Mental Health Miles: How Nike Athletes See Running As Therapy

• Melbourne’s Jack Rayner wins the Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival, proving running’s impact on both physical and mental health.
• 50,000 runners filled the streets, turning the city into a moving meditation of community and resilience.
• Nike continues to champion running as therapy, designing shoes that improve our form and keep us on the track.

For some, a mental health walk could look like an early morning stroll along the beach, slipping out to the Bondi coastal walk. Maybe grabbing a coffee. Walking the dog. For others, it’s getting together with friends and catching up on the week.

For me, running has become the single greatest thing I can do to look after both body and mind. It’s the best of both worlds: a pseudo-therapy session that helps decompress after a long day and doubles up as moving meditation. Except this meditation doesn’t need incense or an incessant humming to work its magic.

It just asks for commitment and a good pair of Nike shoes. Something Jack Rayner, Melbourne-born marathon winner, Tokyo Olympian and Nike Athlete, understands better than most.

“Running has had an incredible impact on allowing me to have a free and open headspace. For me it’s a form of meditation, a daily ritual that I can rely on,” Rayner told DMARGE.

Even after feeling under the weather the day before this year’s Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival, Rayner crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 15 minutes, and 2 seconds… just shy of the fastest recorded marathon time in Australia.

Despite not feeling 100%, he said he wouldn’t have missed it for the world. On Melbourne’s streets, this race is home. Every kilometre is part of the ritual he looks forward to each year.

“I couldn’t imagine a world where running doesn’t belong.”

Jack Rayner, Nike Athlete

“Anyone who experienced the Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival, either as a participant or spectator, would have seen first-hand the positive impact running is having on the community,” Rayner said. “Even if race goals didn’t go as planned, there’s always positives to take away from every run.”

This year saw a record-breaking 50,000 runners hit the road, tracing their way from the tree-lined stretches of St Kilda Road through the Botanic Gardens, past the spectacular scenery along Melbourne’s Yarra, and into one of the most iconic stadiums in the country, the MCG.

I have to be honest, the FOMO was real: I had to pull out this year after picking up an injury in Sydney, calling it off last minute after I couldn’t recover in time.

But there was something about seeing the swell of support from the crowds and the runners’ energy out there on the course that reinforced what running’s about for me. It’s the community and the shared passion, from Olympians to first-timers, that makes running such an inclusive sport. As trends go, I’m hoping this is one has a longer shelf life.

“Running in a group is a great way to stay social and build a core group of friends you can train with,” Rayner continued.

“If you’re having an off day, being surrounded by other keen runners is a perfect way to boost motivation and stay on track with your goals.”

Running may start as a solitary act, but with each session, each post-run club coffee, each recovery split, it becomes something bigger.

It’s like a collective form of therapy that unites all the participant through movement. Why else would there be thousands of runners lacing up before the sunshine each morning? It’s not always the free pastries at the end of it.

And with Nike’s commitment to Australia’s running community, delivering shoes that fit, not just the run, but the mindset of responsive cushioning, maximum cushioning, and supportive cushioning, the idea of “mental health miles” feels more real than ever. Because as Kipchoge said, “Marathon is life. And life is full of challenges.” And these days, Nike continues to be there every step of the way.