A persistent foot injury put Zvejzdana Culum out of action for a long time.
At some point the woman from Weilheim had enough - and tried running.
She had an amazing experience doing it.
Weilheim - the inner bastard, he has to be outwitted.
And Zvjezdana Culum has developed its own recipe.
When the 47-year-old started running, she had the idea to put her sports clothes and shoes down before going to bed so that she couldn't help but put them on in the morning.
“So the question never arises whether you should go running,” says the woman from Weilheim with a smile.
Running is now all by itself, four times a week Culum sets out to do a lap.
For them, the activity is a liberation - also and especially in times of Corona.
Zvjezdana Culum has always had an urge to move.
At the age of twelve, the Bosnian discovered basketball, played for the top club Tuzla and in the youth national team.
The Balkan War was responsible for making Germany a new home for her and her future husband Goran Culum.
The culums are known in the basketball scene in the area.
The three children (Enya, Arian and Damian) are also successful as players.
Zvejzdana Culum played basketball at a high level
For all her sportiness, Zvjezdana Culum would probably not have discovered regular running for herself had it not been for this injury in October 2019.
While playing catch with the girl group entrusted to her - Culum works in the open all-day school of the Hardt School as a supervisor - she unhappily twisted her left foot.
“That something like this would happen to me of all people.
I was ashamed, ”she says looking back.
Nobody is immune from such bad luck.
The following suffering tour, which lasted several months, was a real, above all psychological, burden for the woman from Weilheim. At first it took a long time until it became clear what all the ligaments and tendons were affected.
Then the healing dragged on.
When she got the news that she would have to wear the special shoe she had been given a few more weeks, it was enough for her.
"I thought to myself: All the energy has to go."
Culum started doing pushups.
At the end of January, she also took off her special shoe and went running.
"I started to run slowly one to two kilometers twice a week," she reports.
That was especially good for her mentally.
“In March my head was clear.” The foot went along with everything without any problems.
It has not caused her any more problems since then, even if one area is still hardened.
The first corona lockdown at the end of March did not slow down Culum's vigor - on the contrary.
“That's when I started to run properly.” Through the movement “I totally freed myself and gained strength,” she says and sounds completely satisfied.
"I've gotten mentally stronger."
Zvejzdana Culum increased her running quota steadily
Running and training can become a real science.
Culum has also read a lot about it, she says.
At Christmas she got a book by the former top German athlete Sabrina Mockenhaupt.
For herself, however, she decided: “I don't want to worry too much about it.” According to her, two things are particularly important: very good running shoes and good sportswear that keep muscles warm and fit well.
Appropriate clothing “also looks good,” says Culum.
Something like that could be an additional motivation.
The saying “Look good, feel good, play good” (freely translated for hobby runners: who looks good, feels good and also prefers to exercise) is not entirely out of thin air.
Culum prefers to run in the morning, it usually starts between seven and seven thirty.
The woman from Weilheim is also not afraid of freezing temperatures.
Then “you start the day completely differently”.
A special feature: Culum always runs with music, i.e. with headphones in the ear.
Your preferred routes lead around the Dietlhofer See and along the Ammer.
“I always have to see water,” she says with a smile.
But the path also leads over the Gögerl.
There is "a lot to see" around the district town.
The routes are between eight and ten kilometers long.
She only measured it "so that I know how long I actually run".
Culum does without a (heart rate) watch.
She runs for herself and does not want to stress herself with "running a distance in a certain time".
So feel good instead of performance control.
Change in diet "happened automatically"
In parallel to running, Culum's diet changed.
“It happened automatically,” she says.
Walking with a heavy stomach is not pleasant.
Oatmeal, fish, nuts and quark are now increasingly on the menu.
Every now and then there are additional proteins.
According to Culum, he “lost 20 kilos within a year”.
Regarding her previous eating habits, she says with a meaningful smile: “I just come from the former Yugoslavia.
There must always be plenty of food. "
The 47-year-old got many words of praise from her circle of friends and acquaintances for running and moving so consistently. At the same time, however, she has also found that it is difficult for many to dare to start. Culum has no magic formula. You just have to decide: "Yes, I'll do that." In her experience, the first successes come quickly: "After two weeks you're already there."