Meet the R4R Runners #7

Ingrid Gillingham

Welcome to the 7th edition of the Meet the R4R Runners where we get to meet Ingrid. Ingrid is an R4R O.G and like her attendance at the Dock on any given weekend, she is a consistent force on Wednesday night and Friday morning R4Rs.

Apart from her love for the All Blacks, Ingrid is a great person to chat with and has some pretty cool stories - including a half marathon in Antarctica! R4R is better for having Ingrid involved and I enjoyed learning more about her through this weeks questionnaire.

Meet Ingrid!

What is your name?

Ingrid

Where are you from?

New Zealand (sorry, I am that annoying Kiwi at the pub in the All Blacks jersey...)

Sorry means you’ll never do it again… How long have you lived in Canberra?

Nearly five years in Canberra now, if we could swim in the lake without getting sick it would be a perfect city

How did you first hear about R4R?

My constant stalking of The Dock Instagram & FB pages kept me in the loop :)

When did you first attend a R4R?

Back at day zero! I think it was just a handful of people and I had to bribe my friends to come with me

What keeps you coming back to R4R?

'He tangata, he tangata, he tangata' - the people! It's awesome to turn up and have a chat with whoever is there on the day (if I can breathe enough to talk, I'm probably a better listener when running due to the puffing)

Do you have a R4R Personal Best? If not, what’s your 5km PB?

I get too distracted by the chatter (and dogs) to go fast, 5km PB is 23.48. What I lack in speed I make up for in sh*t talking :)

Do you prefer the winter R4Rs or the Summer R4Rs?

Winter for sure. There's nothing cute about how I look after a run in Canberra peak heat.

Do you prefer Friday or Wednesday R4R? or in other words… Do you prefer beer or coffee?

Porque no los dos?! That's a favourite morning drink and a favourite evening drink, there is plenty of room for both in my life

If you could go for a 3km/6km walk or run with 3 people alive or dead, who would you choose and why?

This is a tough one! I'd like to pick my three least favourite politicians and test their resilience by lecturing them for a 6km walk, but maybe just a good motivating squad with some solid training chat - so I'll go Ronda Rousey, Tia-Clair Toomey and Serena Williams

What does resilience mean to you?

The ability to just keep getting back up. It's fine to struggle, to have shitty times or a bad day, but resilience to me is saying, "that sucked, but let's crack on and move forward"

Is there a time in your life where you’ve had to rely on your ability to be resilient?

Plenty of times in the NZ Army - they were pretty good at creating deliberate suffering to test (and develop) your resilience. It worked though and I feel these days that I'm fairly resilient :)

If you could say one thing to someone going through something tough at the moment, what would it be?

It ain't weak to speak.. Pick up the phone, send a text, come along to a R4R session, reach out - you don't have to do it alone

In the 2022 edition of the R4R Gift, who will win the coveted Clydesdale award 100kg and above? Jonesy, Benny A, or other?

Well if the Alfred app keeps going at its current rate there might not be any Clydesdale's left!!!

Thanks, Ingrid!