Let's meet Murray... again!
Meet the R4R Runners: Revisited #5
Welcome to the 5th edition of Meet the Runners: Revisited. This week, we get to meet R4R legend and elder statesman, Murray! R4R wouldn’t be the same without him and he’s been a driving force in recent months with helping R4R look toward the future and how we can continue to build this unique community and pursue our goal of a suicide-free ACT by 2033. Murray is an example of how we can water the grass around us and I always enjoy chatting to him. So, without further ado, let’s meet him!
How have you been?
This year has been super busy. A lot of travel (work and holidays), a lot of running and also some great walking. Also busy doing a number of community activities.
Silly question... but have you knocked off any running events recently?
This year I’ve managed 2 runs @ Kowen (New Years Rez and Winter Trail Marathon), the Canberra Marathon, the UTA50 in Katoomba and last weekend the Elephant Trail 50 in Port Macquarie. I’m loving the hills.
What's been your highlight in the past two years?
I’m loving getting involved with two awesome communities: obviously R4R but specifically looking at how we focus on how the next 3 years of R4R is better than the first (& that’s a big ask). Through that process I’m super excited that we’ll be launching Strolling for Resilience in October as a new R4R weekly run at a timeframe more suited to young parents (& their kids) and seniors. The second is with Bravery Trust which support vets, serving people and their family who need emergency financial support, financial counselling and financial education. With Singh, Chris, Tiff, Fraser & Campbell from R4R a group of us did the Head to Head run in Sydney for Bravery Trust’s Bravery Trek last October – this 60km run was the best run I’ve ever had the privilege to participate in and it’s such a great cause.
What's been your favourite thing about R4R since we met you the first time?
I love the energy in the group & the way people are leaning in from every corner of the community to do their bit. I also love seeing new runners each week sharing the benefits of the group.
Your original answer to "what does resilience mean to you?" was "I’m sure it’s something different for everyone. For me, resilience is generally about being able to get back up when you are knocked to the ground. But it’s also about realising when you are doing things to yourself and those that you care about that are forcing your ground. It’s about being able to reach out and say ‘I’m not OK’ and being open to being helped back up onto your feet by others around you. Finally, it’s about us creating a society and groups within it which provide havens and respite for those that are struggling so that when we find ourselves on the ground there is safety, there are options, there is empathy and there is hope."
Do you still think it is? Would you change it at all?
It’s interesting I saw a post from Brent Ford the other day about resilience and how some see it as bouncing back quickly. Sometimes mental health doesn’t like being shown a clock so resilience from a mental health perspective for me is just about bouncing back. As an engineer (caution here – I’m about to get geeky!!!) we build resilience into systems of systems by building parallel paths into solutions – if one system fails, the other picks up the load. I like to think as a community we are able to be those parallel paths for our friends who are struggling. If we’re connected and supportive then we can help raise the spirits of someone who is struggling, empathise with their challenges and potentially lift some of their loads. I like the idea that resilience isn’t just about being personally stoic and putting all of the onus back upon yourself. I’d suggest that resilience is also about building that ring of trust around yourself with your family, friends and community who you can lean upon. It’s great that R4R helps facilitate those links and supportive networks and makes it possible to have that ‘parallel’ support.
You also mentioned that at the hardest point in your life, you were diligently bashing away and tirelessly persisting to make progress; but that you were off in the wrong direction and running away from those who cared for me most. It sounds like you had already comprehended your situation pretty well, but did you want to elaborate on how you might view the hardest moment in your life differently than the first time we met you?
I find it interesting the extent to which I see others in similar situations to the one I was in. I don’t think I made myself accessible to any avenue of help at that time. I’m not sure how we make ourselves open to getting help when we need it most & don’t make ourselves into a locked box. There is often support around us but the challenge is being open to it being able to help you.
Murray, you're helping R4R achieve a suicide-free Canberra through our community, but you're also pushing effort out into your own world. This is exactly what Canberra needs to achieve R4Rs goal, but would you like to share a bit more about the work you're doing?
So there are two threads to this:
We have a plan to kick off Strolling for Resilience in October. If anyone wants to help us in setting that up and getting it launched then please ping me. Separately I’m working with Bravery Trust (a vets charity) to 4 marathons in 44 days for Bravery Trek.
Starting in Canberra on 7 Sep, the Sydney Marathon on 17 Sep, a Bootleg Trail Marathon in Brisbane on 2 Oct and the Melbourne Marathon on 15 Oct. If anyone is interested in running 10km, 21.1km or 42.2km in any of these runs then please ping me.
Thanks, Murray… awesome stuff as always, and watch this space for more information on Bravery Trek!
Resilience is the strength you draw from others
Love your work and commitment to great cause 🙏