When Kelly — mental skills and human performance coach and co-owner of Second Wind Run Club — reached out to us for a Fenix headtorch to power her latest running challenge, we didn’t think twice. Stepping up from her longest run of 33 km to over 100 km in just 24 hours, she’s pushing het limits in a huge way. Even more inspiring, she’s doing it to support Youth in Transition, a New Zealand charity dedicated to helping young people navigate mental health challenges.
Having faced her own share of challenges, Kelly is now determined to help youth and adults navigate whatever life throws their way. By offering the right mental and physical tools and leading from the front she lights the way toward brighter days. Kelly’s journey is one of resilience, courage, and heart — qualities that shine through both in her work and on the trails. Ahead of the big day, she opens up about her story, her motivation, and the message she hopes to share with others.
Can you introduce yourself and share a little about your journey into (endurance) sports?
I’m 42 years young, a mum of three — who will always be my babies — a partner to my beautiful man, and mum to two fur balls. At my core, I’m a mental skills and human performance coach. I work with the whole person — mind, body, soul, and lifestyle — to uncover what’s really holding them back from achieving their personal or professional goals.
With over 20 years of experience across personal training, strength and conditioning, holistic health coaching, nutrition, high performance, and mental wellbeing — combined with my own lived experience navigating mental health — I now coach from the mind out. Because I know this: if your mind isn’t working for you, no amount of training plans, nutrition strategies, or business systems will get you where you want to go.
"Sport has been a constant in my life — from competing at a high-performance level when I was younger to now taking on challenges on a deeply personal level."
My endurance journey truly began in my 40s because I craved the mental challenge. Endurance running allows me to pressure-test the very tools I coach, like regulating the nervous system, reframing limiting beliefs, and building resilience when things get hard. It’s one thing to teach these skills — applying these tools in my own journey allows me to coach others with authenticity, showing that no matter where you start, you can strengthen your mind and achieve more than you ever believed possible.
What motivated you to tackle the Blue Lake 24-Hour Challenge and aim for over 100 km, given your previous longest run was 33 km?
I don’t do anything by halves. It would have made sense to first do a marathon or even 50km, but I wanted to really test my tools as I found I was getting comfortable. This represents “doing hard things” and shows that if there is no pain, there’s no gain! And when I talk about pain, I’m talking about the pain we experience before growth — whether in sport, business, career, relationships, or finances. Where there is growth, there has been pain!
Youth mental health is clearly a cause close to your heart. Could you share why supporting Youth in Transition is so meaningful to you?
Most importantly, because of the personal struggles I went through as a kid, teen, young adult, and even when I first became a mum. I wish I had the tools that YIT and we at Second Wind teach. If we can give young people these tools so they can feel better within themselves, then that is a life saved from years of feeling trapped inside their own heads.
Youth in Transition relies on donations to keep doing their incredible work. You can help Kelly support this meaningful cause by giving a little as every contribution makes a difference.
How do you hope this 24-hour challenge will spark conversation or awareness around mental health?
Running for 24 hours is my way of showing that mental health challenges are real, tough, and require attention and resilience — just like what I am about to put myself through. I haven’t struggled with my mental health for so long now that I felt I was getting comfortable, and doing hard things like this allows me to really put the tools to practice and talk about them as I go — the good, the bad, and the ugly — which I have shared along the way, mainly through my Instagram account (@kellyisforeveryoung).
"I never wanted this challenge to just spark awareness and conversation around mental health; there is enough of that out there. I wanted it to be more of a lesson on what we can learn from our struggles. What do our struggles highlight in us that needs attention?"
Preparing for such a significant increase in distance must be intense. How are you approaching it physically and mentally?
I put together a training programme using my strength and conditioning experience. I’ve been strength training 3–4 times per week, focusing on maintaining muscle mass and preventing injuries. I then programmed my run training, keeping most runs around Zone 2 for recovery, with a longer run and interval session each week.
I’ve put a big focus on recovery during this period with healthy sleep habits, foam rolling, stretching, breathwork, visualisation, journaling, ice baths, and more. I live a very full life with three active kids, building a brand and business, juggling time for my relationship — which is truly important — and fitting in all the training. Trying to fit it all in has been the juggle, which is why recovery is key to keeping the nervous system regulated.
As a mental skills and human performance coach, which mental tools are you personally leaning on during your training and preparation?
The biggest tools I apply in my own training are recovery and nervous system regulation. When we push our bodies with heavy training loads, the nervous system can easily get stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn states. If that isn’t addressed, it impacts performance, recovery, and even decision-making. By deliberately down-regulating through breathwork, mindfulness, and recovery practices, I help my body and mind adapt quickly and stay resilient.
I also work closely on the mindset piece. Like many people, I carried limiting beliefs for years — fear of failure, fear of judgment, and not feeling good enough. Those beliefs were learned behaviours from my younger years and drove unhealthy coping mechanisms that reinforced self-doubt. What I’ve learned, and now teach, is that we can rewire those beliefs.
"Challenges like this 24-hour run inevitably bring doubts back to the surface, but I now have the tools to catch them, reframe them, and reaffirm healthy self-belief, even — and especially — through the challenging times in life."
That’s why I say mental skills are your secret weapon in life. They don’t just help you survive hard things — they help you grow through them. And the same tools I use personally are the ones I coach others to master, so they can unlock self-belief, resilience, and high performance in their own lives.
You co-own Second Wind Run Club. How has your running community influenced your journey?
I love our run community #justfitnessnojudgement! To be honest, I’m normally always at the back of the pack — they are just such strong, inspirational humans from all walks of life! All ages and stages of running, but man, they are Dawgs… Rain, hail, or shine, they are committed to the community. And we have loads of laughs with coffee afterwards! Anyone and everyone are welcome. They have been a massive support.
How has your challenge and fundraising been received by the community so far?
Really supportive! I think we all know there is a problem with the mental wellbeing of many of our rangatahi and even adults, with the increase of challenges in life — pressure from social media, more challenging economic environments, more noise on what is right, wrong, healthy, or not. I really feel for anyone struggling. What we can do as adults is lead by example.
"I get loads of parents bringing me their youth to coach, but I feel the parents need the tools as well. If we can learn to regulate more, be more present, and truly love without conditions, the body and brain respond so much better."
Beyond the Blue Lake Challenge, what is your bigger mission with running, coaching, and supporting youth?
To keep leading by example, sharing my story, teaching the tools, and creating as much disruption as possible so there can be change. Yeah, there are definitely more challenges on the horizon!
If a young person struggling with self-belief were reading this, what is the most important takeaway from your journey?
Self-belief is built by keeping the promises you make to yourself.
Every time you say you’ll do something — whether it’s going for that run, finishing a piece of work, or even just getting out of bed when you said you would — and you follow through, you strengthen trust in yourself. That trust becomes confidence to help you do it again, and again. It’s not about being perfect; it’s not about waiting for the right moment; it’s about proving to yourself, step by step, that you can rely on yourself. That’s how real self-belief is built.
On the 27th of September, Kelly’s Blue Lake 24-Hour Challenge will set off. We wish this powerhouse a smooth journey, and we’ll share her experience and final thoughts on the challenge here with you.
Follow Kelly on Instagram @kellyisforeveryoung