Ms Johns now takes the stairs at almost every opportunity – in her home, at the racecourse, at work and at the local sports oval.

She is one of just two people from the region who has committed to the inaugural Stadium Stomp SCG, a unique fitness challenge that takes stair climbing and endurance to a whole new level.

Held at the SCG and Allianz Stadium on July 27, it presents the physical and mental challenge of a 4750-step course.

“I go to Peak Fitness in Gunnedah with a great group of girls and they’re always going away doing spartan races, or a mud run in Dubbo, or the Suck It Up Buttercup challenge in Tamworth, but I can’t get them excited about the Stadium Stomp,” Ms Johns said.

“I just think it would be very exciting to go around that venue. It’s a one-off opportunity, which makes it that much more unusual.”

As the busy mum of four-year-old Jimmy and six-year-old Lily, it’s not always easy to get away to the gym – but having stairs in her home has sorted out that problem.

“I can train anywhere,” she said.

“I think part of the appeal is actually running in that setting. The course itself is a full lap of the SCG, then all the way around one side, up and down the stairs, then you run across the road to Allianz Stadium and back to the SCG.

“I think the atmosphere will be fantastic, with music pumping the whole way and people at the end of it doing massages, for those of us who can still walk to the massage table.”

Ms Johns, whose partner of 10 years, Richard Grant, is the local soccer coach, said while he’s very into sport, he’s not keen to join her in the Stadium Stomp.

“He thinks I’m mad, running up and down stairs for hours,” she said.

“I’m not mad. I’m not having a midlife crisis. I’m just very keen to complete this challenge.”

Ms Johns has put out the call to fellow fitness fans in the region to join her and Pamela de Groot in the stair-climbing challenge. 

If you’d like to climb a stair or 4750, give her a call on 0427 858 990.