Giving up the booze has proved to be "life-changing" for Helensburgh mother-of-three Jennifer White.
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On Sunday the 40-year-old will head to Taipei in Taiwan to represent Australia at the 24-Hour Track Running World Championships.
Six women and six men will compete for the Australian team individual honours.
White booked her spot in the Australian team after finishing fifth in the Southern Sydney 4824 Ultra in Campbelltown.
White ran 208.6 kilometres in 24 hours - the furthest she has ever ran - and in the process the British-born athlete earned the right to represent her adopted country at the world championships on December 1.
Though White told the Australian Community Media this "proud achievement" wouldn't have been possible had she not given up drinking for good in 2019.
"I think I had a problem with drinking and I binge drunk, which was probably quite the standard of lots of women born in the 80s," she said.
"I probably spent a bit too much time in the pub in my 20s and then when I had kids, found it really hard to balance, you know, having a wine with having kids and realised that it wasn't possible being a mum for me.
"So I decided just to take the option away altogether and that's been the best decision I've ever made. I'd say it has been life-changing.
"I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now and I definitely wouldn't be representing Australia at a world championships.
White has had a love of running since her teenage years.
"I have run all my life for mental health and fitness and that kind of thing, probably from a young teen.
"Now I have three kids and I feel like it's essential to get some downtime and I use running for that because it's like just get out of the house and put my headphones on and just go.
"I think that's given me consistency. I run six days a week. I use it as my sort of meditation. I've also had more energy to run since I quit drinking in 2019."
White also loves competing but as a busy working mum she has to juggle a lot of things to train for events such as the 24-Hour world championships.
Having not run "too many" 24-hour marathons in the past, White hasn't set herself any unrealistic goals in Taipei.
"I'm in better form than I was last time. I had an injury leading up to the Southern Sydney 4824 Ultra in Campbelltown," she said.
"I'd love to get a PB, but if I did the same thing again, I'd be really happy.
"It's kind of hard to experiment in these things because obviously you can only do like a couple of them a year because your body goes through it a little bit.
"A PB would be awesome. Anything over that would be epic. But really I'd be happy with anything over 200kms and just to kind of represent the team and get a good score in for them."
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
