Madeline Heiner describes 2020 as a "pretty terrible year".
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Truthfully, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who disagrees with her evaluation.
From deadly bushfires and severe storms to a global pandemic, it's been a year like no other.
For Heiner, the pandemic has seen her carefully-laid plans for the Tokyo Olympics thrown out the window, the Games another victim of coronavirus.
A marriage breakdown and Victoria's surge in cases have only added to the challenges for the Melbourne resident.
That second wave has seen a quick one-week visit to Wollongong turn into six weeks and counting, with no prospect of returning to her new home anytime soon.
Despite all the challenges, Heiner is able to maintain a sense of perspective.
Unlike the swimmers who were forced out of the pool or other athletes who had competitions cancelled, runners can still run.
This, she recognises, has helped her get through what has been a tumultuous year. That, and her pug Pickles.
"Running and Pickles were the two things that got me through," Heiner said. "Running has absolutely been my medicine.
"I think when everything happened, I used it as the constant. The one achievable thing in the day.
"Honestly, I have just loved it more than I could have comprehended and I think that's the best thing to come from coronavirus and everything this year."
With the Olympics delayed by a year, Heiner took stock of her athletics career and where she wanted her life to go in the coming years.
It didn't take long for her to realise she wanted running to be a big part of it.
"With the delay of the Olympics, I asked myself, 'do I still want to run?' It was such an easy answer and even now having a niggle, it's probably the first time I've been injured where I haven't questioned if it's worth it.
"There's no question at the end of this I want to run again. Maybe it'll be good enough to be in Tokyo, maybe it won't. It doesn't really matter, I still want to do it and try."
While Heiner has a love of running, an appreciation that has only grown in recent months, it has not always been that way for the 33-year-old.
A junior star that won gold at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2004, she stopped running completely just two years later.
As it so often does, running lured her back, before she burst on to the scene with an impressive performance at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
A trip to Rio followed in 2016, where Heiner again impressed, this time while running on an injured foot.
Niggles followed the pharmacist for the next few years, a love-hate relationship with the sport becoming more hate than love.
In a tricky mental state and unable to run without pain, Heiner had settled on a retirement date.
'Get to Tokyo, and I'll never have to run again,' she told herself.
That all changed in early 2019, Heiner realising something had to change if she was to even make it that far.
So she travelled to Finland for double hamstring surgery last March.
The procedure achieved its primary goal, allowing Heiner to continue her elite career, but it also brought unanticipated benefits.
The biggest being a renewed love for running.
"I remember just having thoughts before the surgery, 'just get yourself there (Tokyo) and you never have to run again'.
"Now, my thoughts couldn't be further from that. I love running, I want to be one of the 80 year olds running around the Kembla Joggers cross country course."
Finally Heiner can appreciate what so many Australians love about her sport.
Running isn't just a way to keep fit. It's a release, an opportunity to tune out and forget about life, a chance to link up with and interact with like-minded people.
It's something she sees in the recreational runners she coaches, but never personally appreciated prior to the surgery.
So focused was Heiner on achieving elite success and so driven to push through the pain, every run and every session was about building towards the end goal, no matter the physical or mental cost.
"The runners I coach are recreational runners, but they get the same joy out of running a PB or doing a training session they didn't think they could do.
"That gave me the realisation of what running is.
"My time in the sport in the last six years has been so elite, and I didn't really have the years to build towards that because I came back to the sport and was there straight away.
"That was great, but it also meant I forgot how good the community side of it is."
It's a spirit Heiner has also seen throughout her time back in Wollongong, with Kembla Joggers boasting the same culture that welcomed her in as a teenager.
"The last two years with the surgery and then this year having the opportunity to enjoy running without any short term goals, it's been nice to see how big a part Kembla Joggers actually played in my development.
"Sometimes we forget about the little steps along the way, so it was nice to go out there and see the community vibe of the club.
"It was great seeing the kids and doing a few training sessions with them and the older guys who have known me forever. I feel like I'm giving back a little bit to the club that gave me so much."
While the surgery brought about a change in mindset, the past year has also led to Heiner reassessing every aspect of her life.
Rejuvenated by the end of an unhealthy marriage, and with the Olympics delayed by a year, Heiner had the freedom to think deeply and clearly about her future.
The proud refugee advocate has continued her efforts to raise funds for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. The coronavirus has also reinvigorated her passion for health, with Heiner eager to further utilise her Masters of International Public Health.
And with a renewed love for athletics, Heiner has an open mind about where her career may end up.
It's unlikely she will make it to Paris in 2024, with the 2022 Commonwealth Games a more realistic proposition. But more than anything, the long-distance runner is now driven by personal goals.
At the top of the list is a desire to break the magic 15 minute 5000m barrier. It's a milestone just two Australian women have achieved, with fellow Wollongong talent Jessica Hull missing out by the barest of margins a year ago when she ran a time of 15:00.32.
With a current personal best of 15:04.05, Heiner recognises it won't be easy, but it's a goal she's eager to spend the next few years chasing.
And if she doesn't get there, at least she'll have fun trying.
"The biggest thing with Tokyo, is it going to happen, it is not going to happen, it doesn't actually change a lot for me.
"My goals in running, I'd love to run a PB. I'd love to run under 15 minutes.
"If the Olympics happen or they don't, that doesn't stop me being able to achieve that. I just want to take whatever opportunities that come and I have no idea if they're going to be overseas races, or an Olympics or just a race here."
With personal goals set, Heiner isn't putting an end date on her career, free in the knowledge that she'll know when the time is right.
"I don't have any idea of when I'm going to finish. I think life will just happen now, but it's nice to feel like those decisions are mine."