, you get to talk about something that isn't your kids! I adore mine, but I also love having something that represents a part of me that's entirely my own.

Because it's framed as health, it feels approved. You don't have to downplay it or apologise for it. You're doing it for yourself, but as a result, you have more energy, patience and capacity for everyone else.

That reframing removes the guilt and explains why mums aren't hiding this one. Talking about training doesn't feel indulgent. It feels responsible.

And we are talking about it, because okay, maybe we also feel a little bit smug. That part makes sense though.

Psychologist Dr Edwin Locke famously showed that specific goals increase persistence and motivation. In a season of life dominated by everyone else's needs, reclaiming even a small sense of visible progress that's yours can feel deeply satisfying.

There's also the community factor. Events like parkrun and amateur-level HYROX aren't competitive in the traditional sense. They're communal. Being a mum can be isolating, but at these events you're surrounded by like-minded people. Social connection layered onto movement is a powerful motivator, and data shows women are increasingly drawn to group-based exercise for this reason, something highlighted in Strava's 2024 Year in Sport report.

This isn't anecdotal. What feels like a hidden world reflects a broader behavioural shift.

Parkrun now operates in more than 2,000 locations across 23 countries, with over 500 events in Australia alone. Millions of people turn up each weekend to walk, jog or run together. Meanwhile, the report also showed run club participation has increased by 59 per cent globally, with women driving much of that growth.

Even newer formats like HYROX have exploded, growing from niche competitions into mass-participation events with hundreds of thousands of competitors worldwide.

I still resent calling a 10km run "fun", and I will happily tell anyone who'll listen that HYROX was the hardest thing I've ever done, outside of labouring without an epidural.

But the reason nearly every mum I know is talking about this isn't because our bodies are reverting to their 25-year-old form (they're not). It's because this is one of the few spaces in modern motherhood where we're allowed to prioritise ourselves without guilt.

And once you find that kind of permission, you tend to tell everyone you love.

Feature image: Supplied.