Rachel’s Runners Remembrance Run

In 2013 when my grandfather passed away I decided to honour his memory by dedicating our long training run that week to him. As the date fell in November which also sees the date we commemorate our fallen World War One soldiers, I decided to name it the ‘Rachel’s Runners’ Remembrance Run’ (RRRR) and hold it as an annual event to honour all the loved ones we have lost.

Before

Today (Sunday 23 November 2014) we held our second annual RRRR and a group of us met up at 6am and set out for the Padstow Heights to Menai track. A track that heads down across a bridge over the Georges River and then up some never-ending hills across to Menai and back home again – a 13km ‘out and back’ loop.

Sunrise over the Georges River

We got to see a beautiful sunrise over the river, huffed and puffed our way up the hills and talked general chit-chat, mostly about running of course! It was a beautiful view to start our morning and some ‘me’ time for all of us who are busy working parents. I don’t even know how running ever became a relaxation activity for me, but it is. Time to think clearly, hanging out with friends (old and new) and time spent not worrying about anything else that’s going on in life. Time to reflect on how far we’ve all come as runners in the past 1-2 years. A VERY long way!

Stopping for selfies on the Alford’s Point Bridge

I want to say a huge thank you to all of the runners who came out to do this special run with me today… Thank you for getting up so early. Thank you for braving the Sydney heatwave. Thank you for making the effort to run with me. Thank you for pushing on when it got tough. Thank you for helping me (us) remember loved ones. Thank you for believing in yourselves. Thanks a bunch xx

After – we did it!