Milly Clark, 27, says she hopes to inspire people to reach their goals.

Now, Tasmanian Milly Clark is one of our best hopes for the Rio Olympics.

“I’ve always run, since I was about four,” the elite marathon runner told news.com.au. “The long distance thing is fairly new. I moved to Sydney five years ago and kept increasing the distance and found myself getting better.”

Having reached the longest distance you can run at Olympic level, the 27-year-old from Launceston is preparing herself for the world’s biggest sporting event with a strict regime.

She wakes up every day at 6.30am and runs for a few hours, usually at the park. Driving home, she drinks a recovery protein shake, and then she takes her dog for a walk, gets a coffee at her local cafe and heads to work at a sports store.

At 11.30am, she has some porridge and fruit, and throughout the day, she grazes on nuts, fruit and her favourite — dry cereal.

After work, she runs for another hour, takes her dog for a second walk and has dinner: red meat, chicken or fish with steamed veggies and rice or sweet potato.

The Tasmanian only ran her first serious marathon in October.

Milly is following a strict regime to get herself into peak condition for Rio.

She believes self-confidence transforms your performance.

She does allow herself treats sometimes, however, saying lollies are her weakness — particularly snakes. “If I feel like having it, I do. If you deny yourself, then it just lingers in your mind. Better to extinguish the craving.”

Milly, who is running Sydney’s first Women’s Nike Half Marathon in July, says she’s noticed a dramatic difference in her body since she became a marathon runner. “The human body is amazing, the way it adapts. It’s crazy, you do notice a lot of changes, even training for the half.

“My body’s stronger, super-lean and more efficient. It’s fascinating.”

The gifted runner has it in her genes. Her mother was a gymnast and her father a sprinter, and she used to run with her brother.

She’s looking forward to preparing for the Olympics by racing alongside other women of all ages and backgrounds.

“It will be fantastic to run with girls. We all came from different places in our lives, but we’ll all cross the line together. We’re all working towards the same goal.”

Obviously, Milly will be a long way ahead of most of us, and is hoping to come in first place for the “confidence boost”.

She’ll be sticking to her tried and tested race rituals, which include doing her hair the same way and wearing the same socks. “They’re things you can control,” she says. “I always run the same.”

When things get tough, she tells herself: “You’ve done the training, you’ve run this far before, get through the next 40 minutes of pain and remember that the end will be better if you’ve run a PB.”

With a growing number of followers on social media, Milly wants to encourage other women to have a positive body image, which she believes is key to success.

“Stop comparing yourself,” she says. “Focus on yourself and what you’re doing. No matter what your goal — to finish the half, get to the Olympics, to walk or run it.

“I hope I inspire people. The day I started being more confident in my body was the day I started running better.

emma.reynolds@news.com.au