Meet the R4R Runners #55

Welcome to the 55th edition of the Meet the R4R Runners. This week we get to meet someone that’s doing some great things in our community. Not only is she an R4R Regular, she’s a community force and was nominated for the 2021 ACT Local Hero Award. As always, we are lucky to have people like Jess as a part of our community, and it’s not lost on us how fortunate we are. So without further ado, let’s meet Jess!

What is your name? 

Jess Peil - only called Jessica when I’m in trouble

Where are you from?

Melbourne - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - Canberra 

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

All the trails and the community. Plus it’s so close to the snow

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

Around 18 months ago from a friend who kept suggesting I come along. 

What's your favourite thing about R4R?

Again, community would be the first thing (people are awesome!), but also the “running with purpose” element. Gives the reason to join in more heart. 

What would you like to see R4R do?

A pub crawl run would be so great but with a charitable twist, so create a fundraiser to go along with it (eg donations for distance), tends to get the word out even more about the reason for R4R

What's the longest you've ever run? 

UTA100 and UTK100 so far, not including 777 marathon - 7 marathons in 7 states in 7 days to raise funds and awareness for bravehearts to keep kids safe from sexual assault and exploitation. 

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

My next event is tarawera 100 miler and I’m secretly freaking out!! 160km is going to be a stretch, it won’t be pretty, but I’m a bit stubborn so will cross that finishline while smiling through the whole event

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

My dad - he passed away 23 years ago and was an awesome runner. He was the person who thought up the great train race in Melbourne which is now pretty huge. 

Courtney Dewaulter - My absolute running idol, wouldn’t be able to keep up with her but just to be in her presence would be amazing

Catra Corbit - another one who would have epic stories to tell as well as her running doxie dogs to pat. 

What does resilience mean to you?

Resilience to me means seeing something hard to get through and doing it anyway, with a smile on your face. Knowing that there’s growth from doing hard things. 

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

My hardest moment in life was when my dad passed away suddenly and very unexpectedly. I don’t think there was anything I could have told myself that was different to what was said through that time. I felt that I had to be strong for my mum while allowing the space for me to grieve. 

And lastly, I know you do some pretty good things outside of running, can you share a bit more about that?

My biggest motivator with running is finding a purpose to go with it. Running for bravehearts as well as being the ACT ambassador for them, keeps me moving forward. The actual running is the starting point for conversation about what we are trying to achieve, 1 in 5 kids will be affected by sexual assault by the time they are 18 and we want that statistic to change dramatically. So many other mental and physical issues (suicide, substance abuse etc) can potentially be avoided if this hasn’t happened in someone’s early life. Love people’s sponsorship for our next 777 event in June this year or to have a huge amount of people sign up for the Canberra even to join us. Go to the 777 marathon webpage. 

Great stuff, Jess!