Beyond The Medal do just that for runners, triathletes and active people in general by creating jewellery and gifts to reward and inspire.
With their first birthday coming up in July, Beyond The Medal are the Brisbane-based company created by Ann-Marie Johansen. “I took up running in 2012 and went from struggling to run a km to running my first full marathon 2 years later,” Ann-Marie says. “I called myself a closet runner as I was too embarrassed to run or exercise in public until I was a real runner (what is a real runner?).”
A living exampled of 'if I can do it, anyone can do it', Ann-Marie claims she's not the fastest, or the most elegant, but she enjoys running and that's enough. “The idea to start Beyond The Medal came to me in 2013 when I ran my first half marathon in Noosa, Queensland and there wasn't even a medal. What, no medal?...I had trained hard for this!“My best friend was sick of my whinging about it, so got me one, and I wore it all weekend.”
Goals and achievements deserve recognition and reward. “Yes, you have the wonderful memories, but wouldn't it be great to have something you could keep and wear with pride.“When I started to talk to people at running and triathlon festivals I realised that others felt the same. People also said that jewellery like this would also motivate them whilst they were training.”
Ann-Marie has had customer tell her: “I hold my necklace before the gun goes off at each race for good luck”; “When I’m out on a long run and feeling really tired I look down at my shoe bling and it gives me the motivation to go a few more kms” and “I put my bracelet on the bedside table next to my alarm clock, and when the alarm goes off there’s my motivation to not hit the snooze button and just get out there.“It may only take an hour to run 10km, 2 hours to run a half or 4 hours to run a marathon (if you are lucky), but to reward yourself with a piece of jewellery is recognising so much more,” Ann-Marie says. “It's acknowledging the months and months of early morning runs, early nights to bed, juggling career, family and friends whilst training and managing, the dare I say it, injuries that may happen.
“When I see someone crossing a finish line at any event, there's always emotion on their face, tears of joy, tears that it's come to an end, that another goal has been ticked off. That medal that people receive around their neck is not just for the time that it took to complete the event, it’s also about the journey to get there.“Beyond The Medal gives people the opportunity to keep this memory alive and have a special piece of jewellery, that can be worn with or not with active wear to remind people of what they have been able to achiever or the motivation to drive them to achieve.”
Recently launching the Beyond The Medal Ambassador Program, Ann-Marie has selected 10 fabulous females from around Australia to share their story and spread the word on being active. “They are not elite athletes just everyday women with everyday lives but are making the time to be active and are truly inspirational… knowing that this helps them in all aspects of their life.”So go Beyond The Medal next time you achieve your goals.
