August 30, 2021

Issy's Middle of No Where Marathon for Gotcha4Life

August 30, 2021/ Greta Truscott

Middle of No Where Marathon

by Issy Boland (Issy trains with Rejoov online, she lives and works on the family farm in northern NSW and has gone from strength to strength with her running including Canberra marathon PB 3.13 April 2021 with coach Greta & all the gang that was our biggest event since 2019 after covid 2020. Then Delta hit and Issy’s Dubbo marathon turned virtual, which is where the blog takes us. Issy we are so proud of your passion and kindness).

Issy Boland on the family farm, sis on the bike and dad with the starter gun

Back in March last year, when I first began lacing up my joggers and breaking into a sweat around our family farm of a morning, I could never have imagined where this new-found hobby would lead me.

Despite the common misconception, running is far more than a fast walk, causing side effects like redness, fatigue and lots and lots of sweat.

Running has the potential to bring people together, put smiles on faces and even change lives.

You just have to let it.

issy’s sister on the bike leading issy for company

When our French worker Sophie got the call last week that she had lost one of her good friends, a bubbly young woman with a bright future ahead of her, to suicide, my heart shattered. For her, for her family, for Sophie. This is sadly one story of many, that countless Australian famiies face each and every single day.

And from there, I could not sit still.

Just like any passion, there are two essential elements: the fire, and the fuel. Well, I found my fire: running. And the fuel? An intense desire to change lives.

Dubbo Stampede. It was set to be my second marathon for 2021, and my second marathon ever. The switch to a virtual-style marathon really did not appeal to me –I ‘umm-ed’ and ‘ahh-ed’ about my entry. I eventually decided to sign up, although I did not know how the heck I was going to get over the finish line.

Following hearing about Sophie’s friend, I found my motivation and I knew I was going to make it over that line. I started a fundraising page on the Gotcha4Life website – an incredible charity that focuses on delivering tailored programs to communities in an attempt to create awareness about mental illness, and aims to improve Australia’s mental fitness so that we, as a nation, can move towards zero suicides. I chose this charity because it is passionate about mates supporting mates, which echoes Australia’s distinctive mateship characteristic that is so prominent in communities just like my own.

My sister and I mapped out the course, signifying the course start line with a bottle of coolant we found in the back of one of the farm utes. The track went through our farm, to the highway out the back, along the highway, turning down one of the roads where we pass neighbouring properties, then turning back towards home, passing the small isolated school where a lot of our district (myself included) began our education (some 80kms from our closest town) on the ‘home straight’ back towards our property, finishing at our turn off on the main road, symbolised by a large Telstra tower. Primarily bitumen, with black soil and some gravel on the farm track.

I kicked off at 6:30am. Dad was on the starting gun (literally a gun), my sister followed behind me the entire way and pedalled an old kid’s bike that we used to get to the school bus stop many years ago, Mum and Soph (the French worker) were in the car – setting up drink stations every so often, my oldest brother and his girlfriend cheered at the start/middle and end, and my cousin and my other brother ran the last 5km. Local farmers and their families popped up at various points along the way and cheered me on, with two of my old school teachers walking the last stretch.

Finished with a new PB of 3.09 – 4 minutes less than my Canberra time but it was not about the time on the board. It never was. We raised just short of $3000 (amazing) but it was not about the total. We got the message out to hundreds of people – the message that it is okay not to be okay, and if that message helps someone struggling, convinces them to seek help, or encourages someone to pick up the phone and check on their mates, then regardless of the time, regardless of the total, we WON. And that is all that matters.

cross that finish line - finish lines are everywhere

Be kind to yourselves and stay safe,

Issy xx

https://gotcha4life-fundraising.raisely.com/issysmiddleofnowheremara/

Congrats issy we are so proud, keep on shining, thanks to your lovely sister and family for all their support

August 04, 2021

Cathy's Debut 100km Run at 58yrs old

August 04, 2021/ Greta Truscott

Debut Ultra 100km Run

by Cathy Rowney 4th August 2021

The idea of running a 100km in one go came to me after running 80km last October where I raised funds for ovarian cancer. I work as a specialist nurse in Gynaecology / Oncology in clinics and ward settings at the Royal Hospital for Women Randwick. I have worked here for close to 17 years and have a passion for women’s health. My extra motivation to run the 80km last year also stemmed from my beautiful mother in law Veronica Rowney who had been undergoing treatment for stage 4 ovarian cancer throughout last year.

Mother in law veronica with Cathy rowney

I had two big motivators to attempt a 100km in 2021. I am a breast cancer survivor and this year is my 10 year survival year and what a challenge this would be to kick cancers butt. Then there was the 1000 miles to light for reach out organised by Pat Farmer with my coach Greta Truscott with two others to make the Aussie team and run against a team from the USA. They were running for Reach out who are there for youths struggling with mental health. Also Pat Farmer was raising awareness for a dear running friend who lost his battle to depression last year. He was a friend of mine too and always supported me in my running and swimming adventures. I decided to do a fund raiser with Beyond Blue for Steven Garamy our dearly departed friend, and raised over $3,000. I was hoping to run the 100km whilst they were running but mixed up my dates and took time off the wrong week at work . So my date was then scheduled for 4th August. {Cathy incredibly backed up with a 1000 Miles to Light virtual marathon 42.2km (with ~2,700 other virtual runners via Running Heroes) on August 14th Day 1 of the event and donated generously to the cause. Cathy you are amazing and so very much appreciated in every way].

steven garamy far right next to coach greta & Jaden at Pat farmers 2019 quicksand maroubra where we ran marathon relays on the sand

cathy ran a marathon virtually with 1000 miles to light & donated to reach out after doing her 100km!! huge huge kudos & thanks cathy

Unfortunately Veronicas cancer came back with a vengeance early July this year and she sadly passed away 28th July. Her funeral was scheduled for 6th August. It meant I could just put the 100km on the backburner or just have a go. I had trained so hard for much of this year with loads of long runs and back up long distances on consecutive days. I decided to go ahead on the 4th August starting at 4.30am.

Cathy and her biggest supporter janine Tenille

I created a Whats App group and had massive support from the Rejoov runners , Gilbert from Striders, family and friends. Started from home with Fran Boorer around Botany then headed off towards Janine Tenille (my biggest supporter) in Alexandria. Felt fabulous and Janine stayed with me till I reached 20kms. Had plenty of music to chill along with till I met Lisa Sherman just pass Kyeemagh. Lisa stayed with me till the 44km mark after out and back to Taren Point Bridge . Had some time on my own till the 55km mark at Ramsgate where the lovely Emma Trehy and Penny Johnston joined me, playing tag as to keep just two runners together due to covid restrictions. They left me at 60km at Kyeemagh A change of socks undies a freshen up , Panadol and magnesium cream on the legs and glutes and some food prepared me so much better for the final 40km (great tip from Nayda Caminer)

Plenty of good music (Stevie Nicks live) kept me going till I headed back towards Mascot, saw my Mum and Sis at the 70km mark. Ran into Fran again at Wentworth Ave with her daughter Bronte at the 75km mark. Was feeling really good, I just kept moving along and enjoying all the messages coming through on Whats App. Hit Malabar to a support crew, Greta, Susan, Edel, Kat with her beautiful pooches Bruce and Kevin holding up a sign with Go Cathy (so sweet). Caught Chris Truscott Malabar beach and hit the 80km. Was a whole new challenge now. Furthest I’ve ever ran.

Susan kept me company till we met with Andrea Maroubra Junction followed by Bea, Michelle and Debbie Neville. Andrea continued till Kingsford just before 90km mark and the other lovely ladies stayed with me till the finish. It was getting darker now and the girls kept me upbeat. I ran walked ,then ran some more till we got to the 99km mark near my home in Banksmeadow. The going was tough after 95km but I pushed and knew I could do this even if I crawled the rest of the way. With 1km to go picked up the pace and ran it home. Thanks to these gorgeous girls and so many support messages I completed my first 100Km.

Cant thank everyone enough for helping me achieve this goal Greta my awesome coach and her awesome hubby Chris who gave me great advice to keep that fuel going from the start, made a huge difference, never felt weak dizzy or nauseated like the 80km. Rejoov buddies, family and friends. My strength drawn from Veronica who I felt was with me the whole way keeping me going. Love you all. Thankyou with all my heart

Cathy Rowney

congratulations super woman cathy, on your outstanding achievement for life and love. we love you

June 20, 2021

Ultra Trail Aus 2021 by Freya

June 20, 2021/ Greta Truscott

UTA50 2021

by rejoover Freya Riddel

I am not sure I am the best person to do a write-up of this event. I bought a ticket on resale whilst in a winery in the McLaren Vale a couple of months earlier, and I approached race day with a naiveite bordering on wilful ignorance.

About 3 weeks before the event, friends of mine (and more seasoned trail runners) invited me to the Blue Mountains for a reconnaissance run. The night before this run, I had a cheeseboard for dinner washed down with generous amounts of red wine. This was a bold move from someone who is begrudgingly, but almost definitely, lactose intolerant. Alas, I was ready to be picked up on sunny Sunday morning in Bondi – dressed in my shorts and t-shirt and wearing a rucksack picked up as an afterthought so that I looked the part. That day was not a huge success for me – I had not anticipated a temperature difference between Bondi and Katoomba, I tripped and fell quite spectacularly on more than one occasion, and the cheese wreaked havoc with my guts. The backdrop to all this haplessness was, however, beautiful.

Fast-forward to the UTA race day – I have all the gear, and still very little idea. I have packed (on advice) 2 gels for every hour I expected to be on the course (I had anticipated 8, if I were to treat it as a hike), salt tablets, a couple of cliff bars, and some rogue potatoes – none of which I had tried on a training run before.

Freya smashed her debut in 15th place, congrats!!

In the end, I relied mainly on the electrolyte re-fills at the checkpoints, I ate 3 of my gels (thank god, I packed 16), and nil potatoes. I did enjoy the salt tablets. It was nice to have something firm I could hold in my mouth. Had I known that salt tablets notoriously cause stomach issues for a lot of people, I would never have dared risk them.

I was euphoric for the whole race, only interrupted with waves of emotion. I welled up at the start line when they announced at the start line that “This is your day, you’ve been building up to this. This is what you’ve been waiting for” I was entitled to none of the credit, but I was nevertheless quite affected by it. The atmosphere was palpably thick with the significance of the day; so many runners lined up would have shown commitment, discipline, and likely sacrifice, to be there, all of them driven by their own motivations. It was inspiring. The running itself was just the medium to manifest a rich tapestry of life.

My race plan was to scamper until the inevitable wall hit (I have never run further than a half marathon) and walking/ staggering to the end when it did. My overriding objective was for this to be an enjoyable day out, rather than a tribulation.

That wall never hit. This does not make sense to me. I can only theorise that a week of cycling two weeks before had some positive impact on my strength and fitness, and that my naiveite helped – I had no expectations, so I had no standard to meet or reference with which to measure my performance This removed self-doubt and any negative internal dialogue – I could not perform badly when I did not know what a ‘successful’ performance would look like.

There is also less pressure in a trail run - there are so many more variables on trails which reduces the emphasis on the individual. The environment and runner are mutually important components of the event. People’s responses to, or experiences of, the natural variables are unpredictable on race day: and as such, your performance is harder to measure by reference to others. A tacit acceptance of this is perhaps why runners are so supportive: whenever I overtook someone, I was unfailingly cheered with a “well done!”, “looking strong”. As someone who responds well to positive reinforcement –this is also likely to have had a part to play in my performance.

The setting of the course was spectacular – another contributor to my euphoria and waves of emotion and, perhaps, inadvertent dissociation. I felt privileged to scurry and scramble through the Blue Mountains, to acknowledge the ancient and continuous connection to the land held by the traditional owners, and to share genuine moments of joy with volunteers and fellow runners. I was also just so thrilled that my bowels held it together.

I am now very much a trail enthusiast and am in the market for future events – mainly for the profound reasons I mention above, but also because I am now financially invested in all the gear.