Meet the R4R Runners #58

Dinesh

Welcome to the 58th edition of the Meet the R4R Runners. This week we get to meet a fella who’s always got a massive grin and a handshake waiting for you any given Friday morning.

He’s been a regular Friday Runner since midway through last year and our community is better for it. He’s a good man and he loves his running, so without further ado, let’s meet Dinesh!

What is your name?

Dineshkumar

Where are you from?

I'm from Chennai, Tamil Nadu which is in the southern part of India. I had been transferred to Melbourne in 2011 to work on the Telstra IT project. I got a job in Canberra in 2017 and then settled in Canberra afterward.

What's your favourite thing about Canberra?

The best thing about Canberra is that it is easily accessible to a lot of Mountains & trails within a walkable distance which is not the case in Melbourne.

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

As I followed Singhy in Strava, I was inspired by his activity post as a community-run called R4R in his Strava with so many people in the group photo and then searched on google to understand more about R4R. I made my first R4R on 03 June 2022 with another friend Kali.

What's your favourite thing about R4R?

When I first tried to come for my first R4R, I was a bit anxious about how it would be but the R4R community is so accommodating to accept anyone irrespective of their background and everyone is so nice & friendly. I am amazed to make a lot of running friends after joining R4R.

What would you like to see R4R do?

I would like to see R4R Run or walk with family members happen so that everyone gets a chance to meet and have a chat with other R4R runner families or R4R run with kids for 1 km or 2 km, that will be so nice to see many kids running with us.

What's the longest you've ever run?

The longest run that I have ever made is 25 km around the West Basin of Lake Burley Griffin.

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

I have registered to run a half marathon in the Canberra Marathon Festival in April. I am hoping to make my first Marathon this year.

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

First, I would like to run with my loving grandfather(Swaminathan) who was a football player in local county matches back in India. I didn't get a chance to run in my life as he died before I started running.

Second, I would like to run with Daisy Victor(died), she is a professional athlete from Chennai, India. She won many medals in international meets and ran every day even at the age of 89 and was inspiring many people back in India. She is the one who inspired me a lot to start running after I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

Third, I would like to run with a running coach "Campbell Maffett" whom I admire so much and follows in Strava, he is so dedicated as he runs every day at 5 am irrespective of whether he is on vacation or day-to-day busy life. He lives in Melbourne, I hope I will make it one day but I don't know whether I can catch up with his running speed.

What does resilience mean to you?

Resilience means to me that how well we are bouncing back after any difficulties or any fall in our life, it doesn't matter how many times we fall but it only matters how strongly you are bouncing back each time. I feel every time that you make an effort to come and run together for resilience(R4R) is a great thing that shows whatever happens we will turn up and smash the run which is similar to how we smash any problem in our life.

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

Most of the time, I worry a lot about any problem in life. I should understand and accept that sometimes life throws some difficulties/problems which are beyond our control. At those times, I wish I told myself to accept those and move on in life and see what is the best thing I can do at that moment instead of worrying about what happened.

Thanks, Dinesh!

R4R Around the Grounds

Tony Wallace has been selected for a random drug test for performance-enhancing substances.