Meet the R4R Runners #52

Welcome to the 52nd Meet the Runners where we get to meet Deana. Deana is a Friday morning stalwart and is always a pleasure to catch up with… there are always those people that are just nice to be around, and Deana is one of them. R4R is lucky to have people like Deana and the below read is a great one. So without further ado, let’s rip in!

What is your name?

Deana

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Canberra (am I a relic?!). I lived in London for just over 4 years in the mid to late 90's and returned to beautiful Canberra. I have traveled to a lot of places around the world and I don't think you can beat Australia, and Canberra is a lovely place to live.

What's your favourite thing about Canberra? (apart from R4R obviously)

I love the fact we are a bush capital and being able to walk, run and be in nature so easily. I enjoy having 4 seasons, particularly Autumn and all the changing tree colours, and being able to access a variety of locations like the beach, the mountains, and the city (Sydney).

How did you hear about R4R and when did you first attend?

I heard about R4R from a few of the regulars through other running groups. I was attracted to it as I was going through some challenging times myself and was looking for connection through shared lived experience. Running has been my best friend through many things, "just keep moving" is core to my being. I think it's been around 18 months or so since I first came, I started on Wednesday nights but soon moved to the morning runs which I prefer.

What's your favourite thing about R4R?

I am very supportive of its cause, goals, and reason for being. I find the people who attend are very welcoming and friendly, and I have made many new friends from the group. I am grateful for the support it has given me and the place it has taken in my weekly routine. I have many memories and photos of the stunning sunrises we see over the lake, it's a beautiful location to run. I also love the local business owners who are supporters and contribute to its success, that's the kind of community I want to be a part of.

We’ve only recently turned 3, do you have any ideas on what we should do before we turn 4?

I have enjoyed the other events we have had where we are showered and dressed in non-running gear and not just rolled out of bed! I especially enjoyed the Anzac Dawn service and the gatherings after running events at The Dock such as the Canberra times fun run on the weekend. Perhaps we could have a trail run location once a quarter, but I think we have a lot of great options already.

What's the longest you've ever run?

The City to Surf (14km) is the longest course run I have done, but I have run a few 18km with friends who were training for their half marathons. I am steadily sitting on 10km runs, apart from my usual 5km parkrun every Saturday morning, I usually enter about 8 events a year, that keeps me going to train from event to event all year round.

Are you planning on taking part in any races or events soon or are there any just gone?

My next event is the 10km Stromlo trail run in a few weekends and then the 10km in Wangaratta in March. I finished the Real life insurance Sydney Harbour run, City to Surf and the Blackmores Sydney Bridge run the in last 6 months.

Which three people (alive or dead) would you like to run 6km with?

I'd love to run 6km with Jay Shetty, Marianne Williamson and Oprah Winfrey, all people who I find inspiring to listen to, I am sure I could learn some things from talking with them for 6km!

What does resilience mean to you?

To me resilience means courage, vulnerability, humility, empathy and strength. It is being able to have awareness and come to some peace and acceptance of where you are, asking for and allowing yourself to receive help, finding paths through and being grateful for the small things.

When you look back on the hardest moment/s in your life, is there anything you wish you could have told yourself?

I'll admit I am still in what I would define as the hardest moment in my life, so I'm curious once I have some distance what that may be. I have had other challenges along the way and what I have learnt and try to remind myself of (not always successfully) is to be kind to myself, use the tools and knowledge I already have, and trust. Trust that I have inside what I need to get through it, to follow my intuition, remember to stay connected and to look for something every day to be grateful for.

I think it's important to acknowledge that because R4R has a suicide prevention focus, it does attract people with lived shared experience and perhaps having some resources to support members would be helpful. You can be out running with someone and they can enter into a conversation about their experiences so having some strategies on how to navigate that could be beneficial. I have certainly found in my own journey that friends and family are not always well equipped to support people experiencing pain and trauma, and if we were able to increase the communities ability to do so that would have an impact on suicide prevention. So I recently completed peersWalk, it is training that Parents Beyond Breakup are rolling out into community to help everyday people know how to assist others they are in contact with. I found it really helpful, its a 4 hour training that is inexpensive and I believe would assist with R4Rs vision of suicide free by 2033. See link below for more details.

peersWALK training - 1300 853 437 (parentsbeyondbreakup.com)
I also completed recently the BlueKnot foundation training on Managing Wellbeing and Recognising Vicarious Trauma. It was very good, and whilst may not be as applicable to the general R4R community as peersWalk, I thought I would at least mention it in case it resonated with members.Managing Wellbeing and Recognising Vicarious Trauma (blueknot.org.au)

I am happy to talk with anyone if they'd like to know more.

Thanks, Deanna. An important Rag!