An amazing lady of resilience

A guest article by Gordon Carey

This story is about an amazing lady who I met on a Parkrun in ‘Scribbly Gums’ on Saturday 26 October. Although I only walk the 5kms, the course is the most uphill down-hill one I have encountered. And it was a trail course ‘to boot’!

After walking up 2 successive inclines, many walkers had passed me. A cheery voice behind me said ‘hello’ and I was joined by Elaine, the volunteer tail-walker. Now here was someone who would not pass me!

Let me first say that when I told Elaine I was from Canberra and told her about R4R (I was wearing my cap), Elaine quickly replied that she knew about R4R from an email she received as part of a subscription. This email I confirmed was the R4R Rag.

As I talked with Elaine over the next 3 1/2kms, she told me a bit about her life. First, she told me she found she enjoyed long distance running. Elaine told me she had completed 63 marathons and 10 x 100km events!!!

This was my first ‘you are amazing’ comment. The marathons included one in Japan, which Elaine said was the most expensive to get to by far.

The next part of Elaine’s story was what I thought was more amazing.

Elaine left The Philippines and came to Australia in 2000. She left her close-knit family and a good job she attained after a lot of study. Elaine had no family and no job and felt very isolated. She looked for something in life that she could get enjoyment from. She did get a job hut needed something more in her life.

She tried many things. And after nine years, Elaine found running. Not just any running, but long-distance running. I commented that her search over 9 years to get enjoyment out of life was a huge display of resilience.

Elaine said she had been to Canberra in 2015 for the Canberra Marathon. And she will be in Canberra again next April for the 2025 Canberra Marathon. I told Elaine that I would be there to look out for her.

Another of Elaine’s comments resonated with me and what it means to be part of the R4R community. Elain said she joined Parkrun to meet other like-minded people and she is a Parkrun volunteer to give back to the community.

Thank you for the article, Gordon. This is a great reminder that resilient stories are all around us, and it’s a great reminder of the value that volunteers have at these events. If you’d like to volunteer with R4R, we’d love to hear from you at run4resilience@gmail.com