Building Mental Fitness through running, conversation, and community

Due to border closures I won't be able to start in Brisbane as previously planned, but I'll be starting on the NSW side of the border at Tweed Heads. From here I'll be running nearly 1000km down the coast to finish at the Sydney Opera House 20 days later.

There are 3 goals to this challenge:

Firstly, it's a selfish good deed. Research suggests that movement and mental health are inherently interconnected, and RUNNING is my drug of choice. During my last challenge of running 21 half marathons in 21 days, I received a lot of messages from people asking if they could get involved. So this time we have a virtual challenge where teams can collectively run, walk, or crawl the 1000km journey from Tweed Heads to Sydney with me.

Secondly, it's about sharing my story to encourage others to start a CONVERSATION and to take action to be mentally healthy.

And last but not least, this crazy period has really highlighted the importance of COMMUNITY. With that in mind the target is to raise funds for Gotcha4Life to able to support the delivery of workshops in schools and clubs to build the mental fitness of communities throughout Australia.

Thanks so much for your support.

Big Love
Mark

#keeptheconversationrunning

a marathon (and a bit) every day for 20 days

2 days to Start: Drive up to NRMA Port Macquarie

1 day to Start: Port Macquarie to Tweed Heads

Marathon 1 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Tweed Heads to Pottsville 42km

Marathon 2 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Pottsville to Byron Bay 44km

Marathon 3 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Byron to Ballina 42km

Marathon 4 of 20 for Gotcha4life: Ballina to Swan Bay 42km

Marathon 5 of 20 for Gotcha4life: Swan Bay to Ballymorgan 45km

Marathon 6 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Tullymorgan to Grafton 42km

Marathon 7 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Grafton to NRMA Darlington Beach 42km

NRMA Darlington Beach!

Marathon 8 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: NRMA Darlington Beach to Bonville 45km

Marathon 9 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Bonville to Macksville 44km

Marathon 10 of 20: Grassy Head to Crescent Head 50km

Marathon 11 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Crescent Head to NRMA Port Macquarie 42km

Marathon 12 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: NRMA Port Macquarie to Crowdy Bay National Park 46km

Marathon 13 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Johns River to Taree 42km

Marathon 14 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Taree to Tiona 44km

Marathon 15 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Tiona to NRMA Myall Shores 50km

Marathon 16 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: NRMA Myall Shores to North Arm Cove 42km

Marathon 17 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: North Arm Cove to NRMA Stockton Beach 45km

Marathon 18 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: NRMA Stockton Beach to Budgewoi 50km

Marathon 19 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: Budgewoi to NRMA Ocean Beach 43km

Marathon 20 of 20 for Gotcha4Life: NRMA Ocean Beach to Cruise Bar Sydney 43km

The Home Stretch - Crossing the finish line of Tweed Heads to Sydney