Why run from Brisbane to Sydney?

In June 2020 I’m going to run 1000km from Brisbane to Sydney.

Not all in one go though. That would be crazy!
I’m going to run a marathon a day for 22 days, finishing off at the Opera House on June 18th which happens to be my 40th birthday. (Happy birthday to me !)
My heart is beating a little bit faster and my hands are a little bit sweaty just writing that.

Why am I doing this?

It’s not just to get out of work for a month.
Out of the blue, back in October 2014, a good friend and neighbour was diagnosed with cancer. Frank sadly passed away in February 2015.
And it really felt as quick as it took you to read that sentence.
One minute we were all laughing and messing about, passing our kids over the back fence to each other’s houses, and in a short space of time…Frank was gone and we were all a bit lost.
I had lost a friend but I was trying to be strong. What I thought was strong anyway.
I didn’t really know what to do. I didn’t really know what to say. And like most blokes I kept it in. Tried to be ‘strong’. Although on the inside I was really struggling.
And of course when it rains it pours. At the same time I got promoted. Sounds great right?
Nope.
I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t sleep. I felt anxious. Did I mention I couldn’t concentrate?
And I felt depressed.
I was having panic attacks at work. Something that I’d never experienced before. I had to keep pretending I had a phone call to excuse myself from meetings to go outside to be able to breathe.
And I was drinking...... I was drinking a lot to try to cope and numb the pain. Which of course, made it all worse.

“What you seek is seeking you”
~Rumi

So I remember thinking about what happened to Frank and realised I needed to do something.
I went to the doctor and when they asked how I was, I broke down in tears.
And strangely enough I felt better afterwards. Just letting it out and talking about it seemed to release the tension that had built up.
And then came one of those crazy synchronistic moments (if you believe in that stuff) that really changed the direction of my life.
For the 10th year in a row I was thinking about entering a marathon. I always really ‘thought’ about it. I had really good intentions of doing it. But I always made my excuses (being too busy is my favourite) and let myself off the hook. But this time was different.
Lily came home from school with a picture she’d drawn for me.
“Daddy I’ve drawn a picture for you that I know you will love”.
It was a picture of Mickey Mouse with the famous Walt Disney Quote…
“If you can dream it you can do it”.
I signed up 5 minutes later with a big lump in my throat.

What’s your legacy?

I always thought I was invincible as a kid. I thought I would live forever and that I had plenty of time to do everything I wanted.
This really hit me like a sledgehammer.
This was the first point in my life that I thought…really thought…about my life. It made me really think about what I want to leave behind. What I wanted to achieve. What I wanted to give. How I wanted to be remembered.
I wanted to leave a legacy I would be really proud of.
And so it was in this more optimistic state that I committed to start running in the morning before work. I couldn’t sleep anyway so thought it would be a good use of my time.
And from here I started to cut down my alcohol.
Training for a marathon and completing it led to a 50k. Which then led to a 100k. Then a few more 100kms. Always with this big goal in the back of my mind…

So, back to my original question…why am I doing this?

I’m doing this for a number of reasons.
I’m doing this in memory of Frank.
I’m doing this to leave a legacy. I want Lily and Alfie to grow up thinking that anything is possible.
I’m doing this to share my story to really highlight that you don’t really know what people are thinking and going through behind the mask they wear out in public or what they put on social media. Its ok to take that mask off and to talk.